Neo

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Posts by Neo

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  40

  Anything new on Barbara Anderson's case?

  by Gamaliel in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  can anyone give any details on what to expect next in barbara anderson's case?.

  i just read about the questioning of how a woman got into a researcher position at bethel.

  i have a few questions on this myself, based on the level of involvement i've heard claimed.

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  Neo

  I'd love to have news about it too. Anyone?

  Neo
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  15

  Asian tragedy: not the "end of the world"...

  by observador in

  1. social
  2. current

  ... as i am sure some jws will spin it.

  as i told my mother once, exagerating a little, they love when tragedies like these happen, as these seem to validate the beliefs they hold so dear.

  as tragic and sad as these events in asia are, it's not any signs of times; it's a natural ocurrence that humankind has to learn and prepare to.

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  Neo

  I had lunch with my JW mother today, and she was almost in tears about this one. She didn't say one thing about it being a sign either. Just a terrible tragedy............and "those poor people".

  Great, Mulan! It's not the typical JW mindset.

  A good article by AlanF:

  The Watchtower Society Backpedals on Earthquakes

  Neo
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  37

  What is your experience as to buying Crisis of Conscience?

  by Goldminer in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  .

  i've read a few very interesting stories about people's experiences when they decided to purchase coc.i'd like to share mine and read yours also.. in 1999,not long after we purchased our first computer i started reading material about jw's.before long,i got really interested in the ray franz story because even up here in northern ontario,i had heard about the apostasy of 1980.in the fall of '99 my wife decide to take a college course(bucking the jw trend),and she would stay at her sister's place during the week.one day i called a christian book store to see if they could get me this book.i was very nervous,changed my name and i wouldn't give them my phone number.i told them i'd call back in a few weeks to make sure they had it before i went in to pick it up.. when the day came,i picked up my courage by two hands and took off for my 40 mile drive to get my book.the book store is located in a small shopping mall,which had me really nervous that another jw might see me going in or out of the store.i walked in the mall looking around,making sure there was nobody in sight that i knew.when i walked in the store,i had cash ready in my hands,walked up to the counter,gave my fake name and the book i was purchasing.now i just had to walk and make it to the car and i was home free.. i know buying a book isn't that hard,i do it all the time,but at that time the implicationsof having this book in my possesion was tremendous.. anyways,it's been 5 1/2 years and still nobody here knows.the book has really opened my eyes and mind to the realities of the wts.i would definitely recommend this book to everyone here who has yet to read it.it's worth the effort to acquire it and will take away your fear of the watchdollar.

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  Neo

  Randy at Freeminds.com will keep your privacy if you want to buy WT related books:

  http://www.freeminds.org/sales/menuframes.htm
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  47

  New OM Book replacement & Upcoming Elder School

  by doinmypart in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the organized to accomplish our ministry (om book) will be replaced on sunday march 20, 2005 with a book titled organized to do jehovah's will.

  this is confidential, so be sure to tell your relatives and friends that are still in!

  will there be any updates to the org's procedures, or just a re-hash of old policies?

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  Neo

  Aude_Sapere,

  My mom started auxillary pioneering 2 weeks after my cancer diagnosis. ... She was always too busy to even call to see how I was doing. Had to help her study take care of husband with cancer. ... Made me quite angry. Angry with the elders in her cong too for holding her up as an example of righteous integrity and charactor.

  That's horrific! Yuck, talk about WT corban! (Mark 7.9-13) I think this story deserves a thread on its own. It happened about seven years ago, I hope now you've at least partially recovered from your grave illness.

  ozziepost,

  Come to think of it, for the past several years that's all the elders have been using it for - the 80 questions.

  Bingo! Nobody reads the OM book after all.

  met,

  They CAN ERODE established doctrine .. but not establish new major "truths" in their place.

  An outstanding summary of what constitutes New Light TM nowadays. Nobody has the political weight to come up with something really new like in the past. They have been making changes almost exclusively from definite positions to less specific ones, like the identification of the King of the North or UN's role in attacking "God's people." Truly an erosion! It is a picture much farther from a "light that is getting lighter and lighter," which, if applied to religious knowledge, implies moving to a more precise doctrinal position.

  In fact, what happened in the early eighties keeps them stuck from making obvious and necessary changes, because of their Jaraczian motto:

  'We don't want another Ray, do we?'

  Neo
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  47

  New OM Book replacement & Upcoming Elder School

  by doinmypart in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the organized to accomplish our ministry (om book) will be replaced on sunday march 20, 2005 with a book titled organized to do jehovah's will.

  this is confidential, so be sure to tell your relatives and friends that are still in!

  will there be any updates to the org's procedures, or just a re-hash of old policies?

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  Neo

  Hey, lots of good comments on this thread!!

  Blondie,

  I still have my "Organization" book, OR in the index. If they didn't want us to keep them, why index it, eh?

  I think it settles the issue - the old Organization book is completely indexed in the Index of Watchtower Publications, so we can infer that there was no formal direction from the WT to do away with the OM books.

  I do remember the cross and crown pins were supposed to be turned in (...) Even some JWs kept theirs.

  Yes, the publishers often keep old stuff even when the WT "instructs" them to destroy it; many congregations keep old outdated forms and things like that which were supposed to be thrown away with.

  doinmypart,

  After considering Blondie's post, I don't expect any major changes. Rather an updating of a few insignificant policies.

  That's what likely will happen. Maybe they'll throw a couple of little modifications into the mix. For many years now, most of the theocratic changes have been anticlimatic. However, as to the baptism questions, I wonder if they'll "simplify" some of the content... (like the "simplifications" in the new Worship book). We'll have to wait and see.

  Minimus,

  The ministry is being dumped for "doing God's will".....This IS something. Instead of focusing on organizing the ministry, they are pushing the all encompassing theme of "doing God's will".

  The two former books were called Organization for Kingdom-Preaching and Disciple-Making and Organized to Accomplish Our Ministry. "Doing God's will" is a more embracing term, but based on the Watchtower's past, that won't probably mean much.

  Like metatron said,

  I'll believe it when I see it.

  Neo
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  17

  daniels prophecy, to be studied next year? More self glorification

  by DaCheech in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  are they kidding?.

  we gotta sit through this again?.

  isaiah's prophecy and daniels book has to be the most "blow smoke up their ass book there is"!

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  Neo

  Here's the book cover, for those who haven't seen:

  

  DANIELThe Watchtower's Egocentric View
  
  

  The Watchtower Society's 1999 book Pay Attention to Daniel's Prophecy! opens with a chapter titled "The Book of Daniel and You," but a more appropriate title would be "The Book of Daniel and US" -- because the organization sees those prophecies as fulfilled in itself. It asserts that the ancient Jewish prophet Daniel foretold specifically when the Watchtower corporation's Board of Directors would be jailed, and when they would be freed. Also, when certain organizational conventions would be held, and when certain articles would appear in Watchtower publications.

  (From David Reed's Comments from the Friends)
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  7

  Read the bible to your girlfriend and avoid late night TV.

  by IronGland in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  if you are courting, be determined to remain chaste, even when talking on the phone.

  an engaged christian woman named leticia says: "my fiance and i have read together bible-based articles on staying chaste.

  we appreciate the way they have helped us maintain a clean conscience.

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  Neo

  The dating couple would find very encouraging the reading of Proverbs 5 together:

  Let your water source prove to be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of your youth, a lovable hind and a charming mountain goat. Let her own breasts intoxicate you at all times. With her love may you be in an ecstasy constantly. So why should you, my son, be in an ecstasy with a strange woman or embrace the bosom of a foreign woman?

  That's from the New World Translation, Prov 5:18-20...
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  47

  New OM Book replacement & Upcoming Elder School

  by doinmypart in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the organized to accomplish our ministry (om book) will be replaced on sunday march 20, 2005 with a book titled organized to do jehovah's will.

  this is confidential, so be sure to tell your relatives and friends that are still in!

  will there be any updates to the org's procedures, or just a re-hash of old policies?

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  Neo

  on page 20 they make this statement, "Jesus...serves as Head of the congregation in this 20th century."

  on pages 26 and 27 they discuss the corporations, mentioning only two...I'm sure they will add the new ones

  on pages 43 and 44 they will have to update Congregation Book Study Conductor to Congregation Book Study Overseer

  on page 114 they will have the change the hours for an auxiliary pioneer to 50 hours/mo and regular pioneers to 70 hours/mo

  on page 124 they will have to update it to the donation arrangement, "All such literature is made available at a nominal cost to the publishers, who, in turn, offer it to the public usually on a contribution basis." Then they discuss how the MS take in money, keeping an accounting of it.

  Right on, Blondie!

  How can you remember all of this stuff?? The only change they have to make that came to my mind when I read the first post was the "adjustment" to Book Study Overseer. But the book is really old, two decades ago there was no "donation arrangement!"

  BTW, when the OM book came out, they ordered the R&F to destroy the old "Organization" book (partially written by Ray Franz). What will they say now?

  Neo
• 
  39

  Education - How encouraging low self esteem creates better witnesses.

  by BigG in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  funny title you might think but consider this point and apologies if i am covering old ground here...its not intentional.. i was raised by my mother who was and is a devout jw and as such until i was 20 (10 years ago) i was the same...trying my best to fit into the social environment i clearly was not made for but benefiting from good wholesome association with fellow brothers and sisters (note the sarcastic tone...make what you will of it).. althought at the time i didnt realise it but i was what others consider intelligent and quite academically able; i had a mind like a sponge and would spend hours in the jw library at the kh (which surprisingly enough contained non jw literature)...it was this that i read and would digest endlessly where i could.. one of those books (why it was there i dont know), was what i later undertood to be criminal law reports concerning cases that had gone before the courts.

  my childish thirst for knowledge was intrigued...(i was then about 12).

  the legal arguments i hadnt a clue what they meant but the facts surrounding these crimes were good reading.. i then knew i wanted to be a lawyer and that was what i said when an elder asked me what i wanted to do when i grew up; i mentioned trusting this man that i had read a book in the kh library and found it interesting...and that i wanted to be lawyer...i remember him smiling and saying that it was better to pioneer rather than seek a highly paid job...personally i didnt know what he meant properly but i felt a bit sad...and demotivated...i later in the week went back into the library and found the book had gone...!!.

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  Neo

  BigG, Darkside Blues and Toladest:

  WELCOME TO THE FORUM!!

  Neo
• 
  47

  New OM Book replacement & Upcoming Elder School

  by doinmypart in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the organized to accomplish our ministry (om book) will be replaced on sunday march 20, 2005 with a book titled organized to do jehovah's will.

  this is confidential, so be sure to tell your relatives and friends that are still in!

  will there be any updates to the org's procedures, or just a re-hash of old policies?

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  Neo

  Thanks, Doinmypart!

  The Organized to Accomplish Our Ministry (OM book) will be replaced on Sunday March 20, 2005 with a book titled Organized to Do Jehovah's Will.

  You're credible and I believe the above is true. Being so, this is likely the most important piece of news in Dub Land in recent times. Hardly anything "official" from the WT will be as relevant as this new book in 2005.

  When they release a new "Organized" book, it's because there will be procedure changes. But let us not raise our expectations too high. Probably there won't be major "adjustments." Remember: the governing-nobodies are the Masters of Anticlimax.