call it what you want.
is it a privilege?
considering most do not want to do it given the choice.
Tom Sawyer not only got his friends to whitewash his fence, he got them to PAY for the privilege, and got out of doing his own chores.
The JW's are just as slick. What are considered privileges are actually work. Who wants any extra work? Hardly anyone.
It's also used as a system of reward and punishment, especially for the JW male.
http://www.insuranceboard.org/press/covenant_winter2005.pdf.
http://drustevenson.blogspot.com/2005/02/more-church-liability-17m-for-van.html.
i believe that the society - and its lawyers - are agonizing over this trend in the us.
Hi gas prices will kill the preaching work around here for sure.
i was thinking about all the various people who the bible says have been killed by jehovah or his angels for various acts of disobedience.
here are a few of the ones i thought of....feel free to add your own eating a piece of fruit (slow death, 930 years) picking up some sticks on the sabbath preventing the ark of the covenant from falling when the guy carrying it stumbles living in a city where your family has lived for generations, in a region where jehovah has "given" the land to his "chosen" people dancing for your victorious warrior father, not knowing he has vowed to offer the first one out of the house as a burnt offering.
disagreeing with moses
Perry:
Are you sure you are on the right site? None of what I read here seems to be directed at the Creator, but rather at the "God" of the Hebrews, which they may
have in fact manufactured and used to justify their own imperialism and misdeeds. Do you think it is any accident that the priesthood was given to Aaron? He
was Moses' brother, dude. Nothing like a little nepotism, huh? Men have used "God" as a front for centuries, what makes you think the jews were any different?
i am highly considering becoming a jehovah's witness.
i have been raised in the congregration, but left it when i was a child because my mom left too, but we still retatined the core belifs including the ressurection and the blasphemous pagan influence on mainstream churches.
my mom has recently returned to the congregation, and it has helped her a lot.
I was born in the religion, raised in it, pioneered, and served as an elder. If you are looking for a highly structured group that believes legalism is the
way to salvation, then JW's are for you. But beware, and many prior have said this more eloquently, you must leave your rational mind at the door because
never again will you be allowed to "think". Every lapse in logic, every contradiction, every intrusion into your life, every foray into speculation on the part
of the FDS will be off limits to your mind, and more importantly, your conscience. You will be asked to behave in a way which at times will shame you inwardly, as
well it should, because you will be told to obey on pain of everlasting destruction the dictates of men you will never know, even if it means treating your fellowman with comtempt.
And just as an aside, the Divine Name was given to the Jews and they were told in no uncertain terms to NEVER take the name of their God in a worthless way. Their
reluctance over time to pronounce the Divine name did not stem from "superstition" but from a very real fear of being struck dead by YHWH. After all, the keeping
of the Sabbath was also part of the 10 Commandments and a man found to be picking up sticks for firewood on a Sabbath Day was put to death early in the
history of the nation. Picking up sticks for kindling---- the 10 Commandments were pretty absolute. So who was to say what was "a worthless way" when it came
to using the "Name"? I think most Jews did not want to risk finding out. Ergo, they slowly quit using it.
Do you want to be a Jew or a Christian? Could not Christ pronounce the Divine name? Sure. Yet it is not recorded in Scipture. JW's place way too much emphasis on the use of the
mispronounced name of YHWH, villify others for not using it, and yet they follow not the example of Christ who simply called Him "Father."
Want to be a JW? Go ahead. But take the advice they are always so free in giving and "count the cost" first.
past and present, intelligent people have believed in things for their whole lives which we now are certain were false!.
i believe the earth is flat!.
i believe stars in the night sky are pinholes of light shining through from the next world!.
Myths do no create martyrs--- victims, yes--- but martyrs, no.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/07/science/earth/07climate.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin.
another international slate of scientists have released their findings regarding global climate change and human's effect on that (see the above link).. after the last major study released by several hundred scientists a few months ago, it does seem there is a serious concensus here among the leading thinkers and scientists on this issue.
i know i've banged heads with a few who disagree with this, but it does seem as though that handful of folks who disagree with the science are looking more and more like deniers, as in holocaust deniers, moon landing deniers, etc.. in other words, out there on the lunatic fringe.. so, do you folks think it might be time to reconsider?.
I agree the climate has warmed. No doubt about it. Personally, I think it's a good thing. I sure don't hear complaints from any folks beating out
an existence in Siberia. I also think we need to consume less, develop alternative energy, and clean up after ourselves. While there are
pollutants that damage the rivers, lakes, and streams, I do not agree that CO2 is a "pollutant." To me, the most immediate danger to the environment
is the overharvesting of the world's fish stocks and the rabid and accelarating rate of deforestation. As for getting rid of cars, trucks, etc..., what would we replace them with?
If you replaced 100 million cars in the US with 100 million horses, you'd need to grow an extra 200 million tons of food just to feed these animals through one winter. How
would that be done? And that's just transportation. And how would we in the West offset the output of CO2 of developing nations like China and India, who are now only beginning to climb
their way out of grinding poverty? Do we tell them they can't have cars and washing machines?
In the profession I work in I am often asked to find a solution for some problem or another. Sometimes I recommend to do nothing for one of two reasons:
Either a solution would be worse than the problem (and more expensive to remedy than to live with) or
The problem is not obvious enough to produce a solution for with the data at hand. Good thread.
i took ill the morning after the memorial (my wife and i both attended.
we arrived about 30 minutes after first symptoms.
the ems guys were at my house in .
Hi all. And thanks. My wife attends full time. She was reg. pioneer for 6 years when we met. I reg. pioneered and was an elder. Pioneer school is what crystallized all
the doubts for me. It was my moment of clarity.
Most of her family are JW and so are mine. She attends and beleives but has managed a migraine on a meeting night for two weeks in a row. She is quite often late to meetings.
I understand what she's feeling to a large extent because I not too long ago would have felt that anyone that doubted the Org. was doomed. As for the blood card, well, let's just say it isn't
in my wallet.
i took ill the morning after the memorial (my wife and i both attended.
we arrived about 30 minutes after first symptoms.
the ems guys were at my house in .
I took ill the morning after the Memorial (my wife and I both attended.) I was taken to the hospital. We arrived about 30 minutes after first symptoms. The EMS guys were at my house in
a flash and we live very close to the hospital. The attending physician thought it may have
been an arterial rupture (due to my sudden loss in blood pressure and my abdominal swelling), appendicitis, etc... They were ruling things out, the EKG looked normal, etc... It happened
very fast. I was not in good shape. I do not recall ever feeling so badly. They
asked for me to sign medical consent forms as they were taking me to the radiology dept. for imaging of my internal organs. I signed and specificcally wrote in that I would accept
medical treatment involving the use of blood or blood products. I did this because i had a NO BLOOD directive in my wallet. My wife was not with me at the time.
Long story short, I was alright. My insides looked perfect. I had experienced a very rare side effect from a medication I had been taking.
At the hospital, after I was brought back from imaging and before the docs cleared me, my wife asked me if "they" had asked me to sign anything. I did not lie to her.
I told her how it went and what I wanted and why. The fallen look on her face told me that my decision was more devastating to her than my possible condition.
Prior to this happening, I had already made up my mind not to refuse blood treatment because it was all based on a series of lies. My wife and I had discussed
my feelings about certain doctrines and org. in general, my resigning as an elder, the fade, etc... But this one was it, I think. I never saw her so disappointed. She told me that
I would have to appoint some other person as my health care proxy since she could not tell the doctors to treat me with blood under ANY circumstances. AND she was
going to appoint someone other than me ( her faithful husband of many years) as her health care proxy. This was not the ideal time and place to be having
that discussion, but I am glad we had it. As to my feelings about it, well, I'm posting aren't I?
watch out for the questions from readers in the may 1st 2007 watchtower.
"when does the calling of christians to a heavenly hope cease?
" it's a good'un.. included are the statements:.
My wife picked up out allotment of mags the Sunday meeting before the Memorial: she only got the April 15th issue of the WT.
comments you will not hear at the 04-01-07 wt study (february 15, 2007, pages 18-22)(respect husband).
review comments will be in red.
wt material from today's wt will be in black.
When I used to give Public Talks on a Sunday, beleiving I had healing oil to dispense from the outline, I would look out at the crowd and see people on their 2nd, and 3rd marriages,
marrriages that survived adultery, abuse, cruelty, etc.... Although I had never attended other churches, I knew many "worldly" people with happy marriages. How
are the witnesses better off with the FDS in their marriages? It seems to me the religion is a huge source of discord in marriage since it gives both genders
unrealistic perpectives of their roles and adds elements of disappointment and shame that are needless in a healthy relationship.
