Is this the real reason that the Watchtower has stopped all group studies?
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread467527/pg1
Did they have advance warning that this was about to start happening in the USA?
Did the WT have advance warning of this...and so stopped the group study?
by Gill 10 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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passwordprotected
This is something the Society would have fought if they felt it would be in their interests to do so.
The BSG being ditched is law-related, I'm sure, but I doubt it's this particular issue.
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Gill
PWP - I wondered as you know how the WT does NOT part with money!
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drew sagan
I'm curious to know how many people were actually coming over these people's house. I really don't think this would have been a problem unless there was a substantial amount of people coming through. The writer of the article suggests the number is low, but we are never told.
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MidwichCuckoo
Gill - a friend of mine BOUGHT a flat (England), and, as you know, flats are leasehold - and included in the terms of the lease agreement was restricting the owner in 'religious gatherings' (from what I recall, no more than eight or ten members could attend a religious meeting at property).
Perhaps freeholders are tightening up on gatherings? I wonder what the terms of council properties are (a lot of the JWs I know tend to be 'council')?
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passwordprotected
The biggest issue I can see with small church gatherings (by small I mean between 12 and 20 people) is car parking. On a tight residential street, an addition 6 or 8 cars on the night of the BSG would probably cause a headache for the neighbours. Maybe in new builds they recognise this, especially with residential streets offering less and less pavement space for additional parking.
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blondie
Actually, one article said it was 15 people and that they live on a cul-de-sac. They had been having these meetings for some time but parking on David Jones property. In recent months they have been parking off property.
I went to two book studies on a cul-de-sac and although there were only 12 people attending, we took up all the parking on the cul-de-sac every Tuesday. Finally, the police came and pointed out that some of the parking was illegal (extending over the driveways) and that we should park on the property of the meeting holder or further down where there was more parking or utilize all the parking on the driveway of the host. That is what we did and problem was over. The problem with the secular authorities was the parking. I don't think they cared if it was a weekly AA meeting, tupperware party, or texas hold em poker party.
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Pistoff
Is this a new law from in UK and/or US?
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blondie
It's not a new law in the US. It has nothing to do with religious groups but as to parking and large group parties in residential areas. As I read these articles, this became a problem when the group started parking outside the homeowner's property.
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daniel-p
This has to do with local zoning and building code enforcement. THere is NO way that the Society could have anticipated a problem like this, since every jurisdiction has their own laws and interest or non-interest in enforcing them. Like was mentioned before in the other thread--this is really a lame issue for everyone to go apeshit about. It means nothing. Just because the gathering happened to be religious in nature, all the nuts go wild and start getting their persecution complexes.