Posts by Anders Andersen

20

'Jehovah's Witnesses' Label Added to Trolley

by cofty in

yesterday i noticed on four trolleys i passed (and had a long useful conversation at one but more on that later) they had added a label identifying themselves as jehovah's witnesses.

it was just a simple printed piece of white card stuck on next the logo.. is this a new requirement?

was it a directive from hq or i wonder if the local council require it..

Anders Andersen

I don't think it would be a decision of a local body of elders as the trolleys came from various congregations.

Depending on where the carts are, they are either governed by a single congregation, or by the central committee for public witnessing that governs the city centre and touristic hotspots.
The JW that watch the cart in my city come from quite a few congregations, including from out of town. Their efforts, permits, locations, etc. are coordinated by a central command for the whole city.
If central command for the city says 'put this ugly label on your carts' then they will have the ugly label.

9

Do you have a favorite picture?

by Iamallcool in

jw
friends

it can be beautiful landscape, etc... share it with us!

.

Anders Andersen

'Pale Blue Dot' - the picture of Earth taken by Voyager 1 from 6.4 billion kilometers away. That tiny speck right there is all of humanity, its entirey history and entire future.

20

'Jehovah's Witnesses' Label Added to Trolley

by cofty in

yesterday i noticed on four trolleys i passed (and had a long useful conversation at one but more on that later) they had added a label identifying themselves as jehovah's witnesses.

it was just a simple printed piece of white card stuck on next the logo.. is this a new requirement?

was it a directive from hq or i wonder if the local council require it..

Anders Andersen

Stan,

With the cultish propaganda on that cart and the depressed looking silent minders, I don't think anyone would need more deterrents....

12

Spike in data use by smartphones

by mikeflood in

like since three months ago, my smartphone's data is reaching the 35 gb mark.

!!!

never watch movies in it, and beforehand used to be like 5 or 7 gb, any thoughts?.

Anders Andersen

Btw Chrome on Android can show you how much data each different website has used.

If you click on the 'hamburger menu' (the 3 dots top right) you may be able to see 'x Mb saved' as the last menu item. Click it to see the data usage per website.

12

Spike in data use by smartphones

by mikeflood in

like since three months ago, my smartphone's data is reaching the 35 gb mark.

!!!

never watch movies in it, and beforehand used to be like 5 or 7 gb, any thoughts?.

Anders Andersen

Never watch movies in it

vs

You Tube 15 GB

20

'Jehovah's Witnesses' Label Added to Trolley

by cofty in

yesterday i noticed on four trolleys i passed (and had a long useful conversation at one but more on that later) they had added a label identifying themselves as jehovah's witnesses.

it was just a simple printed piece of white card stuck on next the logo.. is this a new requirement?

was it a directive from hq or i wonder if the local council require it..

Anders Andersen

My bet is that it's a local council thing.

If it were a directive from JW HQ they would have provided some proper materials for the carts....to be paid for of course.....

2

Ignorance is bliss.

by joey jojo in

jw
friends

everyone's heard this statement before but i only just read the full quote, or proverb, which is taken from a 1742 poem.

it seems fitting to share it.

'thought would destroy their paradise;.

Anders Andersen

Wow, thanks for sharing!

I dug a bit more. The quoted part is from the 1742 poem "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College" by Thomas Gray.

'Ignorance is bliss' comes from the last stanza:

To each his suff'rings: all are men,
Condemn'd alike to groan,
The tender for another's pain;
Th' unfeeling for his own.
Yet ah! why should they know their fate?
Since sorrow never comes too late,
And happiness too swiftly flies.
Thought would destroy their paradise.
No more; where ignorance is bliss,
'Tis folly to be wise

A bit more info on the poem (and full text) can be found here: https://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides8/Eton.html

It's interesting to note that the poet basically said 'those youths don't know what pains they will suffer later in life; that would destroy their current happy state of mind. Their ignorance of their future is bliss for them.'

Although the author apparently didn't mean 'ignorance is bliss' in the general sense, it quite similar for JW. Their current blissful state of mind can only exist because they don't realize yet their futures. They don't realize neither Armageddon nor Paradise will ever come. They'll grow old and die, like everyone they know.

Like the students at Eton College, their happiness depends on them not knowing their future (and a whole lot of facts too)...

7

The Watchtower & Herald of Christs presence / The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah`s Kingdom- Why the change & when ?

by smiddy3 in

jw
friends

i`m wondering just when and why the g.b.of jw`s made the change as they did to their official magazine.?.

at first they were advertising his presence long before they claim he actually arrived .. 1879 was the first wt wasn`t it ?

and their advertising his presence ,when according to their beliefs he din`t actually arrive with his presence until 1914.?.

Anders Andersen

Now I got myself curious and wanted to see if Watchtower ever said anything about this. And behold, a quote:

From that understanding of matters, the “chaste virgin” class began going forth to meet the heavenly Bridegroom in the year 1874, as they believed him to have arrived in that year and to be from then on invisibly present. They felt that they were already living in the invisible presence of the Bridegroom. Due to this fact, when Charles T. Russell began publishing his own religious magazine in July of 1879, he published it under the title “Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence.” He had already become familiar with Wilson’s The Emphatic Diaglott, which translated the Greek word pa·rou·siʹa as “presence,” not “coming,” in Matthew 24:3 and elsewhere. The new magazine was heralding Christ’s invisible presence as having begun in 1874. This presence was to continue until the end of the Gentile Times in 1914, when the Gentile nations would be destroyed and the remnant of the “chaste virgin” class would be glorified with their bridegroom in heaven by death and resurrection to life in the spirit. Thus the class pictured by the five wise virgins would enter through the door into the wedding.

https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1101973021?q=1874&p=par#h=14

7

The Watchtower & Herald of Christs presence / The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah`s Kingdom- Why the change & when ?

by smiddy3 in

jw
friends

i`m wondering just when and why the g.b.of jw`s made the change as they did to their official magazine.?.

at first they were advertising his presence long before they claim he actually arrived .. 1879 was the first wt wasn`t it ?

and their advertising his presence ,when according to their beliefs he din`t actually arrive with his presence until 1914.?.

Anders Andersen

At first they were advertising his presence long before they claim he actually arrived .

They believed Jesus came invisibly in 1874. The Watch Tower was first published in 1879.

They announced something they believe had already happened, they just changed their failed beliefs down the road.

(And even the 1874 doctrine was already the result of failed predictions!)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eschatology_of_Jehovah%27s_Witnesses, see the section 'Early expectations'.

6

Data privacy: Mormons compared with JWs

by slimboyfat in

mormon missionaries move around during their two-year preaching missions, but the phones they use remain in the different preaching locations.

this means that contact details of “interested persons” are routinely passed on from one missionary pair to the next, when the phone is handed over.

in order to comply with the new data protection rules, missionaries now ask for consent to keep data from their contacts.

Anders Andersen

why are JWs acting as if the new
data rules mean an absolute end to
the collection any meaningful data
on the ministry?

If Watchtower would use the Mormon approach they would knock down one of their default knock down defenses in courts and legal procedures: all JW activities are strictly personal activities by individual JW.

They argue this in Russian courts wrt meetings and preaching.

They argue this in USA courts when it comes to elders handling CSA cases.

The cart witnessing instructions tell the JW to stress that their activities with the cart are personal activities of anyone asks, and any permits should be put to a personal name rather than the congregation.

They tried arguing preaching is wholly personal in Europe to get out from under GDPR.

Hell, it can be said that even appointing elders is a personal activity of COs.

Why does Watchtower do this? To evade liability and responsibility. They don't want anyone coming after them or their money.

Adopting the Mormon GDPR procedures would tell everyone that preaching is a centrally organized corporate effort.

(Well, since the courts everywhere already saw through the 'personal activity' nonsense they might just as well do as Mormons do wrt GDPR)