last night i got a call from a chap in the uk, who recently left the jw's.
he wanted to compare notes with his us counterparts.. he said that a few years ago, (i think about 2 years ago) the society cleaned out all the literature from every kingdom hall, particularly russell and rutherford books and anything prior to 1950. giving each hall a computer with the watchtower cd rom for them to use for research.
he wanted to know if the same was done in the states.
Most every Hall I have been here has had a fairly well-stocked library, some better than others of course. At one time I know the Kingdom Hall in Moorhead, MN was well-known for having a complete set of Watchtowers, all the way back. Not sure how true that was, and I don't know what happened when they built a new Hall there.
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apostasy in law.
international law.
article 18.2 bars coersion that would impair the right to have or adopt a belief...including use of threat, physical force or penal sanctions to compel believers to adhere to religious beliefs.... .
Its completely voluntary. No one can force you to go out in service. Nothing will be done if you decline to participate. There are probably tens or hundred of thousand "inactive" JWs.
Further, being a JW is completely voluntary. Anyone can leave at any time.
How's that for Devil's advocate? But the sad part is its all true. Jws are basically in their own self-contained prison, they can get out of this prison at any time, they just don't realize it.
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been away from the wts for 13 years and noticed at jwn many are mentioning its now okay for jw's to lie, if....... its for the right reasons.
like misleading the jw's and worldy people about district convention parking.
to raise monies for the wts.
The simple fact of the matter is the JWs have their own definition of lying, it is giving false information or withholding information from someone who is entitled to the information. The term they use for this is Theocratic Warfare. Try googling that term, you will find several discussions of the topic.
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i went to meeting today.
during the public talk it was mentioned that as far back as 1942 the society pointed out the dangers of smoking tobacco and that it wasn't appropriate for christains.
as usual there were no references given.
Yes it was somewhere in the early 70s where they finally made it a DF-ing offense, any JW who smoked was given 6 months to quit, no one who was a smoker would be qualified for baptism. I'm sure Blondie will find the actual article that stated this change in policy. I remember one older 'sister' in our hall who was DFd over this.
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during conan o'brien's finale he showed a quick string of clips from the past year on his show.
one of them looked like two jws on stilts holding a gigantic watchtower.
i never saw this sketch the first time it aired and i haven't been able to find it on youtube.
Yeah it was an early episode, he was showing off the brand new set for the show, one of its features was a set of huge doors. They were nice and all, but then he and Andy realized, with big doors came 12 foot high Jehovah's Witnesses! Sure enough there were two Jw guys on stilts with an oversized Watchtower magazine they wanted to leave with Conan. It was hilarious, and I saw it too tonite in the clips.
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i am sure this has been brought up in a thread before, but i wanted to know if anyone had successfully won a legal battle against the wbts?
for example, i have read that some of you knew ones that died because they declined having an organ transplant.
someone surely must have at least tried to sue, right?.
Ok, read the posts above yours, they didn't lose the case, they settled out of court. There's a big difference.
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i have firefox and seem to have trouble embedding but here's the link: http://www.hulu.com/watch/118572/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-mon-jan-4-2010#s-p1-so-i0 hope that will take you there.
starts about 13:00 very funny.
"jehovah's witnesses its like scientology for black people".
Too funny!
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this last decade proved to be very turbulent and potentially destructive to the watchtower org.
the jehovah's witnesses now find themselves in a defensive mode.
the beginning of this decade brought about monumental changes in their administrative business models.
Mary,
Back in either 2000 or 2001, they made a split between the GB and all the corporations; none of the Governing Body have a position on the boards of any of their corporations.
Milton Henshel resigned as president, I believe Don Adams replaced him as president of WTBTS of Pennsylvania.
Actually I think even before this Max Larson was president of the NY corporation, he is a Bethel heavy from the Knorr era.
Jaracz was never the President of any of the corporations.
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http://www.pnj.com/article/20100103/news01/1030320/top-house-sales-fall-short-of-06-figures.
local jw elder made front page news by selling one of the area's top ten most expensive homes in 2009. ironically, or pehaps well planned, his home is the only one with a gate to keep out the pesky peddlers.
i don't know if you can make out the sign "camp david" in front of the house, but it is there!.
I have no doubt that this elder realized what an unnecessary burden owning such a large house was, and has decided to simplify his lifestyle so as to make more time available for spiritual pursuits. Perhaps after finding more modest accomodations, a nice townhouse, perhaps. or an apartment, he will be able to start regular pioneering!
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let's think about the subtle effects of the watchtower's newfound appeals for money.
traditionally, the society avoids doing anything that might expose the reality of how much of a facade the whole thing is.
they fear incidents that undermine their carefully crafted image of invunerability - and, indeed, the reality is much different.. beyond deceiving the witlesses in general, there is another reason for care because they must deceive themselves.
Can somebody fill me in, what newfound appeals for money are we talking about? Are they passing a plate? tithing? what has changed?
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