Posts by berrygerry

33

This Year's Memorial

by TD in

jw
friends

perhaps i'm just getting older and crankier, but it really seems to me that the jw faith is deteriorating at an accelerated rate.. case in point: this year's memorial talk.

it was one of the most incoherent messes i've ever heard.

(and i've heard a lot of memorial talks over the last 50 years....).

berrygerry

"..the governing body watches the moon."

Hmmm. That rings a bell.

Steven Hassan - does that ring a bell for you?

2

Has Anyone Been Pressured to Use the Elders to Judge a Secular Dispute?

by berrygerry in

page 133 of the flock book states that "paul gave strong counsel" about taking a brother to court.. the most pertinent reference is the nov 15, 1973 wt qfr.. that article says:.

"here paul was showing the corinthian christians the inconsistency of taking disputes between christians before secular tribunals.

the judges would be men who were not governed by the lofty principles of gods law and whose consciences were not trained through a study of his word.

berrygerry

Page 133 of The Flock book states that "Paul gave strong counsel" about taking a brother to court.

The most pertinent reference is the Nov 15, 1973 WT QFR.

That article says:

"Here Paul was showing the Corinthian Christians the inconsistency of taking disputes between Christians before secular tribunals. The judges would be men who were not governed by the lofty principles of God’s law and whose consciences were not trained through a study of his Word. As many of the judges at that time were corrupt and accepted bribes, Christians had little reason to believe that their judgment would be just. "

and of course refers to Paul's words: "“Does anyone of you that has a case against the other dare to go to court before unrighteous men, and not before the holy ones? Or do you not know that the holy ones will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you unfit to try very trivial matters? Do you not know that we shall judge angels? Why, then, not matters of this life? "

So, in the first century, there was a question of corrupt "worldly" judges, and that the holy ones were qualified to judge trivial matters.

However, WT then goes on to extrapolate that this spills over to elders today: "In view of the foregoing, would dedicated Christians today go before secular courts if that were to injure the advancement of true worship or misrepresent it in the eyes of outsiders? No. Of course, as all other people, true Christians are still imperfect humans. They make mistakes, and problems arise in connection with business matters and the like. But differences of this nature ought to be settled within the congregation, for God’s Word provides the needed guidelines and there are men in the congregation who are well grounded in the Bible."

5 points:

1. The Bible specifies "the holy ones," not elders.

2. It would be rare for a developed-country judge to be bribed in a JW dispute - dream on.

3. Most business matters are not "trivial" - anyone involved in litigation knows how much sorting out needs to be done.

4. Although a few elders could be termed competent, how many rocks-in-their-heads elders are out there - esp. when in a one-elder KH.

5. And what happens when one party "evidently has Jehovah's blessing?" (i.e. is friends with the Elder Judge.)

"However, if a Christian refuses to correct a serious wrong when it is made clear to him by elders serving in judicial capacity in the congregation, such a one would be expelled. ... The injured party could thereafter decide whether legal action should be taken in an attempt to force the guilty one, now disfellowshiped, to rectify matters."

4

Search Enhancements

by berrygerry in

the following would enhance searches:.

- searching "by topic" or "by post" .

- being able to sort results by date, replies, etc., same as one can do now with "subject area".

berrygerry

The following would enhance searches:

- searching "by topic" or "by post"

- being able to sort results by date, replies, etc., same as one can do now with "Subject Area"

3

Hilight topics once read

by zeb in

it would be useful if subjects were hilighted once they have been read.

i go back to the index and forget where ive been due to interruptions, having to leave and come back.. so, friends becomes friends while the site is open.. just a thought..

berrygerry

At the least, could you arrange that the 3 newest posts (as displayed by the poster's avatar), when rolled-over with the cursor, display the age (in hours, and then days) of the post.

5

Faithful and Less-Bullshitting (Relax SR - we're in Canada) Slave

by berrygerry in

bobcat's recent post has led to this article in mar 15, 2015 wt, pp 7-11, par 9, 10:.

for many years, gods people found this approach to bible accounts faith strengthening.

why, then, have things changed?10 as we might expect, over the years jehovah has helped the faithful and discreet slave to become steadily more discreet.

berrygerry

Bobcat's recent post has led to this article in Mar 15, 2015 WT, pp 7-11, par 9, 10:

For many years, God’s people found this approach to Bible accounts faith strengthening. Why, then, have things changed?

10 As we might expect, over the years Jehovah has helped “the faithful and discreet slave” to become steadily more discreet. Discretion has led to greater caution when it comes to calling a Bible account a prophetic drama unless there is a clear Scriptural basis for doing so.

So, after all of these decades, Jehovah himself says, "Listen, GB, stop bullshitting - stick to the GD scriptures - erase all of the BS of CTR, the drunk, and Freddie Shoes."

Additionally, it has been found that some of the older explanations about types and antitypes are unduly difficult for many to grasp.

Jehovah then goes on: "Besides, no one has a GD F*ing clue what Freddie Shoes and his mushrooms was trying to say. Let's just drop it all and stick to the method that works - try channeling LRH. Jehovah, out."

8

Request for Research . . .

by Bobcat in

the wt study 4/5/15 quotes from the new interpreter's dictionary of the bible.

the quote is "things like plot, story, narrative development, and character are not really of prime interest.

" it is located in paragraph 6 on page 29. .

berrygerry

Bobcat:
I love your research and knowledge.

I have spent 1/2 hour trying to find this bleeding article.

What is the WT issue?

73

Congregation had to relocate Memorial...thanks to me

by Shepherd Book in

so, the two local congregations were planning to hold their memorial together at 7:30 at the local community center, but they had to make a last-minute change to their own hall, and i'm pretty sure it was because of me.. let me explain.... at work on monday afternoon, a co-worker returned from her lunchbreak and showed me the memorial invitation that was waiitng in her door when she went home for lunch.

i noticed the sticker on the back indicated the memorial was being held, not at the local hall, but at the community center.

from a past (non-jw) event i attended there, i knew they didn't allow alcohol (unless you pay for security guards), so i wrote to the center's coordinator:.

berrygerry

JWs think they are totally above the law. Hats off to whoever did this.

As an Accounts Servant, I remember the PO saying that those "are just men's laws," meaning FU Caesar.

Same attitude that is paying big dividends to US abuse lawyers,

284

I'm an ABSENTHEIST. Are you also?

by EdenOne in

it just dawned on me.

the existence of god can't be proved, neither is there evidence of god's inexistence.

so, i'm neither theist neither atheist.

berrygerry

it just dawned on me.

Did this just Millennial Dawn on you?

26

Reports of lower memorial attendance

by thedepressedsoul in

i have heard a lot of reports from kingdom halls in the area that there was less than last year, for both time slots.. we had the first time slot and we were down 50+/- compared to last year.

last year we had the lobby full of people standing and this year we had empty seats and no one standing.

we ran out of parking last year and this year we made it.. like i said i am hearing quite a few reports of this from halls in our area.however, somehow the number seem to inch up every year.

berrygerry

"Sure we lose money with every sale, but we make it up in volume."

JW School of Business

234

Suicide - How many do you know within the JWs

by Lady Lee in

thw wts likes to play games with their statistics.

one interesting but truly tragic is the number of jwhovah's witnesses who commit suicie.. now i suspect that if a person commits suicide shortly before or after they are disfellowshipped then the elders would say that person wasn't a witness or that they had done something so terrible that they were too guilty to admit it and by their action of committing suicide they pretty much declared they were no longer a jw.. yup fancy talk to make sure any crap didn't fall on them.. so my question.. do you know of cases like this?

if so then can you answer a few more questions.. had this person been dfed or in real danger of being dfed or whatever the equivalent is if they were never baptized?.

berrygerry

J-DUBBED a month ago

JW Takes her life with a train
This was pretty "Hush-Hush" but I know about this from an inside source where she worked at Canada Post. The big thing is it really emotionally fucked up the train engineers involved.

Is there more info about this somewhere?