truth_b_known

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Posts by truth_b_known

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  20

  Brothers with hearts. Where are they?

  by stillin in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  one poster here mentioned how, after he was appointed as an elder, things took on a more "corporate" feel.

  i was an ms and as such went, dutifully, to the bi-annual meetings with the co. i was sorely disappointed.

  i had imagined sort of a round-table discussion of trends and potential difficulties in the congregation, along with a coordinated effort to help people out.

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  truth_b_known

  It's a business operating under the guise of religion for the purpose of a free labor force and tax exemption. It has been that way since Rutherford. - Lieu

  This is the reality literally staring us all in the face and we never saw it. I was in from birth until my mid-thirties. It wasn't until I was out that I saw the religion known as Jehovah's Witnesses for what it really is - a business.

  Case in point - Regardless of position in the congregation or the organization, what was the term used to refer to a member? Answer = "Publisher"

  What religion refers to its members as a "publisher"? Only Jehovah's Witnesses. What is a publisher?

  pub·lish·er

  ˈpəbliSHər/Submit

  noun

  a person or company that prepares and issues books, journals, music, or other works for sale.

  "the publishers of Vogue"

  Up until the early 1990s, in the U.S. "publishers" in each congregation purchased magazines and books printed by free labor at Bethel. The monies paid went straight to the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. Then, we publishers presented these publications for sale in their public "ministry" they would sell the books and magazines to the public. The proceeds from those sales also went to the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. So, literally, each book and magazine was sold twice will all proceeds going to the WBTS.

  Then the mean old federal government must have been looking at the WTBS shiny coffers. Voluntary donations became the new business model as not to lose the religious tax exemption. The problems is that this lead to the bleeding of money. Publishers were not voluntarily contributing the suggested amount for books and magazines. Publishers were not asking the public to donate when offering the books and magazines.

  As a result, hardcovers for books were replaced by paperback. Magazines were printed less frequently and eventually shrank in the number of pages. Even after these drastic changes the WTBS continued to bleed money.

  A major changes in their business plan had to change and did it ever. Their new scheme - Real estate.
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  3

  WTBTS aka WTPA

  by neat blue dog in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  we're all used to calling the watch tower bible and tract society of pennsylvania by the abbreviations wtbts or wts, but in a recent jwdotorg article, they consistently refer to the original pennsylvania corporation as wtpa.. https://www.jw.org/en/news/releases/by-region/russia/jehovahs-witnesses-seizure-of-property-appeal-case/.

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  truth_b_known

  There are two Watchtower corporations. The Pennsylvania based corporation is their headquarters for legal issues.
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  20

  ...'special'.. televised talk today.

  by zeb in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  29th april.. anyone have a lead on the ..'special'.. talk that my wife et al has to travel miles to hear/see?

  just so i can be advised.. thanks..

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  truth_b_known

  I always found that these "Special Talks" and announcements got people worked up only to be a whole bunch of nothing. Remember in the U.S. back in the early 90s there was a special letter to be read at the end of the Sunday meet? Everyone thought it was going to be earth shattering. People expected it to read: "The Great Tribulation has started!" It was just a change in business operations - no more charging for literature because we don't want to pay taxes.
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  226

  Wealth, Poverty, and Morality

  by SecondRateMind in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am interested in the approach this forum takes to money.

  apart from sex, (which i am quite relaxed about) it seems to me that wealth is the surest divider between those who are moral, and those who are not.. it seems jesus thought so, also.

  luke 16:19-31 kjv describes well enough his dusty attitude to the rich who do not succour the poor.. and this world has many poor: so many, it might seem that we can do nothing about it, and twist his words; 'the poor ye shall have always with you, but me, ye shall not have always.

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  truth_b_known

  ...just, fair, equitable...

  Just - from the word "Justice".

  Fair

  Equitable

  These three words are all synonyms of one another.

  Definition of fair

  1 a : marked by impartiality and honesty : free from self-interest, prejudice, or favoritism a very fair person to do business with

  b (1) : conforming with the established rules : allowed (2) : consonant with merit or importance : "due a fair share"

  c : open to legitimate pursuit, attack, or ridicule - "fair game"

  As a father of 2 boys I have often heard the word "fair" thrown around by my children. If my oldest son goes out to the ice cream truck and purchases a snow cone with his money he earned from doing chores I promise you my youngest son will scream "That's not fair! He gets something from the ice cream truck and I don't."

  That's when I ask -

  Did I buy your brother ice cream and you none or did your brother buy ice cream with his own money he earned?

  Reply - He bought it with his own money.

  That immediately defuses the situation. I also follow with this statement -

  "By the way, the 'fair' in life is found downtown in the fall. You can find it by looking for the giant Ferris Wheel."

  There have always been people with more money than me. This whole "1%" vs "99%" is nothing more than a tiresome attempt to divide people and it fails miserably. To make wealth you have to work. The greater the wealth, the more work.

  Giant, multi-billion dollar corporations were started be people who hustled, had drive, had vision, came up with a plan, raised capital, and then did the hardest thing of all - stayed relevant. If Steve Jobs stopped at making the Apple IIe do you think he would have created one of the most wealthy businesses in the world? If Bill Gates stopped with writing BASIC for the Altair 8800 personal computer would Microsoft be the financial powerhouse it is today?

  Envy drives the whole 1% vs 99%. Envy is not jealousy. Jealousy is 2 or more people who work hard for something and one or more does not receive the reward. Envy is when a person sees someone else able to do something or earn something that they cannot or did not. This makes the person feel inadequate. As a result, they take on the attitude "If I can't have it, no one can." This self loathing is highly destructive.

  Remember when Jesus said to take care of the sick, staring, and poor by petitioning your government to send soldiers to those who have wealth, take that wealth, and give it to those who do not (i.e. taxation and redistribution)? Me neither.

  Keep in mind that Christianity was started by the Roman Empire to pacify the increasing number of impoverished nations they had conquered.

  Also keep in mind that Utopian worlds will never exist due to human nature.
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  24

  Mother is terrified over talks of peace.

  by Searching in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  just spoke with my mother about the summit for north and south korea, her face turned a ghastly pale and she refused to talk to me about it afterwards.

  i know exactly what is on her mind, and i'm not sure if i can say or do anything to assuage her fears about this being a fulfillment of prophecy.

  any suggestions on what i could perhaps tell her to try and steer her from her line of thinking?

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  truth_b_known

  I agree with Pale.Emporer and the meme Sanchy posted. Anything that happens seems to mean the end is near for Jehovah's Witnesses. It's like a form of paranoia. They see boogymen in the shadows and use their delusions to try and prove their beliefs.

  I remember a few years ago and older couple came to my door. They brought up how the "world is getting worse" as time progresses. I kindly shared with them this is just not so. I brought up that violent crime is going down and people are living longer. They wind was just sucked out of their sails. They seemed lost and weren't sure what to say next.

  The world has to be a horrible place for Jehovah's Witnesses so it can re-enforce their beliefs. Facts contrary to this make them panic.
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  29

  What’s your opinion—-Wearing a Trump Hat ok to get kicked out of bar?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  maga hat...make america great again .

  guy wears it in nyc bar and gets thrown out.

  manhattan court throws out the case citing that since its not religious discrimination, it’s the bar’s right.. what so you think about this?

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  truth_b_known

  I believe in private property and private property owner rights. If you want to refuse service or tell someone to leave your business for any reason you it is your right in a free nation.
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  20

  Action Music (in movies) in the past VS the present

  by TerryWalstrom in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  understanding action musicin the past vs the present______.

  in the golden and silver ages of hollywood, composers with classical, romantic era training created action music out of thematic (tuneful) motifs.

  these catchy 'tunes' were used as 'bricks' whilst the orchestral techniques of arranging and orchestration were the 'mortar' binding and building the overall structure towering above mere image+sound effects.the result gave an audience something i will call "an intellectual access" to onscreen "meaning" in the story.what's that?a "tune" is an organizing principle.a tune has a beginning, middle, and end.a tune "tells" us something.what remains is "the way it is spoken.

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  truth_b_known

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XDB7GMnbUQ
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  49

  "You owe Jehovah humility and HONESTY" - an email from a JW

  by Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  hey forum goers.

  i'd like your opinions on constructing an email reply to this shocker below.

  bit of background about the sender: she is a middle-aged, cheery uberdub whose siblings left when a schism occured in her congregation in canada way back when.

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  truth_b_known

  1 Thess 5:21 comes to mind. However, the NWT has really watered it down with an expected poor translation.
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  20

  Action Music (in movies) in the past VS the present

  by TerryWalstrom in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  understanding action musicin the past vs the present______.

  in the golden and silver ages of hollywood, composers with classical, romantic era training created action music out of thematic (tuneful) motifs.

  these catchy 'tunes' were used as 'bricks' whilst the orchestral techniques of arranging and orchestration were the 'mortar' binding and building the overall structure towering above mere image+sound effects.the result gave an audience something i will call "an intellectual access" to onscreen "meaning" in the story.what's that?a "tune" is an organizing principle.a tune has a beginning, middle, and end.a tune "tells" us something.what remains is "the way it is spoken.

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  truth_b_known

  "Big Time Action Music" is the name of the Captain Kirk fight music from the original Star Trek. I always imagine that music during a fist fight.
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  23

  Are You Proud of Your Country?

  by snugglebunny in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  some people are of the opinion that it doesn't make any sense to be proud of one's nationality because we had nothing to do with where we were born.

  the decision wasn't ours.

  they opine that it's ludicrous to be proud of our countries' prior achievements if we had no part in those achievements because we weren't even around then.

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  truth_b_known

  I have a sense of pride in my country. There are so many beautiful nations with wonderful cultures and lifestyles. There are some that are not so much. I don't hold that against them unless they had a choice in the matter.

  I do not appreciate when my own countrymen put our nation down. Especially for things that happened in the past. You cannot judge the past by today's standards.

  If persons from other nations put my country down it doesn't bother me so much. Haters are going to hate.