you buy a state lottery ticket with a motherlode of a jackpot similar to one in california recently.. lo and behold you alone win the $300,000,000.. before and after the next meeting you share your joy with the brothers and sisters.
some are naturally curious to know what percentage you plan on donating to the world wide preaching work and local congregation?.
how do you respond?.
I would personally underwrite 10% of their budget to help widows, orphans, and the poor. The program they have that's not a PR front, and not tied into proselytizing.
So, 0%.
Jesus said 'you will always have the poor with you' - and if everyone did for the poor what the WTS does, this will look like a fulfilled prophecy.
i checked out this really cool book from the library called don't know much about the bible.
it talks about a hebrew legend recorded in the medieval alphabet of ben sira regarding a lilith who was adam's first wife, who preceded eve.
in this version, lilith is created from the earth, as adam was.
Badboy -
Not so fast. The "Adam" and "Eve" identified by geneticists were the most recent common male ancestor and common female ancestor, not to only or the earliest. If genetic Eve came later, than genetic Adam's only wife (or if he had more than one, his mother) would be a common female ancestor for all of us, just not the most recent.
Say Jack marries a woman, has children, divorces her, and then marries her cousin, who shares a grandfather and grandmother. A child of the first marriage and a child of the second would be related like this, barring further complications: Their most recent common male ancestor would be Jack, and their most recent common female ancestor would be their mothers' grandmother. But the grandmother of the childrens' mothers would be married to another common male ancestor - the grandfather of their mothers. If the family tree had branched as much as possible, this would have been their most recent common male ancestor given that their mothers were cousins, but sometimes the branches cross, as with ex-wife's-cousin-marrying Jack.
This is what the geneticists were looking for - the most recent common male ancestor, and the most recent common female ancestor, that they could trace based on the Y-chromosome for males and Mitochondrial DNA for females. Genetic Adam, coming before genetic Eve and being forefather to all of us, necessarily identifies a common foremother: His only wife, if he had only one, or his mother. But since the father-provided Y-chromosome traces back much further than genetic Eve's time, which is identified by Mitochondrial DNA passed on only by the mother, apparently genetic Eve was not a one-guy sort of lass.
i was telling my daughter in law about this ongoing saga, with the elders and my mother.
she isn't a jw, and attends a christian church.. when i told her about calling the local elder, who is the presiding overseer, she asked me why i called that elder.
"is he the one in charge of helping the elderly?
At my last hall there was an elder assigned for this purpose. He was about retirement age himself, and though in generally good health, somewhat gaunt. Such are the vagaries of the English language that when referring to him and his special duties from the platform, he was more than once referred to as "our elderly and infirm overseer" - which brough some guffaws - instead of "overseer for the elderly and infirm."
well i got e mailed another jw urban legend...er experience.
maybe you have heard it before but if not.... .
i received this great experience, well worth sharing.. .
No doubt other religions have stories very, very similar to this one. But one element makes it clear that this one is from the One True Religion(TM):
...my son told him to wait so he could go to the car and get some tracts for him to read...Yes, other faiths have high-falutin' stories about accepting Jesus and not being down on yourself, but how many can claim they represent God's own publishing concern?
an announcement on the official web-site of jehovah's witnesses is causing some 'eyebrows to be raised'.. the watchtower society have announced that they "avoid making rules and regulations beyond those provided in the scriptures, and they do not follow traditions that contradict bible teachings.
emphasis is placed on personal application of bible principles and the value of a sound, bible-based conscience.. this comes as a surprise to many thousands in the jehovah's witness community who have become accustomed to the changing rules and regulations imposed compulsorily on its members.. it should be noted in the watchtower society's statement that "emphasis is placed on personal application of bible principles".
this will come as a surprise to many of its members.
I'm laughing at YK's comment, because it is so true. But consider how the Watchtower differs from other instances where the English word "not" has lost its meaning.
The Calvary Chapel claim to not be a denomination, and so no one has to "cut your ties" with your old church and upset their family. The Unitarian Universalist's chief creed is that they do not have a creed, and this results in churches where Wiccans sit next to conservative Republicans - in those congregations that have any conservative Republicans - and neither insists that their own beliefs must be followed by everyone else.
Brand X is not a toothpaste, but it gets your teeth clean. Brand Y is not a car, but it gets you from point A to point B from $450 per month. Brand Z is not a soap, but at least you don't smell so bad after using it.
On the other side we have "I'm not a telemarketer," "this isn't multi-level marketing," and "we don't make rules." The latter lead to the PO of my old hall muttering "no rules" all the time, usually after putting forward suggested guidelines on something of earth-shattering importance, such as where to sit in the kingdom hall. In the course of months such non-rules changed from 'leave the back rows open for families with small children who need to get up a lot and be near the restrooms' to 'leave the back rows open for older ones who have a hard time walking up the aisles to the front seats (and who need to get up a lot and be near the restrooms)' - the one thing that didn't change was the faces in the back rows.
They won't change their habits to make it easier for you. They won't warn you that Brother S seems to hang around children a bit much. They won't talk to you if you accept life-seaving medical treatment. But they're willing to die for you, if the rules say the must. Join Jehovah's Witnesses today!
1. qfr page 30 comment reads:.
i enjoyed the article "cathedrals--monuments to god or men?
" (june 8, 2001) but isn't it true that jws build rather large kingdom halls and asembly halls?.
Yeah, I've never heard anything said about quick-builds in praise of the organization.
So if one only beats his wife moderately and makes sure no one else is around while he molests a child, he can be a proud Jehovah's Witness elder.
i got e mailed this editorial today.
it was supposed to be from the minneapolis star tribune newspaper.
i went to their website and sure enough it is there.
Yes it sounds JWish. It's inaccurate and potentially libelous in places.
Pope John Paul broke his silence... But the problem that the pope has never acknowledged is that a systemic practice of sexual abuse has emerged involving not only individual clerics but also the church hierarchy, including himself.First off, John Paul died years ago. John Paul II has not been implicated to my knowledge in the systematic moving around of molestor priests, although he may be culpable if, as is likely, he had some knowledge of the practice. But he himself has not been accused of "the practice of sexual abuse"! They are asking to be sued for slander. Blithering idiot.
my sister went to the circuit assembly this past weekend here in bklyn ny.. they had a young sister on the platform helping to promote pioneering.the interesting point about this is that this young sister is attending college full time and actually said this in front of the audience.she brought out that she is going to college full-time and that since she "has only one more year left, she will wait to pioneer when she is in her last year of college because maybe then it probably won't be so hard.
" these were her exact words.. i find this to be very interesting.
those of us who have done parts or experiences or talks for circuit assemblies know that each talk and each part is scrutinized in practice sessions prior to the assembly in front of the circuit overseers.
JT -
If you mean that baptism is down to one third of the goal, i.e. three instead of nine, then there has been about a 67% reduction. The construction "three times fewer" is also acceptable to express one third as many. The expression "300% drop" - or any decrease greater than 100% - is not possible when something expresses only magnitude. I once saw a mattress ad touting "300% less" dust mites. Of course, 100% less than any number would be zero dust mites, which is ideal, but they really meant one third as many, or three times less. If you jumped from 5,000 dust mites to -10,000 dust mites, a 300% reduction, the question would be what is a negative dust mite? And jokes could follow.
Of course if instead of nine being baptized, three are baptized and twenty-one announce their disassociation at the same assembly, then you would have a net loss of eighteen, or a 300% drop in the increase!
BluesBrother: Heard about 1 only at Buckingham, PA within the last couple years.
the may 15 issue of the watchtower contains a discussion of the question: would it be advisable for a true christian to attend a funeral or a wedding in a church?.
the tone of the wts view is set in the very first line our taking part in any form of false religion is displeasing to jehovah and must be avoided.
nonetheless the last line of the article states whatever the situation, the christian should make sure that the decision will not interfere with his preserving a good conscience before god and men.. so apparently it's a personal decision for the jw as to whether he/she will attend a funeral in a church or not.
None of your quotes from the article say "quiet observer," but then again it is implied, and to spell out something implied would be unwatchtowerlike; they expect people to read between the lines and thus believe they have gained special knowledge.
As to being only an "observer," this may be a change. Not a few witness weddings have included "unbelieving" siblings as groomsmen or bridesmaids, and the reverse also is true. But now, it would seem one is not permitted to be part of the wedding party of one's non-Witness brother or sister! This further separates families. Because many non-Witnesses plan their weddings a year or more in advance, how many young Witnesses must now say to their brother, sister, or old friend, "I'm sorry, I have to pull out of your wedding party, but I am allowed to observe your wedding!" For some, it might be the last straw; for others, the thing that finally gets them to thinking about this religion.
How much heartache will be caused when, while planning a funeral, Witness relatives say they cannot eulogize the dead? "But you knew Aunt Rita the best!" Eulogies are already forbidden at Witness memorial services, but it is odious to require Witnesses to participate only as "observers" when a relative or close friend dies.
Is this loving your neighbor as your self? What part of loving God whole-souled requires one to act like a mere acquaintance during a family's time of joy or grief?
i have been catching up on "the osbornes" which is on mtv.. i read the comments made in various newspapers and saw them on the tonight show.
they are hysterical!!!!.
the show is a few months in the life of ozzy osborn and his family....he is a wasted, drugged out nut...but very funny!.
His children seem a tad maladjusted.
