shepherdless

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Posts by shepherdless

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  36

  Three graphs in connection with the Watch Tower's current financial situation

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  a number of public statements by the governing body indicate that they are experiencing financial difficulty and they have appealed to jws to donate more money.

  public information on the financial situation of the watchtower society is limited.

  but what does the information they do publish indicate about their situation?

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  shepherdless

  Excellent data!

  The charts for "number of ordained ministers in branch facilities" and "money spent on special pioneers, missionaries and travelling overseer" seem to track well against each other. It is puzzling how one could increase only 35% and the other 113%, though. That would be over 7% p.a. inflation.

  It looks like "ordained ministers" cost around $9000 p.a. on average when back in 2006 they cost $5,500 p.a.

  Why is it necessary to have 27,000 "ordained ministers in branch facilities"? If I compare that to the Catholic church, I note that around the same number of priests serve the hole of Mexico and Brazil where there are around 320 million Catholics. And those priests do a lot of the work equivalent to what an elder might do at a Kingdom Hall. There are gross weaknesses in that comparison, but 27,000 seems a large number to look after a religion of 10 million.
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  103

  JW and the Sabbath

  by Andromeda in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  hello brothers and sisters and truth seekers,.

  i am an active jehovah's witness.

  i don't believe in 1914 and i'm tototally against their way of dealing with abuse cases.

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  shepherdless

  Hi Andromeda, I can't help but notice from the following quotes you have a thing about Jesuits, and Opus Dei:

  Andromeda - I suppose no one here is aware of the Jesuits and their agenda.

  Andromeda - Which is why I even mentioned the Jesuits at all because whether anyone wants to believe or not that our education and information is filtered by their (opus deis) people under them, it is what they do.

  Andromeda - Like I said I google the Jesuits you may be mind blown to find out that what you think you know might not be even the truth.

  Andromeda - And no I won't elaborate on the Jesuits.

  Leaving aside the obvious point that Opus Dei has no connection to the Jesuits, can you please let us know what the "agenda" is? I am Jesuit educated, but I have no clue what you are talking about. (I probably was not paying attention in class when we were taught world domination, etc.)

  I get the impression that you are dying to tell us the "agenda". And given the current Pope is a Jesuit, well, I think it is more important than ever that the nefarious schemes of the evil Jesuits be laid out for all to see. Please tell us more!
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  12

  Something's Gotta Give

  by pale.emperor in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i've been 100% alone since my df last month.

  i'm dead to my family now, unless i return to their cult - so i recently made contact with 3 former jw's that were in my cong when i was in my youth.

  to my surprise, they all had exactly the same doubts and reasoning i had and said even though they've been out 6-7 years they "still feel tied to it in some way" and "feel guilty celebrating xmas or birthdays".

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  shepherdless

  Hang in there, pale emperor. I have been following your story. You have made some tough decisions, but I am sure it will be worth it in the long run.

  As for the likelihood of the Borg changing, I agree with scratchme and Outlaw above.
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  251

  God is Real in Principle

  by looter in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  now the majority of people nowadays do no go by the hope of old times.

  now the reason for this is important and goes beyond mere words.

  our culture sees ethics especially national or civil politics as the rules and standards by which we guide ourselves.

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  shepherdless

  
  
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  24

  Do you think any animals will ever reach human intelligence?

  by EndofMysteries in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  if all life was truly random, then what happened that allowed humans to it's current intelligent state, do you think non humans could and will reach that in the future?

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  shepherdless

  Unlikely. The following is a brief summary why.

  Brains use up a lot of energy. Broadly speaking, animals have evolved to have a brain size sufficient to do the task at hand, but no more. Occasionally evolution has caused the brain to shrink compared to an ancestor (eg Australian Koala, which has something of a split brain). Very few animals use tools, but those that do, need bigger brains than other animals. Certain primates use tools, as did our ancestors.

  An ancestor to humans (homo erectus from memory) was the first animal that used fire as a tool. This was a crucial step, and set a chain effect in motion. The disadvantage is that fire is such a complicated tool, it needed a bigger brain. The massive advantage is that it allowed homo erectus to cook meat and other food, making food safe to eat, and making it easier to digest. (Cooked meat requires around 30% less energy to digest than raw meat, even in a species not used to cooked meat, as some documentary I saw, demonstrated.)

  Once our brains became more capable, our ancestors found other things to use them for, and obtained further advantages over the rest of the animal kingdom. This in turn gave bigger brained smarter beings an advantage over others, etc.

  I can't see another species achieving that unless humans die out, and another species evolving enough to be able to use fire as a tool.
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  8

  Brighton RC Baptism Numbers

  by konceptual99 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so there was a peak attendance of around 8700 (as i recall - i was dozing...).

  baptism numbers - 24. so around 0.27%.

  it may be slightly up or down on that depending on the actual attendance.. the majority of baptism candidates were young people so very likely born-in..

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  shepherdless

  That is pretty consistent with the figures given for Abbotsford BC by berrygerry in another thread.

  It seems not that long ago that people were pretty chuffed when there were reports of baptism figures of 0.5%. Now it seems to be regularly below 0.3%.

  Wonderous stagnation is taking place!
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  15

  £1 million pound fine

  by pepperheart in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  hi a court in the uk in loughborough have fined the jws over £1 million pounds for the court costs for a child abuse case in loughborough in the east midlands..

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  shepherdless

  Strictly speaking, there is no fine. It is an award of damages of £275,000 plus costs, which means that Watchtower has to pay the legal costs of the plaintiff. Someone has estimated costs at around £1 million.

  
  

  All the same, learning that Watchtower will have to pay out £275,000 plus approx £1 million, has made my day. It doesn't look like there is any avenue to appeal, now, either.

  
  
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  44

  What crime should elders report?

  by kramer in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so, i am trying to get my head around what the right position of elders should be when they come across crime is.. i think i get the issuess around clergy confidentiality - and how that might potentially be breached when they talk about it to other elders, let alone the police.. but if people are saying that elders - or clergy of another faith should report crime to the police when it is confessed to the, then where are the boundaries.. so if someone says they should report to police on a confessed example of child abuse, that's one thing.. how about reporting to police consensual sex between a 19year old and 15 year old - which is statutory rape in the uk.

  how about criminal fraud if they come across it.

  assault on a congregant?.

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  shepherdless

  Hi Kramer,

  I think it has already been explained in detail by others, but I will summarise again:

  (1) Reporting a felony

  In some places in the world it is a criminal offence not to report a felony to the Police. In English common law, this offence is called "misprison of felony". What constitutes a felony depends from country to country, but generally it is a serious crime, including fraud, rape, murder etc, but does not include things such as jay-walking (to use your example).

  (2) Penitent clergy privilege

  Penitent clergy privilege (preventing a priest being cross-examined about what was told to him in a confession) only exists in some countries. It is virtually non-existent outside of USA. Each state of USA has different laws, but in any event the privilege is so narrow it doesn't apply to anything an elder would normally be involved in.

  (3) Mandatory reporting of child sex abuse

  In many countries it is now mandatory to report any suspicion of child sex abuse, in relation to any child within your care, even if it relates to something potentially happening to a child while not in your care. (This is a simplified summary.) It is a criminal offence not to report.

  (4) Reporting minor criminal offences

  As far as I am aware, there is no general legal requirement to report a minor criminal offence, in any country.

  (5) Assisting Police enquiries

  In most countries, if the Police ask you a question, and you give a false answer, you are committing a criminal offence.

  (6) Civil liability

  All of the preceding matters relate to criminal issues. Separately, an elder or religious organisation can be sued in many countries if they negligently or knowingly allow a pedophile to prey on children within their care.

  I hope that clears all of that up.
  
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  15

  More Shootings ... 3 Louisiana Police Killed ... 3 More Injured

  by RubaDub in

  1. social
  2. current

  extremely sad as the news is coming out.

  6 police shot in louisiana and 3 dead so far.. i'm waiting for a response from the nra stating that we are safer when we are all armed.

  the police had guns and the shooter(s) had guns so i guess they are good with it.. our thoughts and prayers go out to the families affected.. rub a dub.

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  shepherdless

  Yet again the sheer lunacy of allowing citizens to own assault rifles is on display. All of the recent mass murders in USA have involved assault rifles.

  Just to be clear, I am not talking about guns in general. I am talking about a category of weapon that is not a practical self-defence weapon or a practical hunting weapon or farm tool. It is a weapon designed to kill humans in large numbers, quickly. Why would a lawful citizen need to own such a thing?
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  34

  If God is the Creator, who created God or how did he evolve?

  by KateWild in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  if god is the creator, who created god or how did he evolve?.

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  shepherdless

  KateWild - easy answer. No space or time before the "big bang" (which was an expansion, not an explosion). Easy to find further info on this.

  cantleave - please be respectful with those photos. Remember, He was boiled for your sins!