http://www.expatica.com/fr/news/french-news/france-must-return-46-mn-euros-to-jehovah-s-witnesses_236715.html.
.
"it's not entirely fair to collect retroactive taxes when you didn't make any effort to collect at first."
No, definitely not ENTIRELY fair. And what also is definitely not ENTIRELY fair is to single out ONE religious group and try to tax that one ALONE, as the French government tried to in this case.
No. Atheists are.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-usa-utah-mormonsbre86000n-20120630,0,5340553.story.
mormons quit church in mass resignation ceremonyshare112chelsea bair reads a declaration of independence from mormonism during a mass resignation of mormons from the church of jesus christ of latter day saints in salt lake cit (jeffrey d. allred, reuters / june 30, 2012).
relatedalex willardson shows his letter during a mass resignation of mormons from the church of jesus christ of latter day saints in salt lake city.
Couldn't help njoticing these sentences,
"Participants from Utah, Arizona, Idaho and elsewhere gathered in a public park to sign a "Declaration of Independence from Mormonism."
"This feels awesome," said Alison Lucas, from West Jordan, Utah, who took part in the rally amid soaring temperatures. "I don't know if I would have had the courage except in a group."
Independence - but only as long as you're part of a group............ "I need to be in a group to be independent" .............
the major convention in norway has just been concluded and the regional newspaper covering the area published an article, incl.
a link to the video, lesson 2, of the sparlock video.. this is a rough translation through google transalte:.
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=no&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=no&ie=utf-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3a%2f%2fh-a.no%2fnyheter%2fnyheter%2ftabid%2f72%2farticleview%2ftrue%2fmoduleid%2f168356%2fdefault.aspx.
So you are happy now, InquiryMan?
http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story/19123926/article-on-the-jehovah%e2%80%99s-witness-circuit?.
he states they were sent in just for a year as previous c.o.
was reassigned before the normal 3yr time.
Not Gilead - but the new school for couples; Gilead is being phased out and the new couples' school is introduced. Nothin' strange in breaking the 3-year schedule, it is either because of syncing or because of COs being used as teachers in the schools.
i've given this recent lawsuit quite a bit of thought and come to sound conclusions.
after examining other organization's child-protection policies (namely churches), what i've come to realize is there's a one-size fits all solution that's socially acceptable; all information obtained through witnesses and confessions by organizational personnel is be used to aid and abet law-enforcement.
there's no in-between or anything short of this objective that's socially acceptable.
Your statement, Phizzy, that "all of them fulfill the scripture about having "No natural affection" " is really hurtfull. Please, do not make such generalizations, your anger only ruins the good you are trying to do.
form the pro-jw site jwtalk.
this is such a ronald mcdonald court case.
i can't believe what i am reading.. lie: "the lawsuit alleged that watchtower had a policy that instructed elders in its jehovah's witnesses congregations to keep reports of child sex abusers within the religious group secret to avoid lawsuits.".
I see it is on jw-media.
form the pro-jw site jwtalk.
this is such a ronald mcdonald court case.
i can't believe what i am reading.. lie: "the lawsuit alleged that watchtower had a policy that instructed elders in its jehovah's witnesses congregations to keep reports of child sex abusers within the religious group secret to avoid lawsuits.".
I think there must be cultural differences from place to place.
Here, it would be informally known very quickly if a member moving to the area had been in jail for some reason, and people would like to find out why in order to make sure they would not be targeted, be it economic matters he/she was jailed for, violence or whatever. Just as one is a bit careful when one knows another person has mental problems that might turn into violent behavior.
Our friends told their congregation what had happened to the family member in question, who had done it, when, how etc. - and received 100 % support by everbody, from the "top" to the "bottom", not one negative comment (indeed, how could it be!), and so I am very much surprised to read that someone here claims she was threatened with df'ing because of telling. Our friends were hailed - and the friends of the offender were more or less frozen out because of their friendship, and also officially reacted against.
The picture is varying from place to place. Generalizations are not that easy to make. And things are happening so fast in these matters that what was a general reaction a few years ago, are now only the reactions of a few sidetracked hardliners who have not given notice to what is happening in society or in the congregations, much like the East European leaders who fell in 1989/90. Any JW with a capability for thinking will react in the only decent way there is to react to such matters - and the hardliners will be sidetracked to where they can do no harm.
But is the US different? It seems to me so ............. "old-fashioned".
i did not see a thread on the 6-17-12 wt study article, so i thought i'd put this here.. .
this is just a thought on unquoted references that sheds a little "light" on why they are not sourced.. in paragraph 4 of the lesson it says: 'as one reference work states, it is "the sum total of the interior man.
"' it is referring to what the bible means when it speaks of the figurative heart.
Insight I, p 1057:
The Figurative Heart . In the great majority of its occurrences in the Scriptures, the word “ heart ” is used figuratively. It is said to stand for “the central part in general, the inside, and so for the interior man as manifesting himself in all his various activities, in his desires, affections, emotions, passions, purposes, his thoughts, perceptions, imaginations, his wisdom, knowledge, skill, his beliefs and his reasonings, his memory and his consciousness.”—Journal of the Society of Biblical Literature and Exegesis, 1882, p. 67.
what biblical support is there for the belief that a creative day is 7000 years long?.
as most folks here are probably well aware, the wts teaches that humankind has lived for about 6,000 years and that there will be a 1,000 year reign of christ to restore humans to perfection.
they teach that the end of 'this old system' must be coming very soon since everything must fit into a 7000 year 'creative day'.
" So, the WTS has basically derived its creative day doctrine from "Christendom", leading all the way back to some of the so-called Church Fathers. "
Technically not the Church fathers, but the Apostolic fathers, as we are talking of the period around year 80-150, the ones who had known the apostles themselves; the Church fathers belong to the next century(ies). I happen to be reading the apostolic fathers and also early church history just now. The belief has, as others have stated, been abandoned, and especially so after the new and revised edition of "All Scriptures inspired" was published, where it states about Genesis that it refers to the time period starting "in the beginning" in stead of the "47025 BC" or whatever was stated. More nebulous today, yes, but "millions of years" for each day is used.
