BOC
Would you mind taking a good photo of the whole page where the add appeared. It could be used to prove its source undoubtedly to non-US ones.
my wife found this 1/4 page ad on page 2 of yesterday's nj star-ledger, probably the biggest newspaper in nj.
pretty telling.. .
BOC
Would you mind taking a good photo of the whole page where the add appeared. It could be used to prove its source undoubtedly to non-US ones.
a month ago i decided to register in this board.
i had decided to step down pioneering but was frightened about the consequences.
i had finished my university degree some months before (despite disaproval from brothers in my congregation) and i had to choose: continue pioneering and working in jobs with no future or starting a career, working full-time.. i was thinking to postpone the decisiton but... i was fed up with preaching.
Hi Skepsis,
Many of us here have stepped down from various positions within the Organization. I was an Elder, on the RBC, a School Overseer, two public talks a month and and lot, lot more ... so I can sympathize with your feelings and the pressures you've had to endure. As a consequence, my advice to you, is to slowly drop responsibilities over time, according to your own timetable. Getting burnt-out isn't fun and believe me when I say, it takes a long time to recover ... so look after your own health, whatever it takes. And If people try to make you feel guilty, just remember that if the shoe was on the other foot .... if you were no longer valuable to Society ... you'd be dropped like a hot potato. Just like the DO's, Special Pioneers and the thousands of sacked Bethelites; on the road without a penny to their name.
starting an o.p is a challenge.the person who starts the o.p then relies on fellow posters to obtain feedback and hopefully keep the o.p, informative and positive.
so starting an o.p becomes " shared accountabilility" between o.p starter, and thread poster.. some o.p's will be more of a risk factor than others, because some topics are more controversial.
so when i start an o.p i now ask myself what is:-.
While I haven't started as many threads as yourself; Rebel, but recently I've thought about stepping back from posting because of a few who have the habit of hammering down hard against an idea or view that doesn't agree with their own. And in all honesty, what attracted me to this forum from the beginning was the fact that we could express any view or comment without the fear of becoming embroiled in some kind of trouble. Yet, it seems those few have the intent on doing the Governing Body's work for them by discouraging free comment from those who offer or ask something with good intent.
i was going over some of the older posts of others and without starting some kind of flame war, i got no idea why people are saying that the society is some kind of real estate business.
of course its making millions of dollars in its real estate sales but this a one time event.
its down sizing by selling the furniture.
Look, they are conducting business. They are not a real estate business. Its just like a bank that sells all its branches and goes online ... how can it be said that's its into real estate if its got no more real estate.
i was going over some of the older posts of others and without starting some kind of flame war, i got no idea why people are saying that the society is some kind of real estate business.
of course its making millions of dollars in its real estate sales but this a one time event.
its down sizing by selling the furniture.
Look guys, I know that they have used donated moneys to make investments. But all religions do it. Should we now call the Catholic Church are real estate business too? What about IBM and AT&T. Every corporation invests in real estate. I'm no lover of the Organization and it will be a happy day for me when 8 million people will have to think for themselves ... but until that day comes, wouldn't it be better if we refrained from emotive name calling and put issues like this into its proper perspective?
i was going over some of the older posts of others and without starting some kind of flame war, i got no idea why people are saying that the society is some kind of real estate business.
of course its making millions of dollars in its real estate sales but this a one time event.
its down sizing by selling the furniture.
I was going over some of the older posts of others and without starting some kind of flame war, I got no idea why people are saying that the Society is some kind of real estate business. Of course its making millions of dollars in its real estate sales but this a one time event. Its down sizing by selling the furniture. Its like selling your milking cows after you've raised them from caves. It not a 'business' because there is no continuance of the business model. It would be different if the GB sold a hall and bought three more blocks of land for the brothers to build new ones ... but they are not. They are just cashing in.
it hasn't been a good year for the organization.
let's hope 2017 will be just as bad or worse for it.
best wishes to all here, no-zombie.
the earliest wt annual service report i've found was in the january 1, 1948 issue for the 1947 service year.
was this the first annual report?
or where there earlier ones in other publications?.
The earliest WT annual service report I've found was in the January 1, 1948 issue for the 1947 service year. Was this the first annual report? Or where there earlier ones in other publications?
the elders in this area are getting burned out.
i have overheard comments that demonstrate this, but in my dealings with them, i clearly see it.
they can't keep it straight.
Its been a few years since I stepped down from being an elder and as a result I rarely visit other congregations, however knowing what I used to do and seeing my local elders, I have to say that 90% of the appointed brothers my generation and older have 'checked out' and are in full time pension mode. Most are on holiday somewhere or planning their next one. It was getting so bad in fact that I said to my full-in wife one night at the hall ... "You know darling, even with my bad attitude ... its funny that my meeting attendance is still a lot better than all of our elders". She just had to agree.
So, there's a rot. It can't be treated with Organizational bling, cinematic videos, flashy apps or up beat 'Walt Disney" music. And nothing going to stop the collapse of the classic congregational structure that we've known for a very long time. Because everything that is born ... dies. And if you look into the window of most congregations, you'll see that they are all, very old indeed.
i have two honest questions for everyone here.
i understand that most here want retribution from the courts against watchtower for child abuse allegations.
but let us take away the instances where someone was accused of child abuse and then later put back into a position of authority, such as an elder or an ms. let us just take the cases where a regular publisher or even an appointed person, with no previous accusation of child abuse has come up against that person.
To Richard,
I think that there is two or three motivators at play that drive those who post on this forum regarding the child abuse issue. While the weighting of those motivators may differ between individuals, perhaps the one that drives most of us who have not been directly effected would a reaction against the totalitarian rule of the Governing Body and their claim to be God's one-and-only spokesmen. Every person understands the principle of "with power comes responsibility". Yet, despite the fact that the Governing Body has claimed and exercises the total power over every action (and thought) of the brotherhood, they have never accepted the responsibility for the consequences when their decisions result in something bad. As we all know, they have created a history of passing these failures down the line to "some brother's" or have ignored the problems all together. Everyone has a sense of natural justest, and because its clear that the Organization cares more to money than for being honest and helping the victims of child abuse (in one way or another), people can see that just not just right and comment accordingly for action.