Posts by WinstonSmith

19

The WT doesn't believe in infant baptism, but does an 11 year old really understand what they're getting into isn't just a pool with a lot of people looking on?

by oppostate in

a scene from today's "safeguard your heart" district convention of jehovah's witnesses.

(with thanks to ignacio luis gutierrez).

http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/182579_326510270757133_1763913794_n.jpg.

WinstonSmith

Mrs Smith got baptised at 10. Her reason? Because she loved God? Because she fervently desired a lifelong commitment to helping people undertand the bible? Because she wanted God's name sanctified?

No.

She did it because she thought it would make her Mum happy.

A child of this age cannot possibly understand that, once they make this decision, if they change their mind in five years they will have to farewell everyone they love in order to gain their freedom.

This picture gives me chills.

Why can't they just let kids be kids?

Gotta get those numbers up somehow I guess. They certainly aren't pouring in from the field.

171

Watchtower's Billion Dollars of Property Cannot Be Sold until Outcome of Conti Appeal

by Dogpatch in

30 minutes ago i just got off the phone with some important players in this case, and some things were relayed to me concerning a lot of details of the outcome of the last two days of court.

i am passing this on.

cynthia hampton, one of the main players in the candace conti case (and a close friend of 28 years), just informed me of a further, far more powerful move by the state of california against the watch tower bible and tract society of new york, inc.. by order of the superior court of the state of california - county of alameda (see documents below), until the watch tower's appeal, which won't begin until august 13th and will take up to two years to settle due to due process of law, has forbidden the watch tower to sell any more of its $1 billion in assets in the borough of brooklyn until the appeals case is finished, to assure they won't shelter their monies in the light of this most huge and devastating sexual abuse scandal ever to hit the watch tower society, and perhaps any other single-victim lawsuit.

WinstonSmith

As Irondork mentioned on page 2 of this thread, a while ago the WTS said they wern't sure of what Jehovah's will was on the planned upcoming building projects. Hey guys, I think you have your answer!

Of course, as Agonus noted above, this will no doubt be spun as being a sign of the end, Satan causing trouble and / or the opening stages of the Great Tribulation.

My experience has always been with JWs that when something good happens, it is Jehovah's blessing, a sign that he approves of a course of action. When something bad happens, rather than being an indication of no blessing from Jehovah, or disapproval of the course of action, Satan gets blamed for stirring things up.

Confirmation bias at its finest.

106

Plaintiff awarded in punitive damages -21M & 1 dollar. Total award, 28M & 1 dollar. Here's more info

by AndersonsInfo in

the plaintiff, candace conti's goal from the very beginning was to bring enough attention to this problem to incentivize watchtower to change its policy of secrecy.

the award can be explained as it was decided: separate compensatory and punitive damages.

the punitive award is established in law to punish wrongdoing - here, the conscious disregard for others - and deter that conduct in the future.

WinstonSmith

To all involved, our sincerest thanks for your bravery, hard work, and dedication. This will be a big hit for the Society from a financial, public relations and trust point of view. This may well be the thing that motivates many more to front up and let the Society know that they cannot get away with their lies, cannot cover up these horrid crimes, and bear heavy responsibility for their actions. It may cause many to finally question the legitimacy of these so-called mouthpieces of God.

Love, peace and hugs to all.

Mr and Mrs Smith

5

NZ cult preparing to move into compound

by Black Sheep in

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4743327a11.html.

church wants to set up 'destiny city'wednesday, 29 october 2008. the leader of destiny church says plans are underway to create a self-contained "destiny city" for its followers in the middle of south auckland.. .

self-styled bishop brian tamaki made the announcement at the church's 10th birthday conference, held over the weekend.. mr tamaki said donations of more than $2.4 million had already been collected for the creation of the city.. the church was three weeks away from securing an eight-hectare plot "in the heart" of south auckland, tv3 news reported.. plans for the city include a 5000-seat church, maraes, medical centres and schools - eliminating the need for residents to ever leave.. "every child of every member of this church will never go to a state school again," mr tamaki said.. he urged the church's 7000-plus members to sell their homes and move to his city "for the purpose of god".. tv3 news said it had been contacted by a man whose mother planned to sell up six properties in order to donate the money to the church and secure a spot in destiny city.. the church could not be contacted for comment tonight.. nzpa.

WinstonSmith

Hello Black Sheep,

Thanks for the info, great post. Man these guys have really stepped things up since when we were in NZ. Around the time we left NZ, Tamaki had appointed himself bishop and they had the march on parliament all dressed in black chanting the slogan of "enough's enough!"

It always made me sick how he has filled his pockets with the money of his followers, lives the rich life while many of his followers are left to struggle day to day.

If they want land in South Auckland, I hear there is another cult with land and buildings for sale in Mangere.....

5

jw.org message

by Gayle in

jw
friends

"we are working on a new design for jw.org and expect it to be available around september 1, 2012.

".

WinstonSmith

I noticed that yesterday when I was downloading a WT.

In the letter that announced the smaller mags and a move to online based content, wasn't the expected date in June sometime?

Maybe the WTS geeks have been too busy trying to shutdown Sparlock appearances on YouTube to complete the work on the site merge....?

10

Field Service meetings?

by JWOP in

i'm just curious: since the wts did away with book studies in members homes, how does the field service meetings go now?

do people still meet in members homes, or are all fs meetings now at the kingdom hall every day?

or do they now have some other arrangement?.

WinstonSmith

Hello JWOP,

In our area here in Australia, each elder is assigned a Field Service Group. The Society recommends that each group be made up of 16 publishers max. The idea of maintaining the groups even though there is no bookstudy anymore is so that the elders can shepherd those in their group. They generally meet at the home of one of the members of the group, but there are always one or two groups that meet at the hall. The congregation combines once a month.

My experience with the group I looked after was that while I had 15 members, we only ever had a core group of three or four actually come out. Shepherding never gets done as there is no time or energy. The best most publishers get is the 'privelige' of working with the Group Overseer every now and then and getting asked 'So how are things with you sister?' . All in all pretty shallow and far from the rosy picture of what was painted when the arrangement changed.

30

Some observations on Animal Farm by George Orwell

by WinstonSmith in

i recently finished reading animal farm, written by george orwell.

as someone who has recently awoken to the truth about the truth, this book blew my mind.

the parallels with the watchtower society are quite astounding.

WinstonSmith

@cantleave: Hello! By all means, feel free to use the info in my post. If possible if you are posting it online, I hope you can share the link with us. It will be interesting to see the wider opinion of the application to the WTS.

Cheers :-)

WS

30

Some observations on Animal Farm by George Orwell

by WinstonSmith in

i recently finished reading animal farm, written by george orwell.

as someone who has recently awoken to the truth about the truth, this book blew my mind.

the parallels with the watchtower society are quite astounding.

WinstonSmith

Hello everyone,

Your comments make for interesting reading! I really enjoyed reading the book. I read a LOT of books and it has been a long time since one created such a reaction in my mind.

For those still reading it, or contemplating it, please post your thoughts here once you are done. I would love to hear your thoughts on how a book written about an oppressive regime mirrors the WTS.

Read a book, expand your mind.

8

One scripture in 45 minutes

by WinstonSmith in

further evidence that the wts values it's own publications above the bible.

in the last 45 minutes of our meeting, there was only one scripture used.

from the end of the number three talk through to the final song - one single solitary scripture.. the number three talk finished.

WinstonSmith

Hi guys,

Great comments. So true that the WTS have become further and further removed from their origins of sitting around and discussing scriptures. Nowadays, rather than being 'Lets read this scripture and see what we can learn and conclude from it' it is 'Lets read this scripture to show how it aligns with our beliefs.' There is a huge difference in the methodologies.

The more you look at the pictures in the publications and see the WTS books, mags and brochures being used in place of the bible, the more you listen closely at the meetings, you realise that rather than being taught from the scriptures, those at the meetings are being fed the teachings of men with a couple of cherrypicked scriptures that seem to add weight to what is being said. The illusion of learning from the scriptures at the meetings is a strong one. What one learns at the meetings is what the latest WTS agenda is.

8

One scripture in 45 minutes

by WinstonSmith in

further evidence that the wts values it's own publications above the bible.

in the last 45 minutes of our meeting, there was only one scripture used.

from the end of the number three talk through to the final song - one single solitary scripture.. the number three talk finished.

WinstonSmith

Hello everyone,

Further evidence that the WTS values it's own publications above the bible. In the last 45 minutes of our meeting, there was only one scripture used. From the end of the number three talk through to the final song - one single solitary scripture.

The number three talk finished. Talk counsel was given from the School book. Then there was the song. Then the announcements. In the announcements was a demonstration of how to offer the latest magazines. It was during this demo that the scripture was used. Then there was a 25 minute pat on the back session as JW 'history' was reviewed via questions and answers from a DVD. No scriptures used or even quoted, just the nauseous parroting of answers. Then the final song.

Do JWs use the bible as their primary text? More and more, evidently not.

WS