Posts by WireRider

49

Forgiving Loans the Watchtower Way

by cofty in

bank - thank you for maintaining your loan repayments for the past 3 years.

to show our appreciation we are forgiving the balance of your loan.

borrower - yeah!.

WireRider

And if I understand this correctly ....

Bank - oh, we forgot to mention last week we sold the building/land. Get out.

16

Interesting Factoid - Religious Decline

by WireRider in

jw
friends

on the news today - pew research center study on religion.

(sampling size about 40,000. us samples.

margin of error +/- 0.6 %)americans who say that are "absolutely certain" that god exists2007 = 71% 2014 = 63%americans who say they are "religiously affiliated"2007 = 83% 2014 = 77%americans who consider religion is "very important"2007 = 56% 2014 = 53%i just thought it was interesting to see.

WireRider

I find it interesting that so many JW / former GB want a centralized socialist government.

9

Does anyone have copies of the WT tax exempt paperwork?

by WireRider in

the wt/jw has a presence in my town.

tax exempt status.

from what i understand the wt/jw is a for profit group that is taking advantage of the community as a whole.

WireRider

L R Hubbard spent his last years on a boat 15 miles out in international waters so the who he could get caught on tax fraud.

9

Does anyone have copies of the WT tax exempt paperwork?

by WireRider in

the wt/jw has a presence in my town.

tax exempt status.

from what i understand the wt/jw is a for profit group that is taking advantage of the community as a whole.

WireRider

sir82 -

Many organizations have lost their tax exempt status as religious frauds. The proof would really be in the paperwork. The WT created (changed) the JW specifically as a tax dodge to bypass taxes. If it were shown that the printing/real estate are the primary for profit entities, it could change.

So if the Watchtower (for profit) has a new building they can just claim it as sub-company as JW and dodge taxes by claiming "religion". I don't know why many more real estate companies don't pull this scam.

16

Interesting Factoid - Religious Decline

by WireRider in

jw
friends

on the news today - pew research center study on religion.

(sampling size about 40,000. us samples.

margin of error +/- 0.6 %)americans who say that are "absolutely certain" that god exists2007 = 71% 2014 = 63%americans who say they are "religiously affiliated"2007 = 83% 2014 = 77%americans who consider religion is "very important"2007 = 56% 2014 = 53%i just thought it was interesting to see.

WireRider

cofty - yes, there are various parts of the US with religious emphasis. I wouldn't be a JW knocking on doors in far south Baptist territory. They have their Bible and shotgun. Don't knock on their door and tell them they're wrong.

Levity aside - the US regions are very diverse. The study was nationwide and rather agnostic. It included all religions. JW are by random sampling, part of the study.

9

Does anyone have copies of the WT tax exempt paperwork?

by WireRider in

the wt/jw has a presence in my town.

tax exempt status.

from what i understand the wt/jw is a for profit group that is taking advantage of the community as a whole.

WireRider

The WT/JW has a presence in my town. Tax exempt status. From what I understand the WT/JW is a for profit group that is taking advantage of the community as a whole. I see a few KH in the area. Few if any taxes. Simply put, claiming they are above taxes that everyone else pays.

Why?

I have never once seen in any way that the WT/JW helps the general good of the town/community in any way. All I see is a plague of JW knocking on door an bothering people who want them to leave town. It's like a plague of locus looking to drain/bleed the money of the local communities one-by-one. NEVER any give back to the community as tax exempt.

I would welcome a mailing list of JW in my area, and I will go door to door.

16

Interesting Factoid - Religious Decline

by WireRider in

jw
friends

on the news today - pew research center study on religion.

(sampling size about 40,000. us samples.

margin of error +/- 0.6 %)americans who say that are "absolutely certain" that god exists2007 = 71% 2014 = 63%americans who say they are "religiously affiliated"2007 = 83% 2014 = 77%americans who consider religion is "very important"2007 = 56% 2014 = 53%i just thought it was interesting to see.

WireRider

On the news today - PEW Research Center study on religion. (sampling size about 40,000. US samples. Margin of error +/- 0.6 %)
Americans who say that are "absolutely certain" that God exists2007 = 71% 2014 = 63%
Americans who say they are "religiously affiliated"2007 = 83% 2014 = 77%
Americans who consider religion is "very important"2007 = 56% 2014 = 53%
I just thought it was interesting to see. It does not necessarily indicate a linear decline. There could have been good years and bad years, but the overall trend is dropping. You have to believe for those that derive all of their income from religious claims, "donations", free slave sales labor, have to be planning accordingly. All are dropping.
It's hard to believe that any religious group is claiming year-over-year great growth for decades. Constant needs for building and expansion does not make sense.
Why do people donate money and volunteer to create real estate properties wholly owned for the mother ship?

5

Leah Remini talks about her new book - October 30, 2015 at 10:00pm Eastern Time - on ABC News 20/20

by Faithful Witness in

first look at leah remini exclusive: 'being critical of tom cruise is being critical of scientology itself'.

abc news.

actress leah remini reveals in an exclusive interview with abc news 20/20 how tom cruise was one of the factors that led her to break from the church of scientology.. being critical of tom cruise is being critical of scientology itself... you are evil, remini told abcs dan harris in a new promotional clip from the interview.. remini, 45, describes how she and her family joined the church when she was a young girl, built a successful acting career in hollywood while being a diligent scientologist, and how she eventually decided to sever ties with the church.. as time goes on, you start to lose touch with the real world.

WireRider

Recap:

It was interesting. I think it is educational when you listen to other's religions, and recognize that you have a personal bias based on how you were raised, and make an effort, an educational evaluation, and an open mind.

With that said - the Scientologists are full of SH*T.

Some thoughts in no particular order -

I think Leah Remini has an ax to grind. She does. I don't doubt her honesty. Listening with that awareness. I think some of of the letter responses from Scientology were very telling. I'm sure they read and re-read their statements many times before mailing them.

I can't count how many 100 of times I heard the words "Church" and "religion". I don't ever remember a single time I heard the word God. Church, Church, Church, religion, religion, religion - no God. (they have transcended the WT and have dispensed with any pretext of religion or God - and go straight for money and enslaved labor)

Kirstie Alley quote "When you decide to blanket statement that Scientology is evil - you are my enemy", So if the WT rails with hate speech about Christian Churches, forbidding anyone from every attending one as they evil. That would pretty much say that each and every JW/WT has 2.2 billion bitter enemies.

The Scientologist are as far from an Armageddon cult as possible. The firmly believe in reincarnation. The sign a "billion year" contract - so you can serve them for your next 1000000 reincarnations.

"Disfellowshipped = Disconnect". Disconnect also comes between spouses.

I think a good moment was when everything hit the fan - she left - but here entire family went with her in unison - many who were in Scientology their whole lives. Way to take a stand!

I remember L.R. Hubbard lived for many years on his boat, just outside of US coastal water, because he was charge with very serious tax evasion charges. He couldn't come within 15 miles of shore or he would be arrested.

The highlight of the ENTIRE show was that as Leah reached higher levels, she was increasing able to access more internal private "Church" documents. S h e r e a d h i g h l e v e l "Church Documents" t h a t s a i d Xune t h e galactic overlord took enemies and smote them by throwing them into a volcano, where they were exploded in to bits, and those individual bits re-incarnated and separately all became each member of the human race. (remember L R Hubbard was a science fiction writer) The news interview people asked Scientolgy to confirm Xenu - the formal response was "every religion has it's own internal practices and private beliefs".

HFS/WTF - Tom Cruise, Kirstie Alley, John Travolta, and every one else honestly believe that Xune the Galactic Overlord is who they worship. All hail Xune. Really?

Not to be rude - but that is how 2.2 billion Catholic/Protestants have the same view of the JW/WT.

11

Is there actually a valid Translation of the Bible ?

by Phizzy in

i saw a vid on-line awhile ago, i cannot remember the title so can't find it, but the guy was some sort of expert in the languages of the bible, and he made a very good case that there has never been a proper translation of the bible.. what he was saying was that all translators fall into the same trap of an overly slavish use of the etymology of words rather than how language was actually used at the time of writing.. he said that what was needed were scholars who were familiar with secular contemporaneous writings, and knew how language was used at the time.. this looks like a very interesting argument.. any thoughts ?

?.

WireRider

I think it was a Mel Brooks movie - Moses is coming down the mountain carrying 3 big stone tablets, surrounded by an awe struck crowd, shouting "God has given us 15 commandment to live our life by". He stumbles at the bottom, and one of the tablets falls and shatters to bits. Everyone gasps and look around at each other. Then Moses stands back up and shouts "10. God has given us 10 commandments".

11

Is there actually a valid Translation of the Bible ?

by Phizzy in

i saw a vid on-line awhile ago, i cannot remember the title so can't find it, but the guy was some sort of expert in the languages of the bible, and he made a very good case that there has never been a proper translation of the bible.. what he was saying was that all translators fall into the same trap of an overly slavish use of the etymology of words rather than how language was actually used at the time of writing.. he said that what was needed were scholars who were familiar with secular contemporaneous writings, and knew how language was used at the time.. this looks like a very interesting argument.. any thoughts ?

?.

WireRider

One thing to consider also, is where the scrolls came from. Many scrolls were not committed to paper for 100s to 1000s of years after the events took place. That's a lot of word-of-mouth passed down for a lot of generations. I don't recall any stories of which disciples were the designated stenographers or note takes. Not a lot of people running around with a pencil and a pad of paper to take notes. When the Bible has people "quoting" God or Jesus, how did that work, and how accurate could they be?

I have heard researchers claim that the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were not written until somewhere between 200-300 AD. They were written by others as if in the first person.

If finally written down after passing the stories down for several generations, or if the scrolls had been copied by hand several times, it's hard to overlook the impact of the writer person bias, or a religious groups bias. Ehhh - I think he probably really meant .. Or let's embellish that part a little so it sounds good. Or I think he would have said ..

So exact translations based on the language and/or era are really secondary. A perfectly translations means little if the original sources cannot be verified. Some may actually be completely fictional - they just seemed to fir the narrative of the Bible and were thrown in there.

On the flip side, there were very factual gospels, that didn't make the cut because the Council of Nicaea's opinion of what the overall narrative should be.