i don't think that it's too early for my annual merry christmas thread .
merry christmas everyone.
jan .
I may have said that I have no wish to celebrate the holiday, but that doesn’t mean that I would not wish happiness to others…
If you are doing it then I hope you have a good one…
Happy Christmas to all, especially to Jan for her constant good cheer !
ronald curzan ( helper to the teaching committee ) gives a talk on the real reasons jehovah's witnesses should attend meetings.
it looks like the zoom meetings have softened up many witnesses.
many are probably turning off their cameras and zoning out.
Keeps them busy, out of mischief……
Hey we used to have Three meetings a week, Thursday, Sunday and the Tuesday Group Study. We all felt that they got rid of the best one when they axed the Group Study ….
so, just posted on jw.borg:.
as of march 2023, the hour requirement for pioneers, which was suspended during the pandemic, will once again be enforced.. elders will review the activity of all pioneers in june 2023. if it appears that any do not have a “practical schedule” (aren’t getting at least close to 70 hours per month”), elders are to “kindly and frankly discuss their circumstances”.. what’s that sound that seems like a torpedo plane diving on its target?
that’s the sound of the number of regular pioneers in complete free fall .
I believe most Pioneers will be ok with this. They knew the hours cessation was temporary. Some will welcome some help to get back into routine. If they have got totally out of it during the pandemic then it is best they stop kidding and come off.
many on here are ex jw....they have left the jws because of coming to find out the many false indoctrinations.
one of the things learned as a jw is that there isn't anything true about xmas being the birth of jesus.
( matt chapter 2 tells a whole different narrative about the baby jesus than what is portrayed by the christian churches) they learn the ways that are celebrated are pagan practices jesus told the samaritan woman that god wanted to be worshipped in spirit and it truth.
Being married to a devout and sincere JW, there is no way that we would celebrate Christmas. That said, I have no desire to. The customs and traditions and the food are unappealing to me so I have no problem with sitting it out.
the wt engages in history revisionism when insisting the world changed overnight in 1914. in fact the european power struggles that came to a head were centuries old.
millions of lives had been lost in the wars of the 19th century, with the world a powder keg the years prior to the assassination of franz ferdinand in june 1914 which is often said, albeit rather arbitrarily, as the start of the war that escalated over the next 4 years into the great war.
take a look at these two pages and ask if the wt's interpretation of history seems accurate to you.
“The Truth Shall Set You Free”….. we used to have copies of that in the house when I was young , heaven knows where they are now. That is a good catch Atlantis.
As for 1914 , I used to believe it. Not because I had any real knowledge but because the WT Society taught it and I figured that they knew more than I did.
As time went on though , decades went by and in the late nineties I was concerned. I just could not see that we would pass into the twenty first century and still be in the old world . As that got closer I dared to think the unthinkable, and seriously asked myself whether it was really true, or just another religion of men ?
And here I am….
hey, all.
i had an old memory pop into my head today about an oddly worded announcement made by an elder at a meeting back when i was a bible study.
i couldn't find anything in the wol nor on google about it, so i wondered if this was just some rogue one-off, or if this is the way things used to be announced.
Just checked the up to date Shepherd The Flock book and I agree with Neat Blue Dog, above. These days it is brief and to the point
watchtower has just lost its appeal in the norwegian courts over the withdrawal of the funding it receives from the government as an officially recognised religion.
the initial decision will now stand due to what the court termed 'exclusionary practices' which includes the witnesses barbaric practice of shunning minors, even by family members in their own homes.
the ministry of children and families have decided they are now no longer eligible for the state grant of 16 million norwegian kroner given to officially recognised religions.. the following is a statement has been issued, i have summarised if it isn't readable: .
The U K gives charitable status to organisations simply for being a religion. I get that religion does often make its members better people, but in today’s secular world this really is an anachronism that should be done away with
i've copied and pasted this entire newspaper article from yesterday in full as just using the link hits a paywall.... berks judge lowers bail for former berks man accused of molesting boys in '90s.. steven henshaw, reading eagle, pa.. thu, december 8, 2022 at 4:59 am·4 min read.
dec. 7—a berks county judge on wednesday halved the $1.5 million bail amount that had been set for a georgia man while he awaits recently filed charges that he sexually assaulted two boys in the 1990s while living in the hamburg area.. jesse j. hill, 52, remained in the county jail in lieu of $750,000 cash bail to await a preliminary hearing following wednesday's bail hearing before judge patrick t. barrett.
the defendant followed the hearing from a cellblock in the basement of the courthouse via closed-circuit video.. state attorney general josh shapiro's office alleges that hill leveraged his family's trusted name within their jehovah's witnesses religious community to prey on boys as young as 9 during the 1990s, plying his victims with trips to the mall and r-rated movies, alcohol, marijuana and candy, according to the charges.. hill's lawyer, jay nigrini, petitioned the court for bail modification, arguing that hill's substantial local ties — he has resided in berks nearly all of his life — puts him at extremely low risk of fleeing prosecution.
Come on, we know that disfellowshipping is not a permanent thing or a life ban... ever.
We have no details of the re-in statement but after 13 years , if he pleaded repentance, they would let him back. Even a prison term is not for life.
I am certainly not defending their action but I understand it . The bad thing is that he should have been reported to the police at the time, if they were honourable and had any thoughts for the outside community.
what was your opinion about november broadcast with tony morris( maeby it's december)?
saw small parts of it.
i thought it was extrem desperation.
I did see that G B update.. I saw nothing that I was not expecting to hear.
The comments about returning to meetings were indeed disingenuous. They have admitted that some ( a lot) have stayed home on zoom. Of course he used the comments from the blinkered sheeplike ones who fawn over them with gushing sycophantic words .
Of the ones in my family and extended family…. they are still zooming.
this quote is from a kingdom ministry, advertising to its members (i was one until 1977) in the year 1970.. "a new circuit assembly program is scheduled to begin in september.
we believe you will find it most informative and upbuilding.
the public talk will be “who will conquer the world in the 1970’s?” kingdom ministry announcements, july 1970, p. 3".
Yes, at the time we all knew, we just knew that momentous things even the Gt. Tribulation was all going to happen in the 1970s . We knew 6000 years of man’s existence was up in ‘75. That had to be important because the Society said it was !
People were starting to talk about world pollution and ecology. The ‘Truth book’ contained the quote that “ The world will be too dangerous to live in “ . The Wt made a big thing of a book entitled’Famine 1975’ ….. excitement was mounting.
And then nothing happened …
