Posts by NotBlind

20

JW Pedophile Goes To Jail

by silentlambs in

poor wt after spending all that money on the pedophile's defense.

man convicted of sexual assault without church testimony.

associated press newswires .

I've found it interesting that the Society PR Dept. has always said that they will 'not shield an offender from being punished by Caesar', which sounds nice until one realizes that they are not, by means of such a statement, offering to notify the authorities, EVEN WHEN THE OFFENDER HAS ALREADY CONFESSED!

Even more shocking is that they won't even testify when subpoenaed. As far as the elders were concerned, it wasn't an allegation; it was a confession.

Bill, reading this article shows that the elders will say one thing out of one corner of their collective mouth to the congregation (which may even be 'technically' correct, albeit misleading), but they will reveal their true intentions to others. Thanks for posting it.

Of course, my question is: WHO WERE THE ELDERS TRYING TO PROTECT by withholding this testimony?

2

Special Local Needs Part -- Re: Dateline

by NotBlind in

jw
friends

by means of a phone conversation with my sister this morning, i have learned that a congregation very near to bill bowen, the m__w__ congregation, gave a local needs service meeting part last night on the subject of "protecting your children from pedophiles".. although i wasn't there, here's what my sister said was included in the talk:.

1. when a man is a pedophile, he won't ever be a ms or elder again.. 2. wt doesn't shield offenders from 'caesar's laws'.

note: never said that they turn them in to the authorities, just that they don't 'shield them'.

NotBlind

By means of a phone conversation with my sister this morning, I have learned that a congregation very near to Bill Bowen, the M__W__ congregation, gave a Local Needs service meeting part last night on the subject of "Protecting Your Children From Pedophiles".

Although I wasn't there, here's what my sister said was included in the talk:

1. When a man is a pedophile, he won't ever be a MS or elder again.
2. WT doesn't shield offenders from 'Caesar's Laws'. Note: Never said that they turn them in to the authorities, just that they don't 'shield them'. In my opinion, that's a big difference.
3. The bad publicity led to good results in the field. i.e. people in service saying "I'm glad your church has a policy on pedophiles."
4. How pedophiles behave; always watch your children.
5. JW's had some bad publicity on local news about pedophilia; be prepared for more in the future.

Looks like the congregation is getting 'em ready for what's about to break, as usual, leaving the pubs halfway in the dark, and putting a little spin on the message.

17

Lack of brotherly love at the DC

by noidea in

jw
friends

i sat at the dc today (yawn!

) trying to keep myself entertained i looked around and was wondering to myself how many that were there today were lurkers, trolls & fred halls.

what were the possibilities that some may have even read some of my comments.

NotBlind

I've been to conventions where the attendants are especially stingy. Last year, I asked for 2 books (myself and my mother, who WAS at the assembly) and I was interrogated!

Talk about a CHEAPSKATE!

17

Lack of brotherly love at the DC

by noidea in

jw
friends

i sat at the dc today (yawn!

) trying to keep myself entertained i looked around and was wondering to myself how many that were there today were lurkers, trolls & fred halls.

what were the possibilities that some may have even read some of my comments.

NotBlind

Usually, the Society sends out PLENTY of books to a convention, so many, in fact, that each congregation normally gets a box of books (60 in a box) to take home with them. If there are 80 congregations at a convention, that means that there were nearly 5000 books left over.

It really TICKS ME OFF that they won't let the poor guy have 8 dang books, but they'll have plenty left over at the end. One of the few things about conventions that annoys me more is those guys standing in the halls with those "PLEASE KEEP MOVING" signs when they're so congested that nobody can move!

Maybe the attendant that was handing out books was really doin' the guy a favor by not giving him those books. It's not exactly a good read...

20

news from the d.c.

by zev in

jw
friends

i have nothing to share that already hasn't been posted by other good people who take notes.

i slept as much as possible.

one thing that i can say.... if i hear any of these expressions over the next week, i'll hurl on whoever says them.. gods earthly organization {substitute jehovah for god for any of these}.

NotBlind

News Flash!

For those who care, here's the Sunday program for next year's Kingdom Repetition District Assembly:

9:30 Kingdom Smellodies
9:40 Song and Prayer
9:50 The Text for Those Who Brought their Booklets
10:00 Symposium on a Minor Prophet You've Never Heard Of
11:00 Another Song and Announcement that Nobody Wanted the releases, so the elders can take some home with them for kindling
11:10 Drama featuring fake beards and really bad acting
11:50 Talk that tells you what the drama was REALLY trying to say
12:10 Lunch

1:30 Muzack
1:40 Song
1:50 Public Talk at which no members of the public are present.
2:40 Watchtower Study
3:10 Concluding Talk a.k.a. Applause Sign Lights Up every 30 seconds
4:00 Concluding Song and Prayer
4:30 Concluding Prayer Ends
6:00 You Get out of the parking lot and swear not to come back next year

Yep, it's the same every year, isn't it?

18

Should mentally challenged be baptize as JW's

by spike in

jw
friends

we have a son of legal age,only mentally 5-8 years living with jw relatives.

he studies with the presiding overseer in the knowledge book and goes in service.

he wants to get baptized like his older brother.

NotBlind

In the area I live, it seems that the ONLY people getting baptised are those who are mentally challenged. Those with more thinking ability don't want anything to do with JW's in most cases.

By the way, I always thought being mentally challenged a PREREQUISITE for being a JW!

10

Is Hatred Really Just "Loving Less"?

by TMS in

jw
friends

the bible says the jacob hated leah, the gal he was tricked into marrying after seven years of hard work at minimum wage.

for many years watchtower publications have tried to take the sting out of jacob's disdain for wife #1 by saying that he really didn't hate leah, just "loved her less".. i think he hated her.. its not that hard to understand.

if a man works seven long years, each night going to sleep with visions of a certain bright-eyed girl and then gets stuck with her dull-eyed plain sister, resentment could build.

NotBlind

I think if the Bible meant that Jacob 'loved Leah less', then it would have said so. It says he hated her.

Just another case of not letting the Bible speak for itself, even on something as mundane as the meaning of the world 'hate'.

14

Apostates at assemblies...

by TheApostleAK in

jw
friends

anyone here got any stories about apostates going on the rampage at any meetings, assemblies, conventions.. i haven't seen any but a young witness told me that his previous cong.

called the police to a meeting cos a df person went apesh*t once.. also, all aussie jw's should know about the riot at a glenelg convention in adelaide in the 1940's where apostates rushed to the sound equipment and some jw stood in there way and kinghit one of them.

(see 1983 yearbook).. from the apostle ak

NotBlind

My favorite method of information dissemination:

Print up several large self-adhesive mailing labels with a brief, thought-provoking message and stick on the back of bathroom stalls and urinals in the convention center.

Imagine: Sister Unaware sits down to take a crap and reads the crucial message: "Did you know that New Light must be approved by only two-thirds of the Governing Body, not by all? You could be disfellowshipped for a 'crime', even though a majority of the GB thinks there's nothing wrong with it."

Or Brother Doubting walks up to the urinal and reads the message stuck to the nearby wall: "When was Jerusalem destroyed? 607 BCE? Check any encyclopedia. It says 586. So what about 1914?"

Just a thought. Feasible? Comical? Maybe both?

45

Staying awake during the Watchtower study

by drahcir yarrum in

jw
friends

here's a question i always wanted answered during the years i was a witness.

what's the best way to stay awake during the watchtower study?

oh, furthermore, what's the best way to stay awake during any witness "snooze-a-thon" brainwashing session?

NotBlind

My favorite way to stay Awake! during the Watchtower Study:

Conveniently raise your hand on comment on a pertinent quote from one of Ray Franz' books. Then, enjoy watching the conductor hem and haw his way out of it.

Or: another old favorite: Take a nice old CB radio and drive alongside the Hall and broadcast the words "Shut up" over and over again. They'll hear it loud and clear!!! Works great on older halls where the sound system wiring isn't shielded too well. They'll think the devil himself is talking!

14

Memorial Attendance Figures 2001

by gsark in

jw
friends

at the dc this weekend, they released memorial attendance figures for the us.

funny thing.

2001 2, 163, 602 (announced at dc, if i wrote tham down correctly).

NotBlind

Yes, I too have noticed that baptisms (at least in the U.S.) have been down significantly in recent years. The 2000 figure of 30,290 baptisms is the lowest number in many, many years. I have the yearbooks going only as far back as 1985. In that year, there were 34,348 baptisms. Other years, such as 1990, showed over 47,000 baptisms.

In fact, to make a long story short, baptisms in the U.S. have dropped significantly for each of the last three years, from 45 thousand in 1997 down to the current figure.

Reasons? I don't want to rehash the fine possible explanations already given. Who knows?