i was wondering about this.
if california or other far left groups in charge would push for making pedophiles quote normal unquote.
so it passed but has yet to be signed by newsom.
BIAHI:
I also loved the Laura Ingalls Wilder books when I was in grade school and I believe I read all or most of them (?). I remember “On the Banks of Plum Creek” and “By The Shores of Silver Lake”.
Girls got married younger back then and people were more serious in general..no comparison to today!
it started off as "dear friend ,as one of your neighbours" , however the postmark on the letter was from 2 townships away ?
a good twenty minute car drive away .a minor point i know.
it goes on about how she is concerned about the effects that current events are having on the welfare of the community and the corona-virus has prevented her from discussing the issues personally with me.. she then goes on to state and quote jeremiah 29:11 and then goes on to say "for more information about this promise and other questions like :.
SMIDDY3:
The only JW friend I have left does this letter writing.
This is a person who cannot afford the cost but does this anyway. I’m sure she does this because she feels she must (whether peer pressure or whatever).
I can only imagine receiving one of these pathetic communications and tearing it up and thinking that somebody wasted time and postage.
i understand it’s a cult.
but what makes an intelligent person actually believe they have the “truth” as taught by jehovah’s witnesses??
?.
CARMICHAEL:
Yes, I certainly believe it’s true if they laid all their cards on the table nobody would join.
I agree with you that it’s emotion and not intelligence as to why certain people stay JWs - long after others have fled because of bad treatment and/or disagreement over doctrines.
Some people will argue though that it was ‘facts’ (or facts as they see it) that made them join or stay..Whatever.. I also believe a good amount stay there because of family and they are ‘faking it’. Not a good way to be but they do it.
I can’t imagine anybody remaining an elder and faking it..at least not for long (step down at least).
And I don’t believe the excuse that somebody remains an elder faking it because they hope to ‘help or awaken others’. 🙄 Sorry, but I don’t buy this for one minute no matter what lies they tell themselves.
will we ever be able to congregate together for a concert or a theater?
will we forever be wearing a mask at walmart?
will restaurants and bars allow people to eat drink and simply hang out?.
PETE ZAHUT & MINIMUS:
I agree with you that going overboard with hand sanitizers and insanely wiping everything down with chemicals every step of the way is unnecessary and possibly harmful..as we DO need some bacteria to keep our immune systems healthy.
What I was referring to in my post is the general disregard and lazy habits that TOO many people have fallen into. The Covid crisis has simply reintroduced something like simple hand washing with plain old soap and water (especially after using the toilet). Too bad this became a lost art to certain lazy people!
i understand it’s a cult.
but what makes an intelligent person actually believe they have the “truth” as taught by jehovah’s witnesses??
?.
CARMICHAEL:
The problem is that people did not think they were joining a cult when they got involved with the JWs.
I certainly didn’t know and in fact I didn’t think it was a real religion per se. There was no internet back in those days and no way to really research anything. They said a lot of things which turned out to be not-so-factual: they told me ‘everybody was equal’ and ‘they had no clergy class’.. Meanwhile, they have what I consider a plainclothes clergy - and just about as many titles as the churches they knock.
I was young and made a wrong detour. I didn’t fit in because (thankfully in retrospect) I would not make the stupid concession that I quit a decent job to pioneer..I lingered a little longer than I should have but at least I got the hell Out.
i understand it’s a cult.
but what makes an intelligent person actually believe they have the “truth” as taught by jehovah’s witnesses??
?.
JUST FINE:
I agree with what you said even if somebody else downvoted your post...I also had the same opinion of many JWs. They either didn’t want to think or they didn’t want responsibility. I felt they wanted to be told what shoe to put on first.
I was raised Catholic but joined JWs as a young adult in the workforce. I was interested in end-time prophecy..I was appalled at certain attitudes there. One thing that frustrated me was what I now know to be a culture of ‘fear’ that I certainly didn’t experience as a Catholic... Fear of giving an opinion, fear of being thought of as not spiritual, paranoid of what people thought..the list goes on.
This is probably because they wanted to be ‘righteous’ (or be seen that way). That way they get invited to gatherings I was excluded from. I’m grateful my ‘worldly’ 🙄 upbringing saved me from succumbing to peer pressure.. I’m so grateful I held onto that job they all hated me for until Retirement.
in one of the study articles from the november 2020 edition, is mentioned (free quotation):.
"don"t get disturbed if your kingdom hall will be sold".
food on the right time, i asume?.
There have been many threads in the past months on this topic of selling off kingdom halls.
Some people believe Zoom is the answer to this and besides..who will miss the halls?? Answer: the faithful elderly, diehards and needy people looking for handouts will miss the halls and the human contact they had at meetings!! (It’s kind of hard to go around with an envelope and approach ‘certain’ people to contribute money for the ‘needy’ if you’re not in person. OR are the brothers going to make cold calls in the community asking for money??). If at some point, meetings did resume, Witnesses will have to drive ever further to go to another hall.
Also, what happens in the event bethels decide to expel yet more people?? At least in the past they had a physical kingdom hall to go TO..It would be many times harder for them now.
Even though I’m Out of the JW religion and don’t care about any of this - I’m not believing that Zoom can be a permanent substitute for meetings and real congregations. I’m not so sure the religion can continue like this indefinitely. And, as has been mentioned, what about the JW brand of being visible in the community.
People may disagree but that’s how I feel.
i noticed recently.
there was an item in the news on some terrible / horrific child pornography in germany.
really disgusting to hear what these people were doing with children as young as a few months.
AVERAGE JOE:
I won’t argue about whether JWs pray for non-JWs. Maybe some do. But I remember most only praying for others inside the religion.
Sadly, I don’t believe the governments are going to get involved with protecting our children aside from some laws being enacted.
The major burden, unfortunately, falls on the parents to protect their children. Nobody is going to care as much about your child as you and nobody can afford to be ‘trusting’ anymore, IMO.
When I was in grade school, a small girl was kidnapped and killed. It was a tragic story of a child being left on a stoop in the city while an adult went into a candy store. This story made the front page for weeks - from the beginning until the end when she was buried. You don’t see this coverage now. Why is that?..I think it has very much to do with today’s moral compass as compared to years ago.
I agree that you can’t take your eyes off your child for a second. Gone are the days when you could let younger children play outside unattended or walk long blocks to school!..Now you got predators cruising through neighborhoods looking for a small child playing in the front yard. They could be snatched in a second.
will we ever be able to congregate together for a concert or a theater?
will we forever be wearing a mask at walmart?
will restaurants and bars allow people to eat drink and simply hang out?.
PHIZZY:
I am totally in agreement with you about people’s filthy habits...Hopefully, with advice with the Covid epidemic, people have learned or relearned essential things..such as washing hands.
So pathetic that so many people don’t want to wash their hands! I’m like a surgeon with washing my hands...I wondered if it was a part of dumbing-down of US culture along with bad grammar and other lazy habits over the last few decades OR if it was the influence of people who have come recently?? ..All I can say is that I felt we were going backwards in this direction of sanitation - and this was before Covid.
In any case, I hope some of the better advice sticks around in our new ‘normal’.
today's article prods active jws to participate in the effort to reactivate us backsliders.. unfortunately, it fails to prepare the participants to adequately address the real reasons so many have left and want nothing frtherethan to be left alone: the un and child abuse scandals, prophetic failures; dumbed-down, increasingly specious and simplistic verbiage in literature and talks, the cult of personality and unwarranted veneration of those 8 singularly unremarkable members of the gb, etc., etc..
FEDUPJW:
I can almost visualize the face of an arrogant brother who would make a comment like that. Maybe decades ago when they had enough interested people there was an arrogant attitude and they just weren’t interested if somebody wasn’t treated well.
I remember mentioning this observation to somebody and remember the callous mentality and the ‘counsel’ I got back. They threw it back in your lap and said ‘well..you should be doing., etc.’ In essence:.. turn yourself into a doormat. Anything less by a woman and you weren’t ‘putting on a Christian personality’ 🙄 or some such nonsense.. (I didn’t buy it.)
Yes, it’s true that Jesus said: “go and make disciples”. But, he didn’t say we should tolerate the things that I and others have experienced!!
I noticed they fawned over new people..but treated certain people already there with open contempt. Oh, well, I suppose that’s because I worked and didn’t do favors for the Users.
...and now they want the people who couldn’t run fast enough to go back.
