Room 215

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Posts by Room 215

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  13

  Sept. KM: WT Sanctifies Fiscal Irresponsibility

  by Room 215 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ``because the world scene is always changing, a family head may be inclined to spend an excessive amount of time on the job, with a view to building up his financial reserves for unforeseen crises.''.

  do they seriously endorse living from paycheck to paycheck as spiritually meritorious, a responsible mode of living for heads of families with mortgage/rent payments, child support, health insurance, car payments, utility bills, a food budget, etc.

  all this after they ``stack the deck'' against self-sufficiency and independence for the average jw famnily head by discouraging university education or other forms of specialized education so vital in today's complex economy.. that's why so many, even while professing loyalty and submission to the fds quietly come to terms on their own.

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  Room 215

  Hi again all,
  I remember how the friends used to snicker when the subject of life insurance was raised. In fact, I rememebr on student talk at a Circuit Assembly for which the chosen setting was ``witnessing to an insurance salesman.'' Basically, the msg was that ``we don't need your product, since we plan to live forever.''
  It wasn't too long ago that the friends look askance at JW couples who bought houses rather than mobile homes or paid rent.
  Ah the scene of the (Watchtower) world is changing indeed. These viewpoints have gone the way of the AAA groupies (old-timers remember the young ladies who would proudly emblazon AAA --``Available After Armageddon'') on their convention badges. What's next? JW baby boomers buying burial plots? Horrors!
  I pity anyone who takes Brooklyn's advice seriously.
• 
  29

  The Retractable Dangling Carrot

  by TMS in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  some scattered thoughts about the granting or denial of privileges of service as a control mechanism:.

  this method of persuasion involving reward or punishment is so deeply ingrained in watchtower function, it is second nature.

  although sometimes subtle, sometimes blatant, everyone from new bible study to traveling overseer is subconsciously aware of the possible limiting of his official opportunities to serve god and his brothers.. .

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  Room 215

  Yeah,
  They used to call this ``getting the shaft'' at Bethel. The one effective antidote is to stop caring about their approbation. As with Huck Finn and Tom, such privileges are akin to whitewashing the fence anyway.
• 
  29

  The Retractable Dangling Carrot

  by TMS in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  some scattered thoughts about the granting or denial of privileges of service as a control mechanism:.

  this method of persuasion involving reward or punishment is so deeply ingrained in watchtower function, it is second nature.

  although sometimes subtle, sometimes blatant, everyone from new bible study to traveling overseer is subconsciously aware of the possible limiting of his official opportunities to serve god and his brothers.. .

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  Room 215

  Yeah,
  Thye used to call this ``getting the shaft'' at Bethel. The one effective antidote is to stop caring about their approbation. As with Huck Finn and Tom, such privileges are akin to whitewashing the fence anyway.
• 
  36

  10/1 WT: Creative days = 7,000 years

  by Seeker in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the fourth paragraph on page 30 in the october 1, 2001 wt says this:.

  "getting back to paul's statement in hebrews, we note that he pointed out that "there remains a sabbath resting for the peoples of god," and he urged his fellow christians to do their utmost "to enter into that rest.

  " this shows that when paul wrote those words, "the seventh day" of god's rest, which had started some 4,000 years earlier, was still in progress.

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  Room 215

  Hi all,
  Heretofore, it appeared that sometime after the 1975 debacle, the WT writers dropped all references to a 7,000-year cretive day, apparently because the non-eventuation of the Big A anywhere near 1975 discredited the concept.
  It's remarkable how they can count on the quiescence of the rank-and-file not to protest or ask too many embarassing questions even whey the FDS suddenly distances itself from what had been a cornerstone teaching in its chronology. ``Just stop mentioning it and the friends will forget it,'' seems to have been the thinking.
  And they don't have contempt for your intelligence, right?
• 
  13

  Sept. KM: WT Sanctifies Fiscal Irresponsibility

  by Room 215 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ``because the world scene is always changing, a family head may be inclined to spend an excessive amount of time on the job, with a view to building up his financial reserves for unforeseen crises.''.

  do they seriously endorse living from paycheck to paycheck as spiritually meritorious, a responsible mode of living for heads of families with mortgage/rent payments, child support, health insurance, car payments, utility bills, a food budget, etc.

  all this after they ``stack the deck'' against self-sufficiency and independence for the average jw famnily head by discouraging university education or other forms of specialized education so vital in today's complex economy.. that's why so many, even while professing loyalty and submission to the fds quietly come to terms on their own.

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  Room 215

  Chester, MacHislopp, Farkel, Expat et al,
  So of course they now, already laden wth cash, beg for resources from the very sources that got the back of their hand, i.e. the JWs who had he temerity to disdain the social pressure and went ahead with their prudent instincts, invested in the debt and equity markets, both insurance policies and opened personal reiterment accounts.
  But they needn't worry too much about the state of their finances: With all the flagwaving and imminence of military action, prospects look bright for their big Rand Corp. investment.
  I know for a fact they spend about $20,000 a year from a Bloomberg terminal, a state-of-the art news, financial analytics and investment monitoring tool; they didn't subscribe just to check on last night's baseball scores.
• 
  13

  Sept. KM: WT Sanctifies Fiscal Irresponsibility

  by Room 215 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ``because the world scene is always changing, a family head may be inclined to spend an excessive amount of time on the job, with a view to building up his financial reserves for unforeseen crises.''.

  do they seriously endorse living from paycheck to paycheck as spiritually meritorious, a responsible mode of living for heads of families with mortgage/rent payments, child support, health insurance, car payments, utility bills, a food budget, etc.

  all this after they ``stack the deck'' against self-sufficiency and independence for the average jw famnily head by discouraging university education or other forms of specialized education so vital in today's complex economy.. that's why so many, even while professing loyalty and submission to the fds quietly come to terms on their own.

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• 

  Room 215

  ``Because the world scene is always changing, a family head may be inclined to spend an excessive amount of time on the job, with a view to building up his financial reserves for unforeseen crises.''
  Just mind-boggling. Do they seriously endorse living from paycheck to paycheck as spiritually meritorious, a responsible mode of living for heads of families with mortgage/rent payments, child support, health insurance, car payments, utility bills, a food budget, etc. etc.?
  All this after they ``stack the deck'' against self-sufficiency and independence for the average JW famnily head by discouraging university education or other forms of specialized education so vital in today's complex economy.
  That's why so many, even while professing loyalty and submission to the FDS quietly come to terms on their own. No wonder why so many others, who naively and conscientiously follow this warped advice to the letter find themselves stresed out, in deep doo-doo financially and hoping against hope that an early Armageddon with rescue them from indigence.
  And you still think they have your best interests at heart?
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  31

  WTS involvement with politics/UN exaggerated?

  by troubled in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've seen the threads on the wts' involvement with cesnur, swaggert, and the un.

  since then, i've done additional research on the internet, including accessing the un's webiste and searching for "watchtower" and "jehovah's witnesses.

  " and i am concerned that many of the posts on this website grossly overexaggerate the degree of the wts's involvement and its purpose.. in my internet research, the only connection i have seen between the wts and cesnur or the un is in situations on the world scene threaten their right to religious freedom.

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  Room 215

  Dear ``Troubled''
  Then why are you ``troubled?'' Apparently in your view the WTS remains above reproach in all these matters. Whether they are above reproach or not is a matter for debate (to my mind, they're reprehensible on every count, not necessarily for the actions themselves, but for what they've said about ``Babylon the Great and the UN).
  Just how keen do you think they are to have these matters brought out into the open, especially since they attributed the decision to change to a voluntary donation basis to ``our desire to separate oursleves from those who would commercialize religion?''
  Remember, these are the same people who df memebers who swim in a YMCA pool or who cut the grass at a local church as a salaried employee of a landscaper with a contract. They won't even allow the brothers to list the times and places of meetings in local yellow pages or in the newspapers under ``religious services.'' (I remember how annoying this was when I was a frequent business traveler and sought to attend a meeting).
  An an affiliation, no matter how oblique, with ``the Scarlet-Colored Wild Beast'' that stand in a ``Holy Place?"
  No big deal, right? How naive are you?
  It seems nothing they do can shake the uncritical veneration of the masses.
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  46

  Jay Dubs right about 1914

  by FrightMare in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  please study this chart very, very carefully: http://www.sru.edu/depts/artsci/ges/d-3-2.htm.

  why has such an unprecedented boom in population and technology occurred during the specific time the bible points to the 'last days', 1914?

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  Room 215

  Frightmare,
  Sleep easy... the ``explosion'' of population you refer to for the 20th century (about 1.5 billion on earth in 1900 vs 6 billion today) following centuries of relative stagnation, is the most cogent demographic argument AGAINST the notion of an unprecedented rise in famines, wars and natural disasters.
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  46

  Jay Dubs right about 1914

  by FrightMare in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  please study this chart very, very carefully: http://www.sru.edu/depts/artsci/ges/d-3-2.htm.

  why has such an unprecedented boom in population and technology occurred during the specific time the bible points to the 'last days', 1914?

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  3. 
• 

  Room 215

  Frightmare,
  Sleep easy... the ``explosion'' of population you refer to for the 20th century (about 1.5 billion on earth in 1900 vs 6 billion today) following centuries of relative stagnation, is the most cogent demographic argument AGAINST the notion of an unprecedented rise in famines, wars and natural disasters.
• 
  7

  Anton Uran's final letter 23.2.1943

  by TheOldHippie in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  (my translation from german): .

  "dear parents!.

  i have been notified that the verdict i have received, has been approved by the court and that i will be beheaded this evening at 6:30 pm.

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  Room 215

  Nobody can fail to admire the courage and integrity of many, if not most, JWs in Hitler's Germany. My problems with the Society's incessant trumpeting of their impressive record are as follows:
  (1) The appropriation of their praiseworthy conduct for propagandistic purposes by a leadership who seek to supress disclosure of their own cowardly conduct; i.e. attempts to appease Hitler by scapegoating the Jews and vilifying the western democracies whose enlightened system of justice affirmed and protected JWs freedom of worship.
  (2) Their incessant, obsessive recourse to the past (invariably sanitised and idealised in the WT) as validation of their credentials; it seems today that JWs are preaching themselves more than the Gospel.
  (3) Fostering the impression created in their handing of such material that somehow JWs have a monopoly on Christian martyrdom.
  Then in Germany as now, we note a huge dichotomy between the sincere, often praiseworthy record of the rank and file, and the contemptible, ofen unprincipled behavior of the leadership.