Posts by StarTrekAngel

26

THE CULT STRIKES AGAIN!!!

by DATA-DOG in

it's amazing what you perceive, once you know ttatt.

today's wt mind-control session was an amazing example of cult mind control techniques in action!!

the program was about hearing jeehoobies voice!

Reading the Watchtower and Awake! is like getting a college education!

by kairos in

anybody remember hearing this?.

--.

is that comment in print anywhere?.

“I quit school in the 9th grade about twenty-five years ago. I have had no secular schooling since then. I should have, by all rights, stagnated mentally. Due to economic circumstances—I had to go to work full time to support my family—I found it necessary to go back to school for a high school diploma.

If he had so much education from WT, why did he need to go back to school?

27

WT Study 26th Oct. '14

by BluesBrother in

i could find another thread so i thought i might add a few comments here - not a full critique though.

"hear jehovah's voice wherever you are".

http://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/w20140815/hear-jehovahs-voice/.

StarTrekAngel

So just remember when bro So and So speaks from the platform, it is not him, but God who is speaking !...........

The funny part of BluesBrother view on this, is that at our meeting, last Sunday, the public talk was about idolatry. The brother went on to repeat something I had not heard in a while. That hanging a poster of your favorite sports player or singer is idolatry. A sister (an annointed one) later commented on par 16 the very same thing that is portrayed here.. She said, I did not know doing so would be idolatry, but now that the brother mentioned I have come to understand.

:/

22

Jehovanomics RULE #3: Money Laundering Through Kingdom Hall Build-Out and Maintenance.

by Jehovanomics in

it's big business laundering money through construction and improvements of a kingdom hall.

it's steady cash flow laundering money to maintain a kingdom hall.

donated labor from members is icing on the cake.

StarTrekAngel

Finkeistein,

They know, it is announced in every assembly. Did you not get a financial statement when attended the assemblies? You built the place with your money and then, every time there is an assembly, you will be told how much it has costed so far. When an assembly is made at a third party venue, this is undertandable. When it is made at the Assembly Hall of JWs, then it is not so understandable. Speacially when the "Rent" for the hall happens to be 5 times higher than that of a third party place.

The same happens to KH and regular congregations. You build the hall with donated funds, the same people who dontated the money to make the construction loan, also pay for the loan. It used to be a regular loan with interest, it is now a perpetual payment to the society, who now own the hall. This is no different than the way banks work. You deposit your money, they make loans with your own money (provided the fractional banking system lends money that is printed out of your own), you pay for the loan made out of your own money and they take the difference. It is such a incidious and evil financial system that many, including religions, have a attempted to create one of its own, on their own way but similar in nature.

We recently remodeled our hall. I rememeber when I fisrt began attending, I use to think of how great deal of transparency there was. Then I began to find out the details on how it happens. It turns out we payed over $800 a month for the loan, for a hall that was built with used parts from another one, like the light fixtures and bathroom amenities. After that, when we were a couple of years away from paying it off, we expanded it. We remodeled it at the end of 2013. We changed the carpets, sounds system, added cameras, painted and re worked the outside trimiming. Changed out all the bathroom fixtures (toilets tubs, etc) relocated the platform (not sure why) and that is about it. The most expensive part was expanding the parking lot, to fit another 8 spaces. I also found out thru some brothers that as the old, used light fixtures were being replaced, the old ones mixed up with the new ones. So we don't know where but it happened. The total cost of the remodeling, 130K. Mind you this is in an area where a 2100 sq ft brick home can be built, brand new on a 1/2 acre lot, for a whopping 100K. And we paid 130K for a mere remodeling.

Just 3 months after the project was finished, the new arrangement was announced, effectively locking us in for good. I am also aware that at least another 5 halls were remodeling on this time frame, in the same area.

Have you ever payed attention to the many donation arrangements that exists within the WTBTS? Most of us understand that donating to your church means giving money, expecting nothing but blessings in return ( i dont mean that literally). The WTBTS has some arrangement that entail having your money returned, or even paying your a lifetime annuity. Leaving aside the fact that there is no scriptural support for this, I don't understand how they can honestly promote practices that are so open to exploitation and corruption. You see, you can donate money to the society and they will pay you back a return in the form of an annuity. They even remind you that this is a way to wise tax planning for you.

-The annuity arrangement will require them to have a certain amount of confidence in their ability to handle money flow. They can not paid if they don't earn. It is a type of gift annuity, as far as I understand, so it technically means that the money you put in, will never be returned. The sooner your die, the better chances that they will not pay you out as much as you payed them (catching!). I have not yet researched if such annuity can be passed on to your survivors. In any case, they need to do something productive with the money you gave them, otherwise, how is all this accounting going to balance out?

- Same goes for the conditional donations, where you can donate money and request it back at a later time. This can be used as leverage in both, the real state market, as well as the stock and financial markets. If you recall, a couple of years ago there was a WT article warning against the risk of trying to become too rich, too quick. An example was presented of a young man who decided to go into the stock market and traded with "borrowed money". It then goes on to explain how he lost it all and had to work really hard to get out of the hole. Most likely, they were talking about trading on leverage, not an actual loan. They are not the same. This is the same type of practice that brought some financial institutions to their knees in 2008. I am pretty sure the WTBTS will be doing the same with the money they are "borrowing" from the donor. If and when the donor reclaims his donation, and if there is not enough money to pay out everyone, this is what is known as a "margin call" or a "run on the bank". Depending in which category the money falls.

Off course, it can not be said that they are a bank, but once you understand how banks work, you will quickly see the similarities. Banks have an authorization to print money. This is such a powerfull gift, that countless ways to imitate it, away from regulators, have been attempted.

20

What Kingdom Halls do you know of that have been closed down recently?

by 4thgen in

recently, we drove by the kingdom hall in galena, il, the sign was removed and it was closed down.

a while back, the hall in taylor mo was also closed.

one congregation in peoria, il was dissolved last year.

StarTrekAngel

There is one assembly hall in my area, close to the border with Mexico that stayed empty the whole summer time. No assemblies here or anywhere near the border with Mexico. None of the undocumented brothers, which make most of the congregations in the area, were able to attend the assemblies up north, in areas like Houston or San Antonio. I asked if other assemblies were programmed within driving distance but no one knew of any. Twenty five or so miles from the border with Mexico there are inmigration checkpoints. Those without documents will be deported. Did the F&D slave forgot about this brothers? The Hall is fairly new, less than 5 years old.

9

English to Spanish differences

by StarTrekAngel in

i was wondering if someone here can guide me a bit.

i have been doing some research on wt publications, specifically those that have the key writtings regarding changing doctrine.

the problem is that i am native spanish speaker and i attend a spanish congregation.

StarTrekAngel

Thanks A.proclaimer! I think that is a good general rule of thumb. At least gives me a good range to search. As far as the spanish PDF, I would be interested on that. I'll message you my email address.

28

New Zealand News: Jehovah's Witness dies after refusing blood transfusion

by AndersonsInfo in

jehovah's witness dies after refusing blood transfusion.

monday, october 20, 2014.

3 news - nzn.

StarTrekAngel

She might have been an ex-JW, but it comes to show you the extent of the influence they have. My wife has a cousin that lives nearby us. She is no longer attending meetings, attends other churches, celebrates birthdays, etc, etc. But she is in need of a surgery and she is being told by her doctors she needs to get her iron up or else, she may need blood during the surgery. She is still in that mindset that she needs to refuse it because of her belief. Despite having "failed Jehovah in every other aspect".

9

English to Spanish differences

by StarTrekAngel in

i was wondering if someone here can guide me a bit.

i have been doing some research on wt publications, specifically those that have the key writtings regarding changing doctrine.

the problem is that i am native spanish speaker and i attend a spanish congregation.

StarTrekAngel

Ok, so in some chases, I guess, chances are that whatever was written about 1975 in English, may have never been published in spanish

9

English to Spanish differences

by StarTrekAngel in

i was wondering if someone here can guide me a bit.

i have been doing some research on wt publications, specifically those that have the key writtings regarding changing doctrine.

the problem is that i am native spanish speaker and i attend a spanish congregation.

StarTrekAngel

I was wondering if someone here can guide me a bit. I have been doing some research on WT publications, specifically those that have the key writtings regarding changing doctrine. The problem is that I am native spanish speaker and I attend a spanish congregation. While I understsand, speak and write english fluently, many of the elders and the people I could talk to, do not. When I go to the WT Library CD ROM and look back at 1970's publications, the english and spanish writtings do not match. With this I mean, they talk about completely different subjects. Any ideas? Anyone knows where I can get a copy of the WT CDROM in english? I have asked for it in the congregation but somehow is taking forever.

Thanks

90

10 good reasons why celebrating birthdays should be allowed

by bluecanary in

i cannot take credit for any of the gems below but i did want to polish and organize them.

much of the information was borrowed from this thread.

if you can come up with any more, please post them.. the bible does not ban birthdays.

StarTrekAngel

This is something that has recently caugh my attention. Simply trying to explain why such insistance on avoiding certain pagan activities but not others. This is when I suddenly realized that the divide between the dos and donts on celebrations has a pretty clear line. For the most part, ans speaking on the most common western celebrations, those that only happen once in a lifetime are ok, but annual celebrations are not. Bellow I copy a message a wrote to JWstruggle. I guess I am not the only one that has seen this. And I thought I was over thinking it.

Regarding the celebrations, I had once to wonder, why would they be so dead serious on banning them. I mean, I don't think the GB is unaware of the possible flaws on this doctrine. The only reason I can find for them to be so serious about it, is money. In your experience in relating to other ExJW, has anyone ever noticed or mentioned how JW are allowed to celebrate every feast that only happens once in a lifetime (even if they are pagan) but not yearly? Weddings, graduations, baby showers, etc. But none of the yearly celebrations are allowed. Birthdays, mother and father day, etc etc. Wedding anniversaries are a yearly celebration by definition but very few people actually carry them out, as they are, usually, an intimate thing for the couple. Only marriage milestones are celebrated consistently (like every 10 years). As much as I thought about it, I could not separate my mind from the fact that there is a very clear line dividing the dos and donts when it comes to most celebrations. All allowed celebrations only happen once in a lifetime for every person. We, however, do make it a point to make sure everyone and their mother attends all four of the yearly WTBTS celebrations (3 assemblies and the memorial) and we make sure to take gifts to almost all of them. So with that in mind, I decided to run the numbers. Just to give them the benefit of the doubt, I decided to keep it conservative...

-Based on the 2014 Year Book, there is 13,714 congregations in the US main territory. Also, there is a total of 1,167,723 publishers. This shields an average of about 85 publishers per congregation.

- Based on this numbers I looked at my own congregation and behold... we actually have 85 publishers exactly. So, I will not be too far off assuming our congregation is a good sample to depart from.

- Assuming an average witness family of 4 (parents and two children), this give you an average of 20 families

- Assuming most birthdays, if allowed, would probably be oriented to children, then that means 40 celebrations per year. - While we do have 85 publishers in our cong, the actual attendance numbers are anywhere from 120 to 140 (watchtower study days). Most of whom are associated members of the congregation. Where we stand today we have no one who is DF. So all in all, this give a total potential attendance to a birthday of 30 families (120 attendance / 4 family members)

- Again, in an effort to be conservative, consider that may be not everyone will present a gift to the host, but lets assume one gift per family. It will be safe to assume every family can spare $20 dollars for a gift. At 30 families this means a potential $600 in gifts alone. If we consider the number of celebrations per year, the total is $24,000 per year.

- This don't seem like a number the WTBTS would be willing to consider in light of the controversy that could surround the doctrine, until you consider the entire US JW population. At 13,714 congregations, this would amount to $329,136,000 per year.

I understand the variables are many and so are the assumptions I am making. Many families could choose not to attend if they have no children or if they could not afford the gift. Other wealthier families may choose to make more expensive gifts. I am also leaving out JW relatives from other congregations that may attend, the many adults that may choose to celebrate their own birthdays and the other congregations world wide. The point being is that, all things considered, there is a millionaire sum to be accounted for when it would come to celebrations within such a tight knit community. Another thing to notice is that we are looking at birthdays and the gifts only. If you account for the actual cost of the party (food, decorations, games, music, etc) or you begin to consider other celebrations like mothers day, etc, then the numbers would quickly skyrocket. And lets not forget that we, JW, have more than just our fleshy parents, we also have spiritual parents (those who brought us in)

Could it be said that I am implying that the WTBTS did this in an attempt to have us donate the money that would otherwise would have gone as a gift to a person? Not at all. For once it would have made it too obvious and, second, history most likely shows that, if the earlier was true, the strategy did not work (or did it? I could not say for sure so I will not make such statement officially) With all of these in mind I can only conclude this is an attempt to "keep life simple". An attempt to make sure people have no other reason to spend money beyond their basic life necessities. This can be done while allowing the others, relatively cheaper celebrations, go on as normal so that no one feels we are being deprived of fun things to do.