AndersonsInfo

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Posts by AndersonsInfo

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  86

  Music Video: Would Jesus Wear a Rolex on JW Broadcasting? - PARODY

  by cappytan in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this took quite a while this evening.

  so worth it though.

  hope you enjoy!

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  AndersonsInfo

  The entire parody was brilliant and made our day. Thanks, cappytan.
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  29

  WBTS goes to Court of Appeal (Charity Commission investigation)

  by Mephis in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  after a number of high profile cases where both children and survivors clearly weren't adequately protected, the charity commission here in the uk launched an investigation into the wbts as a whole here in britain.

  the main concerns are around the child safeguarding policies being inadequate.

  wbts have fought every step of the way so far.. wbts have been to the high court, who told them to complain to the proper tribunal.. wbts have been to the proper tribunal, who told them that too darn right there were suitable grounds for the charity commission to want to investigate their inability to protect children.. and now the wbts have gone back to the court of appeal to demand that the charity commission inquiry be halted.. i hope the court of appeal tells them that, yes, they too need to have proper safeguarding measures for children and to get on with co-operating with the investigation.. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/charity-commission-defends-its-investigation-into-jehovahs-witness-charity-in-the-court-of-appeal.

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  AndersonsInfo

  Here's another article:

  http://www.civilsociety.co.uk/governance/news/content/21273/regulator_defends_investigation_into_jehovahs_witness_charity_after_fourth_appeal_launched_into_unlawful_investigation
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  37

  According to YouTube Egyptian bethel closing and special pioneer's

  by Crazyguy in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  according to you tubers mike and kim and son of thunder, egyptian branch closing.

  son of thunder is saying he has relatives that we're running bethel in egypt for years and they have been let go reassigned as special pioneers yet according to him this job no longer pays a wage.

  he also states that 5000 total bethelites world wide are being let go.

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  AndersonsInfo

  Yesterday, Mike and Kim retracted on their YouTube video channel what they said about 5,000 Bethelites dismissed from the Egyptian Bethel. That information came from an email supplied by a former JW who received the email from his relatives at the Egyptian branch. Due to the way the email was written by a native Egyptian in broken English, it was easy to see why a mistake was made.

  What the receiver of the email didn't know was that Egypt is a banned country, and under those circumstances there are "usually" less than a dozen Bethelites living at such a branch. So when all concerned read in the email of the closing and sale of the Egypt branch and that 5,000 Bethelites were dismissed, they repeated the information.

  However, the author of the email meant that he and the others living at the Bethel home in Egypt were part of the 5,000 Bethelites, from around the world, who have been dismissed from Bethel service and asked to pioneer. Happily, the writer said, he and three other Bethelites living at the branch were invited to special pioneer in another part of Egypt which thrilled them to know they were still going to be in "special service."

  I questioned the information when I heard about it because I knew there were no WT branches housing that many people in a banned country. Yes, banned countries have WT "branches" and those who live in these branch buildings (large houses) are considered Bethelites and receive the Bethel reimbursement, etc.

  Joe and I have visited some small branches when we were JWs and stayed overnight free because we could as Bethelites. The JW (Bethel overseer) who ran the Turkish branch when the Witnesses were banned there, was a German businessman and he operated the branch as his business. If I remember correctly, I believe there were five Bethelites at that branch looking after all of the WT's concerns in Turkey. We do remember two married couples and a single Egyptian Bethelite woman who lived in the house.

  Off topic, but of interest, when, Don Adams, president of WT of PA, heard we were going into Turkey, a banned country, he gave us an envelope from the Bethel Executive Office to give to the branch overseer. The envelope contained branch business. And the other Bethelite couple who we traveled with, was given a small PC (computer) to give to the Turkish branch office to save them money. Computers were very expensive in Turkey then.

  The story doesn't end there. As we were going through airport customs, custom agents notified airport guards (two Turkish soldiers), with military rifles hanging on their shoulders, that we four were suspicious. After a few minutes we knew that the soldiers were very close to arresting our friends for trying to smuggle into Turkey a computer. It took a half an hour to clear that mess up, but it was touch and go for awhile. (That episode took years off of our lives from the stress.) Finally, the soldiers were convinced by our traveling companions that the computer belonged to them and that they were in Egypt to write an article about their travels. (Smuggling and lying were part of our "theocratic warfare" then.)

  Barbara
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  9

  Article: "Why God Won't Go Away" (Contains an example of a JW) An excellent read!

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://committingsociology.com/2016/01/15/transcending-religious-ideas-is-easy-transcending-religious-thinking-is-hard/.

  why god won’t go away.

  january 15, 2016 john faithful hamer .

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  AndersonsInfo

  http://committingsociology.com/2016/01/15/transcending-religious-ideas-is-easy-transcending-religious-thinking-is-hard/

  Why God Won’t Go Away

  January 15, 2016 John Faithful Hamer

  “A Saul turning into Paul is neither a rarity nor a miracle. In our day, each proselytizing mass movement seems to regard the zealous adherents of its antagonist as its own potential converts. Hitler looked on the German Communists as potential National Socialists: ‘The petit bourgeois Social-Democrat and the trade-union boss will never make a National Socialist, but the Communist always will.'”—Eric Hoffer, The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements (1951)

  

  Jerry Falwell actually said something smart once. When asked what the difference was between an Evangelical and a Fundamentalist, Falwell said: “a Fundamentalist is just an Evangelical who is angry about something.” In terms of doctrine, there’s no real difference between your average Evangelical Christian and your average Fundamentalist Christian. Likewise, in substantive terms, the difference between “atheism” (i.e., “old atheism”) and “new atheism” is this: nothing. The difference is more a difference of style. New atheists (or, as they often prefer to be called, “evangelical anti-theists”) are angry about something. Old-school atheists are about as worked up about people who believe in God as they are about people who believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.

  In The Future of an Illusion (1927), Freud maintained that giving up on God and embracing atheism was really all about shedding youthful illusions and growing up. Though deeply insulting and profoundly condescending (to religious people like me), I must confess that Freud’s characterization of atheism used to ring true to me. It ably describes the somber atheism of Nietzsche and Marx. Atheists used to sound like grown-ups, like those party-pooper grown-ups who come downstairs at midnight, turn on the lights, and tell everyone it’s time to turn off the music, clean up, go home, and get a good night’s sleep; these days, atheists sound like shrill teenagers, like those know-it-all preachy vegan teenagers who want the whole family to switch to soy. Be that as it may, they’ve got religion all wrong, and so far as I can tell, there are three main reasons for this: (1) like fundamentalists, the new atheists take religion far too literally; (2) they think they know what religion means to Joe Average, Regular Rhonda, and Typical Tanya; (3) they fail to see that religion shapes how you think and believe far more than what you think and believe.

  Teaching on religion early on in my teaching career was profoundly eye-opening for me. I expected most of my students to know little or nothing about religion, and this was, alas, largely the case. What I didn’t expect to find was that many of my most religious students were equally clueless. Religious identity was clearly important to them, often very important, and yet their knowledge of their own religion was practically non-existent. It took me a few weeks to realize, for instance, that the guy in the corner who described himself as “born again” and got all fired up about Richard Dawkins, knew practically nothing about Christianity. Likewise, it took me a month to realize that the bright young woman in the hijab, who got all fired up whenever an unkind word was said about Islam, knew practically nothing about Islam.

  People like this used to frustrate me. But now they fascinate me. Because the success or failure of a social movement is largely dependent upon them. There’s always a gulf, a fascinating gulf, between an idea’s intellectual appeal and its emotional appeal, between what a movement is supposedly all about—according to its highly-articulate apologists, its slick PR-people, its intellectuals—and what it actually means to Joe Average, Regular Rhonda, and Typical Tanya. An old friend of ours from Baltimore is a case in point. Let’s call her Cindy.

  Cindy was brought up in a hard-core Jehovah’s Witness household. Her family was among the most pious in their religious community. People looked up to them with a mixture of fear and awe. They were the gold standard: a family that never missed a meeting at the Kingdom Hall and spent thousands of hours spreading the faith each year. Cindy fell away from the faith in her late teens and got “disfellowshiped” (systematically shunned by her entire community). When we met her she was in her mid-20s. She hadn’t spoken to anyone in her family for years. She had dreads and tattoos, and a massive hate-on for religion. She’d rejected all of her parents values and beliefs, and she never had a kind word for the Witnesses. Yet it was obvious to us, charmingly obvious, that she was still a Jehovah’s Witness in so many ways. READ MORE:

  http://committingsociology.com/2016/01/15/transcending-religious-ideas-is-easy-transcending-religious-thinking-is-hard/
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  20

  Article: "JWs door to door pamphlets are actually alright." Journalist's mistakes corrected in Comments by XJWs. Read his reaction.

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  https://www.the-newshub.com/general/jehovahs-witness-door-to-door-pamphlets-are-actually-alright#comment-section.

  jehovah's witness door to door pamphlets are actually alright.

  and their religion isn't that bad either.

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  AndersonsInfo

  I felt his positive reaction to XJWs pointing out his mistakes was great. He promised to write another article pointing out how the JWs misrepresent their religion in their literature.

  Barbara
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  20

  Article: "JWs door to door pamphlets are actually alright." Journalist's mistakes corrected in Comments by XJWs. Read his reaction.

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  https://www.the-newshub.com/general/jehovahs-witness-door-to-door-pamphlets-are-actually-alright#comment-section.

  jehovah's witness door to door pamphlets are actually alright.

  and their religion isn't that bad either.

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  AndersonsInfo

  https://www.the-newshub.com/general/jehovahs-witness-door-to-door-pamphlets-are-actually-alright#comment-section

  Jehovah's Witness door to door pamphlets are actually alright.

  And their religion isn't that bad either.

  5 Feb 2016, 19:23 GMT Comments (40) Guess what everyone? I just became a Jehovah's Witness!
  Well not really, but I've got to admit that I actually enjoy reading Jehovah's Witness pamphlets when some Jehovah's Witness come and hand them out at my door.

  
  Jehovah's Witnesses are probably the bane of most peoples' existence, including many people I know. And I've heard some entertaining stories of how some of my friends have got rid of them. One of my friends has a taste in death metal. So he blasts death metal at top volume until the Jehovah's Witnesses leave. Another of my friends likes porn a lot. So he plays porn at a ridiculous volume until the Jehovah's Witnesses leave. And another of my friends has Buddhist parents, who have placed statues of Buddha all around the yard. So he gets all evangelical about Buddhism and "finding the light of Buddha" until the Jehovah's Witnesses leave. READ MORE: https://www.the-newshub.com/general/jehovahs-witness-door-to-door-pamphlets-are-actually-alright#comment-section
  
  Edit
  
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  7

  Blood: Article about director of Atlanta's Emory Center for Ethics facing a contorversial decision involving a 17-year-old JW

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  http://www.atlantamagazine.com/health/emorys-center-for-ethics-faces-some-of-the-most-complex-and-controversial-issues-in-modern-medicine/.

  emory center for ethics director faces some of the most complex—and controversial—issues in medicine paul root wolpe and his team think through the tough questions brought about by medical advances .

  january 28, 2016 tony rehagen .

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  AndersonsInfo

  http://www.atlantamagazine.com/health/emorys-center-for-ethics-faces-some-of-the-most-complex-and-controversial-issues-in-modern-medicine/

  Emory Center for Ethics director faces some of the most complex—and controversial—issues in medicine Paul Root Wolpe and his team think through the tough questions brought about by medical advances

  January 28, 2016 Tony Rehagen

  "The surgeon didn’t know what to do. He was scheduled to perform a risky operation on a 17-year-old patient who was also a Jehovah’s Witness, a religion that forbids blood infusions. Prior to the surgery, the young man’s parents had signed a document refusing blood during the course of the procedure—no matter what might happen. In their presence, the son had verbally agreed.

  "However, in the days leading up to the operation, with his mom and dad out of the room, the young patient had made a quick, cryptic comment to the surgeon: It is against my religion to receive blood, he had reminded the doctor. But I want you to know that my religion states that if you were to give me blood without my knowledge, it would not imperil my eternal soul.

  "Was the boy saying that he wanted the doctor to act against the family’s written wishes? The surgeon felt a moral obligation to preserve his patient’s life, having taken a Hippocratic oath to “do no harm.” But should he accept the boy’s seemingly tacit permission?"

  --

  "In the case of the Jehovah’s Witness, Wolpe explained to the surgeon that the parents’ written consent legally obligated him to withhold blood. But given the boy’s declaration, Wolpe helped the doctor determine that if the operation took a turn for worse, his own moral imperative to save a life would take precedence." - See more at:

  http://www.atlantamagazine.com/health/emorys-center-for-ethics-faces-some-of-the-most-complex-and-controversial-issues-in-modern-medicine/#sthash.xkb35vw2.dpuf
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  Brooklyn Daily Eagle: "Cycles Are Not Always Clear Circles"

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://www.brooklyneagle.com/articles/2016/2/5/cycles-are-not-always-clear-circles.

  howe's brooklyn: memories of the bossert hotel.

  by sam howe.

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  AndersonsInfo

  http://www.brooklyneagle.com/articles/2016/2/5/cycles-are-not-always-clear-circles

  Howe's Brooklyn: Memories of the Bossert Hotel

  By Sam Howe

  Brooklyn Daily Eagle

  Feb. 6, 2016

  Cycles Are Not Always Clear Circles

  The imminent return of the Bossert Hotel brings back recent memories of the 1970s, when there were still eight hotels operating within the small historic district called Brooklyn Heights.

  That included the Bossert itself, which was operated by an elegant, old-world European who struggled to retain the dignity of the Bossert name in the face of decline in occupancy.

  Indeed, the Bossert was the only one of the eight that refused to take New York City's SRO (Single Room Occupancy) welfare tenants. The other seven — the Montague at 105 Montague St., the Pierrepont at 55 Pierrepont St., the Standish Harbor View on Columbia Heights, the Margaret at 97 Columbia Heights, the Standish Arms at 66 Orange St., the Towers at Clark and Willow streets and the famous Hotel St. George at Clark and Henry streets — each suffered greater declines in revenue and reputation than the Bossert. And all fell into other hands, other uses.

  A number of the eight hotels were purchased over a decade and a half by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society — the Jehovah's Witnesses. First, the Towers, then the rebuilt Margaret following a spectacular fire, then the Standish Harbor View on Columbia Heights, and finally, the Bossert. The sale of the Bossert to a private development group signaled the unparalleled retreat of Watchtower presence in Brooklyn Heights. This is an evacuation that continues today and remains the largest single landlord turnover ever seen in Brooklyn Heights.

  Of the original eight hotels, three still remain in Watchtower hands and are, presumably, part of the inevitable retreat by Watchtower interests to Upstate New York. READ MORE:

  http://www.brooklyneagle.com/articles/2016/2/5/cycles-are-not-always-clear-circles
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  7

  Brownstoner: How the Jehovah’s Witnesses Acquired Some of Brooklyn’s Most Insanely Valuable Properties

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://www.brownstoner.com/blog/2016/01/jehovahs-witnesses-history-brooklyn-properties-selling/.

  how the jehovah’s witnesses acquired some of brooklyn’s most insanely valuable properties by.

  suzanne spellen 1/26/16 .

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  AndersonsInfo

  http://www.brownstoner.com/blog/2016/01/jehovahs-witnesses-history-brooklyn-properties-selling/

  How the Jehovah’s Witnesses Acquired Some of Brooklyn’s Most Insanely Valuable Properties by

  Suzanne Spellen 1/26/16

  The Jehovah’s Witnesses — aka the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society — first came to Brooklyn in 1908, in hopes of having their sermons syndicated in newspapers alongside the writings of the borough’s most famous pastors. It was under the Watchtower’s autocratic second leader, Joseph F. Rutherford, that the religious group truly began practicing the art of Brooklyn real estate.

  This is the 100-year story of how the Jehovah’s Witnesses grew to be a global phenomenon and came to own some of Brooklyn’s most valuable properties.

  <img class="size-full wp-image-219574" src="http://cdn.brownstoner.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/jehovah-witness-history-brooklyn-properties-joseph-rutherford.jpg" alt="Jehovah Witnesses History Brooklyn Joseph Rutherford" width="1000" height="667" />

  Joseph Rutherford. Photo via Wikipedia

  Joseph Rutherford, the Uncompromising Leader and Brilliant Propagandist

  Joseph Rutherford was voted into office by the governing body of the Society, but he was dictatorial and autocratic — not the leader the Watchtower directors had imagined.

  He angered many with his beliefs that faith should come before patriotism — a big no-no for the time, as World War I was raging halfway around the world. In May of 1918, the U.S. Attorney General called his writings and lectures “one of the most dangerous examples of propaganda” ever written, and his works were banned in Canada.

  Rutherford claimed that 1918 was the year God was coming to claim his kingdom, and that the governments of the world and their “unrighteous” religions would come to an end.

  <img class="size-full wp-image-219314" src="http://cdn.brownstoner.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/jehovah-witness-history-brooklyn-properties-09.jpg" alt="Jehovah Witness History Brooklyn Properties" width="1000" height="750" />

  Rutherford’s 1918 prison mug shots. Photo via eBay

  A Little Legal Trouble for the Witnesses

  Rutherford and seven other Watchtower executives were arrested and charged under the 1917 Espionage Act for insubordination, disloyalty, refusal of duty in the armed services, and obstructing recruitment and enlistment. Seven men — including Rutherford — were sentenced to 20 years in prison.

  The Society sold the Brooklyn Tabernacle building on Hicks Street, as well as the office furniture out of their main headquarters — Bethel — on Columbia Heights. The Society still owned the building, they told the press, but were likely to sell it “any day.”

  The Brooklyn Eagle rejoiced, and a Watchtower member was quoted as saying, “I blame the Eagle for all of our troubles. It first attacked us years ago and never has ceased.”

  But the Eagle crowed too soon.

  In March of 1919, the Watchtower men were all released on bail, and the charges were dropped a year later. Rutherford had been re-elected as the head of the Society, and they were not going anywhere.

  <img class="size-full wp-image-219315" src="http://cdn.brownstoner.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/jehovah-witness-history-brooklyn-properties-01.jpg" alt="Jehovah Witness History Brooklyn Properties" width="770" height="1000" />

  Postcard of Bethel at 124 Columbia Heights. Photo via eBay

  The Worldwide Growth of the Jehovah’s Witnesses

  Between 1920 and Rutherford’s death in 1942, the organization grew to include millions of followers worldwide. This success and the Witnesses’ emphasis on studying printed materials — in 100 languages — meant that they needed to expand their Brooklyn operations dramatically.

  Even in the very beginning, the Society relied on volunteers to operate the presses and staff shipping rooms. These volunteers dedicated years to their work and were paid only pennies, while living in dormitories and group housing. The Eagle saw this as a sure sign of cult behavior even in 1910.

  <img class="size-full wp-image-219317" src="http://cdn.brownstoner.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/jehovah-witness-history-brooklyn-properties-06.jpg" alt="Jehovah Witness History Brooklyn Properties" width="667" height="1000" />

  1955 Watchtower publication. Photo via eBay

  Although the Watchtower Society looked like the organization Charles Russell began, the Rutherford years changed almost everything they believed in. He changed their name to Jehovah’s Witnesses in 1931 to differentiate them from the remaining Russellites — although the legal name remains the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.

  He was also responsible for the group’s practices that are frequently compared to cult behavior, including the shunning of holidays and birthdays, the banning of singing at services, and the requirement and sacred duty of door-to-door visits.

  And the group continued to grow.

  <img class="size-full wp-image-219328" src="http://cdn.brownstoner.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/jehovah-witness-history-brooklyn-properties-10.jpg" alt="Jehovah Witness History Brooklyn Properties" width="1000" height="730" />

  Squibb Building. Photo via Brooklyn Public Library

  In 1927, the Watchtower had just finished a new printing plant at 117 Adams Street, the Eagle noted. The Society was tearing down the old Beecher house at 124 Columbia Heights, as well as the surrounding buildings and was building a new nine-story dormitory and headquarters on the large site. This would be the new Bethel world headquarters.

  READ MORE: http://www.brownstoner.com/blog/2016/01/jehovahs-witnesses-history-brooklyn-properties-selling/
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  24

  Reveal News: "Jehovah’s Witnesses fight law on reporting child sex abuse to police" by Trey Bundy

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  https://www.revealnews.org/blog/jehovahs-fight-law-requiring-child-sex-abuse-be-reported-to-police/.

  jehovah’s witnesses fight law on reporting child sex abuse to police.

  trey bundy, february 1, 2016 .

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  AndersonsInfo

  Please be assured that the attorney general's office has been appraised of the majority of points that thinking posters brought up here. Don't worry anymore, OK?

  Barbara