Posts by committeechairman

35

the new TV show, is it just me or is the guy really creepy??

by purrpurr in

jw
friends

committeechairman

I read in another thread here that if the governing body is going to get serious about tv.jw.org, they are going to have to get some real polished types on the camera. The governing body in general is not going to attract the broader audience these folks are used to. Even the rank and file are going to tire of watching governing body members after while because they are not effective in this medium.

I figure they will make adjustments along these lines soon into the tv.jw.org journey. I do expect them to stick with this for the long term because they have to do something just to try to keep everyone that is already one of Jehovah's Witnesses, and then to try to attract any newcomers. The formal field ministry and even the newer "public" ministry approach is just not working, no matter what they claim.

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25

JW TV - One Further Step Towards Making the Organization Soft & Cuddly

by steve2 in

one of the more astonishing developments within the organization in recent years is the muting of the more "out there" behaviors of this once fiercely confrontational and proud end-times religious group.. members were unapologetically no part of the world and couldn't give a rat's ar*e what you thought of them.

whereas the organisation fostered an outlook of warning the "wicked" world of the imminence of its destruction at the hands of the almighty - and spared no effort in doing so - nowadays the organization is sucking in its more "loose cannon" elements.

in the place of these elements is a sparkling, smiling, airbrushed group of worshippers who parade their wholesome settled lifestyle to win converts.

committeechairman

I do think after watching the first broadcast that this will be pushed very heavily as a complete substitute for regular TV. For example, I think it is quite likely that they will suggest in publications and the Branch Visit and other events something along these lines: "Why watch secular TV with all its violence and immorality when you have plenty of content to choose from 24 hours a day on tv.jw.org?"

What's funny is that this same approach has been used in years past with books. "Why read the world's publications when you have the Bible and all of the slave's publications to read? There's more to read than anyone can read!"

We all know how that went - so I don't expect this to go anywhere either.

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26

KM Oct 2014 - Homosexuality (week of Oct 13th)

by Splash in

it would be interesting to have some present (stonewall?

) at these meetings to witness and record talk number three on the tms.. talk 3 - "what the bible says about homosexuality" (reasoning book p.368-369).

the reasoning book tells us in part:.

committeechairman

What is harder to understand is what reason other than homophobia could make elders view homosexuality as a far more grave sin than others "gross wrongdoing", including adultery. All you have to do is read Malachi chapter 3 to understand how God views adultery (not two people not married to each other who found themselves in the wrong place at the same time, but deliberate deceit and years of cheating their respective spouses). He detests it. There is nothing in the Scriptures that alludes to some special onus on homosexuality versus fornication.

Elders will apply the most severe punishment on someone who was involved with someone else homosexually but will let people totally skate on other forms of immorality - never mind the other kinds of "gross wrongdoing" that just get ignored. Where are the "judges for righteousness" that Jehovah has supposedly appointed here (Duet 1:16).

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89

Poll--How Many Believe In God, Do Not Believe or Are Not Sure Of His Existence?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i believe in god but i'm not sure of anything....what about you?.

committeechairman

I am certain that God exists and that he influences our lives. I am illegally broad-minded. I believe that all of what is in the Bible and maybe other religious books has a concrete scientific explanation that we will eventually discover. I think that if everyone were to suddenly be given specific understanding of all of what we can't see, I believe that most people would immediately say "Oh, I get it!" I believe that God's nature is not what most religious people portray it to be. What God requires is not what many, especially super-conservative religious people, believe it is. I'm pretty sure God facepalms all the time as he sees and hears about activites performed in his name and I'm sure he says "That's not what I meant! Grrrr!!!" In fact, ultimately, I believe God will say to those who are just crazily ultra righteous that they can relax (which they won't believe for a while) and he will say to others who are completely without any standards at all that they need to adhere to some basic, reasonable standards to ensure that we all get along. And, of course, truly evil, wicked people (of which I believe that there are only a small number) will just be eliminated because they only want to hurt everyone else for their own benefit.

However, and this is the most important part of this post, I believe I could be entirely wrong about all of this. I think this is what would get me in the most trouble if I were to express it honestly within the organization. That I believe that just as the first century Christans and Israelites got it wrong a lot, we also have a lot of work to do to adjust what we're doing to God's thinking. Does God really require disfellowshipping and the complicated, legalistic judicial activity that happens now? Does he truly require all of the quickly increasing load of work to please him? Is it possible to please him by adhering to the golden rule, trying to appreciate him more, and gathering in small groups to just talk about it without an outline from the branch to control everything that is said? I don't know the answer to these questions. However, I think that when things shake out (which I'm pretty sure they will soon do) there will be a lot of people saying that we made this way too complicated to meet God's requirements.

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29

Online Higher Education

by SonoftheTrinity in

since the faithful and discreet slave class now opposes higher education because it allegedly brings with it 'bad association', i wonder what their take is on online education.

let's remember that distance education was pioneered by fundamentalist saudi arabia and apartheid south africa for the very reasons that the jehovah's witnesses criticize higher education.

my wife is one of the faithful and i fear for our kids future, that they will see no point in keeping their grades up.

committeechairman

The reason is not just "bad association". The other, bigger, issue is that according to the governing body (intentional non-capitalization) is materialism. They do not want witnesses to be wealthy. You figure out why.

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34

How big a fee does the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society get for booking Jehovah's Witnesses into Convention Hotels?

by Balaamsass in

curious.

i know travel agents and on-line sites get a kickback or fee for booking hotels.

how much is this fee?.

committeechairman

So, in speaking to a friend of mine who has worked in rooming for a number of years, there are two benefits to the convention desk at the branch booking room blocks with the hotel. One is the comp rooms (usually 1 comp room to 20 booked rooms in the block) which has already been spoken about here. the other is that most all of these blocks are booked with the caveat in the agreement that the rewards points for all rooms booked with the chains that have loyalty points is credited back to an account at the branch office. Also, the chains are required to give standard loyalty points to the publishers who book the rooms - so they are not shortchanged on this somehow.

I think I've commented on this before, but the comp rooms and room points mainly benefit people who are in "special full time service". Typically, this is bethelites, traveling overseers, special pioneers, field missionaries, etc. This is mainly a way to reduce costs. You may have seen in the Yearbook the 8 figure amount that the organization spends on supporting these folks in their assignments. These comp rooms and room points for free rooms are typically used for folks in special full time service traveling on branch assignments.

For example, each one of the international conventions has three branch representatives from the branch broadcast department attending and these points or comp rooms would allow them to stay for free during the convention. Saves money basically.

I'm sure someone will completely flame me for the comment but the practice appears innocuous to me.

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79

Your final WTF? Moment!

by restrangled in

jw
friends

it was a long time coming for me.....when i read about the extened generations, after being raised on1914 being the be all end all, and millions would never die....that was the end.

i was part of the 1975 fiasco, the 6 month only truth book studies, suffered through a disifellowshipping and their version of a rewind.

i finally am free and hope others can eventually look in instead of inside looking out!

committeechairman

LoisLane:

Generally, if an elder got inappropriate with his question, since I usually ended up being the -ahem- committee chairman, then I would excuse the accused individual and straigten out the elder who couldn't respect someone else's dignity. Then we would apologize as a committee. I was partially or directly responsible for more than one elder being removed for this reason. I take it seriously.

Someday I'll have to explain in more detail what my handle, CommitteeChairman really means. It is, at the least, triple entendre.

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10

SERVING ELDERS - WHY THE NEW DONATION ARRANGEMENT?

by The Searcher in

in case you didn't notice the false reason given to you, i've highlighted the 15 times you were told directly, and the 3 times indirectly in the letter from the g.b.!.

so why didn't you reason on the addendum you were given by the org to read out to your congs, which "legalised" this deceptive money-grab from those whom you are supposed to be protecting?

shame on every last one of you for not explaining what was really going to happen to the donations!.

committeechairman

This is a matter of trust. Most of Jehovah's Witnesses and elders trust the Governing Body when they say that they want to balance worldwide and want to take control of construction to expedite in areas that really need it. An, indeed, at first glance, most bodies of elders were not following previous direction received that told them to hold off requests for remodels and new KHs where this wasn't absolutely necessary. So, funds weren't available (even in the US) where they were needed.

Remember that most elders are also not aware of many of the issues exposed on this board and others. They loyally follow direction and don't read sites like this and so have no reason to doubt that when the GB says they will use the funds wisely if the donations go to general funds. Others of us are more skeptical.

In any case, something interesting is developing. In talking to several elders I know across the US, the publishers are not really turning in the anonymous slips that they are supposed to for the congregation to determine what to commit to in a resolution. I think this is fascinating. I'm also not sure of the reason - and neither are they. Is it that the directions were so complicated everyone just said "HUH?" and went on with their lives? Or is that publishers have finally had enough of this crap and just aren't going to commit again? Time will tell.

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16

Who Will the Circuit Overseers "Report" to Now???

by RubaDub in

jw
friends

i still do not understand the new structure at this point.. there has to be something between thousands of co's and the gb.

i know there were zone overseers that the do's reported to.. i have spoken to a couple of elders i can talk to frankly and they both said they have no idea.. rub a dub.

.

committeechairman

Specifically, the circuit overseers have always directly interfaced with the Service Department and a specific desk at the branch. For instance, in the United States each desk covers one or more states, such as the Texas desk or the Florida desk. Some states have two as I understand it. So I would imagine that the arrangement wouldn't change. The district overseers basically were overseeing Circuit Assemblies, doing workweeks with the circuit overseers (typically the week following a Circuit Assembly) and doing PQRs (Personnel Qualification Reports - a kind of Annual Performance Appraisal) on the circuit overseer and his wife (if married). Also, they had some oversight responsibility for the Regional Building Committees (which are also going away).

I think (not sure) that the review/workweek function might be filled by "branch representatives" that just travel out from the branch. I doubt very seriously that the Governing Body will allow circuit overseers to float free without any kind of review. It may not be apparent but the more responsibility you have in the organization the more control you have to endure. You go from "high control" to "ultimate control". Things that you previously could not be counseled for sudden become fair game - you along with your family. It is hard to describe but if you understand how mid and upper echelon people functioned in the old USSR/Soviet Union then you have a fair idea of how it works in the mid to upper levels of the organization. Only in this case it is labeled "unity" and "loyalty". Better toe the party line or you'll find yourself discarded socially or worse removed/deleted and shunned - disfellowshipped without being disfellowshipped. I've seen it happen many times and I've watched it break men better than me.

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44

New Financial Arrangements

by Joe Grundy in

dear friends.

i never was a dub.

i am not a qualified lawyer or accountant.

committeechairman

As I understand non-profit accounting SOP and IRS tax regulations, the pledges (if the branch office is notified of them - I'll have to re-read the letter) would consitute "income" and would have to be treated as such at the time the pledge is made. If the congregation fails to live up to the pledge, those amounts must be written off in a manner similar to bad debt. If the pledges are NOT reported officially to the branch office, as I understand it no income would be recorded except for actual contributions being transmitted/sent in.

As for the loans, previously they would have had to be carried on the books as loans receivable assets. If the loans were forgiven, then the receivable balances would have been written off as allowances, contributions (most likely), or bad debts (which they really aren't - this is the result of a policy change). Once these assets are gone off the books, this would relieve the organization of some kinds of jurisdictional property tax reporting requirements (which they probably do not owe taxes on but are required to report nonetheless).

So, just thinking out loud, it kind of looks like the organization just cut down the size of their tax/income/regulatory radar signature to something much less detectable. I wonder if that's the overarching strategy at play here. For sure there must be an angle. What it is will become clear very soon, I think.

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