shepherdless

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Posts by shepherdless

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  13

  Watchtower UK's Robert Li asks: "Can you lend me £75 million?"

  by Fay Dehr in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  anyone got a spare £75 million, for a good cause?.

  go to the uk charity commission accounts for watchtower bible and tract society of great britain: http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/showcharity/registerofcharities/documentlist.aspx?registeredcharitynumber=1077961&subsidiarynumber=0&doctype=accountlist

  now download the accounts for 2017. see page.4 (signed by robert li on p.7, april 2018) .

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  shepherdless

  That is interesting, lastmanstanding. Here is IBSA’s basis for remaining a charity, according to their own financial statements:

  Public benefit
  In addition to being a religious entity, the Trustees confirm that they have taken into consideration Charity Commission guidance on public benefit in exercising their powers and duties. This is amply demonstrated in this report and in particular the following:
  1.Bible literature we have supplied without charge to congregations ofJehovah's Witnesses in the UK, has been distributed gratis, by those congregations, to interested members ofthe public in their local communities, in the following quantities: 14,836,474 copies of The Watchtower and Awake! and 23,805,463 other publications including, Bibles and Bible study aids, brochures, tracts and invitations to meetings.
  2. Our conventions for Bible education are widely advertised by personal invitations delivered by individual Jehovah's Witnesses to the public nationwide. Admission is free.

  Hardly any better than Scientology.
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  13

  Watchtower UK's Robert Li asks: "Can you lend me £75 million?"

  by Fay Dehr in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  anyone got a spare £75 million, for a good cause?.

  go to the uk charity commission accounts for watchtower bible and tract society of great britain: http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/showcharity/registerofcharities/documentlist.aspx?registeredcharitynumber=1077961&subsidiarynumber=0&doctype=accountlist

  now download the accounts for 2017. see page.4 (signed by robert li on p.7, april 2018) .

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  shepherdless

  IBSA accounts are here:

  http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/Showcharity/RegisterOfCharities/DocumentList.aspx?RegisteredCharityNumber=216647&SubsidiaryNumber=0&DocType=AccountList

  IBSA has included the £32 million already spent, in its assets. It has also allowed for the additional £75 million.

  Both sets of accounts state or presume the works are on program, and on budget. It will be interesting to see if it stays that way.
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  21

  Australians deadlest animals just for our American friends

  by MightyV8 in

  1. social
  2. humour

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  australians deadlest animals.

  https://youtu.be/mrrao_vg_k4.

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  shepherdless

  Listener, good that you were able to get rid of it. As you probably know, the PC brigade has introduced silly laws that you can’t kill a snake unless it presents an immediate danger. I wouldn’t have hesitated to kill any snake that came into my house, however.

  I doubt it was a Dugite, although Dugites are native to your area. A Dugite is a large light brown snake. I have only twice seen them, and both were at least 2 m. They were phenomenally fast. They bolt at the sight of a human, which is probably why there are virtually no recorded deaths, even though they are extremely venomous.

  There are plenty of other types of snake that could have got into your house. I think the small snake I referred to may be officially called a half girdled snake, but I don’t think that is what we called them.
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  21

  Australians deadlest animals just for our American friends

  by MightyV8 in

  1. social
  2. humour

  .

  australians deadlest animals.

  https://youtu.be/mrrao_vg_k4.

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  shepherdless

  Hi Listener,

  the bad news is that all snakes in Australia, except for some breeds of python found in the north, are venomous enough to kill humans. In WA there are some little worm-like ones (I can't recall their name) that are less than a foot, and even they can potentially kill.

  I think statistically, the biggest killer is a type known as the Common Brown Snake. It is a drab snake, and the reason it is the biggest killer is it is, well, so common. Next on the list is the Tiger Snake. It is dangerous as it is (as far as I know) the only snake that might actually attack and chase you.

  The good news is that deaths from snake bites in Australia are rare. Far, far more people are killed in other parts of the world by supposedly less venomous snakes, such as Russell's Viper in South Asia. There are a variety of reasons so few deaths occur. Snakes rarely venture into urban areas, people know how to avoid them, good anti-venom is widely available, and most snakes won't attack unless trapped or cornered. Also, despite their venom being extremely poisonous, Australian snakes usually don't inject much into a victim. My brother got bitten by (most likely) a tiger snake and survived.

  Here is a true story; my dad was walking along a track through native bush, and suddenly found a tiger snake in his path right in front of him. He kept still and his eyes directly on the snake, and slowly crouched down, to pick up a stick that he could see in his peripheral vision. But as he put out his hand for the stick, the stick slid off into the bush.

  For the benefit of anyone thinking of coming to Australia, I should add that it is not in any way as dangerous as it may sound. In fact, it has all been overblown. If staying in the major cities, you are safe from pretty much any of the venomous or poisonous animals, and even in remote country, you are safe provided you take a few basic precautions; eg don't swim in a waterhole where there are crocodiles, don't walk through long grass unless wearing closed shoes and long pants, etc.
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  21

  Australians deadlest animals just for our American friends

  by MightyV8 in

  1. social
  2. humour

  .

  australians deadlest animals.

  https://youtu.be/mrrao_vg_k4.

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  shepherdless

  Yes, Smiddy, it always pays to keep a careful look out above you, whenever you walk through a wooded area.
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  21

  Australians deadlest animals just for our American friends

  by MightyV8 in

  1. social
  2. humour

  .

  australians deadlest animals.

  https://youtu.be/mrrao_vg_k4.

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  shepherdless

  No mention of drop bears?

  
  
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  27

  Is it clergy privilege?

  by StarTrekAngel in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  just wanted to pose the question to the group and see what the general opinion is vs what the wt may have claimed in other cases.. we all know that they have argued over clergy privilege when elder learn of a crime but keep quiet about it.

  regardless of what one may feel about this, lets assume for a minute that they are correct.. all elders are directed to contact the branch when they learn of a case of child abuse.

  would the conversation between the elder and the branch be considered under the "clergy privilege"?

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  shepherdless

  Historically, penitent clergy privilege arose because of the following:

  1. Catholics in particular were/are taught that if they don’t confess their sins at the Sacrement of Confession, they risk hell. For example, when I was a kid, if my dad found out that I had not been to confession for a few months, he would treat it like a medical emergency; he would look up which church was holding confession on that day, and drive me there.

  2. It occurred to some law enforcement people, or litigants, that one way to dig up dirt on an accused or opposing litigant, was to subpoena their parish priest, and cross-examine the priest about all the bad things that individual had done.

  This is clearly unfair. So the penitent was protected at law. Spousal privilege, legal professional privilege, and privilege in aid of settlement are other types of privilege designed to stop such unfairness.

  The main point to note is that the privilege evolved to protect the PENITENT. It did NOT originate to protect the priest (or Elder).

  Of course, the law on penitent clergy privilege in various countries and states has been codified, and because of the words of the statute (particularly in some US states) may be broader than that. However, I think it is outrageous that Watchtower is trying to use a type of privilege originally devised to protect a penitent, to instead protect itself and its elders.
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  37

  Canada Branch Financials are Posted (The Bleeding Appears Very Real)

  by berrygerry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  posted here:.

  https://docs.zoho.com/sheet/published.do?rid=740aq85115d1a04174c4d867e056351ad6836.

  biggest changes:.

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  shepherdless

  Looks to me like all the cash is all being siphoned off at lines 4891 and 5050, but I can’t read the full description of those.

  If that is not a siphoning off, then the Canada branch is in a lot of trouble. In any event, there is not much more that can be siphoned off; the tank is near empty.
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  63

  Did You Care About The Royal Wedding?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i don’t get it.

  who really cares?

  in the usa, it’s such a huge newsworthy event.

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  shepherdless

  Diogenesister, my guess is that they didn’t expect the crowd to shriek like it did, or give the horses enough practice in that environment (if you can create that environment in practice). I was watching it on YouTube with no commentary, and the crowd shrieking sounded bizarrely high pitched. I thought the horse on the right nearest the carriage looked a little freaked by it all, as well.
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  63

  Did You Care About The Royal Wedding?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i don’t get it.

  who really cares?

  in the usa, it’s such a huge newsworthy event.

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• 

  shepherdless

  I was watching it only because I felt I had to, to be culturally aware, and then only because someone else reminded me.

  The American bishop was an embarrassment who went on & on & on & on .
  Watching the guests faces as he raved on was classic

  Oh it was hilarious! The Brits do the dignified decorum extremely well, even if it is a bit stuffy and boring. And then that preacher! Hilarious watching everyone in the crowd trying to maintain a straight face, knowing they were being filmed. My favourite line was when he said:

  I did not cross the Atlantic by walking on water.

  I loved the way that near the end, the preacher seemed to go quiet, like he was about to finish, a few times, only to go into another crescendo. I think that just freaked out the audience more.

  The other thing that was interesting was the open carriage trip. There was a white horse out the front to the left, that was clearly playing up and on the verge of bolting due to crowd noise. It was stressful watching it, because I thought it was going to break at any moment, doing who knows what. Superb work by the horseman to keep it in control. It seemed to me the cavalry in front and the whole procession sped up to try and get through it all. You could see one of them regularly looking back, probably to monitor the situation.