For what it is worth, no pledges have been taken in our local congregation either. The loan was announced to be paid off and not a word since
dropoffyourkeylee
JoinedPosts by dropoffyourkeylee
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9
Inactive relative defends new donation setup based on word of active relative. Doubts veracity of letters!
by Wasanelder Once inmy sister came to the society's defense on the issue of "pledged amounts" not being accurate because a realative stated that it didn't happen in her congregation.
so i said they were mistaken, and that i had access to the letters proving it.
she doubted that they were authentic.
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One language in the new system
by OneEyedJoe inso at the convention, one of the talks was about how all people will speak a single language in the new system.
my ears perked up when i heard at the outset "now, we can't be dogmatic about this" because that immediately makes me think that they're backing away from a previously dogmatic stance.
he went on to say that everyone will be speaking hebrew in the new system because "evidently" (another word that gets my ears to perk up these days) that was what was spoken before the languages were confused at bable.
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dropoffyourkeylee
Funny, the one-language thing being Hebrew was taught back in the 60's and early 70's, but then they went to the 'pure language' of truth explanation. If they are going back to Hebrew it is definitely a flip-flop
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It turns out the WT leadership isn't the batsh-t craziest, there is another even worse
by dropoffyourkeylee inthe belief that the governing body must be of the anointed (little flock) has led the wt to jump through some hoops in recent years to find their leadership candidates.
the problems inherent in their beliefs:.
the number 144,000 is literal.. the anointed received their consecration before 1935 (this has had to be relaxed in the last few years).. the years have passed and most of the original anointed are dead.
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dropoffyourkeylee
The belief that the Governing Body must be of the anointed (Little Flock) has led the WT to jump through some hoops in recent years to find their leadership candidates. The problems inherent in their beliefs:
The number 144,000 is literal.
The anointed received their consecration before 1935 (this has had to be relaxed in the last few years).
The years have passed and most of the original anointed are dead.
The new GB members have become anointed (or claim to be so) many years after 1935, and however it is spun, the pool of candidates for GB membership is very small.
Much of the organizational work is done by 'helpers' to the governing body, who are of the great crowd. These were referred to as Nethinim at one time but I haven't seen the term recently.
The whole scheme stretches belief, but surpisingly hardly any of the current JW's see the conflict. It is truly ridiculous how they have backed themselves into a corner in their leadership succession. But guess what, there is another organization that is even worse! I just received a copy of 'The Bible Standard' from the LHMM (Laymen's Home Missionary Movement) which was an early spinoff from the WT. Apparently they have been going down the 'helper-Nethinim' type of reasoning since the 50's, and have different names for all the ones since then. Instead of Nethinim, their leaders have been:
Little Flock
Ancient Worthies
Great Company
Youthful Worthies
Consecrated Epiphany Campers
I guess their current leaders are the Epiphany Campers - gotta love it...
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LIVE from Ford Field international DO
by darth frosty injust wanted to show the activity in downtown detroit from the convention.
trafic is on jam!.
lots of people .
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LIVE from Ford Field international DO
by darth frosty injust wanted to show the activity in downtown detroit from the convention.
trafic is on jam!.
lots of people .
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dropoffyourkeylee
in wannabe's photos, why are so many of the bleachers empty?
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LIVE from Ford Field international DO
by darth frosty injust wanted to show the activity in downtown detroit from the convention.
trafic is on jam!.
lots of people .
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dropoffyourkeylee
So this might have been covered already,but what are the 2014 releases?
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Real reason for new arrangement
by TweetieBird ini apologize if this has already been covered, maybe someone can post the link.. what is the real reason for the society forgiving all loans for kingdom halls and just giving the money for new ones?.
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dropoffyourkeylee
I thought that the WT doesn't pay taxes at all anyway, so the 'tax-writeoff' idea would not matter. Am I wrong about that?
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Congregation rebels!
by A.proclaimer inmy congregation got a reminder today to start donating money.
elder said that after the letter on the new donation arrangement was read, the contributions for that fund went from the average (i believe it was $500 or so) to $0.
after that reminder, cash was put into those boxes.
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dropoffyourkeylee
We are all having fun ripping the WT Society for money grubbing, but it is not much different than what they have been doing the last 20 years, and in some ways better.
Before: WT's RBC says a Kingdom Hall needs upgrades (maybe it does, maybe it doesn't). The work is done by unpaid volunteers, with donated funds. The local congregation takes on a big monthly payment for years to 'pay' for it. The WT uses this as an income stream, in fact it is probably their biggest single source of income, at least in the developed countries. It was really a scam and in some ways a deception.
Now: It is all donations (maybe not exactly freely given, as there is some implied pressure). At least they are not hiding the income stream making people think they are paying for the renovations.
I still have a suspicion that there is a legal reason for what they are doing which hasn't come out yet.
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Why has the watchtower never written a commentary on the Greek scriptures?
by kneehighmiah inthey have writes hundreds of other repetitive books, but no bible commentary.
is it because an actually commentary would destroy their doctrine and prevent them from being able to cherry pick scriptures?.
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dropoffyourkeylee
I'm pretty sure Ray Franz wrote in one his books that Ed Dunlap had written the Commentary on James. Also about the same time (late 70's) it was rather common to see a Barnes' Notes on the shelves at Witness homes and and Bethel, then after the 1980 debacle the Society came out against commentaries. I would rather read any commentary than any of the WT books. There are some good ones out there.
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2014 summer conventions to have live video and audio feeds
by dropoffyourkeylee ini have heard from reliable source that this summer's conventions will feature video of various gb members as they speak and announce releases.
the regional (as opposed to the international conventions) will have numerous video monitors all around.
anyone else heard about this?.
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dropoffyourkeylee
I think they are just trying to mix things up to stir interest. The assemblies are so boring I can't imagine why anyone would want to go. It is curious, though, to watch the emphasis change about the prominence of GB members. Back in the day, the president was seen as a bit of a figurehead, even thru the Fred Franz years. But then the post-Franz GB deliberately took a stance in the background, not prominent at all. In that time you hardly knew their names. Now they are back in the limelight, and are just as deliberately making themselves like rock stars for the Witnesses.