court file no.
superior court of justice.
watchtower bible and tract society of .
Your World Wide Work donations at work.
What was that announcement last Sunday?
"Oh, did we happen to mention, if you want to contribute to Hurricane Relief, just donate to the World Wide Work, and whatever you do, don't mark it as reserved for hurricane relief! Just give us the $, we know best how to direct it!"
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once a year, the watchtower society publishes a book with all the statistics they feel necessary to print and show the world, like the total number of hours spent in the field service and how many bible studies there were.. to be perfectly honest, what other statistic should they also include to give a more realistic picture of what's going on in that organization?.
- Wearing a Beard, especially a goatee (Males only)
ROFLOL!
Certain sisters of my acquaintance will be glad to know this does not apply to them!
the disaster relief committee at patterson organized 3 meetings this past memorial day, monday september 5, 2005. the meetings were held in lake charles, louisiana; bossier city, louisiana; and ball, louisiana.
over 1,200 elders were in attendance from louisiana, missouri, arkansas, and texas.
i took horrible notes, but want to share a few things.. the elder opening the meeting emphasized the importance of confidentiality.
Patterson wants elders to get the name and home congregation of displaced JWs that begin attending KHs in new locations. This point was stressed. My thoughts are that WTS can't afford to let any JWs use this as an opportunity to fade or stop attending meetings. From the way the point was made to get publisher information and report it to WTS, methinks they are more concerned with losing members than members' welfare.
Fascinating! I hadn't thought of that before. Imagine, dozens of congregations where publisher cards, judicial files, etc. are completely obliterated. Bethel only keeps track of elders, MS, and regular pioneers. A fader's dream come true! It would be most intersting to see how many take advantage of this opportunity.
Day one after the hurricane a few brothers from the HKRC went into New Orleans/Slidell area and began assessing damage to Kingdom Halls. The elders divided parts of southeast Louisiana into zones, my notes are sketchy and memory missing a few points, but in one zone 5 KHs are gone, 2 heavily damaged. Around Lake Pontchartrain 7 KHs are gone, 7 moderate damage, and ;some with ;light damage. On day two the brothers did more assessments, but martial law was put in place and they had to leave.
Interesting. Do you mean to tell me that their primary interest was the condition and health of their real estate holdings?
The image I have in my mind is an SUV or airboat full of well-dressed elders whizzing throught he flooded streets, zooming from one Kingdom Hall address to another, while dozens of people are calling out for help on rooftops as they pass...
Clueless idiots, I'm sure there was loud & long applause at how efficiently the brothers worked out the proprty damage, while scarcely a soul thought more than 2 seconds of the suffering poor left behind...
looking at the nwt, i notice that matt 24:46 uses the word "arrival".
but in vs 44 where it says you wouldn't know the day or hour, it uses "coming".. this is the same greek word though.
obviously this is an attempt to seperate these two verses, to make them seem like two seperate events.. doesn't this blow away the fds concept?
As Fred Franz wrote in many a "questions from readers" in the 60s & 70s when translation issues came up, "this goes to show the importance of knowing God's purposes when one translates the Bible". Sorry, at work & don't have the particular reference. Blondie or someone could probably find examples fairly quickly.
I.e., "we are allowed to use our biases when translating the Bible, because we are the faithful & discreet slave--but it is outrageously heinous when other translators allow their own biases to color their work."
Circular reasoning at its finest!
i have not, nor will go back to "meetings" after finding out how i was spiritually mislead through the years.i have actually found more comfort in doing my own studying.
my wife still goes occassionaly and her sister and brother-in-law just started going back.
so we went over there house the other night and we got into a conversation in which he said they went to the meeting today (sunday).
can you give me a reference? I want one of these
I post from work (naughty!) so don't have any reference works here.
There are actually several "don't harm the anointed of Jehovah" passages in 1 or 2 Samuel. It was emphasized quite a bit every time the weekly Bible reading touched on one of those passages.
i have not, nor will go back to "meetings" after finding out how i was spiritually mislead through the years.i have actually found more comfort in doing my own studying.
my wife still goes occassionaly and her sister and brother-in-law just started going back.
so we went over there house the other night and we got into a conversation in which he said they went to the meeting today (sunday).
Does that mean we are to follow apostate leadership if it is part of the "organisation"?
Well, of course it does!
Haven't you been paying attention to the 100's of times they have recently referenced the King Saul vs. David scenario? David hides in the cave, catches Saul "easing nature" (one of my favorite euphemisms), but refuses to spear him because "how could I thrust my hand out against the anointed of Jehovah?"
I think this particular passage may soon catch up to or surpass the references to the "apostate Korah rebelling against Moses" references.
i have not, nor will go back to "meetings" after finding out how i was spiritually mislead through the years.i have actually found more comfort in doing my own studying.
my wife still goes occassionaly and her sister and brother-in-law just started going back.
so we went over there house the other night and we got into a conversation in which he said they went to the meeting today (sunday).
They also told him if you don't associate with an organization (referring to them) that you are isolating yourself which is spoken against in the bible.
There has always been a channel from god in the past
Ask them, "If I were a sincere Bible-believing Christian in the year 1850, what 'organization' should I have been associating with? How about 1750? 1650? 1550?"
we've all heard variations on that theme.
how much of that expectancy is down to the society's publications?
here are some of the results of a search run on the wt cd (2004 edition) for the phrase "just around the corner".. .
A local JW told a group of us that the latest Hurricane Katrina / gas shortage situation was the "run-up right to the end...I can see it coming", complete with hand gestures imitating a plane or bird taking off.
I asked him if he was offering a money-back guarantee?
For some reason, he just glared at me without replying...
we have have all been so affected by the news from the southern us, and even up here in the middle of the canadian prairie i wish i could open my home to so many who need a home right now; however, all i can do (and it's better than nothing) is to whip out my credit card and make a donation to the red cross.. i picked up my jw husband from the kh today (i am disassociated), and he said, "... they had a report that most of the brothers and sisters in new orleans happened to be at an assembly in houston when the tragedy struck ~ so, not to worry, because not too many were affected.
" of course, it didn't cross his mind to help non-jw folks, and, quite obviously, the elders from the platform would never suggest this because it has been made clear how the rank and file should view charity and humanitarian efforts.. didn't jesus say something about love being the distinguishable mark of a christian?
uhmmmm.... and they're shunning us [those who don't agree with them]?.
Yes, I heard this letter read at teh end of th WT study on Sunday.
I found it rather telling that the Society had a great amount of detail on how much property was affected (23 kingdom halls damaged, X number partially submerged, Y number completely submerged), etc.
But, regarding their people?
"Well, we kind of hope some of them missed the storm because tehy were at their convention. We kind of think those who were in the Superdome went to Houston. Some friends, we think, offered their homes in hospitality".
Every day, a new reason to be sad/angry/disgusted at what comes from HQ...
probably the last "gilead update" from the infamous "friend of a friend", as the class graduates this upcoming weekend.. here is one of the topics discussed recently in class:.
sometimes the elders feel overwhelmed with taking care of a large .
abraham's slaves then he obviously he trained them personally.
Probably the last "Gilead update" from the infamous "friend of a friend", as the class graduates this upcoming weekend.
Here is one of the topics discussed recently in class:
Sometimes the elders feel overwhelmed with taking care of a large
congregation. If we talk averages, an elder may have to look after 15 to
20 publishers. The elder may have difficulty trying to get around to
everyone to shepherd them regularly stating that his family, secular and
other responsibilities prevent him from doing so. Well, if we look at
Abraham's example we can see he could have been overwhelmed with
everything but wasn't. When he had to rescue his nephew Lot he got his
318 slaves together to do the rescue. (Gen 14:14) The scripture calls
them "trained men". Where did they get their training? If they were
Abraham's slaves then he obviously he trained them personally. As an
elder can you imagine training 318 brothers to reach out besides helping
their wives and children? 15 to 20 doesn't sound so bad now does it?
So, to you slacker elders out there: What the #$&!% is your problem? How dare you think a weekly schedule of 5 hours of mind-numbing meetings, 3 hours of transportation to/from meetings, hours of pointless elders meetings, 4 hours of field service, 5 hours of meeting preparation, plus personal study, "upbuilding association" with the brothers, 40-60 hours of secular work, and, um, what else, oh yeah, occasionally spending time with your family, is burdensome!
Why look at Abraham! Did he complain about shepherding his 318 slaves? Of course not! He gladly helped train his "ministerial servant" slaves to come with him on shepherding calls to Brother & Sister Goat-Milker and their 14 children. If Abraham could personally spend hours and hours each month with each and every one of his 318 slaves, giving them all the attention they needed, and still had time to engage in personal study and witnessing to those godless Canaanites all around him, why can't you handle those piddling 15-20 in your book study?
More! More! More! You elders sure are a lazy, shiftless lot, aren't you!
