Posts by 88JM

138

A question about lying and the Jehovah's Witnesses

by Change Name in

i have seen questions regarding how much jehovah's witnesses lie all the time on yahoo answers.

here is the latest question:.

jehovah's witnesses, is lying at any time something jehovah approves of?.

88JM

Here's what they tell the kiddies about lying in the March 2013 Public Watchtower, page 14 and 15:

9

Elder's decisions with congregation funds £££

by 88JM in

jw
friends

have you ever been in a congregation (or circuit) where elders have made very bad choices on spending congegation funds?.

(summary if you don't want to read it all: elders planning to squander money on an expensive hall refurbishment while kh flat is falling apart).

i know there were assembly halls like dudley who spent a lot of money on their kitchens just before the food arrangements were done away with.

88JM

Have you ever been in a congregation (or circuit) where Elders have made very bad choices on spending congegation funds?

(Summary if you don't want to read it all: Elders planning to squander money on an expensive hall refurbishment while KH flat is falling apart)

I know there were assembly halls like Dudley who spent a lot of money on their kitchens just before the food arrangements were done away with. The circuit here spent most of the money available in the congregations to buy a circuit flat which was uninhabitable, not in a very good part of town, and also in huge disrepair (smoke damage from a fire in the flat below). This was just before the property crash happened, and as a result, the flat became worth much less than it was bought for (slimboyfat and dozy will probably know what I'm on about). I'm sure situations like this have happened elsewhere too.

It looks like a similar situation will be happening all over again in the congregation here - bearing in mind it is a pretty small congregation and any issues are a HUGE thing. Also bear in mind that each individual congregation in Scotland is a registered charity (mainly for tax purposes).

The main congregation here sponsors a smaller "start-up congregation" who meet quite a way away in a rented building. They have been given notice by the landlord that they will have to vacate this building in the near future. The elder overseeing the start-up congregation would like to refurbish an adjoining property. However, it is in an extreme state of disrepair and will take more money than the congregation has available. Even the estimate the brother thinks seems still far too low - this building is an outhouse to look at.

Now you might think the sensible thing to do would be to at least get a written agreement with the landlord on what the terms of refurbishing one of their buildings would be, and get a professional estimate on the work required first, or even think about looking elsewhere for somewhere to meet before making a descision, and certainly do this before putting anything to the whole congegation like a local needs item.

Well this is what the local needs here tonight was about - basically the decision seems already made that money the congregation does not have will be spent refurbishing a hovel. The "start-up congregation" is not even sure when it will be evicted from it's existing building yet (though it could well be at short notice). The elder there has a "verbal agreement"with the landlord that they can refurbish the other building and after doing so, will be expempt from rent for an unspecified period of time - none of this is in writing, of course.

Got that? Now it gets even more complicated.

The main congregation here (sponsoring the "start-up congregation") is a little unique for a couple of reasons. For one, the kingdom hall is wholly owned by the congregation - no morgage, no rent, nothing paid to the society for it, and the deed still belongs to the congregation, not the society.

On top of that (literally), the kingdom hall has a small flat which is occupied by a retired brother and sister who pay rent. The rent from this flat is pretty much the main income for the congregation in reality, and the congregation would not be able to afford anything at all were it for the years of rent from this flat. I should also mention that the daughter and son-in-law of this retired couple are also in the congregation.

This flat has not had any money spent on it since the 70's, and it shows it. In fact, if the authorities inspected it, I'm sure they would condemn the building (the last hall inspection said as much). Recently, our all-new body of elders here have finally decided to spend the least amount possible on this flat to make it liveable, and using the cheapest labour and materials (read: elder DIY). Our previous local needs was about contributing for this actually.

This is causing quite a division in the congregation, though elders are not yet fully aware of how much. The retired couple in the kingdom hall flat are relatively "popular" and have been in the congregation longer than many - certainly longer than all the elders.

Many are unhappy that the kingdom hall flat has fallen into such disrepair and are dismayed at the attitude taken to repairing it in such a shoddy manner. Now with this new situation with the sponsored "start-up congregation", it looks like very little will be spent on the kingdom hall flat at all, as it will take more money than the congregation has to refurbish the building for the "start-up congregation".

As for me - I'm just watching it all from the (fading) sidelines. It does make for good viewing though - it will be interesting to see how this one turns out, espepcially when the C.O. visit comes around in 8 weeks time. I suspect a few brothers will be having a word with the C.O. - not just the elders.

7

Emotional Abuse - 10 signs to watch out for in a relationship

by sd-7 in

jw
friends

http://shrink4men.wordpress.com/2009/01/30/10-signs-your-girlfriend-or-wife-is-an-emotional-bully/.

the above link explains it well.

i've probably encountered it before, but i think it warrants a mention once more.

88JM

Sadly, this also describes my mum and dad's relationship exactly at the moment.

11

What ever happened to Douglas Walsh?

by St George of England in

jw
friends

does anyone know what happened to douglas walsh when the society lost the case?

all the references to the case concentrate on freddie franz and his inabilty to translate a single verse of the bible into hebrew and to grant suiter who let the cat out regarding disfellowshiping and altered doctrine.. walsh, i understand was a pioneer and possibly the congregation servant.

did he go to prison?

88JM

Thanks dozy

11

What ever happened to Douglas Walsh?

by St George of England in

jw
friends

does anyone know what happened to douglas walsh when the society lost the case?

all the references to the case concentrate on freddie franz and his inabilty to translate a single verse of the bible into hebrew and to grant suiter who let the cat out regarding disfellowshiping and altered doctrine.. walsh, i understand was a pioneer and possibly the congregation servant.

did he go to prison?

88JM

Sorry slimboyfat - our congregation is now in a different circuit this service year, so will be heading eastwards. I've forgotten when ours is though.

If I get down your way I'll be sure to let you know. Will probably be down at least at the end of August for the DC in Glasgow.

11

What ever happened to Douglas Walsh?

by St George of England in

jw
friends

does anyone know what happened to douglas walsh when the society lost the case?

all the references to the case concentrate on freddie franz and his inabilty to translate a single verse of the bible into hebrew and to grant suiter who let the cat out regarding disfellowshiping and altered doctrine.. walsh, i understand was a pioneer and possibly the congregation servant.

did he go to prison?

88JM

We had a couple of days of ministerial training back in 2011 in Dumbarton Kingdom Hall.

The Glasgow congregations are all pretty "close" - I do know someone from Dumbarton (who is still in), but I'm not sure they would go back as far in history as this. You might also try people in nearby congregations such as Clydebank, Paisley/Renfrew, Port Glasgow or Maryhill/Bishopbriggs.

Perhaps slimboyfat or dozy might know older folks in the area.

32

The 1954 Douglas Walsh Transcript--PDF!

by Atlantis in

the douglas walsh trial 1954. the watchtower under oath.

exposing the watchtower dictatorship over jehovah's witnesses.

most of the researchers here need no introduction as to the "exposing" testimony recorded within this 762 page court transcript.

88JM

marking

kepler - don't be transcribing anything by hand nowadays - there are plenty of OCR programs, even online ones. I'd even be happy to do it for you! A bit of computer muscle can help out with things like that.

21

Assembly Talks... Are these assigned based on the thickness of the envelope?

by Calebs Airplane in

from talking to several fading jws over the years, it really does appear that assembly talk assignments are usually given to those pos who consistently hand over the thickest envelopes to the co at the end of his week-long visits.

if the envelope was too thin (or there was no enevelope at all), chances are that no one in that congo would get an assemby talk assighnment.

also, if the co and his wife were treated well or taken to expensive restaurants during their visit, that apparently increased the po's chances of getting an assembly talk assignment.

88JM

suavojr - what you said it true.

I'm sure if you look back through Atlantis' BOE postings, you will find the form that is filled out by elders to grade speakers on their "ability".

It is a bit of a farce because elders all grade each other in their congregations, so elders that get along with each other grade each other highly. Of course, if you have elders that don't get along with each other, then there might be some low grades. And also, some elders have very different ideas about what makes a good speaker.

Jehovah's Witnesses in FBI Files

by 88JM in

jw
friends

someone just brought this to my attention - not sure if it's a new thing or not:.

http://vault.fbi.gov/.

page 6:.

88JM

Someone just brought this to my attention - not sure if it's a new thing or not:

http://vault.fbi.gov/

Feels a bit like "tinfoil hat" stuff, but I thought I would try an interesting search:

http://vault.fbi.gov/search?SearchableText=Jehovah

I don't really have time to look through it all, but there is some interesting stuff there, seeing where the witnesses crop up in their files - mentioned in Jonestown and Waco transcripts, and other places, particularly around freedom of speech cases.

A Washington Post clipping from " Supreme Court Part 11 , page 5":