in the world of antiquities, especially that of bronze art, specifically heads, would you be surprised or alarmed to discover that experts estimate about half of all the art sold at auction and donated to museums around the world.... consists of forgeries?while you're digesting the news of corrupt practice, let me raise a rather vexatious collateral issue for your consideration:.
auction houses keep silent about this fraud.in fact, it has been asserted by investigators specializing in such fraud, it is largely the auction houses submitting these works at auction under fake identities so they cannot be directly held liable for illicit transactions.
proving they've knowingly done so is too problematic to pass muster.one expert who exposed such a fraud was sued by the auction house and forced toward financial settlement out of court under the libel laws.now why mention all the above in the first place?for one reason only, the same thing occurs in the religious transactions of jehovah's witnesses.the auction house (watchtower corporation) represents its salvific theology as authentic and transacts with potential converts so's they pay for such art (ful fraud) by giving their lives, honor, and sacred service in exchange.when flaws are found, instead of owning up to the illicit enterprise, they seek legal redress or prosecute the accuser through coercive threats of disfellowship.now here is another insidious parallel.
Thanks for posting. I love when folks post interesting videos that I can get lost watching on lazy weekend afternoons!
The value of these artworks are predicated by the belief in their value by others, not necessarily by the experts who can actually determine their intrinsic value...
...kind of like the stock market...
( In that case, then, are they really a bad investment if you buy them and flip them? )
not quite a week ago, @lost in the fog created a thread entitled: do you have this illness?.
https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5187824140681216/do-you-have-this-illness.
in my year of being on this forum, i have browsed many a disillusioned thread of ex-jehovah’s witnesses expressing similar symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder when detailing their awakening - my own story included.
WakeMe, I hope that you wrote that for a college class. I'd give it an "A."
So insightful and synthesizes new learning in analyzing a personal transformative experience.
It's wonderful to read something with length, and depth, and substance.
It seems that many of us have made use of counseling and mental health help upon our exit.
For us all, the "nurture" we got was unhelpful to say the least. Those of us, like yourself, with tenacious and fighting "natures" have been able to survive our exits and even go on to thrive.
And you have! And for what it's worth from an internet stranger, I'm proud of you!
Also, if you ever want to talk about Erikson's last stage of psychosocial development (ego integrity vs. despair) and how this could shed light on an aging Witness's psychology and likelihood of waking up, please hit me up. Trying to make sense of aging relatives' experiences.
GT
first of all i just want to say a quick thank you to all of you who’s been listening to my story and my little rants and dilemmas lol.
this website has helped me so much to not feel alone and to keep me from feeling like i’m going crazy.
anyways, i’m defenitly going to try much harder from this point on to play the part until i move out after this summer.
"The Catholic Church is worse!"
"But officer, that car was going much faster than me. Why didn't you pull him over instead?"
please explain some of your past experiences of dealing with dealing with nosy brothers and sisters and how you dealt with them.
also have you ever dealt with a brother or sister who brings up your past just as a new topic for a conversation?
that happened to me once.
Would love to have a copy of this Bible.
i posted here weekly until a year ago when my mum died of a mild form of lukemia which is easy to treat with 2 blood tranfusions a month.
you can live to 100 with treatment, but no my mum chose to die a faithful witness after 2 years of chemo and hell for her family and doctors.
her chemo doctor cried when she only had weeks left to live knowing that she could be saved with one bag of blood!
Congratulations on the addition of your daughter.
So sorry to hear about your mom.
My parents were both in a bad car accident last year and the blood issue came up for both of them.
I felt so helpless when HLC Larry walked in the room with the death warrant. (Medical POA)
I angry at him. I am very angry at my parents, still.
after a bit of a kerfuffle over a procedural matter, my university has awarded me a degree.
(the procedural problem was caused by my independent selection of what i wanted to study).
award : bachelor of arts.
Congratulations! You've been working hard on this for years!
Go for the Masters! I'm working on mine now.
seems like such an obviously correct decision to overturn the previous overreach - it should never have been necessary to go to the supreme court but happened because the rights of the religious were being ignored.. as the fundamental level, no one should be able to compel you to work for them or to provide services that go against your beliefs, and certainly not have the government be able to force you to comply.. if this was allowed there would be so many unreconcilable situations that would clog up courts over nonsense.. i also have little patience for these activists that intentionally look to be offended.
it really doesn't do their cause any good to go round looking to make trouble for people.
it's also misguided because it ends up strengthening religious rights over effectively stupid issues.. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/04/us/politics/supreme-court-sides-with-baker-who-turned-away-gay-couple.html.
The government is us, dude: we the people.
walked into panda express for lunch the other day and there was a unusually long line.
i notice a large group of folks that had a familiar dress and smile on their faces.
the women dresses below the knees and the men wearing the top of line goodwill special suits.
They didnt "place" that magazine; they littered.
I would have been tempted to say, "Oh, excuse me, ma'am, you forgot your reading material!" while handing it back to her.
okay, they cheapened the product by getting rid of hardcover books.
they reduced printing of mags.
they drastically reduced the number of pieces of printed paper that members would "place" in people's hands in various ways, the biggest one being that they put them on a cart and don't encourage people to take them.they cut d.o.
Pancake breakfasts? Bull and oyster roasts?
Kingdom Catering could be a whole new direction to go in!
No ladies auxilliary for them! Charge a per person fee and cater congregation picnics! Imagine how quickly they would come back in style!
If that works, branch out into wedding receptions. If you want to get married in the Kingdom Hall, you have to use Kingdom Catering for your reception!
Instead of selling some halls, turn them into catering venues.
Come on folks, surely we can mine the Bible for some appropriate cherry-picked verses to support this!
Jesus, the First Caterer, turned water into wine at the wedding feast of Cana. Enter Kingdom Winery! He turned loaves into fishes to feed his followers! Kingdom fishing charters on the lake in Warwick!
Go with gluttony! It seems to be the one sin that WT has never been concerned with!
just seen this on exjw reddit - sickening beyond belief!.
long story short, we have not seen hubbys non identical twin nephews (jeremey and jerome) since we gave the middle finger to the jw's 7 or 8 years ago.
we last saw our nephews when they were 9 or 10ish.
How the hell do these parents get away with it? In the US, parents have to take care of their kids until they are 18. Why aren't they charged with abandonment or neglect?
Glad you could help them out, though. I imagine they will have a tough time of it for awhile. What an awful thing for them to have to deal with.
