Posts by besty

35

Abstain from Blood...

by hotchocolate in

my first post was a few days ago now, and finally my heart has stopped pounding whenever i log on.. :-).

so, i have been in the truth all my life, 3rd generation witness, never left, never been in trouble, pioneered for years, and am a respected member of my congregation.

at the moment.

great post hotchocolate and welcome to JWD.....

The best analogy I heard recently was 'you wouldn't sacrifice your marriage to save your wedding ring?' - spot on ....

When we had our two little boys and faced the blood issue with both of them I just knew I couldn't deny them life-saving treatment - its that basic....

Jesus broke one of the 10 commandments - the Sabbath - (never mind a minor dietary command buried in amongst the other 700 laws) - to save a life - life is the point....

8

2008 Memorial

by besty in

apparently falls on a saturday - if this coincides with your circuit assembly weekend you will be able to enjoy 3 days of spiritual blessings.... .

yep thats right folks.....you can enjoy the 2nd assembly day on the monday.

not content with scr*wing with your weekend they are messin' with your weekdays....

besty

you would have thought...but my source tells me otherwise

8

2008 Memorial

by besty in

apparently falls on a saturday - if this coincides with your circuit assembly weekend you will be able to enjoy 3 days of spiritual blessings.... .

yep thats right folks.....you can enjoy the 2nd assembly day on the monday.

not content with scr*wing with your weekend they are messin' with your weekdays....

besty

apparently falls on a saturday - if this coincides with your Circuit Assembly weekend you will be able to enjoy 3 days of spiritual blessings....

yep thats right folks.....you can enjoy the 2nd Assembly day on the Monday.

Not content with scr*wing with your weekend they are messin' with your weekdays....

27

Anyone ever disfellowshipped for gluttony?

by gaiagirl in

i never knew or heard of anyone, and remember many, many members of congregations who clearly ate much more than they needed to for health.

since the bible lumps gluttons with other "sinners" such as fornicatiors, why does wtbts not prosecute gluttons?

perhaps elders meetings aren't as much fun when you only get to ask questions like "what did you eat next?

besty

3-Would fall out of bed from both sides at the same time

ROFLMFAO

There was a couple up in Scotland that must have weighed 600Lbs between them. I think a few quiet words may have been had but that was it.

Perhaps to get disfellowshiped for gluttony it would need to be shown that you had been eating greedily 'with greediness'. Twats.

Fat people will rule the world one day,

30

greetings from a long time lurker

by nondescriptex in

jw
friends

long time lurker, first time poster.

i won't be able to say much... you understand why some of us can't risk identification... a lot to lose.

and i might not be able to post very often.

besty

welcome to JWD

we'd love to hear your story within the limits of what you can reveal

stick around and keep posting

Best wishes on your journey into the fresh air

Paul & Sam

17

UK Charity Law Changes

by Paddington Bear in

you may or may not be aware but the charites act 2006 is now in force and it means that from end 2007 charites (including the jw's) will have to proove that they offer public benefit if they are to still retain their charitable status and in turn get gift aid on nearly every single donation and keep their tax exempt status.. the charity law association made some very interesting comments regarding the witnesses in their memorandum that was submitted in evidence to the joint commitee on the draft charites bill.

their comments on the taylorite sect of the exclusive brethren "excluding children from the family home" is also quite relevant.

this is only enidence from an outside body but it shows things could change.. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/jt200304/jtselect/jtchar/167/4061625.htm.

besty

shameless repost of relevant info from:

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/143526/1.ashx

The reply from the CC makes clear that as long as the WTS is fulfilling its obligations to work within its charitable objects, then the CC have no interest (or resources probably) to pursue doctrinal or criminal matters. Or matters otherwise outside its jurisdiction ie France/Russia. So in other words the CC are there to ensure minimum standards are met and to administer the system, not to investigate, redefine and police the charitable objects of each and every charity.

In this case the stated objects being:

TO ADVANCE THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION AS PRACTISED BY THE BODY OF CHRISTIAN PERSONS KNOWN AS JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES BY:
(A) PREACHING THE GOSPEL OF GOD'S KINGDOM UNDER JESUS CHRIST UNTO ALL NATIONS AS A WITNESS TO THE NAME, WORD AND SUPREMACY OF ALMIGHTY GOD, JEHOVAH;
(B) PRODUCING AND DISTRIBUTING BIBLES AND OTHER RELIGIOUS LITERATURE IN ANY MEDIUM AND EDUCATING THE PUBLIC IN RESPECT THEREOF;
(C) PROMOTING RELIGIOUS WORSHIP;
(D) PROMOTING CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY WORK;
(E) ADVANCING RELIGIOUS EDUCATION;
(F) MAINTAINING ONE OR MORE RELIGIOUS ORDERS OR COMMUNITIES OF SPECIAL MINISTERS OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES.

Which, again IMHO, they get a tick in all these boxes, whether we like it or not.

Perhaps another angle might be the 'public benefit' test which is being redefined in the Charities Act 2006.

http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/enhancingcharities/pbconsult.asp#F

which states in part:

All charities must have charitable purposes which are for the public benefit. (A ‘purpose’ is the overall goal or aim of the charity which is usually set out in its governing document.) This is known as the ‘public benefit requirement’.

This requirement is reinforced by the Charities Act 2006 (‘the Charities Act’) which:

* includes a statutory definition that, to be a charity, an organisation must have purposes which:-
o fall within the descriptions of charitable purposes set out in the Act; and
o are for the public benefit;
* removes the presumption that currently exists that charities relieving poverty or advancing education or religion benefit the public;
* gives the Charity Commission a public benefit objective to promote awareness and understanding of the operation of the public benefit requirement;
* requires us to publish guidance to help meet our public benefit objective;
* requires us to carry out what consultation we consider necessary before issuing that guidance; and
* provides that charity trustees must have regard to guidance we publish on public benefit when they exercise any powers or duties where the guidance is relevant to them doing so.

The Charities Act does not define what is meant by ‘public benefit’; that remains governed by the existing law, which is based on decisions which have been made by the courts and the Charity Commission over the years. But the Act does remove the presumption that currently exists in charity law that organisations relieving poverty or advancing education or religion benefit the public. This means that, in future, all charities will have to demonstrate that their purposes benefit the public.

Again from my reading of this it won't be too onerous for the WTS to frame a public benefit statement that will keep the CC happy. For example the guidance on 'who are the public?' can be found further down on the same web page. To cut a long story short active JW's can be viewed as 'the public' as they represent a cross-section of society.

I think the most promising angle is in the anti-discrimination legislation. This would clearly be more persuasive if a case was brought by somebody within the WTS currently in good standing. What we need is a sister with lesbian tendencies demanding to be made an elder. Any volunteers? It is a charity after all :-)

I think that as many as possible that can register their personal story of shunning, blood issue, child abuse etc the better. I will be doing this.

142

APOSTASCOTLAND

by Dansk in

jw
friends

would someone seriously consider arranging for an apostafest up in scotland next year?

i know i'm asking this early but i feel it would be good to put the feelers out now.. obviously, it would have to be a location easy to get to - so that means stornoway is out!

sorry, ross & xena.

besty

JWD Fun Trvia Quiz

Scottish Geography - Easy

Murrayfield is in which Scottish City?

A - It is near Edinburgh

B - It is in Edinburgh

C - It is like Edinburgh

D - All of the above

Paul

<of the wishing he was 'postafesting in his home country class>

24

Southern California

by Johnna in

anyone from so ca here... especially riverside or san diego co areas?

?

besty

count us in - SweetPea and I will be slummin' it in Manhattan Beach from Mar 1

50

I just stumped our PO!!!

by The Last Nephilim in

i have never seen this guy stumped on a bible topic or point before, but history was made today!!!

he and a soon-to-be elder were doing a shepherding call on my wife and i because we've missed weeks worth of meetings and had no service time for dec. he went through the usual lectures about how we're cutting off jehovah by missing meetings (because we all know god won't lift a finger for those who don't go to meetings, right?

) he gave some good illustrations- the guy really is a good teacher, it's just what he's teaching that's questionable.

besty

Good luck with your PO LoN...

You might find some more of interest to you here with reference to the whys and hows of inserting the name Jehovah into the New Testament.

http://www.tetragrammaton.org/nwtandhvs.htm

13

Public Talk at CO Visit

by stillajwexelder in

just to confirm , at the moment the public talk at the circuit visit is still 45 minutes long.

not sure if this will change when the enw outlines are released to cos for their next round of visits starting early march

besty

confirmed by of our moles - CO's vist = 45 minutes old skool earache