Is this special pioneer/fake bond story legit? This was before my time. Are there more details?
Londo111
JoinedPosts by Londo111
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36
Very dark and confusing info...
by sp74bb insome internal sources in jw.org has brought me attention to the following data:.
- in which european country, not member of the eu, and well known for their banking industry, jw.org and some affiliated structures do maintain some business incorporated structures and companies?.
- which is the purpose of these business and company structures?.
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Musicians Who Died in the Last Year - or Through the Years- Who Do you Miss Most ?
by flipper ini think for me in the last year the death of david bowie got to me the most.
not only in the way he handled his demise so classy by even making a song about it and a you tube about dying and sharing it with fans, but just his whole persona i always thought was pretty cool.
plus i enjoyed a good many of his songs.
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Need Suggestions/examples: Guide to helping family & friends break free
by LisaRose ini was going through my copy of steve hassan's combating cult mind control and it occurred to me that it would be great to have something like this specifically for us ex jehovah's witnesses.
while this is a great book, the examples he uses are mostly from people that were moonies, as steve is a former moonie and many people that have contacted him for help were relatives of moonies.
while cults all work basically the same, it would be nice to be have some ideas on things that are specific to jehovah's witnesses.
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Londo111
Most of his suggestions are oriented to non-cult family talking to a first generation recruit.
The job of those of us who are second, third, fourth generation cult members waking up and trying to help our family and friends is very exponentially difficult.
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Why isn't the Boston Globe doing a better job?
by Londo111 inhttps://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/regionals/north/2016/06/29/who-are-jehovah-witnesses-who-live-among/z39a6dvdcp5lvufo7y7ozo/story.html.
why isn't the boston globe doing a better job covering this group?.
after all, the movie spotlight won an oscar about this paper and their groundbreaking journalism into the catholic church covering child abuse.
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Londo111
"Baptism is a choice Witnesses make — as adults" -> didn't they any the preteens getting dunked on Saturday? I guess they didn't stick around to find out.
To be sure, there are enough clues for a discerning reader to realize it's a doomsday cult and mind control is at work on its adherents. The ant metaphor is very apt--a hive mind.
The ending line about the bird is strange and yet feels like a subtle hint. Fly away to freedom! I'm not sure that was the intention of the writer or not.
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Why isn't the Boston Globe doing a better job?
by Londo111 inhttps://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/regionals/north/2016/06/29/who-are-jehovah-witnesses-who-live-among/z39a6dvdcp5lvufo7y7ozo/story.html.
why isn't the boston globe doing a better job covering this group?.
after all, the movie spotlight won an oscar about this paper and their groundbreaking journalism into the catholic church covering child abuse.
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Londo111
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/regionals/north/2016/06/29/who-are-jehovah-witnesses-who-live-among/z39a6dVdCp5lvUfo7y7oZO/story.html
Why isn't the Boston Globe doing a better job covering this group?
After all, the movie Spotlight won an Oscar about this paper and their groundbreaking journalism into the Catholic church covering child abuse. I'm sure there would be a pulitzer if they put a "spotlight" on Watchtower doing the same thing. Have they not heard of the Australian Royal Commission?
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“You need to hold the cover up. Fit the tube to the frame,” Chuck Ramsay says calmly, even though the plastic swimming pool that he and five other men are holding is about to collapse. “Three on each end. Shawn and I stay here, and you come to this side.”
One worker joins Ramsay. The others stay put. Then six pairs of hands — black, white, black, white, black, white — steady the 8 by 16 foot tub that will become a baptismal pool.
It’s Thursday morning at the Tsongas Center in Lowell, the day before a Jehovah’s Witnesses convention. “Remain Loyal to Jehovah” was held in May and June and will be repeated twice more this month inside the 6,400-seat stadium, where musicians as diverse as Bob Dylan and Megadeth have played and UMass Lowell fans routinely sit on the edges of their seats screaming blue murder.
But over the next three days, almost 4,000 Witnesses will converge in the arena, a tossed salad of humanity. Men, women, and children, old, young, and in between, white, brown, and black, spiritual siblings, Brothers and Sisters.
Witnesses are neighbors, classmates, and colleagues at work. They’re celebrities like the late musician Prince, and the graphic designers, cabinet makers, and health care workers who live among us.
All of the workers on Ramsay’s Thursday crew are volunteers, part of a group of roughly 200 who have traveled from Natick, Foxborough, Holbrook, Newton, Auburn, and Norwood — and from Rhode Island and southern New Hampshire — to prepare the arena for the weekend convention.
In the course of a day, they will demonstrate their faith with actions that speak louder than words. Every disinfected chair, every speck of gum scraped off the floor, and every dustpan full of dirt will become a metaphor for what brings them here.
Ramsay, 63, is an elder in his Woonsocket, R.I., congregation. His mother was baptized in 1955 in a pond in Worcester; his children and grandchildren were born into the faith.
“We all work together, following directions,” he says of the convention preparation.
The bleachers are empty, the stage is a construction site, and the volunteers, who tomorrow will be dressed to the nines, wear neon-bright T-shirts, reflective safety vests, and white hard hats.
“This will be a Kingdom Hall for us for the next few days,” says Dean Johnson, an elder in the Lowell Highlands Congregation. “We want it to be neat and clean.”
Talks, videos, and dramas presented during the three-day event will provide spiritual encouragement and practical information, helping people to stay the course in their everyday lives.
The religion dates back to the early 1870s, when it was organized by Charles Taze Russell, who grew up in a Presbyterian family in Pittsburgh. He became fascinated with Adventist ideas and started Bible study groups and a religious publishing company. In 1884, according to a report by the BBC, the group was incorporated with Russell as president and followers called Bible Students. By the 1890s, the faith had spread to Europe. It became the Jehovah’s Witnesses in 1931.
They worship in Kingdom Halls, not churches. They don’t pay dues or tithe. And there are no clergy, only elders, older men in the various congregations who serve as spiritual guides.
Theirs is the kingdom to come, a government in heaven, a real political body they believe will replace human governments. They don’t vote or serve in the military; they don’t celebrate birthdays, Halloween, or Christmas because they’re not in the Bible; and because they believe that all Christians are teachers and preachers, every few weeks they go door to door, distributing tracts and spreading the word.
“If your neighbor’s home was on fire and you didn’t tell them, what kind of a neighbor would you be?” says Johnson, explaining what motivates Witnesses to keep returning to people’s homes no matter how often they are turned away.
On Thursday morning, before the work begins, the volunteers gather to pray. From the balcony, they are specks of color, points of light, energy about to be unharnessed.
And then, they awake, scurrying to their assignments.
“Like ants at a picnic,” somebody says.
On the stage, men are hoisting screens and looping cables. Nearby, several women, as attentive as homemakers readying a table for guests, double-check their inventory. “We work together. We all have jobs,” says Jason Pelletier Sr., an elder in his Manchester, N.H., congregation. “We took time off from work to be here. We want to be here.”
On Friday morning, the arena is a different place. Video screens hang like chandeliers over the stage. The chairs are spotless. The floors gleam. And thousands of Jehovah’s Witnesses fill the bleachers that rise toward the roof.
But it’s not just the stadium that’s been transformed.
The men have traded their work pants and T-shirts for suits and silk neckties. The women wear colorful dresses, high heels, and makeup. The children, scrubbed to squeaky cleanliness, sport their Sunday best.
A speaker appearing in a video, visible from every seat in the house, thunders a passage from Exodus. Witnesses follow on tablets, smartphones, and Bibles held on laps. A teenage boy is texting. A woman with a walker shuffles to a folding seat in a section marked “Elderly.”
And overhead, a tiny bird flits across the hall and disappears.
What makes Jehovah’s Witnesses different from other Christians?
Jehovah’s Witnesses follow the model of “first-century” Christians, subscribing to Bible principles in the old and new Testaments that guide every aspect of their lives. They believe that God’s kingdom is coming soon and will bring peace on earth. They don’t vote or serve in the military. They don’t celebrate birthdays, Halloween, or Christmas, finding no evidence of these observances in the Bible.
What is the meaning of baptism?
Baptism is a choice Witnesses make — as adults — to dedicate their lives to God. According to the faith, spiritual protection is granted to those who “live in harmony” with their dedication.
How many are there in the world? How many in the United States?
There are 8.2 million worldwide, 118,016 congregations, and 9.7 million free home Bible courses being conducted. There are 1.2 million in the US.
Why do they go door-to-door distributing religious tracts and talking about God’s kingdom?
Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that all Christians are teachers and preachers and are following the example of early Christians who went house to house to share their faith.
What are their core beliefs?
Witnesses view the old and new Testaments as “God’s inspired message to humans.” But they don’t take every word literally. Instead they believe that parts of the Bible are written in “figurative or symbolic language.” Witnesses follow the teachings and example of Jesus Christ and honor him as their savior and the son of God. But they believe that Jesus is not God and that there is no scriptural basis for the trinity doctrine. When Witnesses talk of “The Kingdom of God,” they are referring to “a real government in heaven, not a condition” in the hearts of Christians.” They believe that the kingdom will replace human governments very soon.
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Newspaper article on Conventions—why so glowing?
by Londo111 inevery year in dozens of cities where conventions are being held, newspapers typically write an article about the event.
there are exceptions, but usually it is like the articles above.
i would love to see more newspaper articles that did some actual objective reporting, rather than puff pieces.
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Londo111
http://swtimes.com/news/return-jehovahs-witness-convention-spells-big-bucks-fort-smith
I really suspect that money talks and economic self interest keeps newspapers from reporting anything remotely not glowing...
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All downloads no longer hosted on jw.org
by neat blue dog inwhether it's videos on jw broadcasting or pdfs on jw.org, all downloads used to be archived in-house at "assets.jw.org/" followed by the items name/code.
now clicking a download link retrieves the items from akamai.net, a web services company..
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Londo111
Videos are the new Watchtower and Awake and even printing those are being outsourced, so it is a logical cost cutting step.
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Expanding number of DC/RC's
by DwainBowman inaccording to my elder in law, by next year the number of dc/rc's will increase by 143. the size of conventions will get smaller.
the elder in law says the goal is to make them all have around 2,000 or so at each.
they are going to make more manuals detailing each job and it's responsibilities.
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Londo111
The special assembly day went down to 0 days.
The circuit assembly went down to 1 day.
It's not impossible to believe that eventually the convention will be 2 days.
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My Issue With the Kingdom Melodies
by humblepotato inthe organization really has some talented people in it.
seriously talented.
artists, musicians, animators, and any other creative venue you can think of.
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Londo111
The music is emblematic of what the organization does to many other areas of life: it sucks the life, the joy, the heart out of everything.
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Today's Text - Remember & Help Full-Time Servants!
by Divergent intuesday, june 28. we continually remember your faithful work, your loving labor.—1 thess.
1:3.. full-time servants have significant responsibilities in the most important work the world has ever known.
(matt.
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Londo111
"Certainly if anyone does not provide for those who are his own, and especially for those who are members of his household, he has disowned the faith and is worse than a person without faith."--1 Tim 5:8