I posted something like this yesterday on JWD and it got deleted or blocked or something ... still not sure why.
-ithinkisee
in north carolina, a pastor told the congregation of about 100 that if they voted for john kerry, they would not be welcomed in his church.
things this week came to a head when he took action to kick out 9 who didn't support the president.
others, in protest for the action also have left the church.
I posted something like this yesterday on JWD and it got deleted or blocked or something ... still not sure why.
-ithinkisee
from time to time people mention getting books sent to them from un libraries or university libraries, etc.
there are a couple of books i would love to get a hold of - or at least scans of a couple of pages sent to me.. is there a turorial or primer out there on how to go about doing this?
or can someone point me to some help sections on their respective websites on how to do this?.
From time to time people mention getting books sent to them from UN libraries or University libraries, etc.
There are a couple of books I would love to get a hold of - or at least scans of a couple of pages sent to me.
Is there a turorial or primer out there on how to go about doing this? Or can someone point me to some help sections on their respective websites on how to do this?
Thanks in advance,
-ithinkisee
this great letter to family post had a brief mention of a couple of news stories ... i was wondering if anyone knew of any online references to these:.
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/59590/1.ashx.
on a side note, after i made the above decision, i did still attend on saturday morning of the 1999 district convention.
Thanks,
You rock SF!
-ithinkisee
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/06/ar2005050601317.html
waynesville, n.c. -- a pastor of a small baptist church led an effort to kick out church members because they didn't support president bush, members said.
the nine members were voted out at a monday meeting of the east waynesville baptist church in this mountain town about 120 miles west of charlotte.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/06/AR2005050601317.html
WAYNESVILLE, N.C. -- A pastor of a small Baptist church led an effort to kick out church members because they didn't support President Bush, members said.
The nine members were voted out at a Monday meeting of the East Waynesville Baptist Church in this mountain town about 120 miles west of Charlotte. WLOS-TV in Asheville reported that 40 other members resigned in protest.
"It's all over politics," said Selma Morris, the church's treasurer. "We've never had a pastor like that before."
Pastor Chan Chandler had told the congregation before last year's presidential election that anyone who planned to vote for Democratic Sen. John Kerry should either leave the church or repent, said Lorene Sutton, who said she and her husband were voted out of the church this week.
"He's the kind of pastor who says do it my way or get out," she said. "He's real negative all the time."
Morris said some church members left after Chandler made his ultimatum in October.
Chandler didn't return a message left by The Associated Press at his home Friday, and several calls to the church went unanswered. He told WLOS that the actions were not politically motivated.
North Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Jerry Meek sharply criticized the pastor Friday, saying Chandler jeopardized his church's tax-free status by openly supporting a candidate for president.
"If these reports are true, this minister is not only acting extremely inappropriately by injecting partisan politics into a house of worship, but he is also potentially breaking the law," Meek said.
-ithinkisee
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/90182/1511830/post.ashx#1511830
in the thread listed above, metatron said:in particular, some elders can get very jealous and punitive about elders who just quit.. .
i thought that was funny, because i was a ministerial servant in my last hall and haven't been reappointed in our new hall (going on 3 years now).
Blondie may have mentioned something similar to what I am about to say.
Many really good elders that have honestly good intentions and are cool and stuff almost always end up either (a) disillusioned and just sink into anonymity in the elder ranks so as not to "make waves", or (b) get burnt out.
There was an elder in my hall as a kid that wanted to make changes from the status quo. He ended up being in various portions of the service committee throughout the years he was elder and took many of the oppressive elders to task for their Pharisaic behavior.
In the end of it all he left "the Truth" and is df'd.
He was the brother that studied with me as a kid while I grew up in a "divided household".
-ithinkisee
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/90182/1511830/post.ashx#1511830
in the thread listed above, metatron said:in particular, some elders can get very jealous and punitive about elders who just quit.. .
i thought that was funny, because i was a ministerial servant in my last hall and haven't been reappointed in our new hall (going on 3 years now).
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/90182/1511830/post.ashx#1511830
In the thread listed above, metatron said:
In particular, some elders can get very jealous and punitive about elders who just quit.
I thought that was funny, because I was a ministerial servant in my last hall and haven't been reappointed in our new hall (going on 3 years now). I love it. But one elder who is pretty informal with me said that he wants me to move to his congregation because they need elders and he would fast-track me to elder-dom by getting me re-appointed as an MS and then I would be an MS for a year or so and then be appointed as an elder.
(How's that for Jehovah's spirit at work?!?!?!)
Then, to top it off he says (in a half-joking manner): "You NEED to be an elder. So you can get calls in the middle of the night, and sit in committee meetings and listen to people whine all the time about their problems and then not listen to your council."
I laughed of course - but the vein of seriousness was definitely buried in the sarcasm.
For the record this is not the first time I have heard this. For some reason elders like telling me what's on their mind ...
Just thought I would share ... enjoy!
-ithinkisee
this great letter to family post had a brief mention of a couple of news stories ... i was wondering if anyone knew of any online references to these:.
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/59590/1.ashx.
on a side note, after i made the above decision, i did still attend on saturday morning of the 1999 district convention.
This great letter to family post had a brief mention of a couple of news stories ... I was wondering if anyone knew of any online references to these:
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/59590/1.ashx
On a side note, after I made the above decision, I did still attend on Saturday morning of the 1999 District Convention. A regular pioneer gave an experience of how her car needed $87 in repairs, but she didn?t have any money because she didn?t have a full-time job since she believed Jehovah would always provide for her. She was out in field service one day and as she stepped out of the car, she looked down and what do you think she saw in the gutter? A $100 bill! Everybody around me was ooohing and aaahing about how Jehovah provided this $100 bill to this poor pioneer sister so she could get her car fixed. All I could think was how I don?t know one single person who can afford to lose $100 and be okay with it. Did she take it to the house and try to return it? Of course not. Jehovah gave it to her. I was so upset I walked out at lunch and vowed I would never attend another meeting again.
What upsets me so much about this reasoning is the unfairness it attributes to God. Do you really expect me to believe that He gave this woman money to fix her car while children are starving all over the world for the lack of $1, let alone $100? If He was there for her that day to find the money in the gutter, where was He when the 14-year-old JW girl from Chicago was beaten to death by her parents with an extension cord, whilst they were quoting ?40 lashes less one?? Where was He when the fighter jet crashed into the apartment complex in Wichita Falls and the only two people killed were JWs out knocking on empty doors? I?m not the only person who didn?t understand that one. Gossip circulated after that incident that the two Witnesses were a man and a woman who weren?t married to each other and so they were probably having an affair. People will believe whatever it takes to maintain their faith, I guess.
Anyone know of any references online to these two news stories?
Thanks,
-thinkisee
since the watchtower constantly "adjusts", were you ever unsure as to whether or not you might have committed a "sin"?
were you under the impression that "porneia" or "fornication" was something you did not commit----only to find out that by the "bible's" definition, you did commit this "sin"?
or perhaps you thought that you "lied"-----but realized that you were only employing "theocratic warfare" or "theocratic strategy"?
The feeling I have always had about this was that if you had to wonder about it, then maybe you should talk to the elders about it just to make sure you're in the clear.
Go figure ...
-ithinkisee
the standard watchtower teaching about the coming "paradise earth" has, as its most prominent feature, the promise of everlasting life and eternal youth.
this expectation is especially based on such texts as revelation 21:1-4 which declares: "i saw a new heaven and a new earth; the first heaven and the first earth had disappeared now, and there was no longer any sea.
i saw the holy city, and the new jerusalem, coming down from god out of heaven.... here god lives among men.
In dubspeak, the seas (like Soylent Green) are PEOPLE ...
-ithinkisee
this is a response from one of my best friends in the whole wide world who is way "in" in the org.. it's amazing how for such an intelligent, reasonable man that doesn't agree with many of the tenets of the wts party line, ultimately he still tows the party line for the most crucial jw doctrine.... the role of the fds as the sole "channel" for "god".
i knew it was inevitable... he is the only dub that so far hasn't shunned me..... the following is an excerpt of his personal letter to me.... please read it and critique it.
(highlight are mine).
Goldminer,
Don't ask your wife what she would think if the WT was "somehow" affiliated with the UN.
Instead, ask her what she would think if the Society pledged to uphold the "goals and ideals" of the UN and fulfilled this goal by printing articles in their holy publications about all the good things the UN has done to fulfill that obligation.
See if you get the same response.
-ithinkisee