FFGhost

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Posts by FFGhost

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  10

  Fawlty Towers (1975) & (1979) - still laugh-out-loud funny after all these years

  by LoveUniHateExams in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  so, i went and bought series one and series two on second hand dvd for one pound each.. i first saw series one of fawlty towers when i was about 11, then i saw series two a year later.. it's a little dated now, but that doesn't really matter because it's still making people laugh.

  that's all comedy is.. there is one episode - the kipper and the corpse - which i think is a bit rough around the edges, it's not as polished as some of the other episodes.

  but it still has some great lines in it, e.g.. the two old ladies: you're in a good mood today, mr fawlty.. basil: yes, well one of the guests has just died.

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  FFGhost

  I think "Basil the Rat" is probably the funniest one, though they are all worth watching.

  DVD? Ha! I bought the whole set on VHS tape!

  --FFGhost, Old Dinosaur Fogey Class
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  12

  Removing GB arragment.

  by asp59 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  you think they abouth to remove gb arragment?

  more and more with gb talks, they seem to be saying goodbye to congregations.

  maeby its part of downsize.

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  FFGhost

  The system works well for their purposes. The GB (and their assistants and spouses) enjoy power, prestige, and a millionaire lifestyle (though not millionaires per se). They are adored, revered, and people fall all over themselves to give them costly gifts.

  They are, effectively, the board of directors of the equivalent of a Fortune 500 company - which, by the way, pays $000 in taxes.

  Why would they voluntarily give that up?
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  34

  Lawsuit: I said GB member Barr that my Bethelite stepfather abused me; he did nothing

  by Corney in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  here's an excerpt from the recent lawsuit deborah hines v. watchtower bible and tract society of new york et al (paragraphs 158-180), one of 29 known cases brought against the org pursuant to the ny child victims act.

  what should be kept in mind is that gerrit lösch apparently worked in europe (the austrian branch and eastern europe) at the time when the abuse was allegedly reported to him (not a gb member then).. plaintiff was raised a member of the jehovah’s witnesses.

  she primarily attended meetings at various congregations in arizona.

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  FFGhost

  there would be no way an emotional young girls tale of woe would be believed over a highly valued older male who denied or minimized the wrongdoing done to her.

  Good lord, this is the ethos of the organization summed up about as perfectly as possible.
  
  
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  17

  2021-November-S-147-Announcements And Reminders!

  by Atlantis in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  2021-november-s-147-announcements and reminders.

  english and german.

  https://www.filemail.com/d/jyqtggmagakcdrq.

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  FFGhost

  Just to clarify:

  The QFR quoted earlier is from 1958.

  Accepting a blood transfusion became a DF offense in 1961:

  http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/blood-transfusions.php

  Beginning with the Watchtower 1961 Jan 15 pp.63-64, blood transfusions became a disfellowshipping offence, highlighting the importance this doctrine had become to the Watchtower Society.

  Any "anointed" JW who took a blood transfusion today would be considered to have "disassociated himself by his actions" (functionally identical to be disfellowshipped, just named differently to protect WTS legally).
  
  
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  68

  Help with 1975 please

  by jhine in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i answered a question on quora about jw flip flops .

  i mentioned, amongst other things , the 1975 debacle.

  how witnesses were told that armageddon was coming in the fall of that year.

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  FFGhost

  Have you looked here?

  https://jwfacts.com/watchtower/1975.php

  Lots of quotes from articles there.
• 
  25

  Question

  by Gorb in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what is the probability that a religious organisation is used for money laundering?

  for example, large amounts of money are raised by the organization as a donation and then legally introduced into the financial system.

  is there any chance that jw.org is used for this kind of purpose?

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  FFGhost

  Answering your question in general, I think it would be pretty hard to use a religion for money laundering. You could feed the "dirty money" in easily but how would you get the "clean money" out? Money tends to flow only one way for religious organizations, WTS included.

  Real estate is the classic money laundering vehicle, though of course there are others.

  That said, there are some pretty enterprising folks in the underworld. Perhaps someone more clever than I has figured out a way to do it.
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  30

  Butchered pronunciation

  by road to nowhere in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  since it is my turn (wife) to have the assembly streamed they start with the music.. i have never in 70 years heard it called a "pree-lood".

  twice, morning and afternoon..

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  FFGhost

  Oh this is terrible, you guys are dredging up buried memories....

  We had a guy, not very well educated, who at some point discovered that "permeate" is a real word.

  He loved that word. Used it any and every chance he got. Jehovah's holy spirit permeates the universe, loves permeates the congregation, Satan's spirit permeates the world, etc. etc. etc.

  Except.....somehow he learned the word as "PRE-meate".

  And - he loved the word so much, not only would he use it every chance he got, he'd get this goofy grin and tilt his head to the side every time he said it.

  Imagine listening to 45 minutes of this:

  "And do, just as the spirit of the world PRE-meates (grin-tilt) the world, and Satan's spirit PRE-meates (tilt-grin) worldly people, Jehovah's spirit PRE-meates (tilt-grin) the congregation..."

  Can you see why I'm brain-damaged?
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  30

  Butchered pronunciation

  by road to nowhere in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  since it is my turn (wife) to have the assembly streamed they start with the music.. i have never in 70 years heard it called a "pree-lood".

  twice, morning and afternoon..

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  FFGhost

  Oh yeah, we had one could who would always say "Crishendum" instead of "Christendom". Drove me nuts.
• 
  11

  Just wondering

  by Iamallcool in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  can someone with dementia get disfellowshipped?.

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  FFGhost

  Elders are supposed to take extenuating circumstances into account, and dementia would most definitely fit that.

  I recall a DO (yes many years ago) explaining the "rule of thumb" was that if the person was capable of living independently, they would be "accountable" for DFing - can he hold a job? Care for his own personal hygiene? etc. If so, then he can face a judicial committee.

  So regarding dementia, it would largely depend where on the spectrum of dementia the person fell. If mild, the person might well be considered "accountable". If farther along, probably not.

  That said, the "quality" of elders varies wildly. Some are incredibly proud, or egotistical, or stupid, or on a power trip, or "all of the above". It's an absolute crapshoot which 3 elders end up on a committee - often it's whichever 3 have openings in their schedule for a particular evening or the 3 who most recently haven't "handled" any judicial cases.

  So, it would not surprise me one scintilla if some, or many, judicial committees ended up DFing folks with more severe dementia, mental illness, brain damage, you name it.
• 
  30

  Butchered pronunciation

  by road to nowhere in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  since it is my turn (wife) to have the assembly streamed they start with the music.. i have never in 70 years heard it called a "pree-lood".

  twice, morning and afternoon..

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  FFGhost

  One of my all-time favorites was when the heavy elder (in more ways than one) was reading for the book study. The lesson for the week was on Jeremiah and his secretary Baruch.

  Baruch, based on the punctuation marks in the text and the way it is read on the WT website, is pronounced BEAR-uk.

  This guy somehow got it into is head that it was Bear-OOK.

  There were a few paragraphs where Baruch's name appeared 6 or 7 times. So it was a constant stream of Bear-OOK, Bear-OOK, Bear-OOK, Bear-OOK.....

  So, now it's time for the conductor to ask the question on the paragraph, which, naturally enough, included the name Baruch.

  What to do? If he pronounces it the right way, it will publicly "show up" Brother Heavyweight. And then he'll get a firm scolding after the meeting about the proper time and place to give counsel, "Don't you dare ever correct me in public ever again", etc. etc. etc.

  Ugh, he thinks. So what does he do? He reads the question referring to Bear-OOK.

  Now, the audience. Many / most folks know it's pronounced BEAR-uk, right? Right? Well, um, now two elders are pronouncing it Bear-OOK, they're more spiritual, they must know better, so here goes my comment: "Well, you see, Bear-OOK being Bear-OOK, Bear-OOK decided to...."

  The whole #$%#%FF! night. Bear-OOK, Bear-OOK, Bear-OOK, Bear-OOK......