many of you are aware of the ongoing battle over clergy exemption from reporting of child abuse.
the question is, are we in the field doing enough to push for what is right!?.
there are always multiple ways of looking at an issue, and the viewpoint advocated by the catholic church, the mormon church and the watchtower church is that the provision of confession without the fear of being turned in to police allows an abuser to seek help to stop his abuse.
Money is the priority. Organized religion can’t risk a glitch in their money-making machines. Also they don’t want to acknowledge that the secular authorities outrank them. WT for one, now doesn’t just want to represent God, they say they Are God.
So having to report crimes of course seems to them a loss of authority. The children suffering is just collateral damage.
original reddit post (removed).
I remember a middle-aged jw couple who were living and traveling in a nice rv, "sampling" the kh's to see if they wanted to settle down in this town or that. This was in the mid-1980s.
They bought a convenience store in our town, seemed to me fairly impulsively. The inventory included cigarettes, which they were selling along with everything. The elders came and told them they needed to quit selling cigarettes, and furthermore to that, they needed to be getting to the meetings! They were telling us they didn't know how they were going to attend meetings, as they didn't have anyone besides the two of them to run the store. So my husband and I and another couple volunteered to take turns minding the shop so they could get to meetings - for free, of course.
Steve and I hadn't been married long, we were not well-off and were living in a literal shack. We were getting by okay. We had no idea these people had paid cash for the store, or had $50,000 in the bank, as the woman let slip one day when she was talking to all of us - "...And can you imagine, all we have left in the bank is $50 thousand!"
I said, WOW, well I think you two will be okay.
happy birthday 2 me!!.
sunday is my 76th birthday and i know that you want to know how it "feels" to have outlived my usefulness, to have lost my natural beauty (being reduced to wrinkles and flab), and constantly walking into a room not knowing why i'm there.
you also are curious as to how i can continue to find a reason to live since none of my kids think my opinions have any possible value, most of my facebooks friends i wouldn't recognize if i tripped over them on my way into starbucks, and my monthly expenditure on bird treats exceeds u.s. spending on the military.
P.S. Terry,
Those birds you feed think you're very useful! :-)
happy birthday 2 me!!.
sunday is my 76th birthday and i know that you want to know how it "feels" to have outlived my usefulness, to have lost my natural beauty (being reduced to wrinkles and flab), and constantly walking into a room not knowing why i'm there.
you also are curious as to how i can continue to find a reason to live since none of my kids think my opinions have any possible value, most of my facebooks friends i wouldn't recognize if i tripped over them on my way into starbucks, and my monthly expenditure on bird treats exceeds u.s. spending on the military.
Happy Birthday to you♥ Wishing you plenty of sunshine and things to laugh about!!
Me and Steve spend a lot of moolah on bird food too. Also cat food in several bowls on the front porch twice a day for 3 strays/ferals.
I'm turning 70 next month and it seems surreal. But, I do my duty which is to entertain myself with books, movies and shows, and all the things most people think is hogwash.
Hope you are still riding your bike? Keep writing! I always enjoy seeing you in print.
one thing i notice from sitting through a number of broadcasts is just how much these guys love their titles.
it's always brother such-and-such, member of the gb, helper to the teaching committee, etc.
it's never simply brother such-and-such, a local elder with such-and-such congregation.. it seems to me the witnesses are pretty quick to pick up on catholics who call their priests father, which at the end of the day is in much the same vein simply a title.. i suspect these titles point to a huge amount of narcissism of the part of those who revel in such titles, certainly it doesn't seem to fall in line with christ's advocation that the greatest amongst you should be be the least.
7. Dogs
8. Women
the new year is a good time to start things up.
so please help me decide which one of these two thought systems i should start.
i was thinking of two different types.
I like the way you are thinking.
A religion I might go along with, is one where they did nothing religiously besides watching Life of Brian once a week.
https://www.statsforvalteren.no/nb/oslo-og-viken/folk-og-samfunn/tros--og-livssynssamfunn/jehovas-vitner-taper-registrering-som-trossamfunn/.
published december 22, 2022. the state manager in oslo and viken has decided to withdraw jehovah's witnesses registration as a religious community under the religious society act.. .
we sent a notice to jehovah's witnesses about possible loss of registration on october 25 this year.
It must be a mighty ton of money they're losing, to create such a furor. Going to court to fight for the "right" to feed at the public tax trough, while simultaneously claiming God approves of abandoning children who don't want to be forced into the religion.
Those grants arranged by the government probably mean that the government wants to encourage church groups to locate and operate in their country. But they must follow the rules in order to continue to be eligible to receive the money. Just as JWs must follow the rules to remain in the congregation. Except, JW admin don't think THEY should have to follow any rules but their own.
They haven't always been so extreme and disloyal to their offspring - when I joined in mid 80s people didn't throw their rebellious teens out of the house and then brag about it.
watchtower has just lost its appeal in the norwegian courts over the withdrawal of the funding it receives from the government as an officially recognised religion.
the initial decision will now stand due to what the court termed 'exclusionary practices' which includes the witnesses barbaric practice of shunning minors, even by family members in their own homes.
the ministry of children and families have decided they are now no longer eligible for the state grant of 16 million norwegian kroner given to officially recognised religions.. the following is a statement has been issued, i have summarised if it isn't readable: .
Why should people be taxed to support religion? People who want the religion to exist should keep it going with voluntary contributions.
2022-07-29-announcements--english.
2022-07-29-announcements-spanishpage 2, par.
3. on the other hand, some brothers and sisters—younger and in good health—have more favorable circumstances that may allow them to attend christian meetings regularly at the kingdom hall.
“Comfort” being the key word. If you’re sitting in the comfort of your own home, that’s not genuine worship. Evidently, WT disapproves of their members being comfortable.
Jesus said anywhere was a good place to worship. He didn’t say worship done in comfort was invalid.
Furthermore to that, if anyone has a home of their own to sit comfortably in these days, that’s quite an accomplishment.
there are several prescription meds people use to relieve the pain of arthritis.
they work by suppressing the immune system or by reducing inflammation.
people also use otc anti-inflammatory pills, and even anti-allergy pills are reported to work because of being able to also reduce inflammation but people tell me that they are concerned to use some meds regularly because of potential side effects in long term use.
Uric acid support/cleanse (herbal combinations) seems to relieve pain for several hours, in my experience.
