Doubting Bro

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Posts by Doubting Bro

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  90

  $5.5 Million to be transferred to World Wide Work from Assembly Hall fund

  by Sour Grapes in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  a letter was read tonight in our kingdom hall that the money that the circuits in the indianapolis area had in savings to build a new assembly hall will now be transferred to the www to build kingdom halls in lands where they are needed and a new assembly hall for us will not be built.. we had a beautiful assembly hall near downtown indy that was paid for.

  it was sold a couple of years ago.

  we were promised a new assembly hall to be built in southern ohio near the indiana border but they can kiss that goodbye now.

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  Doubting Bro

  That's cold even for the WTS. I'm starting to think their cash crises is deeper than I thought.
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  52

  Have you ever gone back to a meeting out of curiosity?

  by stuckinarut2 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  just wondering if anyone has gone back to a meeting out of curiosity?

  (perhaps to an area far from your old khall where you know no one).

  with all the changes from 2012 onwards (videos, tv screens, new meeting format, new songs etc) it would be an odd experience to be in attendance!.

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  Doubting Bro

  As a PIMO, I attend on a semi-regular basis and it is very surreal. Much different than the religion I grew up in.
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  18

  Superbly Written Article in Canadian Magazine

  by berrygerry in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  jehovah's witnesses cover-up.

  http://www.ucobserver.org/justice/2018/01/jw/.

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  Doubting Bro

  I think that's a well written article.
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  104

  Jehovah's Witnesses to settle sex-abuse case - San Diego Reader (California, US), Friday, January 12, 2018

  by darkspilver in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  jehovah's witnesses to settle sex-abuse case - san diego reader (california, us), friday, january 12, 2018.

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  Doubting Bro

  Sorry Morph! I was writing a reply at the same time but 100% agree
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  104

  Jehovah's Witnesses to settle sex-abuse case - San Diego Reader (California, US), Friday, January 12, 2018

  by darkspilver in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  jehovah's witnesses to settle sex-abuse case - san diego reader (california, us), friday, january 12, 2018.

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  Doubting Bro

  Maybe you forget that the publishers actually bought the literature at the literature counter every month. So, the WT ALWAYS got paid even if the householder didn't pay for the literature!! It was the publisher that would decide to give the literature away without payment and so take the loss. Seriously, the WT would never give anything away willingly.

  And the US government never attempted to tax them. The case had to do with Jimmy Swaggart v Board of Equalization of California where CA wanted to apply their 6% sales tax on the sale of religious literature. The SCOTUS ruled that the tax was constitutional. The WT's lawyers determined that CA and other states would apply this ruling to them because they were SELLING literature (a specific charge was made for each piece to the publisher) so they decided to move to the donation arrangement rather than collecting the sales tax in states that decided to impose it on their literature. A huge strategic mistake that has led them to some of the cashflow issues they currently have.

  Name one time you received something from the literature counter prior to the change without paying for it? You can't. Pioneers got a discount but still had to pay.

  Amount of profit has nothing to do with it and quite frankly, since the WT is not transparent about their expenses vs revenues, we have no idea what the actual costs to produce the literature is.
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  22

  The Governing Body's credibility

  by UnshackleTheChains in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  given the proliferation of websites, youtube channels, books and other forms of media attention focusing on the extreme policies, teachings and scandals of the watchtower bible and tract society; where does this now leave the governing body's credibility?.

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  Doubting Bro

  I echo what everyone else says, internally they are untouchable. Externally they are irrelevant.
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  12

  Mind control

  by Jrjw in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  ive just watched on youtube the b.i.t.e model of cult mind control by steve hassan.

  all 23 steps apply to the wts.

  its awful knowing i was tricked and how subtly it was done without me even knowing.

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  Doubting Bro

  Jrjw - Nothing you can do about the past. Just focus on the future for yourself and your kids. Believe me, I still get angry at myself for not realizing things sooner. But, its a meaningless exercise to beat yourself up over the past. Learn from it and most importantly, teach those critical thinking skills to your kids so they don't get involved with a cult (JW or otherwise) in the future.

  By the way, it was Hassan's BITE model that really convinced me that JWs are a cult not just a somewhat controlling religion. If you honestly apply it, almost every sign is applicable.
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  35

  what big change could bring down the watchtower?

  by stan livedeath in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  what single big change do you think could back fire and bring the cult down ?.

  me: tithing..

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  Doubting Bro

  It depends on what you mean by being brought down. I can see splinter groups meeting in private homes discussing and believing WT doctrine for decades after the WT organization collapses (if it does). If you mean, ceasing to exist in the form and size they are now, nothing short of dropping all their unique teachings ala WCOG (which by the way is STILL around under a different name) would do it to the extent that they disappear. I doubt that would do it either. Will they get smaller as the years go by? Yes, I think the evidence points to them hitting their high water mark. But, I just don't see them disappearing. Look at the number of fringe religious groups out there. Now with the internet, you can hold virtual meetings that connect small groups from across the globe.

  Tithing - I agree with Morph. It would be a shock at first and fringe folks like me could use it as a reason to leave. But they don't care about those people anyway. If you can convince parents to cut off their own kids, you can certainly convince people to give you money.

  Shunning - dropping that would definitely impact the numbers as faders/fringe JWs could walk away without repercussions although many hard core JWs would still shun them. It's simply too ingrained in the culture. It would take an entire generation or two for the shunning to stop.

  Doctrine - LOL - They make changes all the time with little to no impact. Most JWs don't even know their latest teachings.
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  104

  Jehovah's Witnesses to settle sex-abuse case - San Diego Reader (California, US), Friday, January 12, 2018

  by darkspilver in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  jehovah's witnesses to settle sex-abuse case - san diego reader (california, us), friday, january 12, 2018.

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  Doubting Bro

  The Pardon case is likely going to be settled as well. In cases where the rapist is an elder, Zalkin seems to developed a good strategy. Hopefully he will continue to be successful and hurt the WT bad enough that they will be more proactive in protecting kids from predators that use the cover of a religious organization to find their victims. All organizations that have kids around have a duty to provide an atmosphere where they can't be hurt by adults.
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  104

  Jehovah's Witnesses to settle sex-abuse case - San Diego Reader (California, US), Friday, January 12, 2018

  by darkspilver in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  jehovah's witnesses to settle sex-abuse case - san diego reader (california, us), friday, january 12, 2018.

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  Doubting Bro

  Yep this is watchtower's playbook. Wear down the plaintiff for years and when they run out of appeals settle out of court.

  And if you are a large corporation looking to protect its assets, that is the right course. However, this is a) a child that was raped and b) an organization that is supposed to be the "earthly part of God's organization". Of course, this is exactly what Jesus would do, right??? Uh wait a minute.......