NotFormer

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Posts by NotFormer

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  88

  What does the Catholic church think of JW?

  by Halcon in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  on a trip to rome a few years ago i asked my friend (who is roman and jw) what the catholic faith thinks of jw.

  he simply stated that jw is tolerated by the church but that really not much thought is given to them.

  is there an official stance on jw by the catholics?

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  NotFormer

  'We have holy spirit, but you are the ones doing the work.’

  No Pentecostal would have said that*. It wouldn't have hurt the WT denial of the Trinity doctrine to accurately quote a purported conversation.

  *The first clause, that is
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  18

  Space just got Girl-Bossed!!!!

  by DATA-DOG in

  1. social
  2. current

  the founding members of the:.

  advanced.

  taskforce.

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  NotFormer

  I wonder what it did to their egos the second that the denial claims began to surface? 🤔😱
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  13

  JULY 2025 STUDY WT How to Give Advice

  by blondie in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i scanned this article and i saw a theme throughout it.

  when info like this shows up in the study wt, you can be sure the elders are doing it wrong and the wts hits directly on what it is.

  older elders do it wrong and train by word and action the newer elders to do it wrong.

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  NotFormer

  It's been gone into in great detail here over the years, but I'll raise it again. A smart JW who knows the issues might decide that since all the fractions that make up whole blood are allowed in any combination, logically whole blood should be allowed. They might argue with themselves about it, saying that the spirit, if not the letter, of that law would allow the use of whole blood. Since which fractions in what quantities are up to the individual JW's conscience, he may decide that his conscience is clear and allow whole blood within his medical treatment. Of course, he'd have to be REALLY smart and not let the HLC get a whiff of what's going on. And no-one at all within his family or social circle. It would be wise as a JW to not ever talk about any medical issue except to one's doctor, etc,. I'm guessing. Perhaps with regards to all medical treatment, not just where blood is involved. We know just from the article that spawned this thread that elders and their advice/judgement can trespass into areas which even WT HQ is covertly admitting is above their (the elders' and JC's) pay grade.

  I doubt that any JW is going to go through the logical steps of reaching the conclusion: if Jehovah allows all the fractions of blood, in any combination, he must logically allow whole blood. They've been so exposed to and frightened by the blood issue that they wouldn't know how to follow the steps to that conclusion. Unless they lurk somewhere like here, of course, and do a lot of reading...
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  13

  JULY 2025 STUDY WT How to Give Advice

  by blondie in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i scanned this article and i saw a theme throughout it.

  when info like this shows up in the study wt, you can be sure the elders are doing it wrong and the wts hits directly on what it is.

  older elders do it wrong and train by word and action the newer elders to do it wrong.

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  NotFormer

  Blondie, TL;DR version, what do you think their point is?

  The most prominent example in the article is of medical advice. Is the blood policy what is being obliquely referred to here?

  Then there seems to be a hint that elders are looking too hard for examples of sin. When a behaviour or attitude is less than desirable, but hasn't crossed the line into being "sinful", perhaps?

  At first glance it looks like they're encouraging kinder and gentler behaviour, but I've learned never to assume that to be the WT's motive. Is it about reducing the number of sins and crimes on the books (more secret files kept on the congregation?) so that governments don't become even more interested in the WT than they already are?

  I figure that the less times people are taken into the backroom and the less corresponding paperwork sent to Bethel, the less controlling Bethel looks.
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  18

  Space just got Girl-Bossed!!!!

  by DATA-DOG in

  1. social
  2. current

  the founding members of the:.

  advanced.

  taskforce.

  1. 
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  3. 
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  NotFormer

  Katy Perry kissed the ground, and she liked it! 😳
• 
  26

  Green Handshakes - Taxable income in Australia

  by Listener in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i was doing some research on the taxable status of money being gifted to co’s and travelling missionaries and was surprised with what i found.

  i had assumed that it was not taxable income in australia.. it is taxable income in australia and it‘s likely that the same rules apply in some other countries.. a registered religious institution only receives tax free status on donations because they have been endorsed by the australian tax office.

  travelling overseas and missionaries are not in this category.. there’s a tax ruling that goes into great detail.

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  NotFormer

  Just out of curiosity (any answer is going to be anecdotal and speculative, but here goes), just how much is a green handshake worth? Would it be $100 here and there per congregation, or would it be multiple envelopes stuffed with cash? 🤔
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  7

  philip brumley wt 7/2025 experience

  by andr in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  how encouraging one finds the experience of a liar.

  https://www.jw.org/en/library/magazines/watchtower-study-july-2025/the-battle-belongs-to-jehovah/.

  philip brumley is a legal counsel associated with the jehovah's witnesses organization, having worked for about 40 years at their world headquarters' legal department.

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  NotFormer

  "I qualified as an attorney in 1988, but I was dangerously unaware of what I had allowed this accomplishment to do to my spirituality. Higher education can nurture a desire for self-promotion and foster the notion that having specialized knowledge elevates a person above others who do not have a similar education"

  Reading between the lines: "Even though by necessity, some of us elite were chosen to get higher education, don't you plebs think for a minute that we would encourage you to do likewise!"
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  18

  Space just got Girl-Bossed!!!!

  by DATA-DOG in

  1. social
  2. current

  the founding members of the:.

  advanced.

  taskforce.

  1. 
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  3. 
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  NotFormer

  That publicity stunt was more pathetic than pizza hut making a delivery to the ISS. 🙄

  What a motley crew! If this is the future of space exploration, we're going to be Earthbound for a long time.

  Edited to add: nice acronym, BTW 👍👌
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  31

  Curious? How many members of this group feel we are living in the "End Times"?

  by Balaamsass2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i like to take a peek at the kids over on reddit every week or so.. this thread caught my eye:" curious….

  do any ex jw or pimo, still believe the world is ending.

  i see people who have never been witnesses think that the world will end soon and they say things like “jesus is coming soon”….

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  NotFormer

  "Uncomfortable times" seem to crop up cyclically throughout history. I would say that this is an "uncomfortable time". The last similar period would probably be the early seventies. Hal Lindsey's Late Great Planet Earth became a best seller at the time because it struck a chord with those who were feeling uncomfortable about the news of the day. He predicted an imminent Rapture and Great Tribulation. And he was arguably a parent of all that "Left Behind" stuff.

  I imagine JWs, with 1975 rapidly approaching, were similarly excited by what seemed to be worsening global conditions.

  Fifty years down the track, we find ourselves in a similarly uncomfortable era. Hopefully, there will be many more in the future.
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  26

  Green Handshakes - Taxable income in Australia

  by Listener in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i was doing some research on the taxable status of money being gifted to co’s and travelling missionaries and was surprised with what i found.

  i had assumed that it was not taxable income in australia.. it is taxable income in australia and it‘s likely that the same rules apply in some other countries.. a registered religious institution only receives tax free status on donations because they have been endorsed by the australian tax office.

  travelling overseas and missionaries are not in this category.. there’s a tax ruling that goes into great detail.

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  NotFormer

  "Third-world countries don’t tax people on this."

  Since the above tax office ruling classifies gifts to missionaries as assessible income, I imagine any JW sent from NY Bethel* to Australia as a "missionary"** would be taxed as a foreign worker. Which would mean that they wouldn't even qualify for the tax free threshold of $18200 (mentioned by joey JoJo above), but should be paying 32¢ in the dollar from dollar one.

  But the consensus in this thread seems to be that all these "gifts" end up being under the table, "black economy" transactions. So much for "render unto Caesar"! 🙄

  *As an example. Would JWs classified as "missionaries" even come to Australia?

  **Does this happen when a high ranking Bethelite is sent out here: are they classified as "missionaries"?