schnell

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Posts by schnell

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  7

  Jehovah Witnesses sects flock to Hudson Valley Town

  by ToesUp in

  1. social
  2. current

  interesting article regarding the properties owned by jw's and other sects.. shawangunk - this ulster county town, with a ridge of quartz mountains rising 2,000 feet, is a mecca for rock climbers.

  in recent years, religious groups have also begun flocking to the mid-hudson valley municipality of 15,000 residents, putting down roots and scooping up tax breaks.. in 2015, the 29 shawangunk properties with religious non-profit status were worth $148 million, up 85 percent since 1999.. “our town is nearly 30 percent exempt,” said town tax assessor curt schoeberl.

  “in the last five or 10 years, the largest tax-exempt group’s growth is religious.

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  schnell

  But hey, they're saving up for when religions have to pay taxes, right?
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  22

  I got a voicemail from an elder about meeting with me.

  by schnell in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  yesterday, i missed a call and got a long voicemail from an elder who would like to meet with my wife and i some time this weekend, with another elder who dealt with my brother.

  i haven't responded.

  it's meeting night tonight, and my wife has already talked about staying home to do yoga with me instead.. yeah.

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  schnell

  Yesterday, I missed a call and got a long voicemail from an elder who would like to meet with my wife and I some time this weekend, with another elder who dealt with my brother.

  I haven't responded. It's meeting night tonight, and my wife has already talked about staying home to do yoga with me instead.

  Yeah. I think she's getting it. Who knows?

  I don't really have an interest in this meeting, but I can be sure that they'll come to our door Saturday morning and/or Sunday.

  Here's the thing. I've already debated with this elder over the phone before. It was a nice, polite, scholarly debate. He said his part, I responded honestly, and we went back and forth. I am evolutionist and I said my piece about that. He is creationist and as I countered every point he made with science and reason, he eventually concluded, "At some point, you have to decide that there is a God."

  I let him go on that because we'd gone back and forth for over an hour. That was the end of the call, more or less. But no. It's not a choice. The truth isn't different for you and me. The truth is objective and provable and DOESN'T require faith. Furthermore, we'd earlier discussed Pascal's Wager and how choosing to serve God blindly is really just choosing the reward that you're promised for doing so. (Compare the accuser's/Satan's words in Job.)

  
  

  He's a nice guy. But if they get ahold of me at home and ask bluntly if I think this is the truth and want to continue, I feel as with any other sort of lie that I would do more prolonged harm than good by giving in.

  PS: Jephthah killed his daughter. Get over it. https://youtu.be/NFyekTrObRc
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  13

  Memorial observance screwery.

  by Darkknight757 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  had a thought about the memorial observance that is held at the kingdumb hall every year.

  there are a few youtube videos of people partaking of the bread and the wine and then making some grand speech before being escorted off the premises.

  instead of that, has anyone tried getting a group of buddies together and when receiving the bread or the wine, just eat or drink it all?

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  schnell

  You could just bring a guy friend and hold hands, but quite loudly break up at the end for the sake of your Christian values.
• 
  30

  so let me get this straight.. the borg moves into their new corporate country club....

  by nowwhat? in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  with their luxurious lakeside condos.

  takes all the congregations funds promising new kingdom halls.

  but instead starts selling off kingdom halls ..then makes faithful old brothers and sisters drive 20-30 miles to another one, and .kicks out half the bethelites for only only tech savy college educated ones.can barely afford to send out printed publications anymore.

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  schnell

  I went to conventions at Qualcomm in SD for years, never heard a word about that. What a douche.
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  22

  How do you prove the watchtower organisation is not genuine using recent evidence?

  by punkofnice in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  when i was a jobo, i would say that anything in jobo history, eg.

  miracle wheat, beth sarim et al (old light), wasn't worth considering as evidence that the wbt$ was a weirdo cult.. i think that's probably the jobo mindset now.. what would you show them from very recent lies teachings to encourage them to consider the possibility the wbt$ is a scam?.

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  schnell

  This just makes me want to pay for college by selling plasma.
• 
  30

  so let me get this straight.. the borg moves into their new corporate country club....

  by nowwhat? in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  with their luxurious lakeside condos.

  takes all the congregations funds promising new kingdom halls.

  but instead starts selling off kingdom halls ..then makes faithful old brothers and sisters drive 20-30 miles to another one, and .kicks out half the bethelites for only only tech savy college educated ones.can barely afford to send out printed publications anymore.

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  schnell

  JWs saw nothing wrong with Rutherford moving into Beth Sarim when the patriarchs failed to resurrect as expected nor with the organization selling the house held in trust for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob after Rutherford died...
  

  Wait wait wait, WHAT?! OMG never heard anything about of any this, that's so bizarre and hilarious and sad...
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  22

  How do you prove the watchtower organisation is not genuine using recent evidence?

  by punkofnice in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  when i was a jobo, i would say that anything in jobo history, eg.

  miracle wheat, beth sarim et al (old light), wasn't worth considering as evidence that the wbt$ was a weirdo cult.. i think that's probably the jobo mindset now.. what would you show them from very recent lies teachings to encourage them to consider the possibility the wbt$ is a scam?.

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  schnell

  Okay, for those of us unfamiliar, what is the Australian Royal Commission and why is it relevant here? I've seen the ARC mentioned in another thread here. Lay it on me.
• 
  39

  The increasing WT magazine

  by darkspilver in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  apart from the interesting block color change for the title strip on the front page.... the new 2017 wt mag has some new (updated printing figures):.

  2016: produced each issue: 58,987,000 available in 282 languages .

  2017: produced each issue: 61,651,000 available in 294 languages.

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  schnell

  Environmentalists should sue these bastards for destroying our forests and voiding all that forestcover. Unproductive members of society, who cotribute zilch towards protecting our environment or human welfare , but claim their Hobo god is gonna destroy all destroying the earth. Effing hypocrites.
  

  Actually, what IF there was a sort of cap and trade on paper publishing, intended to cut down on solid waste? Or is there such a thing? Should there be one?

  If that were the case, I wonder if WT would actually use a lobbyist to fight it or work in an exemption for religious organizations.
• 
  39

  The increasing WT magazine

  by darkspilver in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  apart from the interesting block color change for the title strip on the front page.... the new 2017 wt mag has some new (updated printing figures):.

  2016: produced each issue: 58,987,000 available in 282 languages .

  2017: produced each issue: 61,651,000 available in 294 languages.

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  schnell

  The number of baptisms has not increased in 5 years. Printing an additional 16 million tractazines per issue has zero affect on growth. This is simply a chest beating exercise for JW's to be able to gloat over perceived growth, when there is none.
  

  You hit a nerve with me, man! My brother's wife started studying, divorced him, and got baptized immediately after and legally in the midst of divorcing him. Why did this happen? Why was she allowed to be baptized so soon?

  Well, probably because at that assembly, she was the ONLY one getting baptized. The only one. They needed someone. That someone, it turns out, was her. And the next assembly? Kids.
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  39

  The increasing WT magazine

  by darkspilver in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  apart from the interesting block color change for the title strip on the front page.... the new 2017 wt mag has some new (updated printing figures):.

  2016: produced each issue: 58,987,000 available in 282 languages .

  2017: produced each issue: 61,651,000 available in 294 languages.

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  schnell

  My guess is each time someone clicks on jw. org to read the magaizne, it counts as one copy. So if you click it for immediate reading but don't save it to your platform, the next time you want to read it, you have to go through the process all over again and it counts as another copy and so on.

  
  It's like Youtube views - each time you watch your favourite Youtube videos, you increase the viewer numbers - even though you are the same person viewing it multiple times.

  Quoted for emphasis! Love this.