ScenicViewer

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Posts by ScenicViewer

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  31

  Circuit Overseer's Idiotic Comment

  by FedUpJW in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  at last night's clam the circuit overseer made this comment, "we elders sometimes have to act as judges in the congregation.

  but we (the elders) are imperfect, and so cannot know everything about judicial matters.

  that is why we (the elders) have the biblical rule that there must be at least two witnesses to wrongdoing.

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  ScenicViewer

  In the latest policy letter. There is no longer the need for two witnesses in order for the abuse to be reported to secular authorities.

  And why did it take many decades for the Organization of Jehovah's Witnesses to get to the point of even thinking about contacting authorities? Two reasons - public humiliation and loss of money as a result court cases - the only two things that JWs really respond to. (The Bible itself is simply a prop to JWs)

  And even now there is reason to believe that reporting probably won't happen if the legal dept thinks it can skirt the law and get away with it.
  
  
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  5

  Brooklyn Article (Important Info.): Jared Kushner & partners spent more than $1 billion acquiring properties from JWs since 2013

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  https://therealdeal.com/2017/04/01/jared-kushner-wont-cash-out-of-dumbo-heights/.

  jared kushner won’t cash out of dumbo heights (or out of much else, for that matter).

  ethics disclosures released by wh friday show he is keeping interests in dumbo projects as well as in bulk of kushner cos’ nyc real estate portfolio.

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  ScenicViewer

  Kushner and his partners have spent more than $1 billion acquiring the Dumbo properties from the Jehovah’s Witnesses since 2013.

  Didn't he spend the $1 billion plus on just 3 properties? Major ones to be sure, but going by memory he bought 3 properties at well over $300 million each.

  That leaves approximately 30 other properties of various sizes that were either sold to other buyers or are still on the market. When all is finished the total take may well approach $2 billion, if not exceed it.
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  10

  Cuts since 2012

  by pepperheart in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i know that on paper the watchtower have about 8 million members but what if lots of them are just around so they dont get shunned and dont give any money in the box..they have been making cuts for a long time and in 2012 they closed 20 branch offices around the world,of course some people are giving lots of, money but they have to find the money for from 40 and 60 million magazaines a month..

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  ScenicViewer

  I love how every time the topic of wealth comes up half the thread says they are poor and half the thread says that they are rich.

  There are signs that can be interpreted both ways, and as far as I'm concerned it's puzzling!

  The property sales (KHs, branches, Brooklyn properites) should have the organization rolling in cash. Add in the set monthly donations that congretations are told send in monthly (an amount arrived at by local elders, and at least equal to what the KH payment was), and the raiding of the congregations bank accounts (send all $$$ to HQ except for $5000 and a few months operating costs), and the per publisher charge for assemblies and conventions - all of which were never done in decades past - and you would think that Watchtower is rolling in untold amounts of cash.

  On the other hand the non-stop asking for money, the cut-backs of building projects around the world, law suits that have resulted in losses, eliminating the Disctict Overseer positions, and reduction of Missionary and Special Pioneer work worldwide, would suggest financial distress.

  Were the sold properties mortgaged? Are the lawsuits more costly than the few that had a multi-million dollar payout? What exactly are the Organization's debts that we don't know about beyond day-to-day operating costs?

  I hope that within my lifetime a high level JW who is really in the know about Watchtower finances (from the accounting dept, legal dept, etc), will defect and explain what it all means.
  
  
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  15

  This is the FIRST TIME I Didn't Get an Invitation To The Memorial!

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  and it's the first time i didn't know that it already occurred.

  i must be really slipping!😈.

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  ScenicViewer

  ScenicViewer: It was the first year for me too. There is an older couple in the congregation, wife is a pioneer, that would always mail me an invitation, but not this year.

  I have to take it back. Yesterday (4-20-17) I received the invitation from the usual couple, many days late, which was postmarked 4-6-17.

  I guess there are two possibilities here, one being that the Post Office dropped the ball and delivered 14 days after the postmark even though the sender and I are in the same small town.

  Second is that the couple have identified me on here, noticed my post, and sent the invitation late. The brother told me many years ago about how he backdated the postage machine in his office to send the IRS his tax return so it would appear to be on time even though it was actually late - it's the postmark date that counts with the IRS - so he definitely knows how to manipulate such things.

  I don't know for sure what to think, but it was probably the Post Office dropping the ball. However if they know who I am on here it's a good thing because it means they are reading this site and are getting a good dose of the TTATT.
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  19

  Why Were the Anabaptists Not Chosen by Jesus in 1919?

  by berrygerry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  wt acknowledges their lack of neutrality during ww1, and previously stated that this was followed by a period of refining.

  however, they were still the one group that far-and-away were the only ones that were practicing first-century christianity the most closely, as well as being the only group trying to do so.. interesting read about the hutterites ( http://www.ubcpress.ca/books/pdf/chapters/courtsandcolonies/chapterone.pdf ).

  , especially this quote about ww1:.

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  ScenicViewer

  A.: Because they were not on the writing committee at the WTB&TS!

  I love a remark that makes me laugh out loud the instant I see it. That was a gem.
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  21

  Never Thought I'd Say This, But I've Found Something to Look Forward to in the Meetings

  by Sorry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  my therapist inspired me to start looking on the bright side.

  even though i've pretty much given up listening to the bs and usually tune out the meeting by playing on my phone/tablet, i find the local needs talk oddly fascinating.

  probably because it's the only part that doesn't seem outlined to death (at least at our hall), and you truly don't know what you get.

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  ScenicViewer

  A gate has never stopped a criminal from breaking in before, so it's naive to think living in such a place will make any difference in your safety. That's the naive thinking the world exhibits. Rather silly to invest in a barrier that's not going to solve crime."

  Where I live almost all Kingdom Halls are "gated," having a fence all around the building. Someone has to arrive early to unlock the gate to let cars into the parking lot.

  I suppose it's for a combination of reasons - to stop break-ins and to keep people away from the parking lot during non-meeting hours (skate boarders for example) where injury could cause liability issues.

  "No matter where you live, Jehovah will look out for you."

  If JWs really believe that, then why are KHs gated? Is this another double standard of JWs?

  
  
  
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  15

  This is the FIRST TIME I Didn't Get an Invitation To The Memorial!

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  and it's the first time i didn't know that it already occurred.

  i must be really slipping!😈.

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  ScenicViewer

  It was the first year for me too. There is an older couple in the congregation, wife is a pioneer, that would always mail me an invitation, but not this year.

  I wonder if it has to do with last summer's convention instructions to shun inactive ones who are sinning, which can even mean something as mundane as speaking of the GB's hypocrisy or questioning a Watchtower teaching.

  Or considering how the information was presented - that inactive ones who are sinning should be shunned - and considering how judgmental JWs tend to be, it might be automatically assumed by many JWs that if you have been inactive and away from meetings for a long time you must be sinning, therefore you are being treated as DF'd.
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  8

  Biased report of JW trial in Russia

  by Citizenfour in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i'm pretty sure most of us are keenly following the trial in russia via twitter or perhaps some other means, and are awaiting the results of the trial.

  after the weekend, and what i presume to be a memorial break, the hearings resumed today.

  i noticed however that unlike previous days, when it finally got to the prosecutor's moment to examine 4 ex-witnesses testimony on extremist behavior, the twitter feed relaying the trial information "suddenly" lost contact.

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  ScenicViewer

  "We see that the witnesses are giving testimony based on written materials, repeating the arguments of the so-called sectological literature. Some of them are mentioned in public sources as activists of the movements that are struggling with the Jehovah’s Witnesses," a lawyer for the defendants said.

  I suppose "activists of the movements that are struggling with the Jehovah's Witnesses" refers to apostates and "sectological literature" refers to apostate literature.

  Why in the world would JWs try to defend themselves in a court by saying, in effect, "they are apostates your honor, you can't trust them, they are mentally diseased?" That is the kind of arguments that JWs use among themselves, elders counseling publishers for example, but what makes them think the court cares about such nonsense?

  Seems like this is Watchtower shooting itself in the foot, since a defense like that will end up giving credibility to the apostates.

  Bad move.

  
  
  
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  31

  UK Memorial attendances up this year?!

  by Isambard Crater in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my congregation had around 25 more people at the memorial last night than last year, and the two other congregations i have family in all experienced a similar increase in about 25 more people present.

  umm, i'm surprised, having thought this year would see a memorial decline again.

  and i'm kind of disappointed..

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  ScenicViewer

  There was always a fluctuation in attendances due to world events.

  Any place that had a thunder storm will see a Memorial attendance increase.
  
  
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  16

  The GB wants us to read this bible passage to you!

  by StephaneLaliberte in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i had a brother visit me yesterday to invite me to the memorial.

  as usual, despite the unspoken passive aggressiveness, i was polite,.

  anyway, this year, he started his presentation by saying: "the governing body (gb) wants us to read this bible passage to you!

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  ScenicViewer

  By using that kind of language the elders are trying to make the GB appear loving, accessible, and close to you. It is none of those. It's just sickening creature worship.