one thing we were always taught in the past is how we should sit down and pray (kneel) to jehoober whenever we were at an event where they played the national anthem.
we had to actively disrespect the flag and anthem and be no part of the world, because we were our own country with jesus as king.. given kneeling/sitting for the national anthem is now the favorite pastime of the far-left and if you do so, you get associated with democrats, how do jehovah's witnesses now 'become no part of this world' when they have to disrespect the flag?.
In the UK we merely stand for the anthem. .. and it is not played as often as the American one is.
It is ironic that now sitting it out is viewed as a political statement , when WTS advocated it to be neutral of politics. I never saw the objection anyway, since we are told to "respect ...and honour the king " in scripture. I used to sit it out or escape the auditorium first though, just to be obedient.
does the information about mandatory donations in this post sound accurate to you?.
https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/i1gews/new_letter_1000_donations_are_mandatory_now/ petra!
Mmm , hardly "mandatory " since the elders have to consider whether they can manage it or not. Even if resolved, what happens if in the future they say they can't meet the commitment? They just tell the Branch and they have to accept what is offered.
in the early 1980s together with my brothers we decided to started collecting watchtower literature and have them neatly in a library at home.
with the help of our father he gave us all the books bought during the years that he had stored in a big wooden box.. after purchasing all the literature that we had missing from the kingdom hall we decided to write letters to the world headquarters of jehovah’s witnesses in brooklyn new york as well to the british and australian branch office.. unfortunately none of our requests bear fruit as they informed us: “it is doubtful whether they are available anywhere in the world….” (ca february 23, 1983); “unable to supply the old publications you request.” (sa: sg september 20, 1983) “we will keep your letter on our files….”(sa: sg january 22, 1983).. during the years we managed to obtain many of these early books going back to 1879 when this religious organization was started.. through barbara anderson we learned that in 30 columbia heights building new york they had a warehouse storage where they kept many old literature which don kommers the assistant of vern wisegarver was responsible for.
through these publications we learned what exactly was written by charles russell and joseph rutherford regarding predictions that never came to be.
"I have never seen or heard of JWs deliberately destroying old literature"
I have. When a cong. around here had a refurbishment the Bethel Building Team (whatever they call themselves) planned the backrooms and told the Elders to get rid of the extensive library. Loads of old and rare books were summarily dumped at the local tip....Tragic . I know some brothers that were furious.
i believe a light has to be shown on the elderly, forget blm.
sure, blacks are being mistreated by law enforcement at times, but there are hundreds of millions of people on a daily basis having no regard for the elderly by not wearing masks in the middle of a pandemic.
they believe the elderly have to be casualties for the economy and getting normalcy back.
Totally , but respectfully disagree with Matt's comment. The virus is real, it made my friend extremely ill and he is still not right.
As an oldie now , of course I sympathize with the o/p. However I see no correlation between it and the injustices endured by many people , including Black Americans.
The wearing of masks is mandatory in UK shops... but there is precious little enforcement of the law. Selfish people know that and flaunt the law.
Mask wearing is not for the wearers sake, it is for your fellow shopper's sake ... Please Mask up, for me..
sometimes i forget how small-minded, petty, provincial, mean-spirited ignorant and judgemental it was and still is.... then i sit down with a jw relative, hoping to have a normal conversation and realize there is literally nothing to talk about.. nothing..... current events?
hobbies?
your job?
I hate to be the one who differs , ( not really ) but my experience is that they will talk about anything...... except their faith.
In tne pre covid times we used to get together with my wife's dubby friends. It was no big problem to me because they would natter on about stuff quite normally.... They would talk about their holidays, their ailments share advice how to use their computers, anything . They did avoid politics, and television, unless it was harmless stuff but I am sure they all had opinions unspoken . My wife might try and inject a note of "sprirituality" into the conversation but it die like a damp squib.
Perhaps the dubs around your way are more " theocratic "?
did you notice this?
2020 governing body update #5. https://www.jw.org/en/library/videos/#en/mediaitems/latestvideos/docid-702020307_1_video.
why do they show the black goat in the picture?
It is not a real one, is it?
Strange choice of decoration though, considering their opposition to wildlife game hunting. Could cause some debate among those I know that are passionately against animal cruelty.
Perhaps he hangs his hat on it in the Winter?
Whatever, I am sure there is no hidden meaning to this.
a young man in somerset in england, under massive pressure from financial and relationship issues lapsed into mental illness.
he was unlucky enough to have as his support system the local congregation of jehovah's witnesses.
one of the symptoms of his illness was the use of tobacco.
A tragic end to a very sad story.
On the one hand I can see that the elders on the committee may have felt they had little choice, since they are merely rulebook followers and have little discretion.
I was at an elders school many years ago when the question was asked whether mental health should be considered in judicial cases. The answer was that if a person is cognizant enough to live and care for himself, mental health should not be considered.
Surely though, in this day and age, clear case like this shoul have prompted them to cut him a little slack.
I can see that attending an assembly as D/f could be the last straw.
my experience was that most jws wanted to have an elder “friend” just in case they got into any “trouble “.kinda like knowing that certain cop who might get you out of a jam.
.
of course there was another group who did everything they could to either kiss the elders’ ass or stonewall them anytime they came snooping around.. how did you and the “older men” get along?.
I was one ....
I didn't used to really get on with the others. When I was younger and fairly new to it there were some really experienced and capable ones that I looked up to, but you could never call them friends. When I found my feet I had nothing else in common with the others. It was a working relationship , like you have in your job.
I'd rather spend time with the "lesser" ones.. youngsters, oldies and eccentric ones in the cong.
i was wondering two things, 1: how long in total are the zoom meetings, i presume the sunday one is the longest ?.
and 2: if you use zoom for free, the session only lasts 40 minutes, so do they have an intermission so people can log back in, or are all jw's expected to pay for the "privilege" ?.
In UK socialising face to face in groups is banned by the Government and the Society, so to do so would be disobeying the F &D Slave.... They have a chat session after the zoomed WT ,all virtual of course.
I say long may it continue ! Three cheers for Zoom. It is going to be hell when wife has to back to the hall.
another post i made tonight reminded me of this.. what if a speaker at the district convention (is it still called that?
) makes a statement.
this doesn't jive with what you think the wtbts promotes.
Yes, they are very careful to present a uniform message.. That is why most of them are manuscript talks , read verbatum ...in other words...boring..
I was told once that to be an assembly speaker you needed a voice that was clear through the PA system and to be one who could be trusted to stick to the outline.
So no more of the "good" speakers who would slip anecdotes and wry humour into it.... 😴
