LOL, yeah, it’s even more craven than “we want free money”; instead, it is “we will fight until our dying breath to maintain our ability to blackmail you (via threat of shunning and alienation of affection) into submission to us”.
FFGhost
JoinedPosts by FFGhost
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18
Norway: Society hires a Law Firm
by Festus inmaybe society's own lawyers are so bad that they need to hire top notch lawyer's.. funny i thought jehoober would not need any help.. anyway here are the links.
media.
jehovas vitner mistet statsstøtten – vil saksøke staten – vårt land (vl.no).
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18
Norway: Society hires a Law Firm
by Festus inmaybe society's own lawyers are so bad that they need to hire top notch lawyer's.. funny i thought jehoober would not need any help.. anyway here are the links.
media.
jehovas vitner mistet statsstøtten – vil saksøke staten – vårt land (vl.no).
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FFGhost
So if I’m following this correctly, correct me if I’m wrong, but…
The WTS will be spending untold thousands or 10s of thousands of dollars (or the equivalent in krone) to try to coerce a government, that per their own teaching is under Satan’s control, into giving them free money?
Do I have that right?
Hoo boy, that takes a lot of of….something….to spin that into “oh how we are being persecuted”.
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Two gems from February 2023 Study Watchtower
by BoogerMan infebruary 2023 study watchtower: .
p. 16, par.
5 - ”when we base our discussions on material published by jehovah’s organization, (not the bible!
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FFGhost
Lol at that picture + description.
Anyone remember “Highlights” magazine? Maybe I’m dating myself. I always read it when I was a little kid waiting for my turn at the dentist’s office.
That picture & description is exactly a “Goofus and Gallant” cartoon from “Highlights”.
Just when you think they can’t dumb down the message any lower….
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49
Early Hominem. Neanderthals. Evolution.
by solameguy12 inso i grew up as a witness but i’m no longer active, i have some family that still practices very seriously.
but i don’t want to ask them my question.
but what does the bible and teaching’s of jw’s say about early hominids?
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FFGhost
Like why not just say “oops we were wrong” and keep preaching what they think is right
LOL. You have been away for along time.
The GB admit they were wrong?
It’s like asking someone standing on the South Pole, “now take one step to the south”. Just can’t be done,
Likewise, the GB is absolutely completely unable to ever admit to a specific mistake. They can’t do it.
They’ve gotten literally everything but the most trivial details completely, spectacularly wrong for 140+ years but the most they can cop to is a vague “we’re not infallible”. They are not physically capable of admitting error on a specific doctrine or policy.
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Missing Monthly Broadcast - May 2015
by Listener inyoutuber millstone research has done a video on the fact that the may 2015 monthly broadcast is no longer on jw org.. https://www.jw.org/en/library/videos/#en/categories/studiomonthlyprograms.
the broadcast was presented by lett who mentions he had the backing of the other gb members regarding his comments.. the broadcast is basically about soliciting jws for funds as well as other 'valuable things' for the organisation.
this is the one where he claims that the money flowing out was more than the money flowing in.
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FFGhost
It continues to astonish me (well maybe by now it shouldn’t) how utterly bone-brained they can be.
Anyone with the intelligence that God gave gravel understands that anything posted on the internet is there forever. Merely deleting something from your own site, especially something controversial, is the electronic version of standing on your rooftop waving your arms and yelling “Hey, everybody, look at me! I’m not standing on my rooftop waving my arms and yelling!”
Idiots.
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36
“Hanging the earth upon nothing”
by FFGhost infor those of you not up to speed on the latest jw trends, one of the key scriptures the jws are using in field serve-us lately is job 26:7, wherein the writer describes the earth as “hanging upon nothing”.. this text is used to indicate the bible’s “reliability”.
the reasoning goes something like this:.
“see, centuries ago, people thought the world was flat, or was resting on elephants or turtles, or some such nonsense.
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FFGhost
This is also another fine example of
The FFGhost golden rule of Biblical Eisgesis for fundamentalist religions
Namely:
”Any Biblical text which supports my preferred doctrinal understanding is to be understood as literal; any Biblical text which contradicts my preferred doctrinal understanding is to be understood as symbolic”
To be fair, JWs are only one of hundreds of religions which apply this rule.
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36
“Hanging the earth upon nothing”
by FFGhost infor those of you not up to speed on the latest jw trends, one of the key scriptures the jws are using in field serve-us lately is job 26:7, wherein the writer describes the earth as “hanging upon nothing”.. this text is used to indicate the bible’s “reliability”.
the reasoning goes something like this:.
“see, centuries ago, people thought the world was flat, or was resting on elephants or turtles, or some such nonsense.
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FFGhost
For those of you not up to speed on the latest JW trends, one of the key scriptures the JWs are using in field serve-us lately is Job 26:7, wherein the writer describes the earth as “hanging upon nothing”.
This text is used to indicate the Bible’s “reliability”. The reasoning goes something like this:
“See, centuries ago, people thought the world was flat, or was resting on elephants or turtles, or some such nonsense. But the writer of Job had it right all along, centuries before anyone else had figured it out! Ipso Facto, because the Bible got this detail right, everything it says is absolute truth.”
It’s a big deal in JW circles now. It is the “suggested conversation” for use in making return visits, there’s videos on how to use it, it’s in the meeting workbook. Scarcely a week goes by without a reference to using this scripture in field serve-us.
Aside from the numerous logical fallacies contained in this line of “reasoning”, something was bugging me about the use of this scripture in trying to justify the Bible’s “accuracy when it touches on scientific matters”. I finally figured out what was bothering me.
The Bible contains dozens of other descriptions of the earth which don’t indicate “accuracy”. But if you point this out to JWs, they’ll counter with “oh those are just poetic or symbolic references, not meant to be taken literally”.
Well, why? To wit:
The earth has “pillars”:
Job 9:6 “oh that’s poetic”
Psalm 75:3 “poetic”
The earth has “corners”:
Isaiah 11:12 “oh that’s symbolic”
Acts 10:11 “symbolic”
Revelation 7:1 “symbolic”
Revelation 20:8 “symbolic” says the JW
The earth has a “foundation” like a building:
Isaiah 48:13 “oh that’s just symbolic and poetic”
Isaiah 51:13 “symbolic”
Isaiah 51:16 “symbolic”
Ezekiel 13:14 “symbolic”
Zechariah 12:1 “oh, hey, symbolic”
And so on, you could cite dozens more examples….all “symbolic” or “poetic”.
But now, Job 26:7 “Yes,see? This is a hyper-literal scientific statement describing the orbit of a spherical earth wherein the effect of the sun’s gravity makes it appear, to an observer hundred of thousands or millions of miles away, to be hanging on nothing.”
Is it just me, or is this a little, I don’t know, what’s the word…inconsistent?
”Yes, the Bible’s descriptions of the earth should be taken symbolically 99% of the time, except for this one obscure reference that kind of sounds like something vaguely accurate. That one instance is proof of the Bible’s reliability.”
Example #8,478 of how JW “reasoning” falls apart after just a few minutes of thought.
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15
Next time a jw says "the end is sooo close now"
by nowwhat? insay this.
with what's going on the world does it look like they are going to proclaim peace and security anytime soon?!
or was the organization wrong again about the end times?.
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FFGhost
My standing offer for any and all JWs who say “the end is sooooo close now”:
(This only works for JWs with at least a little wealth, not so much for JWs on the dole or forced to live with 5 roommates due to poverty)
I’ll sign an agreement with you, with these terms:
— I give you $20,000 cash right now
— You sign a contract giving me 100% of all your assets 5 years from now. You can continue to use those assets (house, car, cash, etc.) for the next 4 years and 364 days, but at year 5, it is all legally and fully mine
What do you, Brother The-End-Is-Imminent, have to lose? You get an extra free $20,000 right now. Surely Armageddon will come before the 5 years are up, so I’ll never collect, and you won’t lose the car, house, etc. then, right? There’s no way you can lose with a deal like that, right?
Any takers?
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Latest jw broadcast referring to allegations of protecting pedophiles
by jonahstourguide inhi folks.. i put this in abuse as i thought it relevant.. a physically in mentally out friend that considers our friendship greater than religion told me that on the latest broadcast steven lett alluded to satans voice being behind people that claim the organisation protects pedophiles.. my friend then went on to say they must be in damage control.. he added, but that is correct, they are hiding their internal records.
is not that construed as protecting the accused?.
if i get the inclination i may post a snippet of what was actually said.. sadly my friend is trying to protect his family relationships and so goes along with the charade.. his situation weighs on me but, as many of you here know, it can be a difficult road to travel.. jtg.
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FFGhost
There’s clips of the broadcast all over the ex-JW Reddit.
Wow, ol’ M. Stephen sounds pi$$ed.
There’s an unmistakable sense of desperation in the shrillness of the message.
And there is also the “Streisand effect”. Loyal JWs are never going to listen to “apostates” anyway, so it’s pointless to hysterically shout warnings about doing so to them. But for the hundreds of thousands of JWs less inclined to be so mindlessly servile, and who perhaps have never been exposed to “pedophilia protection” reports, this may very well prompt at least some to think “why is he so hepped up? What are people really saying?”
Clearly these reports of covering up for child molesters are having an effect on the JW population, and the GB know it is having an effect.
I also found it striking how another “apostate lie” is that the GB are “exploiting” JWs. That of course is a frequent topic on this site and elsewhere, particularly related to the trend of the past few decades of dismissing middle aged Bethelites when their risk of incurring large medical bills outweighs their usefulness to the organization. This lends credence to the idea that I’ve long had, that the GB are paying some outside consultant to read these forums to figure out what oeople are saying.
in which case:
Hey Mr. (or Ms.) GB-hired consultant! Can you pass on a message? Tell Splane he’s still smarmy and knows next to nothing about music, and tell Lett his shrillness is not becoming a minister of Christ. Oh, and pass on to Morris, I recommend the McCallan 1949, cask 136. It might take some effort to find but it’s worth it.
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10
Meeting attendance
by Benavidez ini was wondering what your guys' meeting attendance was like.
our meetings here is like 50/50 with zoom and in person.
the spanish has it a little "better" with it being like 30% zoom attendance with most attending in person.. i've heard of congregations in other states having attendance where most (even elders and ms) attend meeting only via zoom and even have their cameras off.
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FFGhost
Was about 40% at KH / 60% zoom until the edict from on high.
Since then, it’s just about flipped - 60% at the KH, 40% on zoom.
Expect harsher and more frequent “loving reminders” as time goes on the zoom attendance starts drifting north of 50% again, particularly in the winter months.
Of course, they’ll have to intersperse those messages with equally harsh “let us tell you what your problem is” loving reminders when it becomes apparent that JWs are not heeding the other recent commandment to go back to door to door preaching.