Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2016 September 19

= September 19 =

Do Jehovah’s Witnesses follow this commandment?
The following comments were made in a previous discussion:

I dusted off my copy of The True Bible Code (ISBN 978-0-9539396-0-2) published by an offshoot of the Jehovah's Witnesses around the time Wikipedia started (there's a version of the Share - Alike licence printed inside the front cover) and had a look inside. I doubt this offshoot is still functioning - the date it gave for Armageddon is long past (although it did feel like Armageddon at the time):

"We for our part have 'finished' Newton's work in as much as we have deduced the date of 'The end of the World', as being passover 2008, or 'Good Friday' 2008, which is March 21st 2008. We do not all die on this day!   Rather the primary school ends, the secondary school starts, and not everybody passes their 11 plus!"

Although informative, the links do not cover what happens at Jehovah's Witness meetings, which explains the opposition to their teachings. The information was provided here:

I was aware that the Jehovah's Witnesses were formerly called Bible Students and suddenly changed their name, and reading those links I can see why. Many of you may wonder why some regimes/sects are less tolerant of this group than other Christian denominations. There's a general outline of their governance at Organizational structure of Jehovah's Witnesses. Their "liturgy" is not so much an Order of Service as a sales conference. "Publishers" (their name for the laity) are provided with a "meeting workbook" which is identical for all Kingdom Halls. Amongst Bible readings (timed to the minute), Psalms and hymns (which they call songs) there are features such as
 * Sample Presentations
 * Build Your Own Presentation and
 * Using Videos to Teach

Everything is geared to the Field Ministry - Kingdom Halls possess a card index featuring every household in the area. Every part of the meeting is timed to the minute, from
 * Opening Comments (3 min. or less) to
 * Preview of Next Week (3 min.)

All the meetings follow the same routine with heavy emphasis on selling - e.g.
 * Return visit: (4 min. or less) Demonstrate how to make a return visit on someone who accepted a tract.

86.136.177.130 (talk) 10:05, 25 July 2016 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.134.89.140 (talk)

I've collapsed this; it seems to be anti-JW commentary, not a question. Nyttend (talk) 00:47, 19 September 2016 (UTC)

Writing in the Daily Telegraph of 16 September ex – Witness Deborah Frances – White tells of her experiences with the cult: The ex-Jehovah who used to go door-knocking with Peter Andre. She comments

members are obliged to turn off their radios and TVs if they so much as hear their church being discussed.

What proportion of them follow this precept? 86.128.234.7 (talk) 00:00, 19 September 2016 (UTC)
 * How could anyone possibly know? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 11:32, 19 September 2016 (UTC)
 * Public opinion survey of JWs? Nyttend (talk) 11:56, 19 September 2016 (UTC)
 * How many would be likely to admit to breaking church rules, assuming there is such a rule? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 12:51, 19 September 2016 (UTC)
 * Social desirability bias is likely to influence survey responses, but the anonymity of opinion polling means that many more would be likely to acknowledge it to a phone pollster than they would be to church elders. This all assumes that the Society has such a precept for all members worldwide; a response of "this woman's nuts" or "that's a special British requirement for a special situation in the UK" would also resolve the question.  Nyttend (talk) 13:40, 19 September 2016 (UTC)
 * Why would anyone even conduct such a specific poll? If I were a JW and got an anonymous phone call asking me personal questions like that, I would probably hang up on them. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 14:59, 19 September 2016 (UTC)
 * Having previously worked in market research for several years, I can testify that most people do that anyway. Nyttend (talk) 17:00, 19 September 2016 (UTC)

US federal courthouse data
I'm trying to categorise File:Dayton bankruptcy courthouse.jpg properly and figure out if it belongs in any existing English Wikipedia articles.

Can anyone help me figure out when this courthouse was built? The List of United States federal courthouses in Ohio doesn't mention this courthouse (the Dayton entry is for a much newer courthouse across the street), even though this courthouse is still in use as such (perhaps bankruptcy courthouses aren't counted as federal courthouses?), and Google searches for the place don't return the typical GSA profile (example, for the newer "general" courthouse), so I'm not sure what other general websites to check. Land registration records for most properties in the city are available through the Montgomery County Auditor's GIS website, but they have no information on the parcels occupied by this courthouse; I'm guessing that this is because the federal government doesn't pay property tax, so the auditor's office doesn't bother assessing the property, sending tax bills to the owner, etc., as it would for most properties. Nyttend (talk) 11:47, 19 September 2016 (UTC)
 * Found this. It also appears the bankruptcy court does not occupy the whole building, according to this there is some office space in the building unconnected to the bankruptcy court.  -- Jayron 32 12:01, 19 September 2016 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the links; so it's the city's old post office. Now I feel silly: I've photographed it before!  Nyttend (talk) 12:22, 19 September 2016 (UTC)
 * Land registration relates to title of ownership and is distinct from taxation of buildings, which in Britain usually devolves on the occupier (I don't know if government buildings are valued for rating purposes).  Registration of title is compulsory - is that the case in U S A?   If it is, is there any unregistered land?   If it isn't, are there voluntary schemes? (I assume that land registration is devolved to the States).   In England and Wales unregistered land generally comes onto the register only when it is sold.   Government land is generally not sold but passed from department to department - there are many parcels in London registered to the London County Council which has not existed for over half a century. 86.128.234.7 (talk) 00:15, 22 September 2016 (UTC)