you'll never believe what happened at work this week!
seems a young bird-i think a brown thrasher female-has adopted raffield tire master as her home.
she started off by just walking around the shop poking into all the little corners looking for bugs.
Point taken, SJ.
Actually I don't like the idea of a name-the-bird contest because the guys at the shop don't chip in to buy her food and she doesn't particularly like them. And I think we can all roll our eyes in anticipation of what some of my customers would come up with. Why don't you folks toss out some nice ideas?
Starting up a new thread for that.
mike.
"Well done, Blind Squirrel! You've found an impressive nut!
i notice that because the jw's point out flaws with the churches doctrines and beliefs that instead of fixing or repenting or solving the issues it's easier for church people to form a backlash whether it's honest or falacious in order to displace blame and smokescreen their own inadequacies.. you can not heal yourself by pointing out anothers wounds, you also can not solve your problems by displacing them instead of admiting and addressing them.. if a jw or anyone else points out the problem of abuse in the church then by pointing out an abuse in the jw elders does not solve the issues of the church abuses neither is it repentance as repentance should be.. if you can't discuss the bible and resons why you fall short and trasngress then by bringing up personal issues or attacking each other like jackals does not change those transgressions it just adds more.. as an outsider i must say all of you are like animals on their prey simply because you didn't like being exposed for your false testiments and false practices.
this means your emotional and psychological and spiritual level is far from being grown up.. will you dare persecute me for pointing out such observations?
a spiritually grown person will reflect on what i say, admit to it and try to change, but a child of darkness will feel their ego hurt and group rpide kicks in causing a person not grown to become defensive bitter and mean/perhaps even spiteful.
Mike, it is something that has to be done.
There is no one without sin available to cast the first stone, so it falls upon imperfect people to take an imperfect approach.
I don't know if you are a Witness or were one or not, but you sound like you may only be indirectly associated. Of course that is provided you aren't a "troll", and I'm not using that term to attack you or to incite an attack, so all y'all regulars don't jump on him on my account.
You need to consider our "target". I'm sure you agree that there are many faults and a great need for change in many areas. The religious organization of the Witnesses is not one in which change could ever come from the bottom up. I really couldn't tell you how it is in any other religion when a layperson has some sort of disagreement with doctrine or procedure. While I am sure that there are other religions that have a very adverse reaction to that, the disagreement in the case of the Witnesses only ends with the member deferring to doctrine or with the member being removed from the organization. There is no middle ground, no compromise.
For us to gather together to discuss how the Watchtower Society is wrong in this and that is not some collective effort to point out someone else's flaws to build ourselves up. Putting this board in that light is missing the forest for the trees, and it really takes a pretty good stretch of the imagination to even conceive the idea.
The things said here must be said. Jesus said not to "put your lamp under a basket" (and I paraphrase), not to hide what you believe in other words. Jehovah's Witnesses don't put their lamp under a basket, they go out into the world and shine that lamp on everyone they can whether the recipient likes it or not. All of us here are well aware that many if not most average Witnesses are wonderful people and we love many of them dearly as family and spouses and friends. But we also are very concerned that they are being led like sheep by a "bad shepherd" and unfortunately we cannot simply rescue them in one fell swoop. We have to keep trying. Most of us are not able to even speak to them directly. We can only speak here and hope that our words are seeds falling on fertile ground as Jesus said.
It's been said here before that it will take a massive shock to the Governing Body to bring change if change happens at all. The only shock we can help bring about is for more Witnesses to learn what the Watchtower doesn't tell them and rise up en masse.
That day may or may not come. But if we don't try, if we place our lamps under baskets, then we can rest assured of no results.
Why don't you hang around here some more and listen with an open mind. Do some research on the Witnesses on your own.
Well, that's about all I have to say to you.
Have a nice weekend.
Mike.
"Well done, Blind Squirrel! You've found an impressive nut!
you'll never believe what happened at work this week!
seems a young bird-i think a brown thrasher female-has adopted raffield tire master as her home.
she started off by just walking around the shop poking into all the little corners looking for bugs.
You'll never believe what happened at work this week! Seems a young bird-I think a brown thrasher female-has adopted Raffield Tire Master as her home. She started off by just walking around the shop poking into all the little corners looking for bugs. Pretty comfortable with us walking around and all the loud noises. I tried chasing her out for a whole day last week, but she kept coming back and for some reason began staying closer to me. Thursday I caught a few crickets which are plentiful in the shop and tossed them to her. I guess that was my first mistake. Yesterday, she was poking around one of the back bays and I caught a cricket. Everybody watched while I knelt down and held it out to the bird. She calmly walked over and took it right out of my hand. Later she was perched on a stack of old tires (watching me) and I caught another cricket. I held it in one hand and put the index finger of my other in front of the cricket as a perch. Everyone said "no way!" when the bird flew over and landed on my finger to take the cricket. At lunch yesterday I went to a bird store across the road and the lady sold me some mealworms which the bird would eat while sitting on my finger instead of taking the morsel and flying away with it. After only a day, all I have to do now is stretch out my arm and the bird will fly to me and sit on my arm. Today I tried again to get the bird to go outside. I would hold out my hand and she would fly over and land and I would slowly walk out back (with her calmly perched on my arm or shoulder) and put her in the flower bed where there are bugs a-plenty. After anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour, "Peckerhead"-which is what we have named her-returns to wherever I am in the shop. She even lands on my shoulder or head without me "calling" her. She is very hesitant about going to anyone else in the shop, though. The customers just love it. I'll stand at the window to the office and make sure they are watching then hold out my arm. It is so funny to watch the suprised looks.
Well, maybe she will grow up and leave but I'm not so sure. I know how birds "bond" to humans sometimes when they are young. The shop is just too dangerous for a bird who is so comfortable around people and loud noises, not to mention the fact that I had to shoo her away from a brake fluid bottle yesterday (animals like brake fluid because it is salty, also antifreeze because it is sweet).
I'm going to find a way to get her here to my house and release her in the back yard. That way she'll have trees and bugs and still be close to me. Yeah, I kinda like the goofy little critter.
Anybody have any experience in transporting [safely] little wild birds who could give me some pointers?
mike.
i'm just like everyone else here when it comes to the upcoming dateline nbc segment.
i am really anxious to hear in advance what is going to be said and i sincerely hope that not only will it help the "silent lamb" victims but that it will also reach at least a few hearts in the witnesses.. but i've been seeing constant references to it lately and i get the idea that some of us may have too high of hopes.. by no means do i mean to try to discourage silentlambs, i think sl will understand and agree with what i am saying here.. my friends, please remember that this will be a situation of 20 minutes or so of airtime by "worldly" media going against lifetimes of teachings by an old and highly skilled powerful worldwide organization.. one reporter from nbc will have approximately 20 minutes to present a very complicated issue with interviews and narration and some minutes will be sacrificed for commercials.
even if nbc decided to devote an entire dateline episode to the topic, it would still leave only a scant amount of time to try and deliver such a weighty story.
I'm just like everyone else here when it comes to the upcoming Dateline NBC segment. I am really anxious to hear in advance what is going to be said and I sincerely hope that not only will it help the "silent lamb" victims but that it will also reach at least a few hearts in the Witnesses.
But I've been seeing constant references to it lately and I get the idea that some of us may have too high of hopes.
By no means do I mean to try to discourage Silentlambs, I think SL will understand and agree with what I am saying here.
My friends, please remember that this will be a situation of 20 minutes or so of airtime by "worldly" media going against lifetimes of teachings by an old and highly skilled powerful worldwide organization.
One reporter from NBC will have approximately 20 minutes to present a very complicated issue with interviews and narration and some minutes will be sacrificed for commercials. Even if NBC decided to devote an entire Dateline episode to the topic, it would still leave only a scant amount of time to try and deliver such a weighty story. Add to the time factor that in this day and age, the networks are very cautious due to fear of litigation. Remember how easy it is for the networks to be sued. A story like this is going to be very carefully reviewed by their legal departments. This is no simple scandal involving say a congressman who can just blow them off and not worry about it tomorrow. This is far bigger. The WTS is a worldwide PRIVATE corporation who has the added asset of using religion as a defense and could very well sue NBC for all they are worth should they decide to.
Then we must consider the target audience. Not NBC's since they have no interest in "saving" Witnesses, just in ratings. No, I mean ours. As the segment begins advertising, and I believe it will, the warning will sound. As the warning sounds, in one way it will be advertisement to watch for some, but for many it will be notice to avoid even turning on the TV that night. Many JW's will watch. What percentage will watch? Don't know. Of that percentage, how many will turn off their tv's in self-righteous vindication at how they are being persecuted? How many will watch in shock and realize what they just saw is true? How many will leave not knowing what to think?
My point is, lets not get our hopes all pinned on this one battle in a much larger fight. Silentlambs is doing a wonderful and sometimes painful job and I don't mean in any way to diminish that, just wanted to point a few things out.
Y'all have a good night, especially you Silentlambs.
mike.
the co in our circuit, has been using the following analogy when speaking about meeting attendance and field service:.
if your employer offered you $150.00 to skip the meetings and work overtime, would you?
how would you feel, insulted, right?
I remember a pompous elder asking a similar question of a pioneer friend of mine because the guy would take ONE saturday a year to work at an annual tourist event. His question was "how much money is it worth to you to miss field service?".
When I look back, I think that I only heard such talk about sacrificing work for meetings and service from those who had more than enough money to get by and who worked "banker's hours" which of course never interfered with mandated attendance. Any elder out there working his ass off to support a family and just barely getting by would probably never utter such a question.
mike.
thanks for your thoughts and well wishes.
liza made it through the surgery ok. it turned into a 3 1/2 hour surgery instead of the 2 hours they predicted, oh well.
she ended up losing one of her ovaries out of the deal.
Yeru, this is the first I have heard about your wife. I really hope it works out ok for her. A very good friend of mine went thru much the same thing over a year ago and her pain was terrible. Y'all hang in there.
mike.
i was just wondering what everyone's username meant.
i have my own guesses (sixofnine, silentlambs, slayerlayer-i'm almost afraid :o), amazing-enough said!,mommy, fredhall-is that your name?, ozziepost-from downunder, and the list goes on!
please share!!
Well, first because I was an exhaust technician for a long time. It's something I'm proud of, being able to custom bend exhaust pipe so I decided on Bendrr. Plus I like the robot from the show 'Futurama'.
The spelling was just a custom bend.
mike.
well, it's late sunday night and fixing to be bedtime for me.
just had to type some more.. first and foremost:.
troubled.
Well, it's late Sunday night and fixing to be bedtime for me. Just had to type some more.
First and foremost:
Troubled. How are you doing? I may have missed some posts, so tell me you are better ok?
Nice to see the "race war" subsiding here.
I gathered from one of his posts that Fred likes cats. Well, Fred, so do I. Wonderful pets. I don't have any now but you made me want another one so badly. I used to have some, one a bobtail manx named Amazon. One of her kittens was a huge solid black long haired bobtail named Bear.
Danny it was nice to hear from you on the phone. Seeing as we both enjoy cooking, I'll tell you that I grilled lobster tail tonight. Melted some butter with lemon and orange peel mixed in and poured it over the tails on the grill. Added Jack Daniels wood smoking chips to the fire, they make excellent smoke.
I'll be building a computer soon and will be able to finally hit this board's chat room. Planning on a 1ghz machine with a video card that will let me use my tv for a monitor and avoid the back pain from those awful computer desk chairs.
Slayer, I'll take your advice and go see Planet of the Apes on the big screen. By the way, Enemy at the Gates is out on video next month and I can't wait. From what I understand it is based on a historical account from WWII, I saw this on the History Channel so it ought to be pretty awesome.
Well, time for bed so I'll leave with some humor.
What does Dale Earnheardt have in common with Pink Floyd?
Their last big hit was "The Wall".
'night all!
mike.
"Well done, Blind Squirrel! You've found an impressive nut!
the history of everything and stuff.
(contrary to jw opinion, jehovah doth have a great sense of humor.
after all, he made us, didn't he?
Jim, I didn't know if I liked you or not after your post about the paycheck advance business problems you are having. Then I read this post and immediately visualized it being a narration in the movie "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and it was perfect. I can see Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect looking up Jehovah's Witnesses in the book and your post is precisely how the book would describe them.
In spite of my preconceptions, you're a pretty cool dude and I like your sense of humor.
mike.
"Well done, Blind Squirrel! You've found an impressive nut!
this is the story.
i have been operating a pay-day loan business for almost 2 years now.
i started out in business with a brother who passed away almost a year ago.
Dear Big Jim. I'm sorry to hear what happened. But in this case my sympathy is prejudiced a little bit because of the business you were in. Coming from "poor white trash" myself, I am all too familiar with finance companies, title pawns, and paycheck advancers. Some of my happiest moments have been paying off a loan with a finance company early and seeing the disgruntled look on the loan officer's face at losing the interest I would have paid otherwise. I'm hoping that you are one of the small minority who was ethical and honest in your dealings with your customers. The vast majority of these businesses are the scum of the earth. I have had loans with them, had one curse me out on the phone when I was less than 2 weeks late with a payment (that one got paid off very early so they wouldn't get all their interest and finance charges), seen them threaten to have someone thrown in jail if she didn't pay. I even did repo work for a short time, and after I went to repo a car from a very nice young man who I found out was only a week late on a payment. I shook his hand and told him to have a nice weekend and went home with a hurt conscience.
I don't have a whole lot of sympathy for the customers of businesses like yours, but the way they are taken advantage of turns my stomach. Rarely does anyone get ahead by using a loan shark. Someone who has to resort to taking out this kind of loan will only end up losing money in the long run. Even paying off the loan on time doesn't do a damn thing to help their credit rating.
Jim, I really hope that after you get this taken care of, you will find another line of work. Don't think for one second that you are "helping" anyone by giving paycheck loans. Your customers are already living from one check to the next and the only thing you are helping is their ability to stay in debt. That customer could very well find a way to hold out a few days till payday, but chances are they are coming to you because some other creditor is strong-arming them for a payment. True, there are exceptions and some may very well be one-time customers in real need. But how many of your customers do you know by name because they have been in so many times?
I can remember some times when I went in to make a payment and saw someone signing for a loan how much I wanted to grab the pen away and tell that person not to do it. Just wait till next payday or the next one after that, you can find some other way, don't spend the next year paying $750 to borrow $500 today!
Like I said, I hope that you were at least one of the ethical and honest lenders. Another poster mentioned contacting the authorities. Take the computer out of the office as quick as you can, the feds are very skilled at retrieving "deleted" data and incriminating evidence may still be on the hard drive and needs to be protected for your sake.
After all is said and done I hope you are vindicated and this crook does some hard time. And I really hope you get out of this line of work. There are so many more honorable ways to prosper in the loan industry than what you are doing now.
Mike.
"Well done, Blind Squirrel! You've found an impressive nut!
