Posts by DNCall

13

From Bob Hope Theater to JW Assembly Hall

by Hecce in

just a remembrance of the woodland hills, ca assembly hall.

i am enclosing a partial copy of a wikipedia article covering the purchase and subsequent sale of the facility by the jw.

i am enclosing the link and please pay attention to the bold portion of the document.. the theater project was backed by entertainers bob hope and art linkletter, along with cy warner.. the 2865-seat facility opened july 6, 1964 with the sound of music.

DNCall

The creation panels in the lobby were painted by Drew Struzan. Drew is a celebrated artist who is famous for his movie posters. He is the preferred artist of Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, etc. He is the creator of the posters for Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Cannonball Run, and numerous others.

I vaguely recall that some pedantic elder took issue with one of the panels not being completely accurate per the Biblical account. I believe Drew was asked to paint over the offending element and did.

Fortunately, Drew, his wife and son left the cult some years ago.

27

My sources say Jr brown has died

by poopie in

jw
friends

end of era.

DNCall

Jim Pellechia was replaced by JR Brown. I was always impressed with Jim's levelheadedness and intelligence. I never knew how he ran afoul of the GB. All I know is that he was replaced by a man who had far less in the way of these qualities than Jim. It's reasonable to expect that whoever replaces JR will be more like JR and much less like Jim.

17

Coming Out To My JW Sister

by Ame SF in

now, i have been mentally "awake" for quite a while, but i'll just say march/april this year.

i won't go into detail about what it was that made me "realize" everything, so don't bother asking.. so, i've known for years that i wasn't like most girls in my classes, kingdom hall, and just in general.

from a very young age i had that obvious interest in the same sex, but seeing as i was seemingly the only one feeling that way i would brush it off and eventually i started getting interested in guys.

DNCall

It sounds like you have a good grasp of your sexuality/identity. As you may know, if you are baptized and living as a gay woman, Witnesses are instructed to cut you off. You don't say in your OP whether you are baptized or not. Either way, I hope your sister will continue to embrace you.

However it turns out, i wish you the best in building and enjoying your life.

136

Sun,moon, earth and mathematics .

by atomant in

just thought id let you all in on some info i found on northeasttruth.com.

that magical moment where the moon blocks out the sun!

but only just enough to perfectly cover the suns disc, whilst still allowing us to see the corona of light and other electromagnetic forces radiating from it.. this only happens because the moon diameter is exactly 1/400th the size of the suns and is positioned at exactly 1/400th of the distance between earth and the sun!so, when we see it from the surface of earth, we are in the only place this can ever be seen, at the only time it could ever happen.

DNCall

To never a jw:

Funny, you don't look twoish.

20

My Issue With the Kingdom Melodies

by humblepotato in

jw
friends

the organization really has some talented people in it.

seriously talented.

artists, musicians, animators, and any other creative venue you can think of.

DNCall

I believe it stems from JW theology, which only addresses true/false, right/wrong, light/dark, us/them, happy/sad, chaste/immoral, moderation/excess, etc. Subtlety and nuance have no place in JW culture. However, life is full of these finer elements, as is great art.

As art is a reflection of life, so JW art is a reflection of JW life. JW art is as artificial as the life it reflects.

I have personally witnessed wonderful music created and then shot down because it fell outside the boundaries set by those leaders steeped in JW theology and culture.

24

If An Organization Really Believed It Had the Truth...

by xjwsrock in

....it would not be scared of critics.

actually they would naturally take an offensive stance, wouldn't they?

they would welcome debate... even encourage it.

DNCall

"Straight line approaches," as xjwsrock puts so well, were abandoned after the Knorr administration with the power shift to the GB. In the 40s through the 70s it was sufficient to ignore apostates. Their placards and signs outside the conventions were ignored for the most part. By the 90s I can recall a highly placed Bethelite telling me that "Ray Franz' book" was doing tremendous damage--this one book was causing many to go apostate. Gradually over the years more and more mention was made of apostates as well as resolutions being made at conventions pledging loyalty to the organization. Articles, apostate blogs and websites on the Internet were making the Organization look bad and the Organization knew it.

The multiple leaders of the GB were beginning to develop paranoia over this in their ranks. A new public affairs office was created under a new overseer in an attempt to control how the Organization was being perceived. As this control has diminished since that time, the focus has been on image and perception--not on "truth."

In times past "the truth" inspired confidence. Today, their illusion of truth is lost in a massive effort to survive financially and to perform damage control.

45

Lets hear what your local needs was about this week

by dbq407 in

ours started out with matt.

25:23. he brought out that "good and faithful slave" was talking about the anointed but wait for it.........yes the principle can be applied to our cong.

well tonight it was about getting all the territories worked once a year.

DNCall

When I was in the cult, every other local needs part was on improving meeting attendance. It happened so frequently that after awhile, most of our meetings were about going to meetings. Not to mention the fact that the target audience of such a discussion was not in attendance.

32

Watchtower set for its biggest pay day, ever.

by pleaseresearch in

if this is true, and we will have to wait and see.

prince could give everything to the watchtower.

so that's his $300 million fortune.

DNCall

His sister filed papers opening probate. You don't do that if there is a will.

37

San Diego abuse case: stay tuned. Zalkin's motion to be considered this Friday.

by Sugar Shane in

zalkin proposing huge sanctions if jw leadership fails to produce documents.

unredacted this time!

feds need to get involved with this.

DNCall

My guess is that the motion that will be heard Friday was filed prior to the appellate court's ruling in the Lopez case that terminating sanctions were not appropriate when lesser sanctions had not been requested. The Lopez case was remanded back to the lower court for further consideration. This may alter Mr. Zalkin's strategy when he argues his motion on Friday.

Regardless, it looks more and more as though Watchtower will have to produce the documents sought in both the Lopez and Padron cases. The more they resist, the more notoriety these cases will receive in the media.

22

GB Daniel Sydlik died ten years ago today (on April 18, 2006)

by AnneB in

jw
friends

he seemed like a decent fellow.

i miss his talks.

.

DNCall

This is the third Governing Body member I have heard this story attributed to. The others were Carey Barber and Lyman Swingle. I have interacted with all three of them and my money is on Carey Barber. I don't believe Dan or Lyman would have behaved this way and certainly not in a public setting.