TheOldHippie

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Posts by TheOldHippie

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  91

  Open letter – Re: Mr. Bowen, Mrs. Anderson

  by Prime in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  "jws leaders need to mandate elder bodies to uniformly report abuse to the authorities no matter what jurisdiction; prohibit elders from being involved in any investigative process to decide guilt or innocence in place of the authorities; do away with the two-witness rule to determine, as if they were magistrates, guilt or innocence of someone accused; prohibit so-called repentant molesters from engaging in the door-to-door ministry, and always inform the congregation if a convicted or confessed molester is meeting with them.

  " -barbara anderson .

  this is another reason why the watchtower society doesn't require that the elders uniformly report abuse to the authorities no matter what jurisdiction.

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  TheOldHippie

  Very good comments, Prime.

  Regretfully, some try to sweep these crimes or accusations of crimes under the carpet and disencourage the victims from reporting to the police, but such a disencouragement should never be made, quite the contrary, and with that in mind, your comments were very good. Perhaps particularly in that you manage to state that there are two questions to be considered - one being the reporting to the police, but the other one being what the congregation can do in terms of disfellowshiping. It DOES take either two witnesses (or victims) or one witness but repeated assaults to throw the bastard out, but it does NOT take two witnesses or repeated assaults to report him to the police. One has to have two lines of thought in the head at the same time - but to many newspaper headlines producers, that seems to be a bit too difficult.

  I would so much welcome a decent discussion, but that seems to be such a difficult task, there are many people feeling hurt for other reasons, and then a topic like this is one that makes it boil over. I've been there, seen it, experienced it - so to me it is not theory, it is reality as hard as it can get, as hard as it comes, and I have seen many errors committed, but I prefer not to go howlin' with the pack.
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  21

  'Lamp' book by Ray Franz???

  by AgentSmith in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my father, (still an elder) has suprised me last week with a simple text message.

  "we (my mother & father) will be in your city this weekend, please come and have supper with us".

  i was delaying my reply, thinking of what to say, when he phoned.

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  TheOldHippie

  Franz was in the research team for "Aid", maybe some of the points in the "Lamp" were taken from "Aid" just as points in "Reasoning" are taken from "Insight". But that was just a line based on - nothing, so I might as well not have written it.............
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  3

  Whitney Heichel's family confront Gresham woman's killer, sentenced to life in prison

  by AudeSapere in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i didn't see this posted yet.... .

  http://www.oregonlive.com/gresham/index.ssf/2013/07/whitney_heichels_family_confro.html.

  whitney heichel's family confront gresham woman's killer, sentenced to life in prison .

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  TheOldHippie

  A very strong confrontation. I hope it helps them. And at the same time it was balanced in the concluding words to the offender.

  I have experienced the same thing, although in a somewhat different way, but the outcome was the same. Years go by, and it is so close to me still, as if it happened yesterday. Every day I am reminded of what happened. Every day I remember. Every day i think and I am carried away by my thoughts. Every night I dream. Every hour of the day I am a tiny fraction away from crying. It is with you always. There is no planning, just for how to survive this day, the next hour, sometimes even the next five minutes.

  Peace has been taken away. All that is left is the careful act of balancing, so that one does not fall down into chaos.
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  27

  Making the Jehovah's Witnesses OWN THEIR OWN EVIL

  by Terry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  drunkards often scape-goat responsibility onto their drinking--as though it were morally defensible to cause accidents or death!.

  serial drinking and driving is a plague on highways across the world.

  drunkeness has been labeled as a "disease" and it isn't unusual.

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  TheOldHippie

  But I really don't get the criticism on the organization chart, 'cause it says it shows the EARTHLY organization, and to my knowledge, Jesus for the time being is NOT here on Earth?
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  25

  Can't get any bibles?

  by gold_C in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  so according to people in every congregation i've mentionned it to, the slave isn't producing any more bibles.

  at first i thought that they were going to release an updated translation, like the updated brochures that were given at the latest convention, but that didn't happen, and everyone from the branch claims that there is "a reason for it", yet they're being extremely secretive.. .

  can anyone who's got ties to bethel help me out here?

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  TheOldHippie

  Lots of Bibles over here, all languages available. So come over to Europe and get them!
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  38

  Yet another Septuagint manuscript using the divine name found

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  larry hurtado mentioned on his blog that yet another early manuscript of the septuagint has been found that uses the divine name instead of lord (kurios), this time representing the divine name with ancient hebrew letters (yhwh) in what is the earliest extant copy of the psalms in greek.

  hurtado argues that the use of the definite article before the divine name indicates that the manuscript relies on earlier copies that used lord (kurios), but the fact remains that all the earliest copies of the septuagint that have survived use some form of the divine name and none use lord (kurios) as a substitute.

  that's about ten out of ten for manuscripts of the septuagint earlier than mid-second century c.e so far.. http://larryhurtado.wordpress.com/2013/07/02/new-oxyrhynchus-manuscripts/.

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  TheOldHippie

  Didn't want your message to go uncommented, so I just .......... wrote one ............

  :-)
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  14

  Masterful Refutation Of The July 15 WT "New Light" Articles

  by Room 215 in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  don't know whether anyone has made prior reference to this treatise by doug mason -- if so, i most have missed it; but it's an important document and "keeper" for anyone interested in throughly acquainting themselves with the logical and scriptural fallacies, not to mention the underlying intellectual dishonesty of this "gb = fds" change: http://www.jwstudies.com/the_truth_changes.pdf.

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  TheOldHippie

  "Caribbean properties " ?
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  47

  Have The Witnesses Changed All That Much In The Last Few Years?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when i was in it, especially as a young person, it was rules oriented but not like it is now.

  to me, the religion is a lot more fanatical than ever before....what do you think?

  is it the same religion even as it was 20 years ago?.

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  TheOldHippie

  I do not have the time or interest to look it up - although I am sure it would only take me 27 seconds - but is it not a "classic" in organizational theory, that after the initial growth and enthusiasm and vigour and all that, they tend to grow stiff, to be more and more interested or oriented at looking after itself, to look inwardly in stead of outwardly, and that one of the signs of this is that they use more and more time to study their own history and maintain their heritage?

  Many organizational history WT studies these days. I miss the two kings, the roaring ocean and the pouring out of wrath.
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  12

  GB and partaking

  by Crazyguy in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i was told that before 2007 there were a couple of gb's that did not partake and that after the 2007 change now they all partake, is this true??

  ?.

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  TheOldHippie

  i think the talks have changed during the last handfull of years. Whereas they a few years ago were boring in the sense that the larger part of them was about the fact that those present should NOT partake - more or less - then after the 1935 understanding change, they do not discuss that question THAT much any more. They say that the vast majority do not partake, that it is not likely that there are partakers present - but they do leave it more open to the ones present.

  As they should. However, that again should not keep us from thinking what we like about some of the ones partaking. We have some more or less "special personalities", and only very few do not question their partaking. But then, that is their business. Must be strange, though, if they find themselves surviving right here on good old Mother Earth and not being caught up ...... Oooops! So I will have to live with my husband for all eternity, and I thought it would only be for a few years .....................
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  20

  David Splane in Calgary Alberta July 1st for special talk

  by hoser in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i heard from a reliable source that governing body member david splane will be giving a talk in calgary where all the flooding was last week.

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  TheOldHippie

  He'll do his David and Goliath talk - you can find it on the net. It is a good talk, he is a good speaker.