Posts by 88JM

23

What I really fear about JW.ORG

by StarTrekAngel in

much has been written, twitted and youtubed about the extent to which the wtbts may go in order to keep its members from peeking out of the box.

from name calling, constantly telling members about the dangers of apostasy, all the way to dfing anyone who dares to look outside.

many tools and theories have been brought forward.

88JM

I don't quite agree that they will go down the "snooping on your browsing" route - I don't think it's in their interest to kick people out who could be contributing money simply because they're looking at what they would consider questionable material on the web. DF'ing is mainly used as a fear tactic to keep people in. If they were so interested in finding dirt on and kicking out ones they would call "spiritually weak" then they could easily start going after "faders", which they aren't really doing to any great extent.

I think while it is feasable, the infrastructure needed for such web snooping would outweigh any potential gains that would come from it. Unless they were going to start outright blackmailing people into donating. At the very very worst, they might snoop on those who they are considering inviting into the upper echelons to check they are legitimate, but they already have all that infrastructure at the branch offices which is well known to all there.

The JW.ORG stuff is mostly playing catchup - I think the timing of doing it now is more to do with old GB members dying and it becoming more affordable to run a website.

I do think you have a point about information control though - that's definitely on their agenda.

27

Car accident

by Clambake in

i was in a car accident in a fatality.

without going into detail i wasnt found in the wrong.

alcohol and poor judgement were involved with the other party.

88JM

Sorry to hear about that - I'm sure you must be pretty shaken up.

As far as the JWs go, if you're an UBM and it wasn't your fault, then I personally don't think you'll see any action from elders or anything.

I personally know of an incident in the congregation here a couple of years ago of an elder in a serious collision on the way to the meeting with an oncoming foreign motorcyclist who was on the wrong side of the road. The elder is still the congregation secretary here and takes the Watchtower.

Something that is worth doing is getting yourself thoroughly checked out physically if you haven't already done so. The elder I mentioned did go to hospital and had what seemed like fairly superficial injuries at the time, but a couple of years down the line he now suffers with chronic back and knee pain and is unable to work.

24

One Day Assembly Costs How Much, WTF?

by NoMoreHustle in

jw
friends

the recent circuit assembly day cost get this... $17,0000 in an assembly hall that they own!

this was announced during the assmbly at the 3/4 mark of days activities.

after he said how much the assembly cost, he then proceeded to say that we have recieved $6,000 in donations up to this point of the day.

88JM

Costs were just announced as over £9000 (GBP) for a one day assembly here in Dundee, Scotland at an old rented town hall with about 1000 in attendance. (Capacity would be around 1300)

They apparently sent £1000 towards the new bethel project in Chelmsford out of the circuit funds.

They spent £300 on a projector which had the sole purpose for the day of projecting 1 Pet. 3:11 on a screen - that's all.

Donations for the day were apparently fell something like £2000 short of the "costs", so I think they must have already collected over £6000!

Coincidentally, the visiting "bethel" speaker was one of the guys from the new million pound translation office in Bangor, Wales.

59

September 24, 2014 BOE

by wifibandit in

.

88JM

Wow - I knew something like this was going to happen (linked to this, I think) but I didn't know it was for THAT item.

They obviously know that no-one can really explain 1914, so they need a pre-recorded video to demonstrate.

20

Lockheed: Limitless Energy?

by metatron in

jw
friends

http://news.yahoo.com/lockheed-says-makes-breakthrough-fusion-energy-project-123840986--finance.html.

a prototype for testing in a year?

there have been a number of claims about fusion reactors in the past year but this seems the most bold.. .

88JM

It could be more of a patent grab, and it depends on lithium, which is already a resource that is becoming harder to obtain.

There are paralell projects happening though which also have a lot of promise too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITER

24

Today's WT study (10/12/14) - a sales seminar!

by OneEyedJoe in

this cult is getting really shameless.

the wt study was always supposed to be for discussion of 'the deep truths' of the bible.

the wt may have always been filled with utter nonsense, but at least it had the appearance of a topical discussion of bible doctrine.

88JM

Wow I just realised Jesus wasnt' mentioned at all in this article.

24

Today's WT study (10/12/14) - a sales seminar!

by OneEyedJoe in

this cult is getting really shameless.

the wt study was always supposed to be for discussion of 'the deep truths' of the bible.

the wt may have always been filled with utter nonsense, but at least it had the appearance of a topical discussion of bible doctrine.

88JM

Yes the whole study was a pile of crap, but I thought the second to last sentance was just plain wrong:

"The Bible’s message is more powerful than anything we might say to try to reach the heart of another person."

Really? Even Athiests, agnostics, people of other religions? I really don't think those people would be remotely affected by anything the bible says.

21

Heard it from a friends JW mother

by Still Totally ADD in

jw
friends

the other day we went to our friends business to have our computer worked on.

our friend was raised a jw but never got baptized and left when he was in his late teens.

any way we started talking about the new jw.org and the new tv show they have.

88JM

The COBOE here also seemed to confirm this last night - a meeting for a broadcast once a month.

The tiny hall with less than 40 publishers here now has to purchase a projector.

25

Article: Inside the Jehovah's Witnesses' British Headquarters

by AndersonsInfo in

jw
friends

http://www.vice.com/read/inside-the-jehovahs-witnesses-british-headquarters-829.

vice.

inside the jehovah's witnesses' british headquartersby adam forrestoct 8 2014. .

88JM

"as long as they're not actively hurting anybody, who am I to stop them "

Did he expect to see people being whipped or tortured in the hallways? Just because he can't see it doesn't mean people aren't being "actively hurt".

68

New December KM with changes all over

by pixel in

is not on the public website yet, but here it is, full more changes:.

to the 2015 school:.

bible highlights: brothers as- signed this part will have two min- utes to consider one interesting and practical scriptural point from the weekly bible reading.

88JM

Bible Highlights: Brothers assigned this part will have two minutes...

They're really removing all instances of any actual bible discussion these days aren't they? The bible highlights is probably the final remaining instance where brothers are pretty much given free reign to pick the points they want and try to make them interesting. Every other so-called "discussion" involves sticking to assigned material in a publication. You'll certainly never see anything remotely complicated or deep doctrine ever discussed again at a midweek meeting.

That makes me wonder how long they'll continue with a Sunday public talk. How long before that is replaced by a weekly JW TV broadcast from the GB?