The first year we celebrated Christmas (1988) I put up a few lights. We only made the decision to celebrate about a week after Thanksgiving, so we didn't have a lot of prep time. The second year I had something like 2500 lights on the house.
Posts by JeffT
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11Christmas lights
by Gorbatchov inthis night i installed christmas lights in the trees in the front garden of our house.. we all like it, the children like it, so this is the first year we have this lightning.
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hope the elders will like it too ;-).
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2008 Watchtower Income Tax Return
by objectivetruth ini found this, and did not see it posted previously.. thought i'd post it, in case it's of use to anyone.. http://irs990.charityblossom.org/990t/200908/111753577.pdf.
according to this all assets in 2008 were valued at $400,000,000.
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JeffT
This isn't an income tax form. Well it is, but it is not THE income tax form. This is the IRS description of this form:
"Because tax-exempt organizations generally operate for charitable or other beneficial purposes, most income that they receive is exempt from tax under the Internal Revenue Code. Tax-exempt organizations are permitted to engage in income-producing activities that are considered to be unrelated to their exempt purposes. However, income from these activities may be taxable. This study measures income, deductions, and tax imposed on tax-exempt corporate and trust entities' unrelated business income. Data are compiled from Form 990-T, Exempt Organization Business Income Tax Return."
In this case its for some kind of Limited Partnership of which the WTBS has an interest. I can't find out much about "Provictor Property Fund" I think it is probably a Real Estate Investment Trust. The 400 million dollars is probably the total value of the trust, of which the WTBS owns some percentage. I suspect that there are lots of these forms floating around somewhere. The Watchtower is smart enough to be doing something with its money.
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JeffT
How would you know what lawyers are trained to look for?
Probably watching TV lawyers. I gave up watching "How to Get Away with Murder" because I could not suspend enough disbelief long enough to get through an episode. Apparently the writers have never heard of discovery, and the ethical violations would get everybody involved disbarred.
Band, I agree with your prescription for the WTBS. If the instructions to the elders were "if you hear about abuse, turn it over to the police immediately," and they did background checks on anybody that was going to be around some one else's kids, their legal problems would largely or entirely go away.
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With the WT open door policy, is it possible to protect itself against predators.
by Quarterback ini would love to see an organization free of exposure of sexual predators.
the globe is full of them.
some states feature alerts on the map to inform families how close a predator lives to them.
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JeffT
The state of Washington requires that volunteers at school agree to a background check. It would not be at all out of line for the congregations to run background checks on everybody going in field service, working around the Hall etc. It wouldn't catch everybody, but at least they'd know who had a rap sheet. The last church I attended also ran background checks on volunteers.
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Honduras bus crash leaves 14 dead and 55 injured - JW
by TheTruthBR inhonduras bus crash leaves 14 dead and 55 injuredbus veered off road and crashed into ravine.
by ruth doherty, nov 1, 2014. updated: november 1, 2014 8:10 am.
afp/getty images.
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JeffT
Sad news - no one deserves to die in such circumstances whether their bus is on the way to an assembly or a soccer match, what difference does it make why they were on the bus?
Simon, on one level you are right, it doesn't make any difference. And when the WTBS starts printing stories about how a bunch of faithful Witnesses made it to a soccer match safely, it won't.
It is a tragedy. It would be interesting to know how qualified the bus driver was.
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I'm doing NaNoWriMo again this year.
by JeffT inunlike most nano's i'm going to try to finish a novel instead of starting it, but the basic goal - writing 50,000 words in 30 days - remains the same.
i have about half of a science fiction/military action novel i've been fooling around with for about a year.
i'm going to finish the thing and try hard to get something published.
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JeffT
@ Hey There
Buddy me if you want. Jeff Thomas, the title of the book is "With Our Backs to the Wall." I'm going to put an introduction in the sci fi section some time today.
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I'm doing NaNoWriMo again this year.
by JeffT inunlike most nano's i'm going to try to finish a novel instead of starting it, but the basic goal - writing 50,000 words in 30 days - remains the same.
i have about half of a science fiction/military action novel i've been fooling around with for about a year.
i'm going to finish the thing and try hard to get something published.
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JeffT
Unlike most Nano's I'm going to try to finish a novel instead of starting it, but the basic goal - writing 50,000 words in 30 days - remains the same. I have about half of a science fiction/military action novel I've been fooling around with for about a year. I'm going to finish the thing and try hard to get something published.
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44
Find What Your Social Status Was in the Congregation
by Mary inever notice how the "happiest people on earth" are also the most class-oriented?
the social structure in the congregation is more complex than the blueprints of a nuclear warhead, but just so that you "remember your place", see if you can find where your niche was/is:.
1. at the top of the social order of things within the congregation is of course, the presiding overseer and his family.
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JeffT
8 here.
There were also some elders who were entirely sincere and who cared a great deal for the r&f who were struggling. They stood up to oppressive elders and tried to comfort and encourage others. Their constant message was to appreciate whatever others could manage, however small and to not judge other's decisions and choices.
The elder that officiated our wedding was like this. After a few years he couldn't take it anymore and quit being an elder. He got talked into being an elder and then quit again. I have no idea where he is now. Straight up guys either can't be straight up guys anymore, or they can't be elders.
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JW Net documentary
by snare&racket ini would like to make a documentary with help from the same technology that got me free of watchtower, namely the internet.
also via the same people that helped me leave, namely...you lot!.
i want to make the documentary that jw's find when they google jw.org.
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JeffT
I'm interested. I don't need to disguise voice, face or even my name. I think I have a headset and microphone around here somewhere.
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58
new assembly experience... what do you reckon to this one?
by purrpurr inok so aparently there was this young girl who wanted to study with the jw's because she loved the bible so much.
she asked her fathers permission but he refused, after much nagging though he said she could have a study if she was prepared to have one of her fingers chopped off.
he thought the is would stop her but she was willing so he got a knife and cut off one of her fingers... a little while later she wanted to attend the meetings and he said no and again when nagged said she could attend meetings if she had another finger chopped off so she agreed and he chopped off a second finger.
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JeffT
If I was her father I would have told her to just get a lobotomy and be done with it.
This story is obviously BS.