TonusOH

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Posts by TonusOH

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  18

  JWs in Norway lost to the state - will not get state support back

  by BelisemDeBelimakom in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  translated with google translate:.

  the trial went before oslo district court in january, and now the district court has concluded that the state is acquitted.

  jehovah's witnesses are also ordered to pay court costs of just over nok 1.1 million.. https://www-vg-no.translate.goog/nyheter/innenriks/i/2bljxg/staten-frikjennes-etter-aa-ha-blitt-saksoekt-av-jehovas-vitner-melder-dagen?_x_tr_sl=ka&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp.

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  TonusOH

  Vidiot: Being cut off the public teat for failure to follow the rules is “persecution”?

  I expect them to studiously avoid anything mentioning the loss of subsidies. They will focus on the recognition that is being withdrawn and the consequences of it. "Norway is slandering us and forcing us to pay their legal bills" will probably be the angle. It will play much better than "Norway won't let us feed at the trough alongside all of those false religions."

  I wonder how much of the recent changes are due, in part, to the realization that it is getting much tougher to shield the rank and file from useful information. They cannot dismiss news reports as 'apostate literature' that is to be avoided at all costs. What happens when members read about this and learn the part that isn't being reported on the JW website or magazines?

  This might be the first step in a complete revamp (if not outright rejection) of the shunning policy.
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  144

  Hailstone message AND everyone will be saved? Questions

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i’ve not been paying close attention to watchtower developments, but talking to a jw yesterday it occurred to me the society (yes, still use that term - old school) have been sending out mixed messages in recent years.

  from what i gather, a few years ago the gb announced that during the great tribulation jws would be required to preach a “hailstone message of judgement” which involved telling people it was too late for them to repent and they were definitely going to be destroyed.

  there were hints that this could be very soon, “any day now” preaching could stop and the hailstone message come in, kind of thing.

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  TonusOH

  They are probably trying to leave it at least somewhat vague in order to give themselves room to adjust it as time goes on. If they feel that too many people are relaxing, or too many are feeling anxious over it, they can offer more 'clarification.'

  The Bible is difficult enough to figure out even when you're just trying to read it and follow what it is saying. When you are also trying to get it to fit a particular doctrine, it gets even messier. And that's saying something. At some point "we just don't know" should become the basis of all of their teaching.
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  20

  For all JW's: Stop calling others "apostates."

  by BoogerMan in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  if you don't want to be thrown into gehenna, read what your own faithful evil slave & christ say:.

  cj chap.

  3 p. 110 chapter 3 - "jesus christ said: “whoever says, ‘you despicable fool!’ (apostate) will be liable to the fiery gehenna.” (matt.

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  TonusOH

  The word serves its purpose for the WTS, since I can remember that the one label every JW took seriously was 'apostate.' "So-and-so is an apostate" would keep you on the alert for that person so you could avoid them at all cost, lest you get the most severe case of cooties ever.

  Now? I don't care. I am an apostate in their eyes --or I will be, if they ever bother to ask-- but what meaning does that have, now? I can live with their judgment --I did the same myself, after all-- and I don't have to worry about the judgment of a nonexistent deity.
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  3066

  It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars (continued)

  by Simon in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  uh oh, looks like the mega thread gave up the ghost, so while i investigate / fix it just continue the discussion here .... it's been a long 9 years lloyd evans / john cedars.

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  TonusOH

  Good to hear, Kim! And also, I believe the countdown is now at 39 years. Only 39 years before Lloyd gives up trying to bring you to justice. Hang in there!
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  18

  JWs in Norway lost to the state - will not get state support back

  by BelisemDeBelimakom in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  translated with google translate:.

  the trial went before oslo district court in january, and now the district court has concluded that the state is acquitted.

  jehovah's witnesses are also ordered to pay court costs of just over nok 1.1 million.. https://www-vg-no.translate.goog/nyheter/innenriks/i/2bljxg/staten-frikjennes-etter-aa-ha-blitt-saksoekt-av-jehovas-vitner-melder-dagen?_x_tr_sl=ka&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp.

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  TonusOH

  I think they are saying they are not a religion so that they are not eligible for certain benefits (such as the subsidy they no longer get). So it's probably a technical or legal term. In the practical sense, I'm sure they understand that it is a religion.

  The WTS can simply spin it as religious persecution and lump Norway in with Russia. The big difference here is that they're losing out on a lot of money (wasn't it two or three million dollars a year?) and they have no real gripe, as they do with the treatment of JWs in Russia. In Norway, they are still free to practice their religion as they see fit, they simply are not getting rewarded for it with money and perks.
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  8

  My old KH is a house now

  by Gordon in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  rossville, il, i heard it had disbanded about 15 years ago.

  know, i see someone bought it and turned it into a home, but sadly for them , the bad kh karma did not help the resale value.

  looking at the interior pictures it's hard to see the old kh.

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  TonusOH

  Nice job on the remodel. Where did people park when it was a KH?
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  17

  Again, More confusion about the direction of the Watchtower Society

  by Truth and Justice in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hi friends, i have not been on this board in awhile, and i would like to get some thoughts from some of you.

  i have noticed a change within my 4 siblings in approximately the last year and a half to 2 years regarding their communication with my mother and i. they have either phoned us, texted, emailed, or written a letter or card to us.

  the conversation has been good, and on any topic that comes to mind.

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  TonusOH

  Going mainstream may be their best option. It doesn't guarantee that they will not suffer a bad downturn, but there's something there that can be built on. The biggest potential issue is that going mainstream will alienate the hardcore base of true believers who held on for so long and are probably the only reliable source of donations. If they cannot replace them quickly, they could face a very difficult money crunch.
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  46

  Lloyd Evans Patreoff Pool April 2024

  by DerekMoors in

  1. social
  2. humour

  you know the drill.

  here's an updated chart and i'm using 356 because that's where he's at today.

  please let me know if there's anything you think might be added.

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  TonusOH

  336, because I don't want to give up hope just yet, lol.
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  3066

  It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars (continued)

  by Simon in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  uh oh, looks like the mega thread gave up the ghost, so while i investigate / fix it just continue the discussion here .... it's been a long 9 years lloyd evans / john cedars.

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  TonusOH

  As for growing his YouTube subscriber base, keep in mind that there are two uses for that word. You can subscribe to a channel for free. You can also agree to support it via a paid subscription. Growing the channel by 800 subscribers could mean he has added some income, and it could mean he has added none.

  Also, I am not aware that YouTube pays out for how many subscribers your channel has, paid or unpaid. They pay based on video views and income generated by ad views and clicks. If you have 100,000+ subscribers and your video got 12,000 views, you're paid based on the latter, not the former.

  He can buy as many fake YT subs as he wants- they are obviously not watching his videos. And this is where his laziness hurts him a lot. If he gets 10k-20k views per video, that's not bad if you are creating videos every day, or at least a few times a week. But he is struggling to upload content.

  And, as someone who has had a relatively successful channel for several years, he could also attract sponsors... if he didn't have that messy past to deal with, thanks to his own video confession. A single 60-second sponsor spot in each video would probably pay enough to cover modest living expenses for a month, especially in Croatia.

  He can blame whoever he wants, but his present situation is entirely of his own making.
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  3

  NPCs at the Kingdom Hall

  by Simon in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  in case you're unfamiliar with the acronym, an npc is a "non playable character" in a game.

  typically, they are kind of a placeholder that do set things rather than being controlled by another player or any kind of ai to vary what they do.

  they just follow a script.

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  TonusOH

  I do recall that there were some couples in our KH who always sat in the same seats. They would even get a bit snippy if someone else happened to be sitting in "their" seats. They could be like NPCs, in that you always knew where to find them (and how to get them to react).