Posts by steve2

The last time I was around someone who blasphemed, I was kind of glad I restrained myself and didn't follow the Mosaic injunction to stone them. My advice: Drop the Bible and start living.

115

What's Your Opinion of Putting Spy Cameras On City Streets?

by minimus in

jw
friends

the new york post has an article on how the police commissioner plans on having spy cameras put in certain city streets that have high crime activity----not to monitor activity as it's happening but to review footage if a crime did occur in the area---after the fact.________what's your thought on this?

?

steve2

Why waste time putting spy cameras on city streets when there are innumerable public "bathrooms" crying out for them? To stem vandalism, of course.

4

New stats...JW's...

by Golden Girl in

jw
friends

i clicked on the site showing the 2005 conventions someone posted and saw a lot of goodies... i found some more recent statistics of the jw's.

it shows how many attended the memorial..and says 8570 partook in 2004. it seemed like a few years ago it was around 10,000.. it's on the left side under topics..last one is statistics..the other links are informative also..you can break them down by country... .

snoozy... .

steve2

These figures have been widely available for about seven months now (December 2004).

Notice how the site only reports peak publisher numbers, with no direct comparison with the previous year (in actual numbers). Admittedly this is a site likely to be visited by non-JWs, but even the use of particular words seems different from their normal practice. For example, they use the words "membership" and "members". I could be wrong, but I don't think they've used this sort of language before.

Also, the statistics have the predictable blurb about counting actual active members not like in other religions whose numbers consist of even infrequent attenders. Funny the site should mention this when its own memorial figures consist of large numbers of people who only attend the annual memorial and the peak numbers could also potentially inlcude even elderly or infirm individuals who have spent only 15 minutes witnessing in the past year.

41

ARE JW SISTERS ALLOWED TO CARRY COFFINS?

by steve2 in

jw
friends

recently i was amazed to read in another thread that jw females are not even allowed to walk up and down the aisles counting those in attendance.

the poster said jw women literally "don't count" - a brilliant play on words.

i guess i had never thought about it before, but it got me wondering about all the behind-the-scene work jw females do, but their invisibility in the public arena.

steve2

Thanks for the replies, everyone. Female JWs role is invisible during the funeral and, it seems, the male JWs role isn't too much more visible in some places. However, I note a "disturbing" regional and even national variation among the JW funeral service itself. Is this an area the governing body is somewhat lax on? An earnest JW may want to write the Watchtower about this lack of uniformity.

I noted TresHappy's description of a JW funeral in Ireland. It has a local flavour to it. Similarly, my grandparents had their respective funeral services in the kingdom hall with the coffins present (albeit not open). Among the male pallbearers were two unbelieving sons (but who were deemed suitably respectable). There was no provision for any in the audience to offer eulogies - that seems standard worldwide.

I'm not sure why eulogies aren't allowed. I suspect it's because of that stupid rule about not drawing attention to individuals - even during their funeral. How crazy is that?

41

ARE JW SISTERS ALLOWED TO CARRY COFFINS?

by steve2 in

jw
friends

recently i was amazed to read in another thread that jw females are not even allowed to walk up and down the aisles counting those in attendance.

the poster said jw women literally "don't count" - a brilliant play on words.

i guess i had never thought about it before, but it got me wondering about all the behind-the-scene work jw females do, but their invisibility in the public arena.

steve2

Recently I was amazed to read in another thread that JW females are not even allowed to walk up and down the aisles counting those in attendance. The poster said JW women literally "don't count" - a brilliant play on words. I guess I had never thought about it before, but it got me wondering about all the behind-the-scene work JW females do, but their invisibility in the public arena.

But what about during funeral services - does this invisibility still prevail? Are they allowed to give a eulogy? Can they be pallbearers (carry the coffins)? Apart from sit and stand upon request, what are they allowed to do during such a service?

26

The Truth Hurts The Most

by minimus in

jw
friends

what's the best way to get to people to expose the watchtower's lies??

tell the truth.

point out how jws are a cult.

steve2

I like the "puzzled" approach advocated by Blondie. Express a bit of puzzlement about an area of doubt and state that you're sure there's a simple explanation, then ask your question. This is important because to the JWs, it's the motive for asking questions that is all important. So, if you ask from a position of looking up to them - as opposed to pointing out errors and/or contradictions - they may have a greater tolerance for questions . The stroked ego can be an amazingly tolerant thing.

29

Witnesses and alcoholism

by Grace in

jw
friends

my jw husband has made me promise to let him die rather than approve a blood transfusion because of bible doctrine; however, the same bible speaks against alcoholism and drunkeness and yet he continues to drink and sometimes gets absolutely smashed.. last night we were at a non-jw staff party for my place of employment, and he lost any shred of dignity through his heavy drinking.

we got home at 3 a.m. and he jumped out of bed at 8:20 and said, "i have to get to book study; i'm reading today.

(it behooves me how he can do this time and again without even taking so much as an asparin!).

steve2

I was never much of a consumer of alcohol when I was in the organisation despite being surrounded by JW heavy drinkers, but it's still great being out: Now I've got even less of a reason to drink!

29

Witnesses and alcoholism

by Grace in

jw
friends

my jw husband has made me promise to let him die rather than approve a blood transfusion because of bible doctrine; however, the same bible speaks against alcoholism and drunkeness and yet he continues to drink and sometimes gets absolutely smashed.. last night we were at a non-jw staff party for my place of employment, and he lost any shred of dignity through his heavy drinking.

we got home at 3 a.m. and he jumped out of bed at 8:20 and said, "i have to get to book study; i'm reading today.

(it behooves me how he can do this time and again without even taking so much as an asparin!).

steve2

Doesn't this thread underscore how morally selective the Watchtower is? I have often thought that if the Watchtower were as vigilant in stamping out alcohol excess among men in positions of responsibility as it is in actively searching for and then punishing normal dating practices among the very young (please use your imagination), there'd be only a tiny number of JWs left in good standing, and, more to the point, practically no elders!

Talk about removing the rod from your own eye before judging the one in your brother's eye.

26

The Truth Hurts The Most

by minimus in

jw
friends

what's the best way to get to people to expose the watchtower's lies??

tell the truth.

point out how jws are a cult.

steve2

In the words of Paul Simon: "A man sees what he wants to see/and disregards the rest".

I once thought that because the JWs were so big on reasoned arguments, they'd easily see all the stuff that's been going on behind governing-body doors. How wrong I was! They didn't even want to know there was a door, let alone what was going on behind one.

The most persuasive way to reach someone who refuses to see? Credit them with an ability to sooner or later come to their senses. Pushing the issue just makes 'em more determined to ignore the door exists.