Posts by TheOldHippie

25

11 years of compiled yearbook statistics: spreadsheet downloads

by 88JM in

jw
friends

(edit: sorry about that - i clicked submit before i finished writing the post.

and its now 11 years, not 10. anyway...).

hi folks.

TheOldHippie

Comoros

Check with the number of countries where there are restriction; a Moslem country with not-too-gentle attitude towards other faiths

Montenegro -
Comes from former Yugoslavia, but from 2003 to 2006 it was part of the union of Serbia and Montenegro.
South Sudan -
Comes from Sudan – obviously.
Tajikistan -
Check with the number of countries where there are restriction; a Moslem country with not-too-gentle attitude towards other faiths
Timor-Leste
Comes either from Timor or from Indonesia, check if the said figures go down coeespondingly.
Yugoslavia, F. R.
Divided into Bosnia and Hercegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia, Kosovo
- removed in 2002 - introduced in 2012 removed in 2007 introduced in 2012 introduced in 2007 - removed in 2004

18

Blondie's Comments You Will Not Hear at the 03-17-2013 WT Study (DRAWING CLOSE)

by blondie in

jw
friends

view of money and pride?.

jehovah?.

comments.

TheOldHippie

Certain eagles are reported to have drowned when they did not release

from their talons a fish that was too heavy to carry off.

Who writes this stuff? Are they trying to protect the identity of those eagles or perhaps just

shield their families from the shame?

More that it is not 100 % certain that they have drowned, I guess, that it has not been taped - not so much because of the shamefulness of having a greedy family member.

29

Pioneer Takes Baby Out In Zero Wind Chill

by rocketman in

though i haven't been in the mood to discuss jws lately, i had to post this one.

it's a keeper and shows how fanatical they can get:.

on my way to work in our city's downtown area i regularly see a pioneer walking up and down the street, holding up his magazines.

TheOldHippie

So in this my part of the world where there are five months of winter and temperatures below the freezing point all that time and for periods down to -20 Fahrenheit - what should people do? Stay indoors, or fear being delivered to the cops, as some of you suggest?

Man, do some of you live secluded, protected lives!

20

VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA | The Age newspaper | March 16, 2013 | Slamming the Door on Jehovah's Witnesses

by jwleaks in

the age newspaper | fairfax media | saturday, march 16, 2013. http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/slamming-the-door-on-jehovah-20130315-2g6fo.html.

slamming the door on jehovah's witnesses.

she is an apostate, which sounds like a strange disease, and in many ways it is.

TheOldHippie

"An elder ordered that he sit in a glass room at the back of the Kingdom Hall at every meeting, twice a week, for four months, for two hours at a time. The glass room was called the fish bowl and members of the congregation were allowed to humiliate him while he was in there."

Oh yeah?

13

No Governing Body in 1925

by VM44 in

from the june 15, 1938 watchtower, p. 185: "in the beginning of the first hebrew month the watchtower of march 1, 1925 published the article "the birth of the nation," meaning that the kingdom had begun to function.

an editorial committee, humanly provided for, then was supposed to control the publication of the watchtower, and the majority of that committee strenuously objected to the publication of that article "the birth of the nation," but, by the lord's grace it was published and that really marked the beginning of the end of the editorial committee, indicating that the lord himself is running his organization.".

there was no governing body, judge rutherford was the watchtower president making the decisions and running the organization.. .

TheOldHippie

But remember: The Annual meeting article does not claim there WAS a GB back in '25, the quote goes:

"From 1919 on, there has always been a small group of anointed Christians at the world headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses. They have supervised our worldwide preaching work and have been directly involved in preparing and dispensing spiritual food. In recent years, that group has been closely identified with the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

The evidence points to the following conclusion: “The faithful and discreet slave” was appointed over Jesus’ domestics in 1919. That slave is the small, composite group of anointed brothers serving at world headquarters during Christ’s presence who are directly involved in preparing and dispensing spiritual food. When this group work together as the Governing Body, they act as “the faithful and discreet slave.”"

So there has been a group, and in later years, that group has been identified with the GB. It does not say there was a GB right from the beginning, or that there was a GB constituting the slave.

28

Just wondering what is the JWs stance on the existance of dinosaurs ???

by AMO in

jw
friends

was pondering today on the jws stance on the existance of the dinosaurs.

would be interested to know any belieavers stance on this eg.

your own belief and that of the wts current understanding.. insidentally i tried to search this on jw.org and no search bar, or at least i didn't find one ????.

TheOldHippie

That some of them might have died in the Flood, but that the vast majority died earlier, thru catastrophes or other occurances. If you search the CDRom, you will find some special issues of Awake! covering the topic of dinosaurs not THAT long ago, 10 years or so, and the question of when and how they died was also covered. I do not have it at hand right now. There was a picture of a long-necked dino on the front.I don't think there are any ideas about co-existence between them and man. Apart from a funny picture or two on some covers, as shown.

Voltaire or Rousseau - I do not remember which one, but one of them it was - dismissed the whole idea of fossils, and thought the bones found were leftovers from previously held lunches; so not everyone has always been quite up-to-date :-)

Schroeder of the GB told me they made huge food reservoirs for other animals when they died individually, and that of course is correct, but does not relate to the dying out - question.

17

Interesting Read About a JW Missionary in China

by Wolfy in

jw
friends

http://www.believermag.com/issues/201302/?read=article_scorah.

i found it a very interesting read.

the article was linked on one of my fav websites digg.

TheOldHippie

Amusing story, written by some novel writer enganged by the magazine to create a fake story. JWs in China do not act like that, and the Japanese branch which supervises the work would NEVER encourage making "worldly" friends as a way of tricking the gospel into them.

Nice try, but totally fake.

20

Help with part on service meeting.

by msconcerned in

hello all i have the part in the yearbook and cannot find anything on the "smear campaign" and "media attack" on the witnesses in norway.

any ideas?

i have googled all kinds of inquiries and came up with nothin..

TheOldHippie

Mid and late '80s. Ex-JWs appeared on national television saying they had been df'ed for not having beaten their children enough. Newspapers and periodicals followed up. Children of JWs were beaten and ridiculed at school by others because of this, grown-ups had tough time at work etc. A few JWs were beaten up in service. Meetings were held between branch and authorities and it eventually died out. But it took years before magazine circulation reached previous amount. Studies dropped out, meeting attendance decreased.

33

December 15 Watchtower --- A New Low in WT Anti-Intellectualism

by Room 215 in

i wonder whether any of you took note of the article in the 12/15 study edition wt "the simplified watchtower .. why introduced" i couldn't believe they actually had the temerity to put such tripe into print and onto the record.. i was flat-out astonished with its put-down of vocabulary building and self-improvement:.

one egregious example: " the time spent looking up words and explaining expressions (ostensibly from the "smart people's" watchtower) is now spent gaining an understanding of the scriptures and how they fit into the lesson.".

one jw cited in the article actually blames her college education for causing her to fall into the bad habit of "speaking and thinking a way that was more complicated than necessary.

TheOldHippie

Being something as strange as a University-educated JW, this is one aspect I dislike - quite simply. I think one should strive for good education. People are different, and some - like myself - get satisfaction and a meaningful work life from following one's interest. Put me in the forest, and I'd die within days. Tell me to fix my car, and the only way I could do it would do to call someone, and then pay. People are different, we cannot all clean each others' windows and cut each others' hair .....................

23

Australia formally charges former JW elder

by Honesty in

former jehovah's elder on sex assault charge .

a former jehovah's witness elder who apologised to his alleged victim on facebook has been charged with two counts of indecent assault.

richard hill will appear in the heidelberg magistrate's court on march 1 over allegations that he sexually assaulted a six-year-old girl in 1981.. the victim, now 38, told fairfax media that mr hill did everything except penetrate her - ''he tried, but couldn't manage''.. she said she ''did not realise the gravity'' of what had happened until she was about 14.. at that point she told her mother, who could not act because of a jehovah's witness rule that allegations of sexual abuse would only be acted on if two elders witnessed it, she said.. much later, the victim confronted mr hill on facebook.

TheOldHippie

"At that point she told her mother, who could not act because of a Jehovah's Witness rule that allegations of sexual abuse would only be acted on if two elders witnessed it, she said."

Slight misrepresentation ........................