There's only so many years decades centuries you can say "very soon now!" before people start thinking, maybe, just maybe, it won't be "very soon now".
FFGhost
JoinedPosts by FFGhost
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57
JWs unrecognisable compared to my grandfathers time
by ExBethelitenowPIMA inmy grandfather who has been dead for 37 years would not recognise the borganisation today.
he would turn in his grave if he knew the end didn’t come by 2023.. back in the 1970s he really believed in the 75 thing.
he was so disappointed and almost blamed everyone else why the end didn’t come.
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FFGhost
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20
Pa. authorities charge 5 more in probe of child sex abuse among Jehovah's Witnesses
by AndersonsInfo inhttps://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/charges-probe-child-sexual-abuse-among-jehovahs-witnesses-pennsylvania/3600171/#:~:text=a%20pennsylvania%20grand%20jury%20investigating,that%20has%20identified%2014%20suspects.
what to know.
a pennsylvania grand jury investigating child sexual abuse among jehovah’s witnesses has charged another five people with raping or molesting children as young as 4 years old.. the indictments friday are the latest charges in an ongoing probe that has identified 14 suspects.. state attorney general michelle henry says that while the misconduct dates back years or even decades, “the trauma endures for these victims.”.
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FFGhost
"Jehovah's Witnesses do NOT abuse children!"
No true Scotsman.....
This PA case is starting to get very interesting.
I know it's the longest of long shots, but I can't get rid of the gut feeling there is some connection between all these recent PA cases and Tony Morris' abrupt and complete disappearance, to the point of pretending he never existed, erasing his dozens if not hundreds of video appearances....
The sudden prominence of his son.....
The complete forbidding of asking anyone anything about it....
It could be any of a dozen things....but the timing is eyebrow-raising.
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11
Chat AI shows Jesus was not god
by enigma1863 intitle: jesus' perception of himself: a nuanced view of equality in a patriarchal society.
introduction:.
the perception of jesus christ's divinity has been a subject of theological debate for centuries.
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FFGhost
I guess ChatAI will now burn in hell for all eternity for heresy?
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11
Poll says Gen Xer's would like to return to pre-internet
by SydBarrett inaccording to a new harris poll shared exclusively with fast company, most americans would prefer to live in a simpler era before everyone was obsessed with screens and social media, and this sentiment is especially strong among older millennials and gen xers.. asked whether they would like to return to a time before humanity was “plugged in”—meaning before people had wide access to the internet and smartphones—77% of americans age 35-54 said they would, the highest of any group.. .
what would you consider your ideal level of the internet?
as a gen x'er, i would not want to go back to the per-internet world, but i would like to go back in some specific technologies.
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FFGhost
Random thoughts....
One thing I really love is how we have GPS systems at our fingertips. If I'm in a new city, I don't have to memorize maps and hunt down street names and worry about wandering into a skinky part of town by accident. I just pull out the smart phone, pick a place I want to go, and walk there. I never worry about "getting lost" anymore.
One thing I really hate is what I would call "loss of charm". Like, say, I traveled to some dinky little US southern town, and happened to visit their Class A minor league baseball stadium to take in a game. While at the stadium, I could buy a souvenir cap of the "Podunk Gristmillers" or whatever their team is. The only place in the world where you could buy a "Podunk Gristmillers" baseball cap was to actually go to Podunk and visit the stadium. When you got back home, you could wear the cap and have a "story to tell" about where it came from, and your travels there, etc. etc. It was a way to start a conversation about your travels.
Today, you can order from any of, oh, 280 different websites which sell baseball caps from every city, from every decade, with every variation, and Amazon will deliver it to your front door in 48 hours. No effort, no interesting stories, no "charm".
It doesn't have to be "baseball caps" and "small towns" - purchasing [anything which used to be kind of fun and unique and regional] is effortless and the sentimental, emotional part of it is gone.
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14
Facts or Biasedness?
by Ardian inthe watchtower and awake have been listed as the most popular magazines.the figures are astonishing.
i am not sure whether it is based on reality or not.. source: https://tingtopten.com/2020/01/top-10-most-popular-magazines-in-the-world/.
i have seen the link on many social media networks.
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FFGhost
They only print one "public" edition of each magazine per year.
How can a single 16 page "magazine" (with maybe 6 actual pages of text after you take away the 2 inch margins and multiple photos and triple-spaced bullet points) be the "most popular"?
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Reddit post about elder asking congregation for money to fix his car!
by LongHairGal inyes, there’s a post on reddit.
it says that after a zoom meeting a request was made to baptized publishers to give $20 apiece to fix this elder’s car.. while this sounds highly irregular to me and not necessarily approved by the religion, i am not at all surprised at the nerve.
this, unfortunately, seems to be the direction that things are going there!
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FFGhost
Heh, yeah, we had a special pioneer couple, and the elder body (at least it wasn't the whole congregation) were "kindly requested" by the COBE to chip in to buy the guy a car.
Fortunately, it was an extraordinarily wealthy congregation and it was relatively easy for most to contribute. I think they got him an older Toyota Camry.
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Breaking News: Anthony Morris III no longer serving on the Governing Body
by WingCommander inthis has been announced on the jw's official website, in the "jw news" section.
this is not a joke.
anthony moron da turd is out as a gluttonous body member!
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FFGhost
JW. org no longer foots the bill for most of their medical needs. Additionally, since TM3 is a veteran he also has VA benefits I am sure.
We had a special pioneer couple in our congregation "X" years ago. They were booted out of Bethel in their 50's like hundreds of others.
They had a slightly different path to Bethel service, they joined when in their 30's so they had 10+ years of work history as employees in the USA, which qualified them for Social Security retirement benefits.
In the USA, your Social Security "normal" retirement age is somewhere between ages 65 - 67, depending on your year of birth. You can elect to receive reduced benefits as early as age 62.
When the husband was about to reach age 62, he was informed by Bethel that he must begin his Social Security benefits at age 62, no option, end of discussion. AND his monthly stipend from the WTS (at the time I think it was something like $600 per month) would be reduced in accord with whatever SS paid him. If he got $500 per month from SS, his money from the WTS would be reduced to $100. If his SS payments exceeded $600 per month (not that hard to do, even with only 10-12 years of work experience), the WTS turned off the money spigot.
It might have been nice for the couple to wait until later, to get higher retirement benefits at a later age, but they had 0 option (if they wanted to remain special pioneers, anyway).
The WTS will never pay out a farthing more that they have to.
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42
God and Unicorns
by Sea Breeze inatheist scientists now agree that "elasmotherium sibiricu" lived with humans.
all they had to do was read their bible to know that.
job 39:9 “will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib?”.
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FFGhost
Any discovery that's not immediately understood becomes "They don't understand how that works, so it was God."
The combination of hubris + stupidity is often stunning to behold. It is somehow inconceivable to some folks that there are people who understand things better than they do.
"I don't understand what evolution is or how it could possibly work, therefore God did it" really translates to "I am of extraordinary intelligence, and I can't grasp this, therefore everyone else who claims to understand it is either lying or deluded, because surely no one is smarter than me".
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would you be more happy not knowing what you now know?
by ExBethelitenowPIMA ina good question is would you be more happy not knowing what you now know?.
were you more happy pimi?
are all the pimis more happy than the the pimos or the pomos?.
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FFGhost
I haven’t read any specific books that are about biological evolution but I’ve read lots of other books about evolution.
I'm still curious. Can you give us the title, author, and ISBN number of one of those books that is "about evolution" but "not about biological evolution"?
I'm trying to work out what "non-biological evolution" is, and maybe that book can help.
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Are Elders Following Instructions from The Shepherding Book?
by Atlantis inhow safe is personal information when elders do not follow their instructions?.
from spain.
announcementjune 23, 2023for elders1.
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FFGhost
Local congregation here (midwest US) asked for contact name and phone number of someone outside the area who might know our whereabouts if we were out of contact for some reason.
That's not just a Midwest US thing, it's a worldwide thing.
Elders are directed to create an "emergency contact list" of every single member in the congregation. As you note, it is supposed to be someone you would flee to, or at least contact, in the event of an undefined "emergency".
It was put into place following Hurricane Katrina. Tens of thousands of JWs had to flee their homes at essentially a moment's notice, ending up hundreds of miles away. Elders had no clue who, or how many, of their congregation had made it out, nor how to contact them.
That's when all the hoo-hah about "go-bags" started as well.
And yes, if you don't provide your "emergency contact information" to the elders, you will get increasingly frequent and urgent "loving reminders" to do so.