Posts by laurelin

26

Would you have accepted THIS response from the Watchtower. Re: U.N

by integ in

dear brothers,

it has been brought to our attention that certain brothers have had questions regarding the societies' membership as a non governmental organization with the united nations from 1991-2001. rest assured that we are no longer members, having removed ourselves from this organization over 3 years ago.

it was only in our undaunted zeal to proclaim the good news to "all nations" (as was jesus' admonition), in these critical last days, that the faithful slave class approved membership as an ngo.

laurelin

Yeah, funnily enough this would have worked for me.

I would have admired the fact that they could admit they'd botched up and I most probably wouldn't have made any indepth study to the rest of what they get up to.

But the reply to the letter that I did send was far from the one posted here and as such made me dig deeper. I rather think they made a mess of things over this. Either that or as my mother keeps banging on "it's a testing time". Thing I can never get to grips with is if God is all-knowing why have a testing time to sort out the ones he already knows won't make it. What's the point. Surely it would be far better to "sort" out and weed out the ones that really get up to no good than the ones who are happy in their faith and stumble across newspaper reports by accident.

22

I Need Ideas

by TowerWatch in

i am working on a david letterman type of ?top ten list?

to publicize my seminars with local churches.

sort of the top ten reasons a pastor would want his parishioners to become more familiar with the beliefs and practices of jehovah's witnesses.

laurelin

I agree with Maggie, you have to be very careful what your points are. If even one of them is challengable and more to the point easily denied then the rest are put into doubt.

Point 9 is a bit iffy to use as it's not the case in a lot of areas, certainly not where I come from. It was always and still is discouraged to talk to young children on the doorsteps. We were always told that if a young child (anyone upto 18) answered the door we were to ask for their parents. If parents weren't home/available we were told to call again. (I do go to meetings but not out on the door to door work and I have still heard this said from the platform)

Point 6 isn't strictly true either as most witnesses still associate with family members that are not witnesses. This point only applies to non-witnesses that have been disfellowshipped. And even then not every witness holds fast to this rule.

Having said that I think your third point is the one that would make most people stop and think and really view things differently as this is one point that they cannot refute no matter how hard they try and all the others they could wiggle out of (besides point 10 of course which makes them beam with pride).

Just my thoughts on your list. Which I found myself nodding to most of them!

21

Question about letters to society.

by laurelin in

hi.. i was reading another post about asking for your personal files.

i was wondering if anyone knew if the society send copies of letters you have sent to them to your congregation.. i recently sent them a letter asking about the old information about the 1914 generation on their website.. i received a letter back from them that didn't answer the question (what's new) but was more a slap on the wrist for even deigning to ask.

i was directed to a couple of articles about the apreciation and good use of older publications and told that older light had to be taken into regard with newer light and that older books still have their worth as long as we use newer ones as well.... talk about confusing.. anyway, i was wondering if they would send the elders in my congregation a copy of my letter to them?.

laurelin

Thanks everyone for your comments.

I think time will tell on this one as my elders already know I've been having doubts as I approached one of them about the whole Un thing (he wrote the society as he had not heard of it) but as far as I know (I didn't see his original letter) I don't think names were mentioned. It will be interesting and not a little scary to see if I do get a come back on this one. I know it might seem cowardice but if I do get a comeback from this, I'll play along with them as I really don't want to face disfellowshipping and would rather just fade away.

21

Question about letters to society.

by laurelin in

hi.. i was reading another post about asking for your personal files.

i was wondering if anyone knew if the society send copies of letters you have sent to them to your congregation.. i recently sent them a letter asking about the old information about the 1914 generation on their website.. i received a letter back from them that didn't answer the question (what's new) but was more a slap on the wrist for even deigning to ask.

i was directed to a couple of articles about the apreciation and good use of older publications and told that older light had to be taken into regard with newer light and that older books still have their worth as long as we use newer ones as well.... talk about confusing.. anyway, i was wondering if they would send the elders in my congregation a copy of my letter to them?.

laurelin

Hi.

I was reading another post about asking for your personal files. I was wondering if anyone knew if the society send copies of letters you have sent to them to your congregation.

I recently sent them a letter asking about the old information about the 1914 generation on their website.

I received a letter back from them that didn't answer the question (what's new) but was more a slap on the wrist for even deigning to ask. I was directed to a couple of articles about the apreciation and good use of older publications and told that older light had to be taken into regard with newer light and that older books still have their worth as long as we use newer ones as well.... talk about confusing.

Anyway, I was wondering if they would send the elders in my congregation a copy of my letter to them?

One thing I did glean from all this was the interesting reactions from both my husband and mother. They were both surprised to see the "old" light on the web but when I mentioned sending a letter to the society they were frankly terrified. My mother's response was "Don't show anyone in the congregation this" and my husband just paled and wafted about "Don't make it sound as if your questioning them, don't be direct etc..." I pointed out to both of them that wasn't "it strange that they were both so terrified of the reaction of the society and congregation. Should they be this frightened of them?" They both denied being frightened, but it was obvious they were.

I am grateful for any experiences on letters being sent back to congregations. Thank you.

11

Serena in the News Again

by Kenneson in

serena claims she puts god first, family second and tennis third in her life.

see "serena trying to stay focused on tennis.

when you're the first tennis player to have a bobblehead doll cast in your image, what's to worry?

laurelin

I rather think nothing will be done about her while she's able to contribute to the donation box. If her money were to ever run out? Should be interesting.

55

WT 2003 CDROM - User agreement!

by qwerty in

just borrowed a wtcd from a friend................ i carn't believe a "non" profit organisation can do this or rather put restrictions on the the coping of the wt cdrom.

isn't there literature distributed free?

then why is make the copying of the wt library for the benefit of declaring the "truth" wrong!

laurelin

Mustang, thanks for that.

I was under the impression that the older books weren't copyrighted anymore and that was why they had been used on the net. I can't remember where I heard it, but someone once told me that copyright laws only lasted seven years and then you had to renew them. Obviously I got it wrong but it was under this impression that made me think it was easier for people to copy text from books.

Thanks.

55

WT 2003 CDROM - User agreement!

by qwerty in

just borrowed a wtcd from a friend................ i carn't believe a "non" profit organisation can do this or rather put restrictions on the the coping of the wt cdrom.

isn't there literature distributed free?

then why is make the copying of the wt library for the benefit of declaring the "truth" wrong!

laurelin

A CD of WTS teachings to free thinking outsiders might be a hazzard for the door to door work.I think the WTS would not want outsiders studying "Truth" with out being told how to interperate it the history and mistakes and ~~change in doctrine~~ new light.

This is a very good point Lurk and I couldn't help but smile when I read it. It reminded me of that saying:

"I always thought that the law should be interpreted in a lenient manner. Sometimes I lean to oneside, sometimes the other."

55

WT 2003 CDROM - User agreement!

by qwerty in

just borrowed a wtcd from a friend................ i carn't believe a "non" profit organisation can do this or rather put restrictions on the the coping of the wt cdrom.

isn't there literature distributed free?

then why is make the copying of the wt library for the benefit of declaring the "truth" wrong!

laurelin

if their reasoning for not wanting it in the hands of ex jw's is because we might put it on the net in a corrupted form, then we have to ask if this has happened yet?

No, to my knowledge it hasn't happened to the CDROM because it is protected legally. But it has happened to other publications, such as the Live Forever Book.

I came across a website just yesterday that tried to say JW's taught that Abaddon was Satan and the Locusts were demons from Hell. I did an extensive trawl through the literature and could find nothing to prove that theory. The publications have always pointed to Abaddon being Jesus and the Locusts being so called witnesses. Even the Aid book (blue one) which is not on the CDROM.

I never implied that anyone on this site would put the CDROM altered on the net and I made that clear. Just that there are ones on other sites that would do it and have done it with other books.

Posting easily disproved lies about the JW's clouds the real issues. It makes it easier for less informed witnesses to brush aside concerns as they can turn around and easily disprove what these sites say.

As for whether the CDROM should be mass available and whether that would protect them from internet misusers I don't know. People ultimately believe what they want to, not necessarily the truth of an issue... I really don't see why it's such an issue that they legally protect themselves just like every other organisation. I'm quite sure that if they didn't then they'd get blasted for being stupid enough to leave themselves open. In this instance I don't think they'd win either way.

The real issue with them isn't things like this. It clouds real issues like doctrinal matters and out right scandal.

14

spirtual growth at greatist peak

by the mole in

my sister called me last night and wanted me to go to an assembly with her in san francisco..she has a part on stage...i declined but she stated that her assembly mentioned the jw growth is at its greatist peak and still climbing....i asked if she really believes that and she mentioned all the new congregations in sacramento and auburn area and said the baptisim was so full they had to extend the lunch period.....is there any info to prove her wrong?..i have not gone this year..did any body attend and get this same info?

laurelin

Growth is relative to each country. On the KM last night one of the elders was wacing lyrical about growth in other countries, while pointing out that the Western world was slowing down. He had a point as there was 41 baptised, in contrast with 14 last year. About thirty of those were foriegn.

You need to look at things on a whole to see if there's any growth.

What gets me, is that you'd think they'd be pleased with a slowing down of growth.... after all the scripture says, "cramped, narrow is the road to life and few are the ones finding it" (or words to that effect) surely the more there are, the less they fulfill this scripture.

37

JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES & Book BURNING (CDs TOO!)

by Smoldering Wick in

ok, i admit it...as a jehovah's witness, i burned a book.

when i was about 10 years old, a sister gave my mother a box of books.

i had been baptized for over a year and was quite the "little witness.

laurelin

If only that were true. Ghosts, goblins, ghouls, pixies, imps, elves and demons all lose their power the moment you stop believing in them.

So what happened to us then? Demons are the only answer, unless you believe in Ghosts and life after death etc. I don't, because unless something else makes more sense to me, I shall continue to believe in the bible. I do however believe in Demons, but only because I had first hand experience of them, the bowl and the lady were only two things that happened, there were a lot of other stuff that I'd really rather forget. And it was mighty odd how they cleared off when the cross was removed. Why does an upturned Cross have such power in Black Magic? The symbol of the cross is only borrowed from other religions by Christianity, it's part of paganism long before the Church decided to use it to prepresent how Jesus was killed. (I do agree that it was more than likely that Jesus was killed on a cross shape, but certainly nothing so refined as the shape you see used today). But for me I can't deny the existance of demons.