That's what they do currently. "The JW decided that he didn't want blood so... yeah... not our fault!"
There are no lawsuits NOW because a JW decides to die because of no blood... why would there be any lawsuits THEN if the Watchtower decided to remove that blood ban??
I don't get it...
VerdadTJ2
JoinedPosts by VerdadTJ2
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25
Would there, or would there not be, lawsuits if they took away the blood transfusion ban?
by VerdadTJ2 ini have heard or read, many times by many exjw's, that the org does not remove the blood transfusion ban because it would be crippled by the resulting lawsuits the minute that "new light" was made official.i am not a lawyer, but i would like to know what legal opinion lawyers have on that.on what legal basis would there be a lawsuit?
"i am suing the watchtower because my relative died because of a rule they had but no longer have"?am i missing something?.
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VerdadTJ2
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25
Would there, or would there not be, lawsuits if they took away the blood transfusion ban?
by VerdadTJ2 ini have heard or read, many times by many exjw's, that the org does not remove the blood transfusion ban because it would be crippled by the resulting lawsuits the minute that "new light" was made official.i am not a lawyer, but i would like to know what legal opinion lawyers have on that.on what legal basis would there be a lawsuit?
"i am suing the watchtower because my relative died because of a rule they had but no longer have"?am i missing something?.
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VerdadTJ2
I have heard or read, many times by many exJW's, that the org does not remove the blood transfusion ban because it would be crippled by the resulting lawsuits the minute that "new light" was made official.
I am not a lawyer, but I would like to know what legal opinion lawyers have on that.
On what legal basis would there be a lawsuit?
"I am suing the Watchtower because my relative died because of a rule they had but no longer have"?
Am I missing something? -
4
How can I promote a book that is exJW related?
by VerdadTJ2 ini have a friend in guatemala who was born and raised in el salvador.. he wrote a book in spanish which i am translating to english.. normally, he would be making enough money to provide for his family by working at a textile factory as their graphics designer.
but, given the covid19 crisis, he was laid off.. he was hoping to make a little side money by writing a book before this whole covid19 thing hit, and he sold only a few copies of the spanish version, because the market is small and it's really small in the spanish-speaking exjw community.the book is really good, it's very entertaining, and it gives a fresh perspective of what it was to be a latino jw and coming of age in the early 1990's.so... any tips on how to promote it?
i would like to sell it at $10usd and sell at least 100 copies.
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VerdadTJ2
Here is the first half of the first chapter (I got full permission from Carlos to post):
I love music. I enjoy almost all genres and I can hear both a ranchera[1] from José Alfredo Jiménez and the progressive rock of Coldplay. Classical or academic music is my bliss and I love some reggaeton[2] songs. I really like going through the velvety voice of Katie Perry or the scratched throat of Ana Gabriel, even the youthful choirs of One Direction. Popular music is something I discovered until I was almost an adult. Growing up in a Jehovah's Witness home in El Salvador, a small country in Central America, my musical tastes were always regulated and controlled by what “The Organization” (which is what Jehovah's Witnesses affectionately call the headquarters where publications such as the Watchtower magazine come from), considers appropriate. The interpretation of what was “right for the Christian ear” was always very broad: music like cumbia[3] had nothing wrong as long as its lyrics were properly studied and broken down to eliminate anything that was not within the ideal focused on a life of preaching and going to meetings Such an examination disqualified authors such as Los Angeles Azules[4] or Pastor López, who focus their songs on love betrayals, relationships at an early age or parties during the holidays.
Rock was out of the question, just mentioning glam groups like Mötley Crüe or Guns N’ Roses had meant an automatic visit to "the B Room" to receive "encouragement", a word that in witness language means listening to a long sermon full of Biblical quotes which ends up almost ordering you to abandon something you like. The only things that could be heard in my house were the Spanish melodies of 60’s and 70’s singers, so I grew up listening to Los Iracundos[5], Rafael, José Luis Rodríguez, Emmanuel and Camilo Sesto.
What he had had in abundance were cánticos[6] (Jehovah’s Witness songs) and dramas on cassette. The cánticos were the songs that were used at the beginning and the end of the meetings in the Kingdom Hall. Since we met at least twice a week there, 5 different songs were sung every week. We were expected to know some by heart and there were certain cánticos that were crowd pleasers and were reserved for special occasions.
Dramas were small theatrical plays whose audio was recorded in the headquarters and were played during the conventions in the stadiums or large auditoriums. In my youth, two of these dramas were played every year in the District Conventions[7]. One was based in the Biblical world and the other one in the modern era. The former were always a hit among the young ones, who enjoyed seeing the scenery and the clothes of the era, as well as the long beards made of cotton.[8] These small theaters were made very poorly, since it was expected that the participants finance the scenography and the effects. For a Witness, it was a complete honor to participate in one of these and be seen by a soccer stadium with an audience of at least twenty thousand.
Melodies and dramas, with the exception of two or three of them, always seemed poor to me, very badly orchestrated and directed, with poor arrangements, better fitted to a bar song than something that was supposed to be dedicated to God. They’re not even near to Haendel’s choirs, to the Gregorian songs annotated by Guido in the middle ages, or the sublime interpretation of life or the Christian vision that John Milton left in his Paradise Lost. In short, they were artistic trash.
However, among the members of the congregation, the songs and the dramas were a hit. Everyone bought them in large cases that could store twenty cassettes, and it was not rare for an enthusiastic JW to prefer the vinyl disk with the drawing of David and the Harp and give the social gatherings a more “theocratic” feel. I imagine that the sales of those cassettes must have brought large profits to the JW Organization, since they should have at least sold one or two million copies of each one. As in my house I did not have the liberty to listen to what I wanted, I had to listen to my music secretly. I remember there was a radio with a cassette recorder, it was tiny and could work either connected to the AC line or with those large “D” size batteries.
Around the time I hit fifteen years of age, I took advantage of a moment when my parents were not looking and I took the precious device to my room, which was strategically placed in the patio. Therefore, I could listen to music in the afternoons or the evenings, albeit in a very low volume. My favorite station was the longtime non-existent “Double S”, that broadcasted exclusively Spanish music from the eighties and nineties. I became a fan of Los Hombres G[9] and Miguel Mateos, I also liked Timbiriche[10] a lot, and, I kept this an absolute secret, Las Flans[11]. Then came Luis Miguel and his Romances album, and the goodbye songs of Cristian Castro. My mother got angry at me because I heard music all locked up, because she couldn’t control it, and I think that what most got her angry was my taste for the group Los Ángeles del Infierno[12], a group with a unique name, to fool her, even though they played a ballad such as Al otro lado del silencio.[13]
I was so fond of music, that, once I started middle school, I secretly watched my school’s band practice, and my biggest dream was to be the one who carried the largest drum in the Independence Day Parade. The music teacher took a note of my passion and invited me to form part of the band, but I had to answer him with the usual “I am a Jehovah’s Witness, and Jehovah doesn’t approve of those things”.
The teacher looked at me puzzled by my regurgitated explanation, and asked me, with a serious tone, when God had prohibited birds from singing. I was speechless after hearing such crushing logic and decided not to see the band practice, even though I really wanted to, to avoid further problems.
I tried to learn how to play the guitar, but it was the same thing, because my teacher made me practice using rock songs exclusively, and one elder[14] from our congregation saw me practicing at my teacher’s home’s entrance, and then went to my parents and “recommended” they have me avoid contact with that worldly person[15], from whom I would learn nothing good. During that one week, I only managed to learn to play the first chords of Patience by Guns N’ Roses.
When I was sixteen, on a Wednesday night, I exploded. I couldn’t bear it anymore, the control, and I screamed to my parents for the first time, telling them I would leave home. My parents’ “smart” solution was to send me on a preaching tour that weekend near the Guatemalan border. I was frustrated, and, to boot, I had to ride the whole trip with that same elder, who spent the weekend “encouraging me”, that is, fucking up my life just a little bit more than what it already was.
The good thing about this was that at least the radio was declared, officially, my possession, and my right to listen to music was always respected, as long as I did so at a very low volume, so as to not interfere with the sound of the cánticos which were being played in the living room stereo.
I was very desperate living inside that theocratic prison. I couldn’t do anything I enjoyed. Each passing day, the boring routine of a Jehovah’s Witness lifestyle was more and more unbearable. One Sunday, after the meeting, I went to Farid’s house, who I considered then to be my “best friend”, and I told him how I felt. I simply needed to talk and had no desire to debate with my parents or the elders about anything. He was only 9 months older than me, and we had been friends since I was nine. We were both baptized Jehovah’s Witnesses and we came from families who had been in the Organization for decades. I was careful not to talk about my feelings with him, until that day. I knew by experience that expressing ideas that were contrary to what we were being taught could bring great trouble.
Talking about what I felt was risky, since Farid was a model child that appeared to be very obedient and prepared for the meetings in a very ostentatious manner, every meeting, he had his Watchtower magazine all highlighted.[16] He had been an auxiliary pioneer[17] many times, spending more than sixty hours a month preaching from house to house in the streets, and he was also in charge of distributing the monthly literature to the other Witnesses. Besides, my parents approved of him 100% due to his loaded language full of “theocratic” expressions such as “If Jehovah wills”, or “We must obey Jehovah first”.
Farid calmly listened to me and showed me the underside of his bed. He had a varied rap music cassette collection. He was very fond of a group called Two Live Crew, which, as he told me, said a lot of English swear words. I was very surprised when I found out about it, and he explained, in that positive and straightforward manner in which he viewed everything, that no one could be a Witness and be happy at the same time. One had to be very crazy to accept and comply with everything that was asked for in the Kingdom Hall[18], and that, deep down, everyone lived their lives the way they wanted to, at home. He made me swear that, from now on, whatever happened, whether I heard or saw of something, I would keep silent about it, and he offered to store my secret music in his “safe”, which was no more than a metal box, of the ones that carried bullets and which were very common in my country during the war[19], since you could find them abandoned near the places where there had been a shootout between the guerrilla[20] and the soldiers. The box had a lock on it, so he felt that its content was very secure, and he stored condoms and even a porn magazine that he got from a neighbor who didn’t ask for it back.
On my way back home I went by a music store to buy two Maxwell brand chrome cassettes, 90 minutes capacity, so I could record some music. Now I finally had somewhere safer to store my stuff, because last time, it had been a mess; my mother found my notebook, filled with poems dedicated to a Jehovah’s Witness girl, and the whole matter ended up with an elder’s visit to my house, asking if things went beyond just the paper. I was very ashamed, because the elder also visited the girl’s home, and she didn’t even knew I liked her, so even to that day, I blushed when I was near her in the Kingdom Hall.
I had to choose what I would record. I spent two weeks making very detailed lists; meanwhile, Farid kept placing the ground rules of our friendship. First things first: everything had to be a secret. He kept telling me this over and over, and I accepted without hesitation every one of his recommendations. I found out he smoked secretly and he had already had sex more than once. He loved watching porn movies featuring Christy Canyon[21], he got the tapes from a neighbor who worked in a movie rental store. He had an old, brown colored VHS machine, and we could watch whatever we wanted in the afternoons, since his mother would go out preaching and conducting Bible Studies.
Farid’s preferred way to get away from it all was watching movies. He loved watching movies of any genre, but his favorite one was action movies. In that, he was truly an expert. Van Damme, Stallone, Schwarzenegger, the biggest movie stars at that time, were must-watch, and we saw all of their movies together. We also enjoyed old Charles Bronson or Clint Eastwood movies.
Taking advantage of the fact that Farid would store my cassettes, I finished my playlist and decided to store my final recording at his home, in the safety box he had under his bed.
My playlist was:
1. Sweet Child of Mine, by Guns N’ Roses
2. Maniac Monday, by The Bangles
3. Al Otro Lado del Silencio, by Ángeles del Infierno[22]
4. Dame la Oportunidad, by Barón Rojo[23]
5. Como Un Burro Amarrado A La Puerta de Un Baile, by El Último de la Fila[24]
6. Dr. Feelgood, by Mötley Crüe
7. Tiraré, by Las Cubas Flans[25]
8. Lambada, by Kaoma
9. Everything I Do, I Do It For You, by Bryan Adams
10. One, by Metallica
[1] A style of Mexican music. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranchera for more details.
[2] A style of music similar to hip-hop, which originated in Puerto Rico. Typically sung in Spanish. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reggaeton for more details.
[3] A style of music that originated in Colombia. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumbia for more details.
[4] “The Blue Angels”, a Mexican musical group that plays cumbia.
[5] “The Wrathful Ones”, a band from Uruguay that plays rock in Spanish.
[6] Literally, “songs”, but a special term. Jehovah’s Witnesses no longer use this term, now they call them simply “canciones”, “songs”.
[7] Jehovah’s Witnesses split their organization into congregations, then circuits, then districts, then zones. Circuit Assemblies involved around 10 congregations. District Conventions involved possibly dozens or hundreds of congregations.
[8] Jehovah’s Witnesses frown on male facial hair. See https://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/beards-jehovahs-witnesses.php for more details.
[9] A Spanish pop rock band from Spain.
[10] A Mexican pop music group.
[11] A Mexican all-female Latin Pop group.
[12] “The Angels of Hell”, a heavy metal band from Spain.
[13] “On the Other Side of Silence”.
[14] That is how Jehovah’s Witnesses call their Pastors.
[15] Jehovah’s Witness term for people who have never been Jehovah’s Witnesses.
[16] Jehovah’s Witnesses “study” the Watchtower magazine every week, where they read a paragraph, and Witnesses essentially repeat what the paragraph said. Highlighting the answer is a sign that they read and studied the magazine previous to the meeting.
[17] At the time, it was defined as a person who preached more than 60 hours a month.
[18] The name Jehovah’s Witnesses give to their buildings of worship.
[19] El Salvador was in a Civil War from 1980 to 1992.
[20] The left wing insurgents fighting against the government.
[21] A pornstar who was famous in the 80’s and 90’s.
[22] “At the Other Side of Silence”, by “Angels of Hell”
[23] “Give me the Chance”, by “Red Baron”
[24] “Like a Donkey Tied at the Door of a Dance”, by “The Last One in the Line”
[25] “I will throw it”, by “The Flans from Cuba”
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Bill Gates Foundation
by jhine inhi everyone , how are ya'll ?
l have a question particularly for any americans on here .
l have an american friend from la who has recently been trying very hard to investigate bill gates and his foundation , she has shared quotes from a lot people making very serious accusations against bill .
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VerdadTJ2
It's extremely difficult to talk a person out of a conspiracy theory. Just as difficult or probably more so, than to get a person out of a cult.
Perhaps read up on Steven Hassan's book, "Combatting Cult Mind Control", to help your friend. -
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How can I promote a book that is exJW related?
by VerdadTJ2 ini have a friend in guatemala who was born and raised in el salvador.. he wrote a book in spanish which i am translating to english.. normally, he would be making enough money to provide for his family by working at a textile factory as their graphics designer.
but, given the covid19 crisis, he was laid off.. he was hoping to make a little side money by writing a book before this whole covid19 thing hit, and he sold only a few copies of the spanish version, because the market is small and it's really small in the spanish-speaking exjw community.the book is really good, it's very entertaining, and it gives a fresh perspective of what it was to be a latino jw and coming of age in the early 1990's.so... any tips on how to promote it?
i would like to sell it at $10usd and sell at least 100 copies.
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VerdadTJ2
The book is called "A Happy Apostate". The author is my friend Carlos.
Here is his Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/happy-apostate-1-31361388?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=postshare -
4
How can I promote a book that is exJW related?
by VerdadTJ2 ini have a friend in guatemala who was born and raised in el salvador.. he wrote a book in spanish which i am translating to english.. normally, he would be making enough money to provide for his family by working at a textile factory as their graphics designer.
but, given the covid19 crisis, he was laid off.. he was hoping to make a little side money by writing a book before this whole covid19 thing hit, and he sold only a few copies of the spanish version, because the market is small and it's really small in the spanish-speaking exjw community.the book is really good, it's very entertaining, and it gives a fresh perspective of what it was to be a latino jw and coming of age in the early 1990's.so... any tips on how to promote it?
i would like to sell it at $10usd and sell at least 100 copies.
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VerdadTJ2
I have a friend in Guatemala who was born and raised in El Salvador.
He wrote a book in Spanish which I am translating to English.
Normally, he would be making enough money to provide for his family by working at a textile factory as their graphics designer. But, given the COVID19 crisis, he was laid off.
He was hoping to make a little side money by writing a book before this whole COVID19 thing hit, and he sold only a few copies of the Spanish version, because the market is small and it's really small in the Spanish-speaking exJW community.
The book is really good, it's very entertaining, and it gives a fresh perspective of what it was to be a Latino JW and coming of age in the early 1990's.
So... any tips on how to promote it? I would like to sell it at $10USD and sell at least 100 copies. He sorely needs the money, but it's not asking for donations, it's asking for delivery of a product. Any tips would be appreciated!Thanks!