ozziepost

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Posts by ozziepost

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  17

  Punishment and control: the secret handbook that rules a religion

  by Tahoe in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this article is behind a paywall: https://www.smh.com.au/national/punishment-and-control-the-secret-handbook-that-rules-a-religion-20231026-p5ef9z.html.

  a herald investigation has uncovered disturbing practices within the jehovah’s witness church, including the systems for discipline, punishment and control in a secret rule book for church “elders”.. australian children in the jehovah’s witnesses religion are being trained to avoid life-saving blood transfusions and parents are being coached to thwart court processes that may prevent their children from dying, internal church documents reveal.. an investigation following an inquest into the death of jehovah’s witness heather winchester, who died in newcastle after refusing a blood transfusion, has uncovered disturbing practices within the australian church, including the systems for discipline, punishment and control contained in the secret rule book for church “elders”.. the church’s blood transfusion ban forces people to choose between risking death by refusing treatment or being “shunned” – cut off from family and friends under the church’s strict rules – according to 16 former and current members of the church interviewed and the testimony of many others.. .

  some of them believe it has cost hundreds of lives in australia.. “i think it’s truly dangerous for children, who are not old enough to vote or drive, to be coached about how to convince a judge or doctors about a decision that is potentially life-threatening,” said fleur hawes, 32, a solicitor who escaped the religion and is speaking out for the first time.. in public, the jehovah’s witnesses’ leadership downplays the impacts of its ban on blood transfusions, which are based on interpretations of bible passages that say christians should not eat blood.. .

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  ozziepost

  @ Bill Covert

  Realize I am a mechanic not a wordsmith, I can't hold a candle to the writing skills of many on this site.

  Thank you for adding this.

  You raise a heap of objections and I’m sure it’s being digested in many parts of the world right now.
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  42

  New meeting format

  by ExBethelitenowPIMA in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  just watched november broadcast very different order to the leaked agm .

  be good if someone did a deep dive on the difference and why the changes?

  i didn’t time the items but it should be easy to see if edited?.

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  ozziepost

  What a confusing mess! They've changed this part and the accompanying 'instructions' so many times in recent years, it's a joke.

  That’s for sure!

  I left the so-called “Truth TM “around thirty years ago and I’m sure that if I were to visit my local Kingdom Hall now for a meeting, I would hardly recognise it and probably would feel like any ‘newly interested person’ excepting that I had the benefit of experience, knowing that, as the song goes, “it ain’t necessarily so “.

  I have learned a lot these past thirty years. One thing I see clearly is that the christian belief is based on what we read in the Gospels and the Epistles.

  Nowhere is further revelation or ‘correction’ or ‘new light’ mentioned.

  It is what it is.

  instead the Witchtower subjects their sychophantic believers to an ever-changing smorgasbord of beliefs and formats.

  Looking over the current format for their mid-week meeting, I find it’s structure is confusing.

  I’m sure the mind-numbed attendees cope with it but how does it “build up” the faith of the fellowship?

  Cheers,

  Ozzie 🍷(of the “truth shall set you free class”)
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  68

  Lloyd Evans Patreoff Pool - December 2023

  by DerekMoors in

  1. social
  2. humour

  put in your bets as to where you think lard i mean lloyd evans will land after december's drop in his patrons.

  in september he started at 457 patrons, did his whiny begging fest and peaked at 478, but then dropped down to 439 at the beginning of october.

  as of this moment (nov. 6), he's at 427 paid members.. so, where do you think he'll be on december 2nd?

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  ozziepost

  Oh OK, this number I’ve gone with again and again, but for me it’s still……………..397
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  9

  Need Vocal Renditions of Sing Praises to Jehovah

  by cybernyben101 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am looking for vocal renditions of some the kingdom songs in this old songbook: sing praises to jehovah.

  most of my favorite kingdom songs are from that songbook and i would love to download them on my phone.

  i enjoy listening to vocal renditions of kingdom melodies.

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  ozziepost

  Hi cybernyben101:

  First of all, may I welcome you aboard!

  This site has been a place of both instruction and fellowshipping for many years.

  I first ‘arrived’ some 23 years ago and in all that time have met up with a good many folks, most of whom have different recollections of the Kingdom songs to what you have. Some of us find that at the weirdest moments the tune or lyric of a kingdom song interrupts our day’s routine.

  Many folk associate these songs with emotional and even physical abuse.

  If you check this site further, you will come across a plentiful record of that.

  Anyways, you’re welcome here, there’s no shunning!

  Cheers,

  Ozzie 🍷
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  37

  Can the Watchtower Society survive without time reports?

  by DT in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  there has already been much discussion about how the watchtower society has declared in australia that going door to door is part of a personal ministry.

  this seems to be a lame attempt to avoid liability considering that they require time reports and have formal meetings for field service at the kingdom hall.. this is a bit of a dilemma.

  reporting time and formal meetings for field service are important methods of control, however it's not clear if the organization is willing or able to handle the potential liability that may come from this.. imagine what would happen if they lost these methods of control.

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  ozziepost

  
  LV10116 hours agoHas there ever been a defector or turncoat from the financial arena of WT? The bean counters must get a cut 😂 -- not sure how they maintain privacy and protect/secure the group's secrecy other than execution of confidentiality agreements/clauses thus paying/retaining professional accounting firms. Use the in-house volunteers for basic bookkeeping only.

  I’m going to respond to this in a mysterious way.

  Remember the song’s lyric “it ain’t necessarily so” ?

  Presuming a situation exists doesn’t make it true.

  My own life experience (“let the reader use discernment”) leads me to express doubt about this proposition

  Long-term posters here may understand where I’m coming from.

  What we imagine is the situation for Bethelites who’ve served in that area may not be the reality.

  Cheers,

  Ozzie🍷
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  37

  If you were to design a new religion?

  by ExBethelitenowPIMA in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  what the jw sect has become and is slowly becoming is far more near what i thought could be a good religion based on the bible.. no more counting hours and no more blindly following direction now they admit they are not inspired.. i would like to design a new sect inside the jws.

  it has to be kept secret because the elders would not like it.. this new sect involves giving a tick every month or so saying you are still kindof active talking about the bible.. going to meetings occasionally and attending on zoom sometimes.

  very rarely go to ministry groups but don’t ever do first call, just say you are doing street work and have a nice walk somewhere maybe the shops or the park.

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  ozziepost

  Ozzie the point of this new JWLITE is you take the good stuff and leave the bad stuff. Happy families, good friends, good association part of strong community. Always there for each other.

  And are the good friends and happy families really that?

  No more exclusion zones? (“Disfellowshipping”)

  Sounds good but I can’t help feeling disappointment is on the horizon.

  I’ve found people who believe in the labor party for similar reasons but they have sure been disappointed!
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  37

  If you were to design a new religion?

  by ExBethelitenowPIMA in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  what the jw sect has become and is slowly becoming is far more near what i thought could be a good religion based on the bible.. no more counting hours and no more blindly following direction now they admit they are not inspired.. i would like to design a new sect inside the jws.

  it has to be kept secret because the elders would not like it.. this new sect involves giving a tick every month or so saying you are still kindof active talking about the bible.. going to meetings occasionally and attending on zoom sometimes.

  very rarely go to ministry groups but don’t ever do first call, just say you are doing street work and have a nice walk somewhere maybe the shops or the park.

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  ozziepost

  1. What the JW sect has become and is slowly becoming is far more near what I thought could be a good religion based on the Bible.

  Repeat something over and over and people may accept it but there’s no way that the borg’s teachings are “bible based”.

  Never forget that.
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  34

  Betty Georges - The Female Helper to the Governing Body

  by MillennialDawn in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  betty georges is listed as a helper to the governing body service committee, according to this page on the website: https://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/faq/governing-body-jw-helpers/.

  anybody know anything about her?.

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  ozziepost

  Back in the day….

  when I was a commuter Bethelite, i interacted in the finance area with a sister who certainly wielded authority. It was procedure in the branch office to seek her approval for certain administrative decisions that needed to be made.

  (Not that in any way do I resent that now, but it was definitely significantly ‘different’ at the time)

  Sorry, but I think it best not to name us all from that time. But I served as a director of one of the Society’s corporations and so longtime posters will understand why with personal circumstances I do not name “names”.🙂

  Cheers,

  Ozzie 🍷
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  176

  No more REPORTING field service!!!!!!!!!

  by BoogerMan in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this is going to break the hearts of a lot of uber-jw's!

  reddit has now removed the video link of samuel herd telling jw's they will no longer have to report time or placements - just tick a box which says "active.".

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akdshyx79rm&t=13s.

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  ozziepost

  @ChildofGod89

  Over many many years people have blown in here, no doubt sincere in their own way, but let’s be honest you have no reason to be here. You have no connection with former Jehovah’s Witnesses do you?

  Or am I mistaken?
  
  
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  41

  2023-10-13-Announcement (Reporting Field Service)

  by Atlantis in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  2023-10-13-announcements (reporting field service).

  page 1. https://imgbox.com/96lgsfw4 .

  page 2. https://imgbox.com/zynoa02m .

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  ozziepost

  
  

  So when this is announced, and excitement abounds in keen anticipation of the November JW Broadcasting program, what on earth has Isaiah 60:17 got to do with it?

  The most convoluted example of their “Bible based” theology.