dropoffyourkeylee

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Posts by dropoffyourkeylee

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  21

  Costs of Circuit Assembley

  by Gorbatchov in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  recent we had a circuit assembley.

  we used the jw assembley facility.

  it's (the building) totaly payed off without any mortage.

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  dropoffyourkeylee

  Question:

  Is is possible that some of these properties have second mortgages, and the Society is having to make payments?

  I don't know one way or the other, just asking
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  18

  Aid to Bible Understanding

  by Sharpie in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  how many people still have the book aid to bible understanding?

  and when did the watchtower decide to scrap it?

  was there any offical anoucements anyone rememeber to please return the books?

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  dropoffyourkeylee

  I seem to recall that Ray Franz wrote about the Aid book quite a lot, and related that there were about 5 writers of the Aid Book, which included Ed Dunlap and Ray himself. So 2 of the 5 writers ie; 40 percent of the book, was written by people who eventually left. The Insight books are nearly identical for the majority of subjects. I think the main reason they were produced was to edit out anything questionable (the chronology section was completely re-written, I recall)

  I have been around this religion a long time, and there has never been a request or statement to the effect that any older books should be discarded or turned in. They have a way of getting thrown away on their own. Who would have ever guessed that the blue Truth book, which you used to see at every yard sale and in every book sale, would become a rarity - I can't even remember the last time I saw one.

  Bottom line is that the WT literature is poorly written, poorly researched, unsatisfying both spiritually and intellectually, and is not the paper it is printed on.
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  44

  JWs Depression and Suicide

  by 00DAD in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  since jehovah's witnesses supposedly have "the truth" and are part of god's visible organization living in a "spiritual paradise" you would naturally expect that they should be the happiest people on earth!

  this clearly is not the case.

  wha happened?

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  dropoffyourkeylee

  This subject has concerned me greatly, as I have lost 3 friends, 2 of them dear friends who I miss greatly, to suicide in the past few years. I have come to believe that the ridiculous policies and characteristics of the religion itself were largely responsible. This has occurred in two adjoining congregations located about 40 miles apart in rural midwest US, each with about 100-120 publishers.

  The first was in 2007-2008. Elder and wife, mid 50's, children at the age of moving out, wanted to go into the Spanish speaking work. The Society and Witness culture - you know what I am talking about- influenced them to sell their house and serve temporarily in the Dominican Republic, with the idea of immersing themselves in the language to learn it better. After 6 months they returned broke and he was literally burned out, as they had him giving virtually every meeting part, in Spanish yet. Also he had been taking an anti-depressant, and without health insurance he decided he could do without it. He had returned to the home congregation for a few months before they were going to serve in a Spanish speaking congregation in the US southeast. He killed himself on a cold weekday afternoon in March. I think about him virtually every day, as he was at my house in the weeks before they went to the DR, and I got the feeling he wanted to talk about it, but I didn't take the time to sit down with him. It haunts me to this day and I have since resolved to never again let such an opportunity pass. He was an active elder in good standing at the time of his death.

  The second was in 2009. A sister with a great deal of intelligence and drive, was unhappy with being a 'Stepford' witness wife... she liked to work and was of the type who should have gone to college and find a measure of fulfilment in a career. Her teenage son was disfellowshipped. She wanted desperately to move out of the area and start something different. She got an appartment 80 miles away and separated from her husband. She overdosed in the spring of '09. She was not actively associating at the time, but was not disfellowshipped. She was a dear friend and I thought the world of her.

  The third was in 2010. An active ministerial servant, married with young children, took his own life. Depression over losing his job, starting a different job with lower pay, prospect of losing his house, perhaps other reasons I do not know about, as I did not know him really well.

  I have not given any names or exact locations because, in agreement with the previous poster, we need to think about the surviving family and children, who would be pained to see their loved one's name pop up on a google search in this context.
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  297

  BETHELITES - Whatever Became of?

  by Black Man in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i often times wonder what happened to certain bethelites that i ran around with during my 1990s tenure there.

  while there are still a few left there, the greater majority of them aren't there for various reasons (marriage, disillusionment, left the borg, etc).

  a couple of cats i wonder about - there was one brother who i believe was from kansas, who got his fingers cut off in a printing press.

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  dropoffyourkeylee

  OK, I'll throw out a few names from the 75-81 era (I was never there, but had a family member there at that time, and visited frequently)

  Russ Kurzan (there were two Kurzan brothers, one (not Russ, but the other, his name escapes me) was a bit of inventor, and came up with the design of the fold-out phonograph in the Rutherford days)

  Jim Cleaver

  Ed Reny (worked on elevators)

  Reinhart Lengtat (I think he left the org in the 1980 purge, he was a scholar and had written some of the literature - not sure which books)

  Joe Brown ( an artist who did some of the murals and paintings around bethel and much of the artwork in the 80's)

  That's all I can think of right now
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  24

  Is this a Jw website or what?

  by dropoffyourkeylee in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this website is odd.

  it seems to be the witnesses, but maybe not?

  honestly i don't know what to make of it.

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  dropoffyourkeylee

  Thanks fokyc, from the credits at the bottom of the website, it appears to be affiliated with a break-away Seventh Day Adventist group, which most here will know shares a degree of common heritage with the Witnesses.

  Even so, the site makes no sense, why would a breakaway SDA group create a website with old 1950's watchtower literature reproduced and presented as if it were current?

  Really strange
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  82

  What really ended the book study in private homes?

  by Alfred in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  it's been over 3 years since the book study in private homes was discontinued and some jws are still scratching their heads over it.

  although a letter was read to all congregations explaining that "book study night" would now be "family worship night", there was still much speculation among jws as to the real reason behind this decision (the great tribulation was about to start, jehovah was simplifying the lives of jws, to lessen the burden of poor jws who had no money for gas, etc.)...

  but as we all know, decisions like these from the gb invariably have some ulterior motive behind it... and discussion boards such as this one usually finds a way to dig up the truth for all to see... but after reading several threads on this subject, i'm really not sure we've uncovered all the facts yet.... so i have to ask... what do you believe really ended the book study in private homes?

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  dropoffyourkeylee

  Is there any truth to the rumor that the Society hired consultants to improve the educational aspect of meetings, and this is what led to the shorter public talk and the symposiums at conventions?

  I have heard that several times, though don't really believe it. I think the shortening of meetings and elimination of the bookstudy night had more to do with having 3-4 congregations using the same hall and needing to juggle the meeting schedules
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  24

  Is this a Jw website or what?

  by dropoffyourkeylee in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this website is odd.

  it seems to be the witnesses, but maybe not?

  honestly i don't know what to make of it.

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  dropoffyourkeylee

  It seems to be in favor of the Witnesses in every way, but uses the name Yahowa's Community, and seems strangely out of date. For instance their Announcements says things like

  During the month of December, the book What
  HasReligionDoneforMankind? and a booklet will be offered to truth-seeking people on a contribution of 50c.

  and recommends reading the 1952 Yearbook.

  Is this a splinter group or are they living in a time warp or what?
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  24

  Is this a Jw website or what?

  by dropoffyourkeylee in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this website is odd.

  it seems to be the witnesses, but maybe not?

  honestly i don't know what to make of it.

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  dropoffyourkeylee

  Sorry, I was referring to this link:

  http://theyahwe.com/

  Does anyone know what this is?
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  24

  Is this a Jw website or what?

  by dropoffyourkeylee in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this website is odd.

  it seems to be the witnesses, but maybe not?

  honestly i don't know what to make of it.

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  dropoffyourkeylee

  This website is odd. It seems to be the Witnesses, but maybe not? Honestly I don't know what to make of it

  http://theyahwe.com/
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  17

  Bethel's Bossert Hotel

  by ShirleyW in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just got a google alert regarding the bossert that was printed in the new york times, hope somebody hear knows how to do the cut and paste for that.. was it a well known fact that the bossert is free for all jdubs visiting the nyc area or does the article have it wrong, i've always been aware of the bossert but thought it was part of the residential buildings for the bethelites.. .

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  dropoffyourkeylee

  The article states:

  The group took over the building in a state of disrepair in 1983

  My recollection was that it was before 1983. My family actually stayed in the Bossert as paying customers before it was taken over by the Society, this was in about '77 or '78, then I remember my brother taking us to see the lobby and how much it had changed after the Society started to work on it. He left Bethel in '80, so the must have started work on it in about '79 or '80