Posts by Bodhisattva

30

HOLY CRAP JWS at my door!!!!!

by LDH in

jw
friends

ok, they caught me off guard.

two young men.

they said, "hello we're bible students in the neighborhood with the latest issues of the watchtower and awake.".

Bodhisattva

The witnesses are repeatedly told not to accept stuff from householders, but I have an idea. It takes a little more preparation time.

If you are not known to the local witnesses, see if you can find out the name of a local elder. If not, do the following when they come to your door:

Apostate: "Oh, Jehovah's Witnesses? Do you know J..." [stutter]

Witness: "Jawaharlal Johnson?"

A: "Yes, that's right."

W: "Oh, yes, he's a fine brother. He's in our congregation."

A: "Well, if you're going to see him in the next few days, perhaps you can get this to him sooner than I can. I know he's anxious to see it."

Hand them the July 24 Newsweek, complete with a small sticky note on the page with the article plm cited. Elsewhere include another sticky note or two with some primo apostate sites - maybe Quotes or Freeminds, or maybe an article on the UN issue (with "wild beast" and the URL on the sticky note).

The result? They take what they perceive as a harmless news magazine to give to the brother in question (or, soon to be under questioning!). Maybe they sneak a peek at the bookmarked article, maybe even memorize a web address or two. They pretend they didn't see the information and give the magazine to the brother, or they turn it - and him - in to the elders. Worst case is he's suspected, more than likely they'll figure out your angle. Either way, two or more people are exposed to the thought that all might not be right in the state of Brooklyn, without having the opportunity to smugly say "I refused apostate literature at the door."

23

Assemly food tickets - WHY??

by home_and_dry in

jw
friends

i was laying in bed last night thinking how lucky i am that i havent had to undergo the mental torture of attending the district convention.

then i started reminiscing about the old days and i suddenly remembered those ridiculous tickets you had to buy to pay for food.

they were those brown cheap cardboard type efforts with i think 10 tickets per sheet.

Bodhisattva

There are three advantages to the tickets I can think of, some already touched on:

1) No change given at food stalls - Speeds up the process for the food sellers, they don't need to be able to subtract. Also, no problem with not having the right change, no expense for rolls of coins from the bank, no heavy change drawers to transport.

2) No money handled at food stalls - Some young ones might not be as trustworthy as we think. Of course a lot were not thinking about petty theft - they were too busy fornicating and doping.

3) Separate transactions - Here is where the tax issue might come into play; what I present is only a theory. When you buy tickets, you are actually making a contribution (although only unused tickets really count). The food could arguably be a premium, much like the tote bag public television gives you. True, on your end under current U.S. tax law, the value of any consideration - e.g. tote bags or food - would have to be subtracted from the value of the donation before deducting it for taxes. But many premiums do not cost the public television station anything; they are themselves contributions. So maybe the Society got to write off an expense - their food costs - without having to link it to the tickets.

We were always encouraged to drop unused tickets in the contribution boxes, much as we are still urged to remove unused parking tickets from our stubs if we miss a day (not give them to the municiple parking attendents). The latter case clearly "results in a contribution" to the Society or the district convention fund or whatever. But what about the former? Did the tickets in the box not matter, as the district just counted tickets sold less tickets used? Or did the convention need to redeem for food or collect in contribution boxes all tickets to be credited, leaving the possibility that unused tickets stayed on the accounting sheet - and resulted in a contribution to Brooklyn as soon as the convention ticket program ended?

The god of the dolphins has flippers.

16

Bomb Threat at District Convention in Calgary

by dobby in

jw
friends

after, we were again allowed into the building no.

one without a lapel card was allowed in without being thoroughly.

after about 20 minutes all.

Bodhisattva

LDH -

We know how many evacuated (some of whom even - gasp - ate their lunches!). But what I don't see reported is the afternoon attendance. Of course, given that "because of [their] theocratic training [they] were able to clear the Saddledome in just over 12 minutes," maybe they all stayed behind.

Is 12 minutes good? The Saddledome only has four levels, but the stage area and the 14-section 300 level were probably kept clear. That leaves 42 sections total between the 100 and 200 levels. Twelve minutes after that announcement? There must have been some pushing or it would have been faster.

The god of the dolphins has flippers.

Edited to change "left" to "evacuated."

Edited by - Bodhisattva on 24 June 2002 15:31:25

22

Concluding talk at the Coventry Assembly

by Jim Dee in

jw
friends

the bad note taker strikes again!!

jim .

concluding talk at the coventry assembly.

Bodhisattva

No doubt in the new system we will get rid of the "gates that always creak." After billions of deaths and 1,000 years, the great Jehovah of Armies will accomplish what could once only be done with a $2 can of WD-40(R).

The god of the dolphins has fins.

20

Adult College Students - Take a Bow!

by zenpunk in

jw
friends

i notice that there are many of us here who were discouraged from going to college/university in our younger years, courtesy of the watchtower society.

i would just like to say "congrats" to those who, in spite of the indoctrination and the fact that they've had to attend college later while holding down jobs and paying their own way, have attended college and received degrees!.

when i left high school i went right into pioneering as college was not an option in the witness world.

Bodhisattva

I take night courses, six credits at a time during the fall and spring semesters. Someday I have to go for summer classes, too, but it is so nice to have a little time off - that is, only working 40 hours a week (well, 70 last week). I have 30 credits down and a 3.8 gpa. I guess I'm a youngster here - only 30. But boy do I feel old in those classrooms.

I was already taking courses before I left. Two items:

1. When I was leaving work at 4:45 to rush to class, then rushing from class to get to the meetings just early enough to beat almost everyone else to the hall, it was spoken of as admirable. When I left, my mother determined that my going to college was materialistic. Interestingly, my course load had not changed. Jebus, how did I do homework and talks and sound and so on?

2. A fellow ministerial servant just a bit older than me was quite well-off with a degree in a lucrative field. So I was surprised when his elder father visited and I learned he was raised "in the truth." This should have put his entire college experience before the (partial) lifting of the ban in 1992, but his father told me he reasoned this way and that about the Society's warnings. In other words, he wanted to send his kid to school and he rationalized it.

The god of the dolphins has fins.

33

MSNBC / Newsweek

by mikepence in

jw
friends

hey ya'all...go to http://www.msnbc.com/news/767800.asp and click on the highest number (7) on the "msnbc viewer's top 10" box at the bottom.

if enough of us click that, the story will get more prominent play on msnbc.com.. peace,.

mike.

Bodhisattva

This was neat to read, but as I read it I thought, too bad I don't have time to read all the articles on the Newsweek website. Then, this morning, I noticed it in the latest issue of Newsweek - June 24, 2002. Go to your nearest news stand and buy a copy! No, not to let them know they will sell more mags if they rip on the Tower, but to have this wonderful example of exposure to the public in a nice, hard copy form. There is even a pick of the Watchtower mag, with a title something like "All Our Problems Go Away Soon." Snark.

Oh, yeah - bttt.

The god of the dolphins has fins.

95

Treating the pioneers "Just So."

by LDH in

jw
friends

i was reading jjrizo's thread about elders who take advantage of the kh, and i had a memory i'd like to share.

all my life growing up i had heard about how "jehovah takes care of those who put kingdom interests first.

" and all of those experiences on the platform about getting an envelope "with the exact rent amount due the day before we were to be evicted" and so on.

Bodhisattva

Lisa's expectation - not to be bathed in luxury, but that some token of appreciation would occasionally present itself - is reasonable. What is unreasonable is IW's latching onto this as in some way unrighteous, while every time our lovely brothers can spare a couple of dollars as if it pays for a days worth of gas in a car probably in need of a full tune-up, pioneers are conditioned to see it as a great blessing from Jehovah.

Just another situation where the governing body and their organization idol get to have their cake.

The dog of the dolphins has fins.

30

You Apostates Are Right!

by comforter in

jw
friends

dear ex-jw.com.

many of you have asked me why i am in this place.

you think i am being disobedient to the faithful and discreet slave or being hypocritical when i frequent this site.

Bodhisattva

Agreed, Larc. Of course my sister would be quick to point out that he is on his way to leaving Jehovah's pure [child-raping] organization; he is not using the New World Translation!

The god of the dolphins has fins.

42

Q for Everybody, So let me get this str

by Legendary U.2.K. in

jw
friends

nobody here wants to lived in the new earth aka the coming earthly paradise?

nothing in the bible is symbolic, because saying things that are symbolic in the bible, is like calling jehovah a liar, god would not write something like in the bible, then out of no where, it really means something else... example: 144,000, some people said's that's symbolic, lol yea right.... .

anyway it seems like no one here wants to lived in the new earth, my question is why?

Bodhisattva

Legendary u -

At last someone has revealed the truth! No, nothing in the Bible is symbolic; everything is literally true. Which means that the new heavens and new earth can only come when those now existing are burned away by fire. Which means we're all screwed.

Seriously, the question "is Genesis true?" would have made little sense to Jesus of Nazareth. His saying 'just as in the days of Noah' no more makes the Noah account accurate than my saying 'like the boy who cried "wolf!"' means that the fable referenced actually took place. We don't usually think of a fable as a lie - even though it is not factually true - we think of it as a story with a point to make.

In the ancient world such stories were highly valued because they taught important lessons. They were the "mythos," while true stories - which told what really happened, but gave little insight into why - were "logos." Today, apart from children's stories, we rarely grasp that mythos can be important without being "true."

Far from being bereft of symbolism, the Bible is almost entirely symbolism. There is a deeper meaning to each of the stories, and the perceived validity of that meaning has nothing to do with whether the events of the story actually took place. Similar events surely did, but without the clear meaning imposed by the integration of gods and their dealings, the meaning was not as clear.

Today we look for meaning not by examing the minds of the gods, but those of men. We find better answers on whole. We know that sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, while some of our forefathers could not imagine that lightning can strike without sending a message.

The story of a brave old man trying to rescue his livestock from rising floodwaters is worthy of Hemingway. Making such into a story about a Creator who breaks his own physical laws with global flooding and water canopies adds nothing to the value of the mythos.

16

WT Crazy Rulings on SEX and Marriage---

by JT in

jw
friends

a few post over the question was posted about what was the finally straw for you leaving wt and farkel highlighted all the crazy dogmas of wt and tongue and cheeked commented that he could deal with all those things except the ban on bj.. so some of the guys here at work asked me to explain it to them what ban on bj- .

as i was explaining it the issue of remarriaged came up and i found it most interesting how once again wt makes up it's own rules for folks lives.. .

consider this - in africa- a man can take on multiple wives in many countries since his religion allows him to do so and still have gods approval.. so when he starts to study the bible with jw he is told that since he has been taught something that is not supported by the bible the taking of multiple wives for christians ( ok solomon was the first playa on record) .

Bodhisattva

JT -

Two questions, if both answers are 'yes' then you can have more fun.

1) At the time this happened, were these two people still legally married, as opposed to being divorced without 'scriptural cause'?

2) Is adultery illegal in your state?

If they were still married and if adultery is illegal in the jurisdiction, then he was inciting here to commit a crime! Report it to the local prosecutor. They probably do not enforce these laws, but it would be interesting to see what transpires, and if it has any effects on his fitness as an elder. It amazes me that he still is an elder!