Posts by StarTrekAngel

4

Watchtower requests sexual abuse suit to be dismissed

by StarTrekAngel in

http://www.reformer.com/latestnews/ci_30235457/bellows-falls-jehovahs-witnesses-ask-court-toss-lawsuit.

StarTrekAngel

http://www.reformer.com/latestnews/ci_30235457/bellows-falls-jehovahs-witnesses-ask-court-toss-lawsuit

13

Finally found a friend I can talk to

by StarTrekAngel in

he is an old friend that used to attend my congo.

he moved away closer to his parents at some point and we lost touch.

for a couple of years i did not hear anything from him.

LOL... he actually says he was shocked about an experience he had with his beard. He says when he showed up at the assembly, a brother approached him, someone he did not know and complemented him on it several times.

I told him that most likely that was someone who was also awaken but fearful of openly talking given the environment.

He also told me that during the lunch break, his dad asked him to have a conversation in private. His dad is usually going around during the assemblies because he is involved in the work. His dad confronted him and asked him if he had shared any of his doubts and findings with anyone (against his dad's advice). He assured his dad he had not. His dad told him that he was warned a brother had been assigned to follow his son around the assembly because he was known apostate.

4

Grants to Watchtower?

by StarTrekAngel in

can someone help dissecting this?

i stumbled upon this on another forum.

links to a site that claims to track non-profit tax forms.

StarTrekAngel

The link only takes you to the search tool. There you should type the names you are looking for. The site I got it from showed screenshots for (and I have ran the same searches myself)

WatchTower Bible and Tract Society of New York

Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pensylvania (the space matters)

Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses.

16

Why do so many JW's argue that they do not believe what they clearly do?

by Crabby in

i ask a question recently, which was why do jw's not salute the flag, and i ask what page of the bible directs this practice.. all i got back was that i do not know what i am talking about and that they are allowed to do this, when i dropped 40000 google links proving that they do not salute the flag they just deleted it as though my proof could not exist.

seriously this is common knowledge, my neighbor just put up a flag to keep the guy across the street away.

so are there jw's who have no clue what they believe, or should believe?

StarTrekAngel

Could be a handful of different reasons...

- True ignorance. May be they just never been thru such detail on the teaching about neutrality. The bible studies of today are not as direct and detailed as they used to be.

- They heard it before but it did not sink in. I know a co-worker who has been attending meetings with JW for a couple of years. Although he has finished studying the basic book and goes out preaching, he was shock to hear a public announcement on dfing a girl who got pregnant and not married.

- Typical cult approach. This is not unheard of. Deny the more extreme teachings in the hopes the person will join and will adopt them as the gain better understanding themselves. I know at least one situation in which my own brother in law did this. He had a co worker who was interested in joining a church. I guess he researched the JW because one day he told my BIL he was not interested in JW because he thought the teachings were wrong. My BIL told him it was ok, that he could join anyway and teach them the right way... I was left scratching my head big time.

4

Grants to Watchtower?

by StarTrekAngel in

can someone help dissecting this?

i stumbled upon this on another forum.

links to a site that claims to track non-profit tax forms.

StarTrekAngel

Can someone help dissecting this? I stumbled upon this on another forum. Links to a site that claims to track non-profit tax forms. By searching on their tools, I was able to find what I understand to be grants made to the watchtower from other organization. There some clues to its validity, as the relation between the Riley fund can be found thru this tool

The site in question is from "The Non-Profit Network", part of the "Center for Public Integrity"

https://cloudfront-files-1.publicintegrity.org/apps/2016/06/grant-search/embed.html?initialWidth=940&childId=grantSearch&parentUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.publicintegrity.org%2F2016%2F08%2F03%2F20027%2Fnew-search-tool-traces-sources-dark-money%3Futm_source%3Demail%26utm_campaign%3Dwatchdog%26utm_medium%3Dpublici-email%26goal%3D0_ffd1d0160d-36d2492aaf-100339089%26mc_cid%3D36d2492aaf%26mc_eid%3Dbfe834e473#

The individual on this other forum ran a search for three of the most well know JW corporations and found quiet a list of other organizations that apparently have the Watchtower as the recipients of their grants. Unfortunately the link to the tax forms does not work but the Tax ID is there so it should be a matter of searching some more.

Anyone who can confirm this for us?

47

Hidden message in JW bunker video?

by Dunedain in

so, i was speaking with a relative recently, who is "in" the borg, but is completely aware of the terrible hypocrisy from the gb down.

he is not in the box, and its great to be able to have a realistic, and logical discussion about the current state of the org.. we started discussing, specifically, about that bunker video that was released in december.

how it is being played at all the conventions.

StarTrekAngel

While I agree this is wrong and the aim of these videos is to instill fear for the purpose of manipulation, we need to keep in mind that the videos are just aids to more vividly present the context of the talk. These videos are not the whole thing. They are shown after someone introduced the talk and puts you mentally on that situation. Once the mind is primed to imagine what it would be like, the imaginative part is fine tuned with the details of the video, which show you some things your imagination could not have thought of.

Sure I agree and most likely you are right, the talk probably did not provide a whole lot more detail but I am sure that details on the "signs of the last days" were provided right before. Probably even some snippets of the latest world events, terrorists attacks, political divides, etc.

15

convention rooming dept

by Darryl in

jw
friends

so this past weekend i took my girlfriend and my boys on a little weekend getaway.

we stayed in a hotel and early sunday morning i went out for some starbucks.

when i returned and called the elevator it arrived, the doors opened and inside waiting to come out was a nice lady with that all too familiar badge on her lapel.

StarTrekAngel

Not only they still publish but they ask that you use the hotels regardless. Even if the assembly hall is 45 min away from your home. We had letters sent to us when our shiny new AH was inaugurated. They said that we had to consider our brothers that are coming from afar and that without our participation the hotels may not be able to continue offering the discounted rates. Needless to say most of us would not dare the expense. We drive to the assembly every day from our house.

5

Out of the Mouths of Babes

by La Capra in

jw
friends

overheard in the electronics department at our local walmart,.

"how would you like your own headphones for the meeting?

my attention caught, i look up to see a 3-year old in the shopping cart then hear him say in a high whiny voice, "i don't want to go to the meeting.

StarTrekAngel

My youngest did something similar and in the middle of the assembly. And just so happened that she timed it perfectly and everyone within earshot got to hear it and turned around.

We get to the assembly. She used to sleep thru most of it. When we get up to sing for the morning break, she wakes up. Wife took the chance and got her to stand up and sing. She rubs her eyes and asks

"Are we going home already?"

Mom replies "no, not yet"

After the end of the morning session, we get up to sing again, before heading out for lunch. My girl wakes up again and asks "Are we going home now?"

Mom replies "No, we are going to lunch"

Daughter- "And then we are going home?"

Mom- "No"

Daughter- "Ugh! I hate this samblea" -(Baby talk for Spanish "Asamblea")

15

Why THAT talk? Why NOW?

by dubstepped in

in another thread there's a discussion about how the show must go on and meetings weren't even slowed down by the deaths or medical emergencies of ones in the audience.

for instance, one young brother's unbelieving father was murdered locally.

not long afterward he's assigned a part on an assembly about the resurrection or something.

StarTrekAngel

I believe is mostly coincidence. While the talks are all outlined to strike our feelings and get to your emotional holes, They can not possibly align everything in such manner. Not denying it happens. It sure does. But given the limited number of outlines and the countless different situations that people are going thru every day, chances are that every day, somewhere, someone is given a talk about a subject that affects them directly... wether in a positive or negative way.

Sure it helps maintain the indoctrination. A close relative of my brother in law was given a talk about raising children. He is single and has no kids. He is of age to where he should have already done both things. He tried to deny the assingment on the basis that he did not feel comfortable lecturing parents when he was not a parent himself. The elders counseled him and commended him on his humbleness but also reminded him that Jehovah is the one doing the lecturing and that anyone questioning his motives would be questioning God, not him.

72

Paranormal Warning

by Cold Steel in

i've heard some weird stories coming from jws about the paranormal.

i know about the warnings about items that come from unbelievers -- those don't interest me as much.

what i am interested in are actual experiences in stories of the paranormal you've heard or experienced yourself.

StarTrekAngel

AT least in the Spanish circuit, demon or paranormal stories were not foreign to assemblies. The slowly started to banish, as I guess the internet not only exposed them but also the fact that many of these stories were presented as original to JWs when in reality, they were taken from other religions.

Stories I heard at assemblies, presented from the platform..

- A man who claims was into black magic, after converting to JW, he decided to burn his magic books but the fire would not damage them. Only after he prayed and mentioned the name of Jehovah did the book began to burn down

- A man who claims he was preaching with a friend when he stopped by a house where no one dared to stop. He claims most JWs were wary of this house as they said a weird man covered in tattoos lived there and was known to do bad, mysterious things. The two JWs approached the house and knocked. The man came out and chatted with them. The story goes that the "bad man" confessed that he was constantly beaten and harmed by demons (he apparently show them his injuries) and that he would normally not open the door because the demons tell him they will hurt anyone who enters the house. The man told the JWs he decided to open the door in this case because he could see they were not alone. When the JWs told them it was just them two, the "bad man" told them they were not alone, that he could see two angels walking right along with them. (this story was supposedly to be proof that the angels do accompany JWs in their preaching and it quickly became an urban legend among JWs in the South Texas area)

There is also a story from a family we knew pretty well and well known by most of our friends in the congregation. This is certainly not the first time I hear a story from what I feel is a reliable source but just to make it clear, none of these has ever happened to me. I also know there are several "paranormal" events that can be explained away but at the same time I also feel that sometimes we throw everything under the same label. Like every UFO is a consequence of swamp gas, not matter how many more details there are to the story that does not line up to swamp gas. I do not dare to prove or deny anything, I simply prefer to stand in the "that is weird and I do not know how to explain it field until one day someone can".

On with the story.. A family of 5 JWs, leaving in a nearby town. One of his children was the quite type.. too quite actually. Although he was 8 year old, he hardly talked and no one knew why. The school had already referred the parents to have him checked for autism and the like. Also because on top of everything, he seemed to have a fascination with drawing this ugly monsters. One his smaller siblings, as he was getting to an age he could articulate and communicate better, started telling his mom that the chickens they had in the backyard would laugh at him and mock him. The mother thought the kid was saying those darned things that kids always say. This was until some time later when their sister, who was 12, said that she had also heard the chicken talk and laugh and that she had not said anything because she thought it was just her and that no one in the family was going to believe her. FInally, one day, the quite kid, confessed to his brother the monster he was drawing were the monsters that visited him in his room at night. The family was shocked at all of this so the father got everyone together so they could all tell whatever they knew. The oldest of them all, a 17 year old girl, was the only one, asides from the parents, who had not seen or heard anything. The father started blaming her for the kind of music she listened to (typical JW reaction) so she started saying that they kids were making it all up as they were children for the most part and that she was not afraid of anything. The story goes that the monster finally appeared to the fearless 17 year old and started beating her, challenging her by saying "Go on, say the name of your God and see if you can even open your mouth".

This was, supposedly, what finally prompted the father to talk to the elders. The father decided to move his family out of the house that same day and went to live with a relative. To this day no one can say that this family has ever shown any signs of drug abuse, drinking or anything you would imagine. Active imaginations do happen. It just tickles me that there can be so many in one house and some with the same story to tell. Either way, who knows... This is weird and I don't know how to explain it. All I know is that this family has a reputation which does not include making things up.