@ Giordano who said,
To put a face on it, Google Jonestown...photos will pop up of people men, women and children lying dead in a field. That's the annual death count of JW's each and every year...
That is a powerful arguement. Does anyone have any references regarding the number of JWs that die each year due to needing blood?
look at how long it to the abused victims of the catholic church to be heard in the media.
many victims started to speak out in the 1970's and no one would listen to them.
so many victims had to fight for their lives just to be heard many of the victims died of suicide over it.
My hope is that something eventually comes of this. Some have said that to get it into the press too soon could backfire, and I agree. If it hit the press, then the Society somehow managed to crawl out from under all of it, it could easily be spun into 'those evil apostates are trying to smear God's clean people.'
If there are convictions in the end, whether for the crime of refusing to complying witht the WWC Act, or for actual child molesting, then is the time for it to be publicized. It's hard to wait, but for it to have impact it's the best thing in my opinion.
WTS policy may not change at all, even if there are convictions and publicity. But there may be a side benefit; people would be better informed about the Watchtower, both Witnesses and non-Witnesses. Anything that informs people about the true nature of the WTS is a good thing.
Please now accept this expression of our warm Christian love and best wishes, as we remain, Your Brothers.
I feel this is one of the most pretentious and disingenuous statements I've ever read. The letter has a harsh and evasive tone. Nothing loving or helpful in it.
And the expression "we remain your brothers"... is that supposed to suggest 'we will not remain your brothers much longer if you keep asking questions?'
just read on jehovahs witness forum that leon weaver has been made president.
replacement for max larson.
george.
As to the GB being paid $100,000, never heard that in the 55 years I was personally in and in 4 generations of jws back to 1920.
I too doubt they are "paid" much, little more than the Bethel allowance. However I've heard many Witnesses talk about giving money to COs and DOs by slipping money into their coat pockets, sending it to them, and in other ways. No doubt the GB members receive such gifts too. Who knows how much?
In some places they are practically worshipped. Would they receive as much as $100,000 per year, even in their most prosperous year? Probably no way to know for sure.
this is a question that has been on my mind lately because i believe it can make an impact on those 'honest hearted' ones who wonder why the watchtower today is so different than the one led by russell and yet russell can still be considered a brother in good standing.. jehovah's witnesses today acknowledge that the watchtower use to celebrate christmas but as they were being led 'out of the darkness' they changed their ways.
i did some research and it is clear in the old zion's watchtower magazines that russell knew that december 25th was not jesus' birthday but instead it was the time of his conception.
in one article, it even stated that jesus was born september 25 (nine months later) while in another article it stated that jesus was born on october 1st.. what's not clear, however, is whether or not old chuck knew that the traditions were pagan.
Terry said,
A thing is not what it was, but, what it now IS.
- and -
What it was at any point in ancient history is really meaningless unless you are an archeologist, Paleontolgist or an Asberger's syndrome sufferer!
(Awake 9-22-03 p23, 24)
“A main concern is, not what the practice meant hundreds of years ago, but how it is viewed today in your area. Understandably, opinions may vary from one place to another. Hence, it is wise to avoid turning such matters into big issues.” (Said regarding the use of the pagan based pinjata.)
Strange how the Society will allow some pagan customs because they have lost their original meaning over time, but birthdays and Christmas are still taboo. The Society itself turns these "matters into big issues."
during the week of jan 30 at the service meeting, the society's video "a video that highlights an important medical trend" will be discussed using the 12 questions listed below.
does any one know if any of the information in this particular video is mis-quoted or mis-represented?
notice that none of these questions involve scriptures - only medical viewpoints.
@ Vidqun, who said
If you have been to these bakward places, like Africa, you will know the standards are not very high.
But what if you live in most of the rest of the world, USA, Canada, Mexico, Japan, most of Europe, the Nordic countries, etc, where medical practices are much higher, what then? Should you still reject blood because Africa has problems?
As far as I know, studies did prove that those people that were not transfused (e.g. JWs) recover quicker from major operations and that they have less infections.
Why would you make a medical point by starting with "As far as I know?" It suggests you don't have concrete evidence to make the point.
You remind me of Mankkeli.
this is my first post here, and i don't know if this has been talked about yet.
but today i was on the jw-media site to see what it was about.
i was curious how they handled their stance on blood and it was a bit of an annoying read.. from the site (http://www.jw-media.org/aboutjw/article01.htm#accept):.
..."Millions Now Living Will Never Die"...1914, 1918, 1925, and 1975...Beth Sarim's failure.
He acted like he didn't know about any of it.
He most likely didn't. Most Jehovah's Witnesses don't have a clue about the true history of their organization.
The WTS has a way of making predictions that turn out to be false, then quickly burying their past failures in evasive language, like 'that's what some overzealous ones thought,' or 'those were just misunderstandings.' Then they move on, misleading the next generation of their followers.
I showed him the Watchtower's own writings saying that "even if a prophet is right most of the time, if he is wrong once, he isn't a prophet of Jehovah."
I too would love to have the reference to that.
how long does it take for the elder's to respond to a letter of reinstatement?
is there a time range?.
So it depends...on whatever they want it to.
So much for JWs 'all speaking in agreement, and being of the same mind and of the same line of thought.' (1Cor 1:10)
Not only are JWs different from one another in a life and death matter such as disfellowshipping and reinstatement, they also diverge from the Bible quite often, as it suits the leadership's needs.
just read on jehovahs witness forum that leon weaver has been made president.
replacement for max larson.
george.
Hard to tell how old he is as black people tend to age like fine wine.
Black don't crack.
just a little tidbit from the congregation i attend..... the congregation has approximately 120 publishers.. well over 1000 magazines per month are picked up, not to mention all the books, brochures, and tracts that are picked up.. there was a "local needs" part on the service meeting recently, asking for more contributions.. it seems our congregation has averaged just about $300 per month contributions to the "worldwide work" over the past year.. .
assuming 1500 magazines / month, that's just 20 cents per magazine - and that completely ignores all other literature that is picked up.. the last price the magazines had, 20+ years ago, was 25 cents per issue.
with inflation that would have been about 50 cents each now.. just another sign of how severely the contriutions to the society are drying up..... .
"...making the assets of the WTS. over above one billion world wide, perhaps now of the WTS's recent sell off of their properties in Brooklyn NY close more to 2 billion."
This article says the Brooklyn properties alone are worth about 1 billion.
http://therealdeal.com/newyork/articles/a-heavenly-portfolio
When you add in the value of all the Kingdom Halls (almost all owned by the Society), Assembly Halls, Branch offices, farm properties, undeveloped properties, and various other assetts, from all over the world, it seems like the Watchtower net worth would be more than 2 billion.
Just a feeling I have.
