Posts by OrphanCrow

50

How do Americans feel about Canadians and Britons interjecting their opinions onto hot localized political topics: gun laws, abortion, ect?

by adjusted knowledge in

jw
friends

in addition to the above question, why do citizens of the two above mentioned countries, or other countries, feel the necessity to tell americans how they should interpret the american constitution for localized issues?.

i fairly much have an idea what the general population in the usa feels in regards to the first question.

this could be one of the possible reasons cnn piers morgan poor ratings and eventual firing.

OrphanCrow

cappytan: everyone is entitled to their own opinion on any subject no matter where they're from or who the subject affects.

That is correct. However, it is important to identify your own geo-political positioning when you do so. An opinion that is 'from nowhere' is just that - from nowhere.

And, it is not a good enough response to come from the position of "well, you just don't understand because you are a foreigner". A person has to clarify why the other person doesn't understand by explaining their own positioning on the issue being discussed.

5

JW Disfellowshipping vs. Amish Meidung vs. Bahá'í Covenant-Breaking

by SonoftheTrinity in

saw an interesting short documentary about a woman who was a born covenant-breaker (which is baha'i for disfellowshipped) because she is the great-granddaughter of baha'ullah whose grandfather disagreed with the leadership, as well as the command that no baha'is should live in israel unless they are working for the universal house of justice (their bethel).

i also read somewhere that shunning in many amish communities has been watered down to having to eat outside at weddings and other communal events.

the more comparisons are drawn between jehovah's witnesses and so called false religions, the less they can claim to be the only true religion.

OrphanCrow

Besides 'covenant breaking' and disfellowshipping, both the JWs and the Ba'hai's lay claim to the date 1914 as fulfillment of prophecy. Except, with the Ba'hai's, it was their very own Abdu'l-Baha who prophesied that 1914 was to be the apocalypse:

In a newspaper article from Colorado around 1915, Abdu'l-Baha is pictured as the "Son of the Founder and Present Leader of the Baha'i Movement." A subheading entitled "Predicted War" goes on to say:
"At Leland Stanford university, in October, 1912, this same Abdu'l-Baha predicted the Great War: 'We are on the eve of the battle of Armageddon, referred to in the 16th chapter of Revelation. The time is two years hence when only a small spark will set aflame the whole of Europe."
World War I which began in August of 1914, on the date 'Abdu'l-Baha accurately predicted was considered by scholars, after the fact, to fulfill the same Biblical prophecies as given by 'Abdu'l-Baha. Yet 'Abdu'l-Baha gave the date of this event before it actual transpired in the world, and without the benefit of the "hindsight" of experts who saw, after the fact, that what 'Abdu'l-Baha gave and the date that he gave, was the explicit fulfillment of the prophecy and apocalyptic warning of God...

http://uhj.net/end-time-prophecy.html

13

New Picture for Memorial Season

by Doctor Who in

i think this would work well.... .

OrphanCrow

And the text for the Memorial 2015 shall be Matthew 27:51. Could you all turn your Bibles to that verse and follow along with me:

And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; 52And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, 53And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

5

JW Disfellowshipping vs. Amish Meidung vs. Bahá'í Covenant-Breaking

by SonoftheTrinity in

saw an interesting short documentary about a woman who was a born covenant-breaker (which is baha'i for disfellowshipped) because she is the great-granddaughter of baha'ullah whose grandfather disagreed with the leadership, as well as the command that no baha'is should live in israel unless they are working for the universal house of justice (their bethel).

i also read somewhere that shunning in many amish communities has been watered down to having to eat outside at weddings and other communal events.

the more comparisons are drawn between jehovah's witnesses and so called false religions, the less they can claim to be the only true religion.

OrphanCrow

The Ba'hai's are apostates themselves. They are viewed as apostates of Islam.

They have interesting history and teachings. The Ba'hai's are very different than the JWs, yet, at the same time, they have developed into an organizational hierarchy that is uncomfortably similar to the WTS. They have recently established a 'governing body' that is in charge of all things Ba'hai.

Notably, the Ba'hai's have a very different view than the JWs towards education. They promote higher education and also hold all of the creative arts in high regard.

23

Is this what the society imagines will be above that 'secret hiding room' in the basement?

by Esse quam videri in

OrphanCrow

Slave: Lastly, two dudes are looking back at the destruction - no dub will EVER do that in fear of Big J maybe mistaking them for Lot's wife and turning them into salt.

Of course. How did I miss that? Silly me.

11

Watchtower Lawyers -- How many?

by VM44 in

jw
friends

this has been brought up before, but i am going to ask it again....just how many lawyers does the watchtower have?

how many have they sent to law school?

and, why do they need so many lawyers?

OrphanCrow

I would suggest they have Lawyers/legal Dept. in almost every country they operate in .

Glen Howe & Associates in Ontario, represent most of the Watchtower concerns in Canada. At least, I think they still do. Glen Howe died a few years back but, I imagine there would be no need to change firms.

3

Where did the idea for the 'Bethel labour system' originate?

by Esse quam videri in

OrphanCrow

38

ARE WATCHTOWER SOCIETY STATISTICS REALLY TRUSTWORTHY?

by TerryWalstrom in

of these, over 2,000 were admitted to concentration camps.

1,000 died in prison and concentration camps.

another 1,000 of jehovah's witnesses died in prisons and concentration camps.".

OrphanCrow

Which source is that O.C.? Kristen John-Stucke ?

Sorry, Terry - I missed that one.

From Between Resistance and Martyrdom: Jehovah's Witnesses in the Third Reich by Detlef Garbe. Page 449.

https://books.google.ca/books?id=cjRiEV0CSQUC&pg=PA449#v=onepage&q&f=false

And I missed part of the quote - it should read "...avoid written records or signatures..."

38

ARE WATCHTOWER SOCIETY STATISTICS REALLY TRUSTWORTHY?

by TerryWalstrom in

of these, over 2,000 were admitted to concentration camps.

1,000 died in prison and concentration camps.

another 1,000 of jehovah's witnesses died in prisons and concentration camps.".

OrphanCrow

ScenicViewer:
Historical Dictionary of Jehovah's Witnesses, page 73, by George D. Chryssides states: "Of the 25,000 Witnesses and Earnest Bible Students in Germany, 13,400 spent at least some time serving prison sentences. According to Gestapo files, more than half recanted."
If more than half recanted, that's a pretty big chunk of Witneses and a victory for Hitler, while Watchtower insists that virtually all remained unbroken.

According to Kristen John-Stucke (Persecution and Resistance of Jehovah's Witnesses During the Nazi Regime, Hans Hesse 2001), about 50 percent of the BibleStudents/JWs who were sent to prison signed the letter to recant before they were released and only about 10 percent signed them once they reached the camps.

John-Stucke points out that it was not advantageous to the BS/JW prisoners to sign the letters once they reached the camps because it was, in effect, potentially signing their own death warrants because the men who signed would be sent to the front to fight and rarely returned. Not signing the recant and staying in the camps was the safest and best way for the BS/JWs to survive the war.

By the end of the war, it was not required that the BS/JWs sign a declaration - they were released on a handshake. This provision was put in place by Himmler for the many, many JW prisoners who were placed in privileged positions both within, and outside, of the camps in positions of trust for the Nazis.

Himmler's proposal to release the BS/Jws on just a handshake:

"In all these cases where prisoners are partially free and have been assigned to such work, we want to avoid written records and make such agreements with just a handshake".

78

Governing Body Member Stephan Lett Lies On JW.TV

by Finkelstein in

i thought it would be important to clearly point in the recent talk by governing body member stephan lett, that he did in fact deliberately lie concerning what he described as lies and false information by apostates, concerning the organization being permissive toward people in the organization who had been involved in pedophilia.

the truth of the matter is thats exactly what the organization has been doing and perhaps for a long time.

the recent candace conti law suit where she was awarded 28 million dollars was levied against the wts for its irresponsible behavior by the elders who gave no notification of the accused jonathan kendrick that he had been charged with pedophilia and spent months in jail for his actions .

OrphanCrow

Not only are lies told often by most people, it is also difficult to tell when someone is lying to you. I read a stat somewhere (can't find it right now...sorry) that claims that we, as humans, on average, are only able to tell 53% of the time when someone is lying to us.

So, combine someone who lies a lot with people who already cannot spot a lie very well and you have a good recipe for what maintains cult-thought and action.