HERE IS THE ARTICLE WITHOUT THE PICTURE. MY COUSIN SENT THE ARTICLE TO ME WITH PICTURE BY EMAIL BUT THE PICTURE WAS ALMOST 4 MEGS SO I AM POSTING THE ARTICLE.
Pope Remembers Steffie
"But he's still just a naughty boy to me" say Cooma Cousin
By Markus Mannheim
He may be the spiritual head of the world's largest Christian church, but a cousin of Pope Benedict the XVI says that he is still a naughty boy to her.
Steffie Brzakovic, 78, of Cooma, received a call from her famous first cousin shortly after his election in a papal conclave in April.
It was the first time she had heard from him in more than 50 years.
Mrs. Brzakovic, who was raised in the southern Germany city of Weilheim before moving to Australia in 1956, said she remembered Joseph Ratzinger as a young boy who was often up to no good.
"He was everywhere he shouldn't [have] been, she recalled yesterday, shaking her head. "When I think today of what we did, it's a wonder that [we are] alive."
When she received the phone call three months ago she first thought it was a prank. It wasn't until His Holiness told her it was "Ratzinger Pepi", referring to his childhood nickname, that she realized who was on the other end.
"I said, 'Are you the Pope?' and he [replied]. 'But for you I am still Ratzinger Pepi'."
Mrs. Brzakovic was raised as a Roman Catholic, but became a Jehovah's Witness in the 1970's.
She said that while her religious differences with her family had caused frustration, the Pope had encouraged her for following her faith.
"He told me that 'You are doing the work that we should do'," she said, referring to her church's missionary work. "He said, 'You have halls that are not too big, but they are full. We have cathedrals, churches, chapels and they are empty'."
Mrs. Brzakovic is spending this weekend at a Jehovah's Witness convention in Canberra with about 3000 district worshippers.
Pope's Cousin a JW You can save the pic of the news article and make it larger to read it. The sister has a DC lapel pin on.
PaNiCAtTaCk
JoinedPosts by PaNiCAtTaCk
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Popes cousin a witness. Pope praises witnesses.
by PaNiCAtTaCk inhere is the article without the picture.
my cousin sent the article to me with picture by email but the picture was almost 4 megs so i am posting the article.
pope remembers steffie .
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PaNiCAtTaCk
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What did the "Godly Obedience" District Conventions really achieve?
by truthseeker inthis is a re-print of a post found on e-watchman's discussion board, a public forum.
it has a few interesting tidbits in there.
thought you might be interested.. by the way, does jwd have a policy about using posts from other boards, even if credit to the original author is given?.
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PaNiCAtTaCk
thanks for posting this. It was a great wrap up of exactly what I heard!
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Combatting Mind Control by Steve Hassan - Review
by TheListener ini'll admit that when i first began having doubts i thought for sure i was crazy.
once i totally didn't believe it was the truth i thought for sure i was going to die at armageddon because my faith wasn't strong enought to understand that this was really the truth.. since then i've gotten over those feelings and have always said i feel the witnesses are a cult.
maybe not as destructive a cult as jim jones, but a cult nonetheless.
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PaNiCAtTaCk
Thanks for the review I just ordered Releasing the bonds and combating cult mind control last night on Amazon.com and Im excited. Is there one book I should read before the other?
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A continuation of defd's discussion
by cruzanheart inokay, defd, i started a new topic so we won't continue to hijack panic attack's thread.
the reason why i didn't answer you back is twofold: (1) i'm at work and they kind of expect me to do other things besides post on jwd; (2) my husband chris (big tex) answered your question sufficiently for me so i didn't see a need to respond.. nina i am curious as to why you didnt finish our discussion and respond to my answer?
was raised as one of jehovah's witnesses, and i am very pleased to be able to offer my children the respect to make their own decisions about what to believe .
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PaNiCAtTaCk
Defd it seems that you are confused as to how my wife and I have decided to raise our child. You are suggesting that we are letting our child make all his decisions and decide right from wrong from here on out. Actually, this so far from the truth! On the subject of bad association for instance, We go deeper than 1 Cor 15:33. Just like a JW we explain what bad association means. For him it would be mean kids, kids that use bad words, kids that bully ect. At our house we dont use words like idiot or stupid and my son is the first to correct you if you slip up. He knows that no one is considered stupid. So when I tell him if something seems wrong or if someone seems to be a bad person, make a Christian decision and dont associate with that child. Today he came home from his first day of school and told me that some kids wouldnt share but that he did. He also told me that there was a little girl that was using alot of bad language and he avoided her. You can bet that this made me feel very good as a parent. I will not completely shelter my son like a JW is supposed to. There was an example at the assembly of a little boy that really wanted to play basketball after school with a neighbor but he talked himself out of it because this boy was not a JW. I will never have a blanket rule layed down and enforced where everyone not a JW is off limits and bad association. My son will have a balanced view of people and he will understand there are good people and bad people. He will be armed with the ability to distinguish between the two without being judgemental, but do so out of good common sence and a healthy understanding of what is wrong and what is right.
Defd, if you believe that the JW's have the truth then good for you. I would never want to shake your faith in the WT if it makes you a better person and you believe it to be the truth. Im not sure what your story is because I havent read back to see where your coming from but dont ever ever assume that just because someone walks away from the JW religion that person automatically becomes bad or immoral. I will not grow my hair long, I will not smoke or start drinking heavily like most of my JW friends. I will not steal or cheat on my wife. What I will do though is use my bible reading and Christian conscience to make all my own decisions apart from the Watchtower. I will quit relying on men to lead me and start relying on Jehovah. I know longer have to have all the answers to every verse in Daniel or Revelation. I am content now with a simple belief system of basically how a Christian should act according to the example of Jesus and the letters from Paul to the congregations. I hope this clears some things up for you.
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Tell us your story if you went to seldom worked territory
by truthseeker intell us about the results, the fun, the friendships you made and those that broke.
did you meet your current spouse there?
what was your team captain like?
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PaNiCAtTaCk
I went to unassigned territory and within the first 15 minutes of the first day while in service I had major stomach problems. I was taken to the closest witnesses house and dropped off. After I was able to sneak to the alley and throw my underware away I spent the rest of the day sick on their sofa watching TV.
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For those who wanted the obedience symosium posted again here it is.
by PaNiCAtTaCk inobedience part 1 http://s43.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=11kqm9ml4fiwx382kicck81c6y .
obedience part 2 http://s43.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0xfgilqm0wdjf29jgytpr87wcn .
copy and pase in your address bar then save as to your desktop.
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PaNiCAtTaCk
that would be awesome as others try to download they keep exceeding bandwith! Thank you!
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For those who wanted the obedience symosium posted again here it is.
by PaNiCAtTaCk inobedience part 1 http://s43.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=11kqm9ml4fiwx382kicck81c6y .
obedience part 2 http://s43.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0xfgilqm0wdjf29jgytpr87wcn .
copy and pase in your address bar then save as to your desktop.
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PaNiCAtTaCk
Obedience Part 1 http://s43.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=11KQM9ML4FIWX382KICCK81C6Y
Obedience Part 2 http://s43.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0XFGILQM0WDJF29JGYTPR87WCN
Copy and pase in your address bar then save as to your desktop. They are very good quality with CD quality sound. -
Does anyone know this bethelite that got kicked out in the mid 90's
by PaNiCAtTaCk inhis name was brian rhinehart and he was from texas.
he was disfellowshipped right after that and never came back.
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PaNiCAtTaCk
His name was Brian Rhinehart and he was from Texas. He was disfellowshipped right after that and never came back.
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The GB as JW celebrities
by Rubyvixen ini am really,really curious as to how other people back while in the org viewed the gb.
because my oldest brother (older than me by 14 years!
) was first at the watchtower farms and then brooklyn bethel and my uncle is a member of the gb, my mother tended to flaunt these facts and look for every opportunity to go to either place with her bible studies (these terms are so weird to use after all these years lol).
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PaNiCAtTaCk
Ive toured bethel twice and on one occassion we spotted a GB member and the whole group freaked like we had seen Tom Hanks or something. It was very exciting as everyone there obviously viewed him as celebrity status. We were all talking about it back home in our congregation to everyone. About 5 months ago I was visiting with my PO and he was talking about how exciting it was to meet Franz in Denver Colorado once year ago. I then asked him was it Ray Franz? He quickly said NO! NO! it was the good one!!! Fred Franz! Also my cousin was at the Farm from 89-96 and talked about how Fred Franz was a scholar and how he could endlessly quote scripture. Even at our memorial this last year we had a speaker from Bethel give the talk and everyone treated him like a celebrity. He was early thirties and an elder. The kingdom hall was completely packed with probably 300 people and one couple in the congregation has an autistic son of 12 years. Their son had raised his voice a couple of times during the service and everyone just ignored it because everyone knows the family and their struggles. There was no issue but the young bethel speaker stopped his memorial talk and said "Please take the child to the back so that he does not take away from the sacredness of this event!" He wasnt asking please he was damanding it as the mom wrestles to get her son to the back of the crowded hall that was standing room only. It really made a bad witness because everyone has empathy for this family and not only was she greatly embarrassed but her family had been used at the last assembly for an experience of the trials that some go through by her having to raise an autistic son and how much time she spends trying to get him ready for all the meetings and keeping him calm during them. Shortly after The bethel Elder removed the autistic boy a mentally retarded girl behind me made some faint noises and the brother stops and looks in our direction. I was afraid he was going to pull the same thing and these people behind us were someones study. The mentally challenged girl quitened down though and the speaker couldnt never put his finger on who had made the noises. I was infuriated by this speaker and how cold he came across to everyone and even the local elders were all looking at each other like "OH my God what is this guy doing!" There was no love shown that night and any potential visitors saw that. I am not stumbled easily and even when I was zealously doing everything I was suppossed to as a JW I would have been angry.
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Anti-Witnessesing: Passive Agressive Style Effective for Quotes
by Quotes inwell, they came magazine selling door-knocking ingathering and judgeing witnessing today.
but first, a quick background.... my wife and i have a investment property 90 minutes away from our home (a mistake btw; always invest closer to your home!
) and we've been there (here) full time for the past several days doing some renovations.
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PaNiCAtTaCk
I bet she will either turn it over to an Elder or bring an Elder with her next time. I enjoyed your post.