by three decisions handed down over the last year, the strasbourg court has declared 12 complaints, all named "christian religious organization of jehovah's witnesses against armenia", inadmissible.
the cases concerned imposition of value-added tax (vat) on imported literature - on 67 shipments received between 2007 and 2015, to be exact.
in short, the organization claimed that, first, the shipments should be tax-free pursuant to article 12 of the freedom of conscience act ("monetary and other gifts received by religious organisations, as well as income received from citizens shall not be subject to taxation"); secondly, the customs authorities arbitrarily determined the customs value of the imports based on, for example, the prices the bible society of armenia (affiliated with the dominant armenian apostolic church) sold imported religious literature.. up until march 2007, there were constant problems receiving regular shipments of religious literature, which should be tax-free but which customs arbitrarily reassessed at unpredictable higher values and then imposed a value-added tax of 20 percent.
Thanks Corney, that gives us an insight in to the problems with the ECHR.
As you say, it seems as though the JW Legal team mistakenly thought merely going to the European Court would solve their problem without them going through due procedure. They have made similar mistakes in other Jurisdictions, being late with filing stuff with the Court and so on. I cannot quite decide if this springs from their arrogance, or their ineptitude at matters Legal. Maybe a bit of both.
blondie, flipper, shirley w, where are you?
did this site get too republican for you?
i just take those threads with a grain of salt..
I stay here mainly so as to encourage those who have recently left, if I can be of help in any way, I am always pleased to do so.
I miss the old "in-depth" stuff too, though good old boy Doug Mason provides some !
Good to hear that some of the Posters of old are still around, but as said above, it is great when people move on, many have used this place as a Half Way House, and once recovered sufficiently from the JW Cult experience, move on and leave JW Land far behind, a healthy choice !
This is a good thing for Newbies to access as Terry says above : DON'T FORGET you have a monumentally valuable archive here. Just click on your favourite names and the entire history of their topics and post is still available. ( I would add, you can search the Subject you are interested in too )
i have been researching the second temple period (2tp) for a little while and there is more i have yet to do.. i am preparing a series of 5 studies (plus a separate list of resources) and the first study has reached its draft stage.. normally, i do not make a draft publicly available, but for several reasons i decided to do so this time.
this study deals with the messiahs prior to and during the 2tp.. as this is a draft, i will appreciate – even encourage – any feedback, especially criticisms and corrections.. messiahs (draft): https://jwstudies.com/2tp_messiahs.pdf.
resources (draft): https://jwstudies.com/2tp_resources.pdf.
Thanks Doug, I will read later, and only comment if necessary, but I must say, your research has been an astounding eye-opener to me, and given me a much broader appreciation of the evolution of the idea of a Messiah, and therefore of the frailty of Christian Doctrine on the matter. Thanks you very much.
Your links to your Sources also provide many hours of further reading for me !
language is obviously a very important thing.
obviously, language is essential in conveying ideas - without it, we'd be screwed.. but it goes beyond that in terms of its importance.. first, it's a good idea to use accurate language, especially when talking about important things or discussing difficult topics.. second, we should be free to use the words we want to use.
unfortunately, there is an attempt by certain people to control what words we can and cannot say.
I agree broadly with what you say, but with the proviso that we should not use words that spring from Racism or Hate and are intended to hurt the person being spoken of. All Freedoms have some limits.
But there is a strong influencing group who are becoming Word Nazis and it is becoming silly. Another problem is where on-line sites use an electronic system to pick up words that are deemed offensive, these systems make mistakes, and of course cannot distinguish between using a word gratuitously and using it in an acceptable context.
You can easily end up banned from a Social Media Site for wrongly spelling the word cant for example ! Type U instead of A and you are in Social Media Prison !
hi,.
while focusing on completing my studies on the second temple period, occasionally i receive questions which help keep the creative juices flowing, and which help me shape my studies.. my responses are thrown off the top without any time spent in serious research.. https://jwstudies.com/my_responses_up_to_4_december_2020.pdf.
doug.
Thanks Doug, I shall read with great interest later !
do you think that when people leave the religion that they are basically now, “normal”?
or do you think it’s more a work in progress?.
I think most of us who leave at least have a few things to work on, some have many. What I find annoying about some XJW's is that they are not prepared to put the work in to change for the better, they think that just leaving is sufficient.
Listen, if you were an arsehole when you were a JW, you still are an arsehole if you haven't addressed your affliction ! Put on the " New Personality ". LOL.
when i say; “socialist” i don’t mean everyone is equal.
instead i am referring to “leaders” being rich and powerful, whereas the ordinary citizen being poor, and powerless.. i was surprise that the majority of the world is run by socialist government.
the last few countries that are not socialist are the united states and parts of europe.
" As flawed as capitalism is, it still works better. "
I don't know what kind of "Socialism" you are comparing capitalism with, but Capitalism unfettered has been a complete failure for the ordinary person, and just "works better" for the 1%.
okay, i haven't been to a meeting in over 17 years and i don't live anywhere near the place i grew up.
i have had minimal contact with my jw family, essentially just occasional phone conversations.
i think they could easily guess that i'm inactive but they pretend not to know and they've never shunned me.
DOC, I guess if you really start some very public activism, or are helping JW's to wake up, as I do, then they may target you.
It all seems so very petty and small minded, but then, they are. I reckon if they deem it too long ago that you were a member to make it worthwhile DFing you, then they will DA you and let it be known, so that JW's steer clear of you anyway.
It still seems strange to me that they deem it sensible, or even acceptable to people looking in on the Org, to take action against someone who was a member many years ago. If anyone had the money, time and will to do so, I think a Court case for defamation or something would be a fun thing to do, to lay before the Public how very childish and silly they are. What proof could they offer a Court that you had been a member ? no Record Card, just hearsay evidence from people who remember you. I can see the JW's being laughed at in Court, and paying some damages.
i thought i would post an encouraging experience i found today.
i've been seeing a lot of 70-80 year old jws waking up, and their children are posting their experience on reddit.
these are old elders, pioneers, circuit overseers who have given their everything and finally at the end of their life, are walking away.. maybe the key to waking up is that a person has to have a deep sense of right and wrong.
It is a difficult decision if we have the opportunity to wake up an older person. Will it be of benefit to them, in other words, will they end up HAPPIER for being woken up ? If it is your honest opinion they will not find a happier life by being woken up, then, leave them.
I know we can look at their life in the Org and see all the down sides, but, will they be HAPPIER if released ?
Not all will, I have JW relatives who have given their whole life to it, all their " friends" are in it, it is their Social Support Network, it is their Hope. Who am I to take that away from them, however false it may be, if by doing so I make them more miserable ?
But, I am one who if I was entrapped until now in it, and I am in my 70's, but was woken up. I would SO appreciate it ! and love whoever helped me to wake up ! even at my time of life.
So, all I am saying is, make your judgement on this well.
so the past couple of years, i’ve read several stories about jws who left the organization at an early age because they knew something wasn’t right------but they never bothered to research the religion.
there was this feeling that the watchtower was not god’s only channel.
so they left at an early age.
HTBWC, lucky you ! and I mean that, you didn't have to go through the process that so many have had to do to " de-programme" or whatever you like to call it.
But an awful lot DO need to go through the process to some degree, if they do not do it, as the O.P states, they end up being in the pitiable state of them being out of the religion, but, the religion not being out of them. That is so sad, that some people are like that.
Any help we can offer such people should be given to them, so they can lead a happy, free life as we do.
