shepherdless

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Posts by shepherdless

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  13

  2017 WTBTS Financial Statement Ireland

  by Atlantis in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  2017 wtbts financial statement irelandhttps://we.tl/f55k8sawsmatlantis!.

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  shepherdless

  Looks like the accounts for Ireland would be quite healthy, if they weren't sending all that money to the branch in Germany.

  I notice that donations are on the decrease, praise Jah.
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  13

  A.N.Z.A.C. Day 25th APRIL

  by zeb in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the 25th april is the day australia and new zealand remember their war dead.. on the 25th april 1915 troops from many nations including australian and new zealanders landed on the shores of turkey.

  the anzac forces at a place called gallipoli or galliboli by the turkish people.. the concept was to land move inland attack constantinople and there by force turkey out of the war (1914-1918) and bring it too a swift end.

  the whole operation was a monumental stuff up with the anzacs being landed in the wrong place up against steep cliffs.

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  shepherdless

  My ancestors were all Roman Catholic, and in Australia, Roman Catholics were heavily discouraged from enlisting, during WW1. The Catholic Church also successfully campaigned to block conscription at the time. The following wikipedia article gives a bit of the history:

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I_conscription_in_Australia

  Amongst my ancestors, and their near relatives, only one man enlisted to fight in WW1. He fought in France for a good portion of the war. His record shows he was injured twice, and he was in trouble for insubordination at one stage. He survived but needed a walking stick for the rest of his life. He died in his 90's. He never talked about it.
  

  One of the stories I heard was that when he returned from WW1, he would never attend church on Sunday mornings. He would sit outside during the whole service, reading newspapers, while his family was inside. That went on for years, before a very dominant wife managed to get him back into attending.

  The anti-war attitude in my family pervaded into WW2. Again only one of them enlisted and, I gather from how it was described to me as a kid, that he was very much frowned upon by his relatives for doing so. He never returned. I gather that my ancestors never bothered to find out the details, but I looked them up from military records. It appears that he died with the rank of Corporal during the Battle of Alemain, on a day when the Australians lost a lot of lives (around 80 from memory) capturing an important German position.

  I presume that this relative is buried in a war grave in Egypt. I am sure that none of his relatives or their descendants have ever visited, or even knew anything about the sacrifice he made.
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  35

  JW Cartoons

  by FinalFlame in

  1. social
  2. family

  i've recently watched the jw cartoons centered around teaching young kids the doctrines of this faith.

  while i no longer practice any faith, i am well versed in this one.

  i must say, these cartoons are in bad, bad taste.

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  shepherdless

  The Sophie and Caleb cartoons seem to be an epic fail, anyway. My kids never seemed interested in them. I imagine that they look useful, to adults that have never had kids (which includes most of the GB) but for kids to be interested in watching cartoons, they have to be entertaining, or funny. My kids love the Simpsons, even though I am not sure they get all the humor. Those Sophie and Caleb cartoons are about as funny as a funeral.

  There aren't many JW kids left in the Borg to watch the Sophie and Caleb cartoons these days, anyway. It is all too little, too late, imo.

  I did once unexpectedly come across one of my kids watching the infamous anti-gay metal detector cartoon, when it came out. It caught me by surprise, and I didn't have time to think of something more effective to say, but I said something like, "Don't tell anyone at school what is in that cartoon. If you do, they will think you are a bad person." It seemed to have the desired effect. My kid turned off the video straight away, and went and did something else.
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  21

  Why NO bibles??

  by stuckinarut2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i know we have all said it before, but it simply blows my mind that the jws doing cart work do not have bibles on the cart to give out to interested ones!.

  how can they say they are "bible students" trying to share the "bibles message" and not give out bibles!?.

  other christian groups take the commission to share the bible seriously!

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  shepherdless

  I remember a couple of years ago hearing a pioneer talking excitedly about his day standing next to his trolly/cart. Apparently a member of the public had come along had come along and said I really need a bible; I have been looking to buy one etc. The pioneer gave him a new "silver sword" and this member of the public absolutely promised to come to the next meeting etc.

  The pioneer's lengthy description of the experience made it all sound like some sort of divine intervention where an individual in need of a bible miraculously came across the cart, at just the right time, etc. I stayed silent, thinking "All that has happened is that someone scammed a bible off you, dimwit."

  I never heard whether the member of the public ever turned up for the next meeting. I suspect not, because I would have heard about it for hours, if it did happen.
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  17

  Suffern tenants must move after Jehovah's Witnesses group buys building

  by TJ Curioso in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  suffern tenants must move after jehovah's witnesses group buys building .

  suffern the nonprofit organization behind the jehovahs witnesses has purchased an apartment complex in the village with plans to use it as temporary housing for members while they work to build a massive new headquarters in nearby warwick, orange county.. the sale of the 48-unit suffern commons at 10-12 chestnut st. closed last week, a spokesman for the watchtower society told the journal news.. the deal forces families in the three-story building to quickly find alternative housing and could mean a loss to the village of $56,000 in annual property taxes if the new owner secures a religious tax exemption which it is interested in, spokesman richard devine said.. before the sale was confirmed, tenants spent the past few weeks anxiously trying to figure out why some of them received notices to vacate by june 30. others who had signed one-year leases or didnt know when their leases were up, like terri fosina-friedman, also have prepared to move.. but the painful process and lack of information from their landlord and the new owner has angered many residents, fosina-friedman said.. im just happy that i got it settled and i got another place to live and my son can stay in the school district, she said.. the watchtower society, the brooklyn-based organization that establishes doctrine for millions of jehovahs witnesses around the world, intends to honor tenants existing leases at suffern commons, devine said.

  he indicated that the society would consider an extension of the june 30 move-out deadline.. were going to work with the tenants, he said.

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  shepherdless

  I think it is newsworthy. Maybe not important, but newsworthy.

  Or perhaps I find any post relating to Borg financial and real estate matters interesting.
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  32

  Movie-goers can be fickle (great movies that should've enjoyed huge box-office success)

  by LoveUniHateExams in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  just thought i'd start a thread about this topic.. john carpenter's the thing (1982) was a great film, one of his best imo.

  for me, it's right up there with alien (1979) as one of the greatest sci-fi horror films ever made.

  and yet one film made anything between $100 - 200 million at the box office whereas the other made only $19 million.

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  shepherdless

  I didn’t know that LUHE. I only ever saw it on video, and I agree it was a good film.
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  6

  Anybody here like to dabble on the roulette wheel ?

  by smiddy3 in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  i came to the conclusion a long time ago that many jehovah`s witnesses are very superstitious in my opinion.. if after leaving the jw`s or even sometime before leaving the jw`s you may have been tempted to use the pokie`s /slots or the lotto , or even the roulette wheel at a casino .

  now did you know that if you add up all the numbers on a roulette wheel it adds up to 666 .?.

  now i have no problem myself playing lotto ,keno ,scratchies ,etc,however ,would i ever play the roulette wheel ever again ?.

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  shepherdless

  Actually, I think you will find that (mathematically speaking) the betting odds are far better on the roulette wheel, than any of Lotto, Keno, scratchies, etc. At least that is the case in Australia. Roulette wheels in Australia, have only 1 zero, but I have heard that in other countries they often have 2 zeros.

  The best odds are blackjack, as long as you make the correct decision on every occasion. Further, there are only 5 decks of cards in the blackjack shoe that the dealer uses, and mathematicians have worked out a trick where if you count cards as they come out using a certain formula, occasionally a situation will emerge where (because of the cards left) the odds are above 50%. However, casinos are well aware of this, and if you hang around a blackjack table for long periods, without playing, the casino will kick you out. They are only interested in half drunk dumb customers, not smart ones.

  Personally, though, I have would have absolutely nothing to do with any of them. I never ever gamble, and I hate going into a casino, even for a social event, as I find the whole thing a distasteful taking advantage of the foolish. I don’t even participate in office sweepstakes for the Melbourne Cup, if I can avoid it, without anyone noticing.
  
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  32

  Movie-goers can be fickle (great movies that should've enjoyed huge box-office success)

  by LoveUniHateExams in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  just thought i'd start a thread about this topic.. john carpenter's the thing (1982) was a great film, one of his best imo.

  for me, it's right up there with alien (1979) as one of the greatest sci-fi horror films ever made.

  and yet one film made anything between $100 - 200 million at the box office whereas the other made only $19 million.

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  shepherdless

  I agree that “The Thing” was a great movie, for that genre. I didn’t know it was a flop; I am not a movie buff.

  There are a few movies I thought were excellent, but seem to get little mention. One that comes to mind is Ronin. I thought that was a superb movie, but I have never heard anyone ever mention it.
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  13

  The implement of Christ’s death

  by lastmanstanding in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  simple physics.. the timber that was used to execute jesus had to be substantial.

  thus, its weight could not have been carried entirely, but rather it had to be dragged.. get a log with no crosspiece, one substantial enough to nail a man to, and try to drag it through town.

  try to get a hold of it without it sliding out of your grip.

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  shepherdless

  Yes, it is simple physics (and basic maths).

  What would the length of the torture stake be? Well if someone’s hands are to be nailed above their head, you need 2 metres. To have them on public display and out of reach of help for hours on end, you would need 2 to 3 metres more. (Let’s just say 2m for argument). Then you have to bury the base. The base needs to be long, as the load is unbalanced (hanging to one side) and the victim might potentially shake the stake with convulsions. If it is in hard rocky ground, and rocks wedged in afterwards, you might get away with just 1m. Anything else, you would need 2m. I would estimate longer because the Romans wouldn’t risk the embarrassment of a flopped execution. But let’s go with 1 m anyway.

  That totals 5m minimum (and in reality, more likely closer to 7m.

  The stake diameter would have to be at least 300mm, for strength, to enable nails to hold without splitting the timber, and because it would be difficult to get a straight length that long that is any thinner. In fact, it was probably wider than that, at least at one end.

  Approx weight (assuming density of 1000 kg per cum):

  5 x 1000 x 0.3 x 0.3 x 3.14 / 4 = 353 kg. Too heavy for a single person to lift at one end, let alone drag anywhere.
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  67

  W5 Investigation

  by Christian Gutierrez in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hey guys!

  i just want you guys to know that today is a really great day.

  there are so many jehovah's witnesses that saw this documentary and were disgusted by watchtowers policy.

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  shepherdless

  I was watching the documentary from the perspective of how a non JW would view it, and I thought that Katja and you came across extremely well and were unfakeably genuine. Well done! Just came here to say that. No need to reply.