Tech49

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Posts by Tech49

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  92

  Montana jury awards two women $35M in sex abuse lawsuit against Jehovah's Witnesses

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  https://missoulian.com/news/local/montana-jury-awards-two-women-m-in-sex-abuse-lawsuit/article_1bcabb7c-7381-574b-a2ba-e011cc0250a6.html.

  montana jury awards two women $35m in sex abuse lawsuit against jehovah's witnesses .

  a jury in northwestern montana awarded two women $35 million wednesday in their lawsuit against the local jehovah’s witnesses congregation and its worldwide headquarters.. .

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  Tech49

  The remainder of the article, if you don't want to go to the website:

  Earlier in the case, Judge James Manley ruled that Reyes’ criminal acts were foreseeable to the church leadership when they allowed him to return and that the congregation’s elders were not exempt from Montana’s mandatory reporting law when they learned of the allegations against him and didn’t turn him over to law enforcement.

  In the weeks before the trial, Watchtower’s attorneys asked the Montana Supreme Court to consider overturning Manley’s rulings and stalling the trial, but the request was denied.

  
  

  Media reports and testimony from a comprehensive investigation into the church by the Australian Royal Commission have criticized the Jehovah’s Witnesses for policies that direct elders in local congregations to handle matters internally, rather than alerting authorities or congregation members about known sexual predators. The policies from Watchtower leadership also require accusers to have two witnesses to the sexual abuse for proceedings to begin against the accused.

  
  
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  36

  Here is what silly looks like

  by Sour Grapes in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  for shits and grins, i looked at an online sunday meeting a few days ago on youtube.

  i was in disbelieve on just how silly everything looks with the watchtower reader reading from his little iphone and the watchtower conductor holding up his iphone to ask the questions.

  then the conductor asked the reader to read a bible verse and of course, he reads from his little phone.

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  Tech49

  Remember, it wasn't that long ago that now suddenly it was OK to count your placements, if you "attached" them in an email. Now, mass email messages and you could count 100 placements! When I was a secretary in the congregation, we had a guy placing 200 books and 300 mags in a month. Everyone was just in awe over his "placement" levels! He was just SOOO SPIRITUAL !!!!

  When I questioned him about it, and pointed out that it was pretty much an impossible number to do in the DTD work, he confessed that he was sending them as "attachments" , per WT guidelines! "facepalm" moment for sure.
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  36

  Here is what silly looks like

  by Sour Grapes in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  for shits and grins, i looked at an online sunday meeting a few days ago on youtube.

  i was in disbelieve on just how silly everything looks with the watchtower reader reading from his little iphone and the watchtower conductor holding up his iphone to ask the questions.

  then the conductor asked the reader to read a bible verse and of course, he reads from his little phone.

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  Tech49

  Oh for sure..... I remember when, in the early 90's, when the WT Library first came out, we would manually type in all the scriptures for the WT lesson into the search bar. Then you could move all the scriptures over to a Word document, format them with paragraph numbers, print it out and have a quick reference for the WT study on Sunday. Then, my wife and I got hauled into the back room, and told how "inappropriate" it was to do that, it wasn't showing "respect" for the bible, and just how would it look to new ones??!! Then we had to have parts on the Service Meeting about how wrong it was to use anything but the bible itself. One time, a brother took a laptop up on the platform, and I thought that heads were going to explode! Audible "gasps" and all!

  And, in not so many other words, stop doing it, or lose your "privileges". Oh how times have changed. Nowadays, if you don't have an iPad or tablet, you are not worthy of Holy Spirit in your life, and you certainly must not be following instructions!
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  36

  Has Cart preaching over taken door to door?

  by blownaway in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have not had a jw at my door [don't get me wrong this is great] for a few years.

  is cart preaching the why its all done today?

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  Tech49

  Yes, I believe it is replacing door-to-door work. In my area, I know of many "pioneers" that make their time by just standing next to a cart. It is very common to see them on the corners of the highway intersections, where there is ZERO foot traffic. They stand there, talking to each other, drinking coffee, next to the cart. The cart is so far away, there is no way anyone driving can make out what it says. By the time you see it, its just a blur. Even for those of us who know what it is, its still just a blur. I drive by them almost every morning. But they sure do make their regular pioneer hours!

  The other day I saw a couple with a cart next to a 4 lane (2 each way) highway, not even at an intersection, but off to the side on a rarely used sidewalk, facing the traffic lanes. Cars going by at 50 mph. "facepalm/eyeroll".
  

  Oh, and at the small regional airport, saw a couple of older gentlemen next to a cart in the baggage claim area.... at 1:00 in the morning.....cause that has to be effective....
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  35

  Female JW parking "attendants"

  by neat blue dog in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i was shocked recently to see on social media a couple pictures of jw sisters at a convention working as parking "attendants".

  i put that title in quotation marks because they still don't get the official attendant badge like the male parking attendants do, only the reflective vest.

  has anybody else heard of this .

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  Tech49

  Yes, at our convention this year, sisters were being used as helpers/attendants at the entry area and the drop off. However, they did not have an official title, and were instructed that they would not receive or be able to use any type of badging or lanyard to designate them as "official" in any capacity.
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  25

  Can You Make Sense Of Jehovah’s Witnesses?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  as a child growing up, i would see different arguments to defend a certain belief.

  it may have required mental gymnastics in order to make a point but there was an actual attempt to explain, teach, and educate....even if the belief or teaching was bogus.. nowadays, it appears that jws couldn’t explain any belief.

  they are drones and do as “mother “ has directed..

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  Tech49

  I tend to agree with Magnum 100%. I remember when the REASONING book came out, as a High School student I was so thrilled to finally have a book that you could actually use to discuss difficult topics with people. The Ministry School focused for years on learning HOW to discuss, how to reason (albeit from WT viewpoints)...

  But now, no way no how. We are told to NOT discuss. Reasoning book is gone. Just place the paper pamphlets (mags) and direct people to the website. So lame and pitiful. Even witnesses that have been in for decades no longer know WHY they should believe something. There is no thought process any more. Deep discussions are frowned upon, and definitely discouraged in any group format. Just mindless cart work and driving in circles.

  Even the "School" is just a weak pale shadow of its former self. No more self-made talks on a particular subject. Remember when we used to get an assignment with just a TOPIC? And we had to do all the research on our own? Nowadays, a "talk" assignment is just a quick presentation, or a return visit, or maybe a scripted "bible study" from a few paragraphs out of a book. No more freedom of expression, freedom to make up your own talk. Even the "bible reading" is just that..... walk up on stage, read 10-15 verses, walk off. No comments, no application, nothing.

  BLAH. Drones for sure.
  
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  16

  Continuing congregation mergers

  by Are you serious in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  in the area i live in the pacific northwest, three spanish congregations we're merged into two a couple of years ago and in the next month or so four english congregations will be cut down to three.

  both situations happened because of lack of growth.

  a few years ago, i would never have imagined spanish congregations disappearing or merging but it's happening.

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  Tech49

  Are you serious.....

  Send me a PM, I too am in the PNW.

  Where exactly are you? Sounds just like what is happening in my area also!
  
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  29

  Russia is Smart

  by Kohanic in

  1. social
  2. current

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhnseocpffq.

  so according to the law department's meeting in feb 2016, russia has been studying the linguistics of the watchtower articles and discovered its brainwashing abilities!.

  lol it's funny now that i'm on the russian side of this debate now, ban them all!.

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  Tech49

  At first glance, one might think....the Bible Stories Book??? How is that subversive and extremist. But then I remember back to when my kids were young. We studied with them in that book, like good little JWś are supposed to do. But now in retrospect, I remember distinctly skipping over many chapters, because I just didnt think they were appropriate for children. I remember having that conversation with my wife, and we both agreed that we didnt need to expose our young children to sex, rape, murder, bestiality, genocide, etc etc. Sadly, at the time, we couldnt see the forest for the trees.

  Extremist..... yes.
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  8

  committees

  by dogisgod in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i have had some conversations with ex-jw women and i am more than a little concerned at how, if a female, is treated in committee meetings.

  it sure seems (i experienced this when i was young) that the elders have a commonality in trying to create such shame and sexual guilt (especially where none is deserved) that it is beyond abuse.

  i know there are a lot of former elders here.

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  Tech49

  Former elder here. The key to remember is this: The WT Org does NOT train elders to be any more sensitive to women than anyone else. They have ZERO sensitivity training, which is especially appalling given the fact that any type of committee meeting will ALWAYS be intimidating and degrading. And yes, some elders are ridiculous in their thinking, and their way of treating women as a lesser class. Yes, some just love hearing all the juicy details of affairs, sexual escapades, and so on... Yes, for the most part, JWś are a sex-starved bunch.

  On the other hand, there are a few good elders out there that try their best, given the LACK of training for anything other than enforcing rules.

  I can remember very clearly sitting in on judicial meetings with several women, on sex-type issues. It was embarrassing for me to be a part of the meeting with them (granted, not as embarrassing as it was for them), because I felt bad that they were pouring out their hearts in great detail over such insanely personal matters. The other brothers wanted DETAILS! I can also remember vividly STOPPING other elders from asking stupid questions that did nothing other than give them a chubby... like ¨how far did he put it in there? How many times? What other positions did you do it in?¨ Yes, for real.

  The first time that happened, I called a recess, dismissed the poor young lady, and gave the guy an earful! Any time after that, I made it very clear in our discussion beforehand, that such details were NOT part of the process. They were merely a way for these semi-perverts to justify their personal fantasies.

  One young lady in particular, who was actually a fairly close friend, told me later that she really appreciated me standing up for her. Yes, she had done the nasty, repeatedly, everywhere, for quite a while....... but it did not need to be rehashed and dwelt upon by a group of creepy old dudes! UGH!

  So in a nutshell.....no, WT does not train for this. WT doesnt care about women. If you dont have a penis, you arent worthy. I dont think they necessarily TRY to create an atmosphere of shame and guilt.... they just arent trained to do otherwise. And because they DO have a penis, they get away with it.
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  24

  Side effect of Downsizing......$$$

  by Tech49 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so here is a tidbit you will all just love!.

  we all are hearing of the trend right now to ¨downsize¨ the congregations...ie... eliminate by combining, in order to blah blah blah... .

  here is what you didnt know: every time a congregation is dissolved, for whatever reason, including merging or dispersing, wt makes money!

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  Tech49

  And speaking of KH remodel projects. One of our local KHś is scheduled for a remodel facelift, as it is about 20 years old.

  Recently, there was a letter from the LDC read to the congregation. I will paraphrase here, but In essence, it said that YES, you have been approved for a remodel. HOWEVER, a date has not been yet approved... SOMETIME next year, maybe.

  ALSO, please set up specific box, beginning today, in the donation box to be labeled ¨LOCAL REMODEL¨. Begin donating NOW. Send that money to WT monthly. When we feel that enough funds have been gathered, we will let you know when you can start your remodel.

  WTF?