Magnum

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Posts by Magnum

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  34

  JW profit from disasters

  by enoughisenough in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  some time back i questioned about jw making money from doing relief work for disasters.

  i found this story on reddit and also noted some of the replies.

  it makes me wonder how many would have left their own jobs and paid their way, giving free labor and some supplying free materials if they had know what was going on behind the scenes.

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  Magnum

  Freeorange, Your story rings very true to me.

  I excused many, many things over the years, too. It infuriates me now to think all the time, money, effort, etc. I gave to that cult.
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  48

  Is Jesus God?

  by Sea Breeze in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i know that a lot of historical names have claimed to be a god.

  but, jesus arguably claimed to be god.

  scripture says he's the creator.

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  Magnum

  It's quite obvious to me that Jesus was/is a unique individual - separate from God. The bulk of the evidence in the NT indicates that.

  Here is a passage about the identity of Jesus:

  Jesus came into the country of Caesarea Philippi. He asked His followers, “Who do people say that I, the Son of Man, am?” They said, “Some say You are John the Baptist and some say Elijah and others say Jeremiah or one of the early preachers.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus said to him, “Simon, son of Jonah, you are happy because you did not learn this from man. My Father in heaven has shown you this. -Mt 16:13-17

  Had Jesus been God, this would have been the perfect opportunity for him, the great teacher, to clear up any confusion. Whom or what did he say he was? Well, Peter said “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And did Jesus correct him? No; he basically said "you're right." Jesus was the son of God, not God. How can that be any clearer?

  Notice, as a secondary point, that Jesus referred to God as "My Father", indicating two distinct beings. He also referred to his father as being "in heaven" while he was on earth - again, indicating two distinct, separate individuals.

  I think also of Jesus' death when he was hanging on the torture implement. As recorded at Mt 27:46, he cried out in fervent prayer. If he was God, to whom was he praying.

  I could go on and on with such reasoning.

  There seem to be a handful of verses that one might use to show the Jesus was/is God. However, the overwhelming bulk of the evidence, to me, shows that he wasn't/isn't. Therefore, logically, I attempt to explain those verses in the light of the bulk of the evidence.
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  34

  JW profit from disasters

  by enoughisenough in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  some time back i questioned about jw making money from doing relief work for disasters.

  i found this story on reddit and also noted some of the replies.

  it makes me wonder how many would have left their own jobs and paid their way, giving free labor and some supplying free materials if they had know what was going on behind the scenes.

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  Magnum

  Drearyweather,

  See my previous post on this thread. Many groups other than the JW organization make big profits on disaster relief.

  The org profits not only by receiving insurance checks for free labor and marking up materials, but by donations sent in by individual JWs. Here in the U.S., JWs are instructed to make donations without specifying that they are for disaster relief because the org wants to use the money for its own interests, not for helping disaster victims.

  I'd like to know who paid for the materials in India. I once saw a warehouse full of materials that the JW org was supposedly donating to disaster relief. Every bit of it was donated by individual JWs - not the org.
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  21

  Christians Encouraged to Read 'Pagan' Works

  by peacefulpete in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  clement of alexandria.

  the stromata, or miscellanies.

  book vi.

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  Magnum

  Interesting! Just want to say that I enjoy and save your posts like this and they whet my appetite to know more. Trying to find a way to slow down in work some. If I can, I'd love to spend time exploring topics like the ones you post.

  The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know. One of my all-time favorite quotes is "An educated man is one who is aware of what he does not know." I guess, then, I'm getting to be really educated; posts like this help me realize how little I know.
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  15

  The New Busy Work

  by NotFormer in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  for a hundred years the slaves were kept from having the time and energy to question anything and associate anywhere where they might be exposed to alternative views by having to keep up the busy work of going door to door.

  that avenue is drying up.

  and policy is changing.. the wt needs new busy work to keep the sheep engaged without thinking.. the wt fancies itself as an up and coming movie studio.

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  Magnum

  For a hundred years the slaves were kept from having the time and energy to question anything and associate anywhere where they might be exposed to alternative views by having to keep up the busy work of going door to door. That avenue is drying up.

  Yes, there's not busy work like there used to be. Just consider the mags. We used to have four 32pg mags per month we were supposed to read in addition to all the other stuff to read and the other JW hamster wheel activities; now JWs almost almost don't have anything to read, the preaching work is lame, etc.

  However, I think there's a new breed of JWs now who don't need busy work to keep them from being exposed to the truth about "the truth." JWs in the old days used to be more studious and analytical and deep-thinking. This new group just seems to be GB idolizers who follow the GB no matter what and don't think/question/analyze. So, again, I don't really think the org needs the busy work now to protect itself as it did in decades past. The JWs now are just mostly blind culties.
  
  
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  28

  Waiting On Jehovah First Mentioned?

  by Ron.W. in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  yes, waiting on jehovah for him to handle a problem/ doctrine etc.. when did the jw's first start saying that?

  they've been saying it as long as i can remember.. what scriptures do they trot out to back that teaching up?

  ?.

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  Magnum

  I have no issue with the concept of having to wait for something that is coming, but I do have an issue with waiting for something that never comes.

  JWs were told decades ago to wait on the Jehovah train and many did, all the while enduring great hardship. The train never came; it was supposed to have arrived decades ago. If it's still coming, the train company needs to be held accountable for false information that drastically negatively affected lives.
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  32

  Conversation with old friend

  by LongHairGal in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i recently had a conversation with an old acquaintance from the congregation i used to attend.

  we talked about the recent changes in the 2023 annual meeting.

  i especially pointed out the one about getting rid of hourly reporting on monthly time slips.

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  Magnum

  My friend tried to make it sound like the religion is now a great place to be and ‘everybody helps each other’ and ‘brings food and assists others

  So, now, basically, it has become just another church... like the ones it used to criticize in the old days. It is now a feel-good social club - nothing like the old doctrinal religion that used to encourage studying "the deeper things."
  
  
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  34

  JW profit from disasters

  by enoughisenough in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  some time back i questioned about jw making money from doing relief work for disasters.

  i found this story on reddit and also noted some of the replies.

  it makes me wonder how many would have left their own jobs and paid their way, giving free labor and some supplying free materials if they had know what was going on behind the scenes.

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  Magnum

  I smelled a rat when I was still in the cult. One day it just hit me: Almost everybody has homeowner's insurance. Who gets the insurance payouts when the org does disaster relief work? It all instantly made sense to me. The org buys materials at bulk (reduced) price. It has free labor. It doesn't even provide transportation to the site. It doesn't provide food or housing (the locals do). The labor is usually the most expensive part of a job, and the org gets it all totally free. Then, the org gets the big insurance payouts.

  When I figured it out, I mentioned it to a prominent elder in my area whom I knew extremely well. At the time, he was more open to being honest about and critical of the org (he's no longer like that; his head is buried in the sand now). When I asked him who gets the insurance payouts, he got a smile on his face and looked at the ground - indicating that he completely grasped my implication. He said he was going to find out, but he never said anything about it.

  What really burns my ass up is that the org brags in the mags (at least it used to) about how loving and generous and noble it is for doing disaster relief. Bull-damned-shit! It makes big money on disaster relief. It is a self-serving, deceptive, corrupt cult.

  I have mentioned this before on this forum, but I'm going to relate it again. A few years ago (2015ish?), I was driving at night on I-95 near Savannah GA for an out-of-town work assignment. I happened to hear an extremely interesting and eye-opening and long (at least an hour) radio documentary on disaster relief.

  Bottom line... there are huge profits to be made on disaster relief, and JWs aren't the only ones in on the deal. There is big competition for work sites, so much so that some charities conspire with each other and have various tactics for claiming sites, like sharing their logoed t-shirts with each other and having personnel go stand on sites wearing the t-shirts to claim sites. Charities put "FEMA" banners on their supply trucks so they can bypass DOT weigh stations and save time and try to arrive at sites before the competition. One charity bought a $200,000.00 excavator because it knew it could easily recoup that money and make a nice profit on the excavator.

  I wish somebody could find that documentary; I'd like to record it. I think it was on a non-profit public radio station - maybe something like NPR. I might be off on the year. I know it was before 2018 because I quit working for the company that sent me out of town in the spring of 2018.
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  5

  smiddy3 & waton - Hope they are fine

  by Drearyweather in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  haven't heard from both of them since long.

  smiddy3 was in his 80's and waton in his 90's.

  hope they are fine.

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  Magnum

  Damn, I didn't know about Jonsson's death; that is a loss.

  I hope Smiddy3 & Waton are OK. I knew Smiddy3 was older, but didn't know waton was 90ish.
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  44

  2023 Yearly Report UNDER the Microscope

  by raymond frantz in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  https://youtu.be/pi7sn2rnrke?si=lnvklqct6nuayv2q.

  branches of jehovah’s witnesses: 85 (= down one from 86 from the previous year and quite possibly they are referring to the hong kong bethel that closed down recently).

  number of lands reporting: 239 ( =the same as 2022).

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  Magnum

  I remember back in the 80s how everyone was looking forward to yearly report. Elders would go up to podium, all excited, and read the report. Rest of congregation could point out different numbers in report they thought interesting.

  I was there and I remember that time vividly. It's sad to me. Back then, I thought the "new world" was imminent and I never dreamed of growing old. It's all gone now - my hope, my youth, the excitement, the religion I once would loved and would have died for, etc. - all gone.

  We were the small one who was becoming a mighty nation. We were associated with locusts who were swarming, climbing walls, etc.; we thought our "locust-like" preaching work was serving as a bold warning to an entire world about to be violently destroyed. We were proud to be known as "Jehovah's Witnesses".

  Now... just look. The once seemingly strong religion is now weak, cowardly, & puny. Any preaching that still exists is lame and unclear; it is now snail-like. JWs have nowhere near the depth they used to have. We used to think GB members were like dignified, scholarly monks who pored over the Scriptures in the original languages by candlelight late into the night seeking enlightenment. However, we've now seen behind the curtain and we see them as clueless, embarrassing buffoons.

  Yep, I remember those days when we looked forward to those reports. Now, I look forward to them for different reasons and with a different mindset.