Thanks jgnat. I guess I forgot to mention that the hall was built no more than 2 years ago. It was a tremendous event for JWs in the area. Many many thousands saw it a blessing from Jehovah because they would now be able to attend the 3 day assemblies. Many very needy brothers went as far as buying new suits for this special days. Not sure what happened this year. I asked several of these brothers in our cong on to wether they were able to attend an assembly to an alternate location and they responded with very sad faces.
StarTrekAngel
JoinedPosts by StarTrekAngel
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22
I FIND THIS TROUBLING . . . DISTURBING . . . PUZZLING . . .
by Terry ini stumbled on to this on youtube.. i began watching it.
at first i thought it was funny.. then, something changed.
i began to realize two things.. first of all, there are 2 sides to this, and both sides have a point.. if law enforcement does not have a legal right to stop and question you .
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I FIND THIS TROUBLING . . . DISTURBING . . . PUZZLING . . .
by Terry ini stumbled on to this on youtube.. i began watching it.
at first i thought it was funny.. then, something changed.
i began to realize two things.. first of all, there are 2 sides to this, and both sides have a point.. if law enforcement does not have a legal right to stop and question you .
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StarTrekAngel
Believe me when I say there is plenty of surveilanace around here. until no so long ago we had drones flying over our yards. They now resorted to flying a tethered blimp that they brought back from Afghanistan. I can see it from my office, 18 miles away. From my house is more like a mile away. Can't walk out to the yard naked anymore.
I have a plenty of border stories to tell but if you watch Border Wars, it would probably be much more exciting. When you hear McAllen TX or La Joya, then thats my hood.
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I FIND THIS TROUBLING . . . DISTURBING . . . PUZZLING . . .
by Terry ini stumbled on to this on youtube.. i began watching it.
at first i thought it was funny.. then, something changed.
i began to realize two things.. first of all, there are 2 sides to this, and both sides have a point.. if law enforcement does not have a legal right to stop and question you .
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StarTrekAngel
I live on the Texas-Mexico border. There are checkpoints on every road headed north. Anywhere from 25 to 50 miles from the border. The agents are mostly hispanic because that is all there is in the area. The area of the Rio Grande Valley of Texas is 98% hispanic. Many people only speak spanish. Not to say I have anything against it, I am hispanic myself.
The reason this seems odd is not because this has anything to do with what the police can or can not do to you. The truth is that these inmigration checkpoints are technically inconstitutional. That is the one thing the guy on the video is fighting about. Had this been an argument with state trooper instead of an inmigration officer, he would have not gotten away with it.
Sad to say, but if the guy driving was a hispanic, he would not have gotten away with it either. It is also true that we hispanics get more discrimination from those of our same etnicity.
Funny story, since we are at it. Because many in the RGV are no legal residents (I would say 50% of those who attend KH in the area), they are no able to travel north to Houston or places like that. This summer we had a string of both, international and regular conventions going on in Houston and other cities. Many from my area were not able to attend. Had they attempted to do so, they would have been deported (every car gets checked). Despite having recently built a 5 million dollar assembly hall in the area, no assemblies were brought to the area. The assembly hall sat empty the entire summer. The "undocumented" brothers had no assembly, despite being such a significant year for JWs
What happened? Did the F&D slave forgot about thousands of fellow slaves? or were they not financially significant?
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The Art of Hypocrisy - How Jehovah's Witnesses worship a symbol
by BluePill2 init has been a while since i've seen a witness, either in person or virtually.
searching for someone on facebook took me to the profile of a ministerial servant that i know.
i scrolled through his wall to see who is still around and found this gem:.
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StarTrekAngel
No, these are not fake JWs. In my congregation there is an infestation ot this. Someone gave my wife several of these lapel pin things (is almost like they are passing the cool aid). I went ahead and got rid of them when no one was looking. And not only that, it seems like there is a competition going on at my hall. Everyone want to carry the biggest one around. They are also making round ones with pictures of Sophia and that evil looking boy (for the kids) some with huge bows attached to them. People are pinning these things to their kids as if they were the seal of salvation.
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The 2 witness rule
by tim hooper ini've just been informed by a jw apologist that regarding the 2 witness rule in cases of child abuse, the child himself counts as 1 of the witnesses.
he also stated that if 2 children complain about abuse seperately, the 2 children then count as 2 witnesses.. any thoughts please?.
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StarTrekAngel
Lets not forget that the scripture of Deut applied during the Mosaic law. Back then Israel was a nation like any other today. This was their judicial law as a sovereign nation. Basically the priests acted as law enforcement. There is nothing in the bible that says that any faith can act as a sovereign nation today. In fact, it mostly points to the contrary. Therefore the WTBTS is overstepping its boundaries when it attemps to establish a judicial system within the congregations. We live under the law of the land as many scriptures point. If Jesus was not willing to condemn a known adulterer woman, then why do we have to do with establishing and enforcing law?
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Still nothing credible?
by Separation of Powers ini can hardly believe that anything new is gonna be announced at the annual meeting.
i mean, there is absolutely no one i know in this organization capable of keeping a secret and we haven't heard anything but "big changes are coming" "just wait and see" "big things are in the works" and my personal favorite posted by one of our members who was told not to diassociate because "things are gonna be announced that will change your mind".. no one i know at the hall or in positions of responsibilty has ever been able to keep anything confidential.
it's always been like the character on in lving color, "i aint one to gossip...but you didn't hear that from me.".
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StarTrekAngel
Since we are here ready to comment on any possible ideas (aka brainstorming), then a stop to the preaching work is not so far fetched. One of the big speeches at the international convention in Houston (spanish) was how other churches ( I believe they mentioned Mormons specifically) had mentioned that the new preaching field was in social media. The accerted with all calpital letters that JWs would never, ever do that. That the way to reach people was at their home.
If we consider that the WTBTS has been famous for putting their footh in their mouth, then is almost like a self fulfilling prophecy. If they say something they will never do, then expect it to come soon.
With all that said, I fear the day they begin to preach that Armaggedon is not coming after all.. :)
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CO's visit ends with a bombshell!!!
by nowwhat? inat the end of his final talk he said of the gb: they are telling the higher ups , "start getting ready we're not going to be around much longer!
" and we expect the angels to release the four winds any day now!
" my first thought was why are you building a corporate country club then?!
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StarTrekAngel
About two years ago, when the first (and so far only) assembly hall was built in our area, they made sure to explain this type of stuff. During the first round of assemblies, they made sure to mention "you probably wonder why make such millonary expense to build this place if the end is so near? The answer is that when the new world comes, this building can serve as an education center. This is why we build them to last".
Yes my friends, that was publicly said in front of 5000 people.
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2014 Annual Meeting not being streamed worldwide?
by Richard_I ini haven't heard a peep about the 2014 annual meeting being shown worldwide (or at least across north america) like it was last year.
they made a big deal with the am last year, congs had to get the projectors and screens for the showing, and we were told in advance of the time and location to attend.
but i have heard absolutely nothing this year, at least here in canada.
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StarTrekAngel
Our KH just received the projector and installed screen last week. The event, whatever it is, is scheduled for Nov 8 live with recorded session for the 9th. I am in charge of setting it up (or so they told me). I did not get to read the whole letter but it was something about a branch visit. The arrangements being made, as per the instructions on the letter, are equal to those for the memorial and assemblies... I mean parking, first aid, etc etc so I figure big attendance is expected. The letter indicates that in some cases the even will be conducted at assembly halls.
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Mexico/Malawi $$$$$?
by OUTLAW inanyone who was a dub many years ago remembers people dying in malawi for the wbts.in malawi,dubs were encouraged not to have anything to do with the government and many were murdered..in mexico,it was profitable for wbts to encourage the people to do what the people in malawi were not allowed to.
i have 2 questions: was there a monatary or political gain in it for wbts?.if those people didn`t die for profit of some sort for wbts,what did they die for?.for one,i know dead dubs sell magazines,the profits from that probably helped wbts acquire property in mexico...outlaw
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StarTrekAngel
And yes, after such you could choose to become a carreer soldier. But that is another story. No one, except those with physical disabilites or engaged in higher studies (college) could have their military service exempted or delayed. Unless off course you do something fishy..
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Mexico/Malawi $$$$$?
by OUTLAW inanyone who was a dub many years ago remembers people dying in malawi for the wbts.in malawi,dubs were encouraged not to have anything to do with the government and many were murdered..in mexico,it was profitable for wbts to encourage the people to do what the people in malawi were not allowed to.
i have 2 questions: was there a monatary or political gain in it for wbts?.if those people didn`t die for profit of some sort for wbts,what did they die for?.for one,i know dead dubs sell magazines,the profits from that probably helped wbts acquire property in mexico...outlaw
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StarTrekAngel
I live on the border with Mexico. I know what a "mordida" is and is not something a JW can conciously do even if it is a custom. Remember the old saying? what is wrong is still wrong, even is everyone is doing it?. The argument here is not wether it is right or wrong in and on itself but rather in comparison to what was done to the other brothers. And the Malawi situation is offered because is the one with most contrast and more apparent consequences but other brothers have gone under the same problems because they were told they could not seek alternate service. I would suggest you check the meaning of "double standard".
I come from a country where military service was mandatory up til 95. It is a lie that so many get exempted from military training. You can not expect to have a trained force if you let 90 some percent be exempted. You may not need to "join" the army but in such cases you are "joined" by simply taking the training. You are confusing the meaning of drafting in lue of the situation. When you have mandatory military training you are never drafted (as it happened in the US before). Only those who have undergone trainig can be "called into active duty".
To wrap it up for you, everyone, with very few exceptions, is mandated to undergo military service. In spanish (servicio militar) is defined as undergoing readiness training, not joining the army. That is where your biggest flaw is. There is no such a thing as "joining the army" in this case. This is done because this is considered to be a duty you owe to your motherland. You don't get paid for this service, even if you end up going to war. You learn everything short of the real thing. While you are at it, it is obvious that you will engage in all kinds of nationalistic acts (flag salute, etc). Once you are done with this you get discharged. If required, you could be called into active duty (depending on your age at the time), but only if you have received the training.
The biggest problem here is that others had less reasons to be mistreated and yet they were asked to stand firm. So you have the JWs themselves worried about what their brothers were doing with the bribes, but here you are, years laters and without any cultural background in the situation and you decide you can argue for them.