Posts by Anders Andersen

52

Australian Congregations announce Child Safeguarding Policy is available upon request

by wifibandit in

this week all congregations in australia have been instructed to make the following announcement:.

if a member of the congregation would like a copy of the child safeguarding policy of jehovah’s witnesses in australia, please see the coordinator of the body of elders or the secretary.. .

childsafeguardingpolicy-eau.pdf.

Australian Congregations announce Child Safeguarding Policy is available upon request

by wifibandit in

this week all congregations in australia have been instructed to make the following announcement:.

if a member of the congregation would like a copy of the child safeguarding policy of jehovah’s witnesses in australia, please see the coordinator of the body of elders or the secretary.. .

childsafeguardingpolicy-eau.pdf.

Anders Andersen

This would be funny if it weren't so sad.

JW pride themselves in having a website in 20 gazillion languages.

The JW library is available to all and contains all (recent) literature.

Their ridiculous songbook is updated every 5 seconds.

Their FAQ lists all kinds of questions so people can easily find (misleading) information to questions the JW deem important.

But somehow all that infrastructure and their capabilities are completely unused when distributing information about how to keep children safe.

Every sports club, every youth organization, every decent church and their mother has a child protection policy published on their website.

But not Watchtower. Two reasons: they're not decent, and they refuse to really acknowledge they are just like any other club or church, with the same problems. Publishing a child protection policy for all to see would mean acknowledging the human - not divine - nature of their cult.

A one-off announcement and a hidden policy. Way to go. Boo Watchtower.

10

What Irony! Another Hall Closure!

by freddo in

jw
friends

note these excerpts from awake!

articles: (bold italics mine).

*** g93 9/8 pp.

Anders Andersen

There were a few groups interested in it. We had favour with the Jehovah's Witnesses. They wanted to give it to a faith-based organisation.

WTF?!?!?! Either the buyer is making stuff up, or Watchtower again spinned their story...

21

TIL - 537 BC is in the Bible - and more

by berrygerry in

from an apologist site:.

http://thirdwitness.com/607_bce/www.jehovahsjudgment.co.uk/607/realissue.html.

hence, counting back from 537 bce (the year the bible says the jews returned home) for a full seventy years, we arrive at the year 607 bce.. .

Anders Andersen

21

TIL - 537 BC is in the Bible - and more

by berrygerry in

from an apologist site:.

http://thirdwitness.com/607_bce/www.jehovahsjudgment.co.uk/607/realissue.html.

hence, counting back from 537 bce (the year the bible says the jews returned home) for a full seventy years, we arrive at the year 607 bce.. .

Anders Andersen

Hence, counting back from 537 BCE (the year the Bible says the Jews returned home) for a full seventy years, we arrive at the year 607 BCE

The real question is:

Why do Jehovah's Witnesses choose to accept 537BC and count backwards, instead of accepting 587BC and counting forward?

The evidence for 587BC is much stronger than the very credible evidence for 537BC. If you have to pick only one, it would make sense to pick 586BC and count forward.

Unless of course you have based your entire theology and claims of authority on 607BC and 537BC....

18

Dutch Elections

by Yesu Kristo Bwana Wangu in

voters are going to the polls in the netherlands in the first of three crucial eurozone elections this year.

.

the voter turnout might set a new record.. what do you hope will be the result?.

Anders Andersen

@Gorbatchov,

Yes, it is for someone who suffers from choice paralysis, is not well-informed on the subjects at hand, and normally tries to look at both sides of an issues.

Random example: should the age to qualify for state pension go from 67 back to 65?

Sure I'd like to have that money earlier, but a choice made on that now will probably not help me in 30 years. I also think it would be cool for other people to get it earlier. But someone has to pay for it. Who will that be? Would I like that?

Because I'm ill-informed I don't know the consequences. And because I don't know the concequences I'm not willing to choose a side (yet) on this issue.

Repeat this process for most of the topics that the political parties present in their programmes, and it becomes clear that many parties would be equally good/bad fitting my lack of opinion.

Choice paralysis then prevents me from picking one over the other. And I refuse to vote based solely on how friendly a politician's smile is (or isn't).

Probably next time, after I have had additional time adjusting to the real world.

18

Dutch Elections

by Yesu Kristo Bwana Wangu in

voters are going to the polls in the netherlands in the first of three crucial eurozone elections this year.

.

the voter turnout might set a new record.. what do you hope will be the result?.

Anders Andersen

This is the first national elections since I left the JW. Didn't vote. I honestly have no clue what to vote. Tried to use multiple voting advice websites that show which parties best fit your opinions, but to no avail. Apparently answering 'meh' and 'dunno' to most questions doesn't help. Ignoring politics for 35 years and priding yourself in being 'neutral' is an effective method to create such a situation.aybe next time....

35

New member + anyone attended/seen the Zone Visit?

by Isambard Crater in

jw
friends

i'm a new member so wanted to say 'hi'.

i live in the u.k, was born in, fell away as an unbaptised publisher, got baptised in my 30s for reasons i'm retrospectively unsure of, and lost my faith about five years ago around the time of the original a.r.c.

now, being unable to leave is making me physically, emotionally and mentally ill.. i have been visiting this forum for a couple of years and wanted to post my first message to see if anyone has attended, heard or watched the zone visit broadcast thing happening this month?

Anders Andersen

You really need to open your eyes to the bigger picture here instead of just living your life trying to please your parents while your own life is destroying you. How long will it be before they are dead an you can claim your freedom? You only have one life, there is no point in wasting it trying to please others in a cult where nothing you do is ever really good enough anyway. That is such a wasted life.

I was going to say something like this too

You are responsible for your own life and your own happiness. Nothing more and nothing less. Your parents are responsible for their own happiness. Not you.

That being said, welcome here! Don't let some of our stronger opinions discourage you! After all, your choices are yours to make, without our judgment (and without any medling JW judgment and gossip!)

16

EU court upholds an employer's right to ban religious symbols

by careful in

first i should say that i do not like islam for multiple reasons, not the least of which is the moslem treatment of women.

still, the free exercise of anyone's peaceful observance of their religion, including moslems, trumps my personal preferences.

also, living in america, i evidently enjoy a greater degree of religious liberty than i see in recent years in continental europe, something that continues to baffle me.. today the european court of justice, the same group that has stood up for the rights of jws, has decreed that it is ok for employers to ban the wearing of religious symbols among employees.

Anders Andersen

should a Jew be forced to take off his kippah or a Catholic woman her cross?

They're not. They're free to choose their employment elsewhere. And (without having followed this specific ruling) I'm quite sure the employer has to make a case as for why the religious symbols are unwanted in a certain function?

In my country smoking on the job is illegal. Does that force people to stop smoking?

Can a hospital demand from its JW medical employees that they provide care according to existing standards, including use of blood products?

Can a shop owner demand from his JW employee that he assists the customers with any purchase they make, including tobacco products and porn magazine?

Are the JW forced in those cases?

24

Crop circles

by Chook in

what causes them ?.

Anders Andersen

GODDIDIT!

Unless you think crop circles aren't beneficial, in that case

SATANDIDIT!