Posts by blondie

43

Can you be DF'd for obesity?

by cosmo in

jw
friends

if jw's can be(or should i say are) df'd for smoking, why aren't people df'd for obesity.. it seems they say that you are violating your body and hurting it from smoking but i've never seen a person live over the age of 80 that was obese.

just seems like being obese is worse than smoking.

blondie

Just go to an assembly and see all the obese JWs there...I doubt that they are all DF'd. Some gluttons are obese and some obese people are gluttons but not all obese people are gluttons and not all gluttons are obese. Bulimic people are gluttons but usually are just normal weight or a little over. Now that can be dangerous physically. I think you are thinking of being "greedy" which is a catchall phrase that some use to DF people. All or nothing thinking is hardly ever realistic. Personally, I would rather have an obese person sitting next to me than have someone blowing smoke into the air I breathe.

Do you mind if I smoke? No, do you mind if I fart...Steve Martin, ex-smoker.

2

Acts 20:20,21

by stevieb1 in

acts 20:21,21: according to the nwt these verses read:.

"while i did not hold back from telling you any of these things that were profitable nor from teaching you publicly and from house to house.

but i thoroughly bore witness to both jews and to greeks about repentance towards god and faith in our lord jesus.".

blondie

Don't find too many at home nowadays....

They used to hand tracts out at the church doors as people left on Sunday. This is why they changed to door to door...

7/15/01 p. 12 paragraph 11

"God's harvest workers often met people as they were leaving church services and gave them tracts...After a reappraisal of the effectiveness of this method of witnessing, the Watch Tower of May 15, 1903, urged harvest workers to distribute the tracts "from house to house, on Sunday forenoons."

Now more emphasis is put on contacting people at places other than their homes...where people recreate, work, shop....you cannot hide
Of course this doesn't really answer your question.

I'm sure someone here has already researched this thoroughly and will post it. I just thought it was interesting that house to house was not the first form of witnessing and did not really take hold until the 1920's and 30's. (I guess the light wasn't bright enough yet

47

"Special" meeting in October?

by Esmeralda in

jw
friends

question.

my mother told my husband that there is to be a 'special meeting' in october at the local sports arena (same place as dc's are held here) and that "only publishers are allowed to attend" that they will get "special cards" for admission from their local congregation and have to hand them in to get into the building.

i have no idea if this has anything to do with the "annual meeting" they always have (isn't that generally in october?

blondie

Hey, troubled, every year around the 1st of October (remember how everything from Jesus birth to the destruction of Babylon happens around that time) there is an Annual Meeting where the ones who hold the business proxies in the WTS come to vote for the brothers who held up the different business groups as required by business law in the US. That probably takes about 10 minutes. Proxy holders do not have to physically attend but can sign and mail in their votes. Because everyone who matters is there, the GB or whoops, not them any more, the nonanointed brothers and other attendees use it for some special JW news. Last year, the change in the GB no longer being in the business end was announced and explained...that is why MH Larson is listed as President of the WTS of NY on the 2nd page of the WT, not Brother Henschel, and the secretary-treasurer is GF Simonis. Don Adams is president of the WTS of PA (I think), etc.

It would be hard to top that this year. Of course, no secrets from the rest of us. I'm sure this was explained somewhere in the publications since...I can't remember where....

47

"Special" meeting in October?

by Esmeralda in

jw
friends

question.

my mother told my husband that there is to be a 'special meeting' in october at the local sports arena (same place as dc's are held here) and that "only publishers are allowed to attend" that they will get "special cards" for admission from their local congregation and have to hand them in to get into the building.

i have no idea if this has anything to do with the "annual meeting" they always have (isn't that generally in october?

blondie

How do they decide which congregations get invited? Are they all over the US and Canada or are other countries involved? Are more congregations than normal being invited this year? Last year was the big change in administration....were more invited then?

21

Help - elder just called!

by JW83 in

jw
friends

hi guys, an elder who just moved into my local (slack) cong just called to find out how i was going spiritually!

i haven't been to meetings for a year and no one else has ever cared, even though i was aux pio'ing at the time i stopped.

he is coming over with his wife one day, he said.

blondie

Hi JW83...just a thought, I am positive the other elders have shared their viewpoints of you and any past problems you have had in the congregation and things you have said already to them....so I don't think he will be coming without some preconceived ideas. Just as Ozziepost says, it wouldn't hurt to be prepared for any "innocent" questions. And as was said, his wife will be there so it is not supposed to get too pointed...just friendly. Just remember even if you are right about your points, you will be considered wrong to point them out, especially to a brother and an elder at
that...running ahead of Jehovah's org.

I find answering a question with a question works great, i.e., "Why are you asking that?" "Why do you think that?" "Why do you feel that way?"

57

A Call To Deal With Apostates

by AlanF in

jw
friends

from the july 1, 2003 watchtower article "righteous requirements":.

.. the kingdom of god is the highest government anyone can serve.

how does jehovah issue the call to his people?

blondie

JW83, I guess we define fear differently or I'm not being clear. Fear of losing acceptance in a group is a very real and strong fear. It keeps quite a few inside the organization that are experiencing a great deal of dissonance with the teachings and actions. Being different is not easy as anyone who ever was a JW knows...the question is different from whom or what other group. Humans are by nature group animals. That is why DF'ing works fairly well in the JW organization. First you are told that everyone outside the group is dangerous and will oppose you when you study. Then that is reinforced each and every time a JW sees someone or hears of someone being DF'd as well as seeing how they are treated; as well as at every meeting either directly or indirectly. JWs are told if they are outside the group they will die or be killed. So most fear being put outside the group. It's us against the world mentality. I'm sure everyone here who DA'd or were DF'd can attest to a little pain in adjusting to old friends and JW family members avoiding them...at least until they made new friends or in some cases found a new group.

Fear of being put out of one's safe little group into a demonized unknown can motivate people to do atrocious things. I have only gone through Sociology 101 and Social Psychology 101 but what I learned confirmed what life had taught me. It's that chicken pecking order...that is the chickens see one chicken with a blemish and they all peck on it until that chicken is dead or smart enough to get out of the chicken coop. It is amazing how fear can motivate groups of people to do unspeakable things.

Well, I can get into this forever...I never underestimate what seemingly ordinary and nice people can be motivated to do by fear of being kicked out of their group. This fear of people outside your group (which DF ones definitely become to good JWs) has been the motivating force behind many of the atrocities. Jews were feared and hated for years and had all sorts of wild stories told about them. This hatred was used to motivate others to destroy the Jews...not just Jews, blacks, asians, Native Americans, gays, etc.

It's amazing what people will do as a group that they would never do alone.

57

A Call To Deal With Apostates

by AlanF in

jw
friends

from the july 1, 2003 watchtower article "righteous requirements":.

.. the kingdom of god is the highest government anyone can serve.

how does jehovah issue the call to his people?

blondie

By some, do you mean me? Of course, JW83, Germans are not a monolithic group and there were many reasons Germans did not resist the Nazi plan, some mentioned in that book. Remember Milgram's experiment, any ethnic group, racial group, gender, etc., can be conditioned to do unspeakable things unless they prepare themselves ahead for the mindtraps. Some Germans did fight back, I am thinking of the White Rose group in Munich. Some didn't think things would get as bad as they did, and when they realized that they were going to be the next group to be sent to the camps, it was too late. Fear motivates people in ways that are hard for some to understand unless they have lived under it day by day with no seeming chance of escape or change. Some just give in, others resist to the point of death rather than be enslaved to fear. "Give me liberty or give me death," one person said. Living in fear is a living death.

7

Past Light

by Frenchy in

jw
friends

"...sincere people...who desire to understand the truth and know what the future holds, will study and give heed to what is written in the word of truth...this does not at all mean that such sincere persons must join any organization under the sun.".

enemies by j.f.

rutherford.

blondie

Frenchy, wouldn't that picture liven up the WT publications today! What's the story behind the legs on the snake...is that in the Bible? I have been reading the older publications lately and marking the pictures with full female frontal nudity....quite a few...

Musty books, just put them in a bag with unused clay kitty litter for a week...takes away the smell of the must...remember "unused."

5

Blast From The Past.

by Frenchy in

jw
friends

religionists are the enemies of god because they have forms of pretended worship of god but they have no real devotion to god and to his kingdom.

...the foregoing evidence proves conclusively that religion is a racket and that those who practice it for gain are racketeers...who rob the people of their money, take away their liberty of thought and action and put in jeopardy their lives.. enemies by j.f.

rutherford published in 1937 page 190. of course the judge was talking about the roman catholic church primarily.

blondie

Thanks, Frenchy...I guess it's like once JWs vindicated Jehovah's name and then it switched to vindicating his sovereignty in 1986, all without a study article or even a written explanation until 5/15/95 WT.

16

How Would You Respond?

by silentlambs in

jw
friends

i know this is kind of like shooting fish in a barrel, but i just have to share this email i got a few minutes ago.

i think it encapsulates the response many will have, no matter what is said about the molestation issue.

i invite you read it, put yourself in my shoes, and see how you might offer a response.

blondie

Children very, very rarely lie about something like this...I have seen this accusation made many times, mostly by child molesters and their supporters. This following article was interesting.

http://www.omsys.com/mmcd/courtrev.htm

The Myth of Epidemic False Allegations of Sexual Abuse in Divorce Cases

by Merrilyn McDonald
It is commonly believed that false allegations of sexual abuse in the context of divorce are epidemic, that most allegations made in the context of divorce are made by vindictive mothers and that these allegations are almost always false. These beliefs are not supported by scientific evidence.1 ...