i never had much faith in whatever resurrection was.
what appealed to me about jw doctrines was the rejection of the "it's a mystery" defense of the indefensible.
when i would ask how going into non existence could be reversed when all the atomic parts of who we are had been scattered for thousands of years, the answer was "jehovah can do anything".
First off, my personal belief is that it’s all BS.
But when I did believe in the big sky daddy, I thought of resurrection as kind of like when you transplant your old hard drive into a new computer. Functionally, all the old programs and data are still there, so it’s essentially the same computer, just maybe running a bit more efficiently due to a new processor, better cooling, etc.
Probably a weak analogy, but it’s the best I could come up with.
both my 84 yr old jw father and my never my jw mother 82 with both together died from the the corona in 24 hours of each other.
i can tell many fighting i have had here in the last 20 years.on this site .
i juy hope they rest in peace.
So sorry to hear this, Hotpepper. I hope they enjoyed their (relatively) long lives together. I know from personal experience how heartbreaking it is to lose a parent. I can’t imagine how much worse it must be to lose them both at the same time.
About a year and a half ago, I lost 3 family members within a month. They all lived hundreds of miles apart and died of natural causes, though my cousin was a bit younger than I. I also lost two favorite aunts in this month (May), one on Mother’s Day and the other 6 days later. Coincidentally, both were 84. They too lived hundreds of miles apart and died of natural causes unrelated to Covid-19.
I’m just sharing this to say that you are not alone. It’s good you have so many friends and acquaintances here to offer their condolences and understanding. I hope you find peace and comfort in the days ahead. Take care.
(culver city, california 1980).
the tiny diner was empty - and it was a minute past noon!.
i walked into the little shop chuckling to myself, that name!
Another great story, Terry. Thanks for a thoughtful moment in a chaotic day. Take care, my friend.
i wonder if the covid restrictions continue are they gonna disfellowship via zoom?.
The elders have instructions to hold all judicial committee matters "in abeyance" for the time being. No such meetings are to be conducted via Zoom or any other online conferencing service. This includes appeals for reinstatement. If there is some unusual situation that demands immediate action, they are to call the branch.
Actually, this is the smart thing to do. Online meetings can easily be hacked, and you can almost guarantee that if someone's committee meeting was leaked online, they would sue for public humiliation, invasion of privacy, loss of reputation, or something like that. WT don't want no stinkin' lawsuits!
a friend of ours who is married to a jw said that this morning for service everyone who was on zoom got to do a call while the rest listened in on the call.
there were thirty-one this morning listening in on one who would call someone to preach to.
shouldn't the person they are calling on be warned first that there will be so many listening in on their phone call from the zoom meeting.
If anyone on the line is recording these calls, it may be a crime. Many places require the consent of all parties before a phone call can be recorded.
They could get around that by informing the householder pigeon that the call is being recorded for training purposes and requesting their permission to continue.
today, i got an email from an old friend with a story told by brother andre ramseyer who attended training at patterson in england.
a service dog regularly attended the meetings with his owner.
when the owner passed away, the dog was given to another blind man.
This sounds like just another apocryphal "experience" they like to trot out at assemblies from time to time. In fact, it smells a lot like BS. Somebody needs a heart worming...
eight years ago, i lived in a kind of "retirement" hotel.the palm house.no - it wasn't an old folks home.
it was an ancient folks home.mostly senior ladies living off of faith and a dead husband's money.. my encounter with jesus came about in that environment.. once a week there would be a coffee and doughnuts get-together to get to know your neighbors.. well .
.i got invited repeatedly, badgered, coaxed, pestered and i gave up.
Finkelstein, that's the funniest thing I've ever seen! I knew organized religion was run by butt holes, but cheezits...
from my memoirs ...______.
.....moments later, thoughts inside my head still reverberated as though i were a bell struck into vibrations beyond control.
i trembled.
Another cool story, Terry! Keep 'em comin'...
from an excellent and trustfull elder source, i heard today.
that in the netherlands, 440 jw's have covid-19 and 11 jw's have died.. g. .
I am sorry to see anyone die of this terrible virus. I seldom give the Watchtower credit for anything, but I will say this: they acted correctly as far as stopping in-person meetings and door-to-door activities. Their reasons for doing so might be self-serving, but the fact is they undoubtedly saved lives by taking this action.
To be clear: It is still most certainly a money grubbing mind-control authoritarian cult! The little good they may do on occasion for whatever reason does nothing to ameliorate the massive harm they do all day every day.
there was a letter read sunday at our meeting that mentioned some parts of us are starting to open back up.
however, regardless of things opening up that no kingdom halls should be used for any meetings of any kind.
also, no door-to-door ministry or any form of in-person ministry is allowed.
I agree with Atlantis and Petra. If the letter is genuine and has not been redacted to protect the original source, it would have the identifying marks they mentioned.
They are wise in not releasing their copy of the letter prematurely. The Watchtower would like nothing more than to say, "Look! Those mentally diseased apostates are spreading lies and fake news again! You can't trust anything they say!" Heck, I wouldn't put it past the Borg to plant such a letter themselves, hoping it would be mistaken for authentic and publicized, just so they can discredit their sworn enemies.
My personal opinion is that this letter is not authentic. It's not hard to write in the style of the Watchtower and make something sound like it's coming from them, especially if you get your grammar, punctuation and spelling right. Part of a nefarious scheme or not, I think this letter is an example of "fake news." I won't believe it or share it with others until Atlantis and Petra verify its authenticity. I trust them.
