Posts by StarTrekAngel

94

What other Shenanigans can we expect to see in the next 2 years?

by John Aquila in

its been a little over 2 years since i left the watchtower.

in that time the magazines have been cut, the birth of jwtv, jw-org.

carts for preaching, removed district overseers, cut assemblies, demand all the money from the congregations, stop construction and layoff bethelites, change the format of the tmschool .

StarTrekAngel

Oh by the way, the recurring donation was announced last year in a letter read to all congregations. I believe there was always some website where you could make credit card donations but now you can create an account in jw-org and setup a one time or recurrent monthly donation via credit card.

Another tidbit that was new in our last assembly. Debit card machines used to seat at each side of the auditorium. This last time they announced there was another two additional machines. One in the lockers area (where you change before and after the plunge) and another one behind the platform, where all the elders and MS with assignments seat and wait their turn.

To me the above screams "Don't forget to thank Jehovah for your privileges and he will give you more"

94

What other Shenanigans can we expect to see in the next 2 years?

by John Aquila in

its been a little over 2 years since i left the watchtower.

in that time the magazines have been cut, the birth of jwtv, jw-org.

carts for preaching, removed district overseers, cut assemblies, demand all the money from the congregations, stop construction and layoff bethelites, change the format of the tmschool .

StarTrekAngel

I believe someone posted some information as to what goes on behind the curtain during assemblies. Ever wondered where the "cost" of an assembly comes from? Someone claims that there is a per publisher cost to be included in the "deficit" report that is read out in assemblies. It is not always met but is counted as deficit for the next assembly and any other money that comes into the circuit account ( I am sure) has to be used to cover that first. I could be wrong, but I've always wondered, especially after we got our own AH in TX, why did the assemblies all of a sudden got so much more expensive. They used to be cost around $2,500 for a one day assembly, renting a school gym for example. As soon as we moved into our AH, the last one day assembly had a reported cost of $8,300. The last 3 day assembly, $13,000

94

What other Shenanigans can we expect to see in the next 2 years?

by John Aquila in

its been a little over 2 years since i left the watchtower.

in that time the magazines have been cut, the birth of jwtv, jw-org.

carts for preaching, removed district overseers, cut assemblies, demand all the money from the congregations, stop construction and layoff bethelites, change the format of the tmschool .

StarTrekAngel

I believe the cart work is just a cover. They probably wish they could stop door to door preaching all together and put more resources on public preaching but they can't do it all suddenly. I think the carts will eventually fade and will be converted into JW stores. We will eventually see TV commercials and potentially full blown hollywood style movies, like "Fireproof" or "Heaven is for real"

94

What other Shenanigans can we expect to see in the next 2 years?

by John Aquila in

its been a little over 2 years since i left the watchtower.

in that time the magazines have been cut, the birth of jwtv, jw-org.

carts for preaching, removed district overseers, cut assemblies, demand all the money from the congregations, stop construction and layoff bethelites, change the format of the tmschool .

StarTrekAngel

the automatic recurrent doanation on jw-org already exists.

225

Cult or Religion

by Richard C B in

what is a cult and what is a religion?

its open to debate.

who has the authority to say for certain what is a cult and what is a religion?

StarTrekAngel

Yep.. you definitely did. You just proved us all here that it is indeed a cult. You got your definition of cult from jw-org. the cult's website.

225

Cult or Religion

by Richard C B in

what is a cult and what is a religion?

its open to debate.

who has the authority to say for certain what is a cult and what is a religion?

StarTrekAngel

No way Mr Richard. Not long ago during one of the hottest days of the summer, I decided I was not going to wear a coat to the Sunday meeting. I pulled it out of the closet at first and then turn it back in. My wife looked at me and asked why... I said it too hot, I am not going to suffer it. She replied.. just take it off when you step inside. I said... the heat OUTSIDE is what I am trying to avoid. The temp inside the KH is fine. She replied.. well take it in your hand, put it on before you enter and then take it off when you sit down.

Now you tell me if the above has anything to do with perception, because there are plenty of personal stories like mine that have no logical explanation and don't fit your idea of a merely "perceived cult"

225

Cult or Religion

by Richard C B in

what is a cult and what is a religion?

its open to debate.

who has the authority to say for certain what is a cult and what is a religion?

StarTrekAngel

Within the realm of spirituality, Jesus could be defined as a charismatic cult leader in the sense of the dictionary meaning of the word.

Lets put in context. Assuming you are a believer now or putting yourself in the shoes of a believer in the times of Jesus, he had ways to show the source of his authority as a cult leader. None of the modern religious leaders of today have such proof and that is where the word "cult" takes on a different meaning than just plain worship of something or somebody.

18

Shunning legal since 1987

by TheWonderofYou in

legality[edit].

in june 1987, the united states court of appeals for the 9th circuit upheld the witnesses' right to shun those who fail to live by the group's standards and doctrines, upholding the ruling of a lower court, finding that "shunning is a practice engaged in by jehovah's witnesses pursuant to their interpretation of canonical text, and we are not free to reinterpret that text ... the defendants are entitled to the free exercise of their religious beliefs ... the members of the church [she] decided to abandon have concluded that they no longer want to associate with her.

we hold that they are free to make that choice."[99][100].

StarTrekAngel

I would not be surprised if shunning was redefined when presented in this case.

Most people tend to think that we had a choice and we made it when we became members. Not realizing we were enticed into something that happened to be completely different than what we were told. Such ruling may assume that you knew everything about the religion before you when full blown in.

19

So changes were made, but who cares because were so deep into the end, nothing the Organization does, really matters—does it?

by John Aquila in

so i called a few jwdubs that still talk to me, not to try to convince them of anything or wake them up but to try to get a feedback on how they took the big meeting change and other announcements.

generally speaking, all the ones i talked to were not even fazed by the changes.

many of them still didnt even realize the meeting format had changed and thought the layoffs were a normal thing that happens all the time.

StarTrekAngel

I don't personally believe ignorance is all that is at play here. Sure ignorance plays a part, but I believe the power of indoctrination is greater than any one of us can tell, even after having survived it ourselves. This people are just victims. We were once victims. We were once willing to answer in the same way.There is definitely not going to be anything that will cause a mass awakening, no matter how big the event may be. The branch davidians, at least those that survived, are still alive and many still live in the old compound in Waco, TX.

14

Hidden From Jehovah's Witness videos

by Vortex in

this video deal with some really important information that i wanted to share with you all, looks like it may have hit a nerve in the watchtower, because the stock link he mentioned in the video has been taken down, it was up yesterday, he says he plays chess and anticipated they would do that, so he supplied a secondary link to the same information.

the entire 8 part series is very informative exposing alot about watchtower doctrine, and hidden elements.

here is the link to the video.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0lrdx3vpug.

StarTrekAngel

They have no control but they can see what the fund is made of. I believe the argument here is not wether they intentionally benefit from questionable investments. The argument is wether they check were major donation are coming from. If I donated 20 million after winning the lottery, no one would question where I got it from. If I told them I was going to play the lottery with the intention of donating half of whatever I made, I would be asked to the backroom. If I took money from a shady deal which may have involved fraud or violence, not asking where the money came from is not an option for me as a regular R&F member. If I get caught in the latter, I would most certainly be DFd.

Sure I agree a lot of people have a wishful thinking. They want to catch the WT taking on blood money. This sure can be qualified as blood money, not by us, but by their own definition.