Posts by Journeyman

33

Jehovah's Witnesses and Tattoos

by NotFormer in

i was wondering about the jw attitude towards getting tattoos.. redditors suggest that the only jws who have them would have got them before they were baptised.. jw.org gives a meally-mouthed "true christians wouldn't" response.. but no-one (that i've seen so far) answers the question i'm actually asking: is getting a tattoo after being baptised a disfellowshipping offence?.

if not disfellowshipable, how would a typical jw congregation treat someone who got a tattoo after baptism?

would they really treat it like it is a conscience issue?.

Journeyman

What about a JW . ORG tattoo? I’d love to see how that would go down. Use it on the ministry, why not…

Yes! If you had it on a part of your body that it's acceptable to show publicly(!), you could sunbathe in the hot weather and show it off, and count your time! There's an idea for future pioneers... 🤣

"...conscience issue"- come on now, we all know what a 'conscious issue' is in dubland! Simply it goes like this- a 'real' christian wouldn't do x, y or z but you can of course. If you do, we will all treat you like shit for the rest of your life but go ahead. You will be a leper in our midst.

Personally, I'm no fan of tattoos so I've got no strong view about this (likewise with the org's beards obsession), but I agree about the double-standard of "conscience matters".

If something really is a "conscience matter", then bros and/or sisters shouldn't be judged adversely for it. Otherwise, be honest and say it's considered a mark of spiritual 'immaturity' or 'weakness' or whatever.

11530

It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

Journeyman

I feel as though Lloyd has been mis-representing himself for all of these years as an “activist” when in fact he is actually a YouTuber. Would people have been so willing to support him financially and with volunteer work if they had been told upfront that he was running a Youtube business rather than an activism movement?

It's an interesting point, and certainly more than just semantics.

Would he have been invited to various events around the world, been interviewed on the BBC or permitted to appear at IICSA if he had been billing himself simply as 'a YouTuber' rather than 'an activist'? Probably not.

How many other things - such as financial and material donations - might he not have benefitted from if not for touting himself as an 'activist'?

To be fair, while he was in touch with people like the Beeb and IICSA he could at least have some small claim to being an activist - lobbying to raise awareness with public organisations and push for change - but there's no doubt that since his self-inflicted fall from grace, with all shred or pretence of credibility gone and any meaningful contacts he had rightly abandoning him - he is certainly no longer 'an activist', but just 'a YouTuber'. (No offence intended to YouTubers who are happy to be known as such, and are not pretending to be ~~God's~~ Man's gift to the world!)

11530

It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

Journeyman

Toblerone5 - Another for your Patreoff list.

Looks like the good news of the Patreoff is now being preached on all the internet! 🤣

11530

It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

Journeyman

I've lost track of how many 'breaking' JW-related stories in the last few weeks that LE has not only failed to lead on, but hasn't even bothered to cover for days afterward. What is it now: five? Six? More?

He's spent most of the last 10-15 years putting himself out there on the web and social media as a self-proclaimed 'leading' exJW 'activist' but now he just seems to prefer trundling along in his own slow lane. Side-lined and irrelevant.

167

Anthony Morris the III has been FOUND

by Terry in

jw
friends

note: photos can be found on the blue envelope channelhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nakezkhqbmtony and susan morris are living in lumberton, north carolina.

a real estate document on the robeson county website is filed:.

the religious order of jehovah's witnesses has provided a "life estate" for them.they can live in this townhouse until they are deceased or choose to move away and in either case the ownership becomes entirely the property of jehovah's witnesses.

Journeyman

Probably right, Vanderhoven. Especially if he starts to receive hate mail, or worse.

Again, the org really should have anticipated that placing him in such an open situation is a big risk, but unless they have plans in place that are more covert, it seems they've left him to fend for himself.

Then again, the GB don't believe they've done anything wrong and are mainly protected from the backlash from their policies so may have underestimated the potential danger. Seems crazy after what happened in Hamburg, but it could be complacency.

16

Three Amish bishops who told woman to rescind protective order against husband, guilty of intimidation.

by was a new boy in

doubtful a judicial committee would order a sister to rescind a protective order, but might tell her she wouldn't qualify for the privilege of being a auxiliary pioneer while she had it.. .

https://www.theindianalawyer.com/articles/amish-men-who-told-woman-to-vacate-protective-order-against-husband-lose-appeal-of-intimidation-convictions.

'riley rejected the defendant’s citation of cantwell v. connecticut, 310 u.s. 296, 60, s.ct.

Journeyman

Interesting. There must have been cases of this somewhere already in the JW world. I wonder how the local elders handled it, and if it's the sort of thing they have to contact the branch for legal advice about?

Since the 1970s at least, they've used the scripture at 1 Corinthians 7:13 where it says if the husband is "agreeable to dwelling with her" she should stay together with him, but reasoned that clearly domestic violence shows he would not be "agreeable", so she can choose to separate from him (although they remain scripturally married) - but I can't find any mention in their indexes of protective orders and how they would be viewed. If both the partners are baptised witnesses it could be they would disapprove on the grounds of "not taking a brother to court" or something like that, on the other hand they might say it's a personal matter based on the above scripture and the wife taking reasonable steps for her safety (and their children, if any).

Good question!

Why don't they address important real life questions like this one in "Questions from Readers" rather than obscure points about the Israelite priesthood or whatever, that hardly anyone now cares about? (Ok, we know the answer to that - subjects like this are too controversial for them to want to open those cans of worms, and would hint at the truth that all is not well in many JW marriages! But that's realistic and would really show practical benefit from the scriptures.)

167

Anthony Morris the III has been FOUND

by Terry in

jw
friends

note: photos can be found on the blue envelope channelhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nakezkhqbmtony and susan morris are living in lumberton, north carolina.

a real estate document on the robeson county website is filed:.

the religious order of jehovah's witnesses has provided a "life estate" for them.they can live in this townhouse until they are deceased or choose to move away and in either case the ownership becomes entirely the property of jehovah's witnesses.

Journeyman

I realise he didn`t care for the feelings of people he has hurt over the years being an arrogant GB member but we don`t have to sink to that same low level ourselves do we.

smiddy, I completely agree. I cautioned earlier about that but sadly, even some on this thread have already made hints encouraging harassment of the man.

Regarding his mental state and/or whether he is depressed or not, bear in mind that if he is a "true believer", then he probably is in a bad place right now, especially if his 'fellow' GB basically kicked him out of the door and are now 'soft-shunning' him (which is quite likely, knowing the MO of the higher ranks in the org).

I also agree with joe and ExBethelite - the org should've put thought more in about his personal safety, but probably were too self-absorbed or over-confident to bother. Unless the second house nearby is for some sort of dual purpose-protection and monitoring of him and his wife by WT heavies? A home in a gated community would still have made more sense though.

11530

It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

Journeyman

The bigger concern is that they will leave (or are leaving) quietly.

Good point, Tonus. A steady death by no longer being relevant is worse than being confronted by dissatisfied patrons and having to address their concerns or justify yourself to them (not that he would bother doing that anyway).

Ironically, it's a similar situation currently facing the WT org!

23

Customers being frozen out of their bank accounts for political views is a very worrying trend ...

by LoveUniHateExams in

yeah, so i know nigel farage is a bit of an abrasive twat.. he no doubt holds views that other people disagree with.. but that doesn't mean his bank can just tell him to sod off and freeze his accounts.. such a thing might go on in commie china or authoritarian russia.

no doubt hitler closed lots of jewish people's accounts in nazi germany, too.. but the fact that it is happening here, in the yew-kay, is pretty chilling when you consider this country is supposed to champion freedoms, including the one to hold and express varying political views.. this seems to be part of a trend to delegitimise and cancel people who hold certain views.. i remember looking at a yt video of richard dawkins questioning muslim journalist mehdi hassan about his belief in flying horses and muhammad.

all fair analysis and criticism by dawkins until he suggested that hassan shouldn't be a journalist because of his beliefs.

Journeyman

This has come to light because Farage is a high-profile and very vocal personality.

But how many other, less prominent people have been (or are being) denied access to facilities such as bank accounts because of their views? And even if it may be rare now, how do we prevent it from become a growing trend in years to come?

We are increasingly seeing two worrying trends converge, 1) the tightening of control over individual's lives by institutions - banks and other multinational corporations, government departments, tech companies, etc, and 2) the increase of blacklisting or 'cancelling' people for holding views deemed undesirable by the major 'influencers' and leading classes in society.

When these two elements meet, there is huge potential for rendering people who are thought to hold 'non-PC' or 'controversial' views as non-persons if they don't fit the desired profile.

I doubt banks as a whole will 'learn their lesson', as this is become a trend embedded in society in general. This will probably just be treated as an embarrassing one-off mistake by Rose (and if they can't pin it all on her alone, other members of the board). Unless of course, more such cases come to light and it opens a whole can of worms showing a pattern of this kind of behaviour...

36

Did anyone really enjoy assemblies?

by SydBarrett in

jw
friends

the twickenham post made me think of this.

i have a few jw family members on facebook and being summertime, their pics of the convention have shown up in my fb feed.

along with their comments about "i wished it would never end" or "what a glorious weekend".

Journeyman

EDIT: LongHairGal has already answered Fisherman with the substance of what I just posted, so I'm removing my late contribution.