doh!
here i sit on my laptop on this site, while the wife is watching dubtv over there, she is watching the feb one with trololololy song at the end... i am trying to hold back my laughter because i know it is coming soon!
how will she react???
Sad to go through life thinking the only thing that keeps you from being a depraved monster is that you have to go to meetings each week and you will be kicked out if you don't follow the rules.
Even if it is false they think it worth wasting their whole existance serving the organization?
Too pathetic.
what are the real reasons joseph refused to sleep with potiphar's wife?.
the watchtower and others teach that joseph refused to commit adultery.
specifically to the jws, we teach that joseph, somehow, knew that adultery was wrong, despite not having any specific rule or writing to teach him so.
Whether or not there was "god's law" in place, that doesn't mean that morality was not a concept. And yes women WERE property and there are some things that are just "not right" no matter where/when you are from. Even folks without religon usually have the concept of sexual morality in a marriage relationship.
Women were (and are) bargaining chips. You don't mess with that if you value your life. It was a man with great power. Even now, infidelity is not treated lightly and many people do not subscribe to biblical morality. (such as it is)
i blame my stepkids bad grades in school squarely on the watchtower.
they don't get enough sleep because of the demands of family bible study and thursday meetings but comprimise isn't in my wife's vocabulary.
my stepson has friends at school but there are also bullies, and the classes are overcrowded with sicknesses spreading through them in a way that is detrimental to the family's health.
Oubillette, the reason I said for him to not worry about the the child academically was because the child has a TEACHER and there is a plan, not the parents plan, to educate the child according to school standards. The parent doesn't need to be a qualified teacher in this case, but rather, an involved parent. He isn't making the lesson plans or grading. Like any parents, they need to supervise, help and direct to a certain degree. The parent in this situation has a great opportunity to enrich the child's learning, but isn't responsible to teach them the basics. That is on the school and their program.
With all due respect, I don't think that you're in any position to judge grammar. Or spelling. That's not an attack-we are not here to prove our worthiness to enter an English master's program and plenty of us are not doing our "best work" as we dash off our quick responses here. I really don't think that you were attacked and hope you don't take it that way, I don't think it was meant that way.
I have edited and proofed scholarly engineering papers and really had no clue as to what I was reading-but I educated myself to do the job well enough that I still get freelance assignments referred by former students from across the globe (I love paypal!) I have helped people get into the graduate engineering programs in Europe and the US. I am no engineer, though. I'm barely an English teacher:)
If this dad has trouble "helping", there are resources all over the web and through the school district to help with every problem foreseeable.
The bit about the truancy-things slip. That doesnt make us incapable as parents. It makes us human. This is obviously a man who cares for his son and is doing the best for him. Please don't attack parental competence based on something like that. It't unfair. I've had a chronically ill child and if you just don't date the excuse slips properly, you won't know it till there is a problem reported.
Do you have an issue with homeschooling in general? These programs are not the stereotypical kind of homeschooling plan.
I wish someone IN the public schools had cared that I totally zoned out on maths and science. My GED dad could have taught me better!
i have been observing a pattern in recent wtbs publications and events.
is the importance of the preaching activity no longer the number 1 priority?
are not billions of lives still at stake?.
INSIDE THE KH:
The WT changed the rules of what makes a JW-the hours used to be 2 hours. Now it is 15 minutes in a pinch. A MONTH. My mom does that much "witnessing" to me each month and it is a subject we are not even supposed to talk about! (She's older, I just let it go these days). Children are being baptised earlier. 15+ was standard when I was a kid. Now 9 seems to be accepted.
I am sure a few come in from the doorknocking-but the numbers do not lie-baptism rates as related to hours reported have gone down immensely. So, you have more publishers putting in so many hours and getting so few baptisms (total) in return compared to how many hours per baptism was required a couple of decades ago. Numbers don't lie.
I am not trying to be snarky, but you seem pretty loyal to the Society. What is a nice JW like you doing in a place like this?
i have been observing a pattern in recent wtbs publications and events.
is the importance of the preaching activity no longer the number 1 priority?
are not billions of lives still at stake?.
Some people do come in - but these days, even for the last 50 years, not many from the D2D work. Most come in because of friends, relatives, spouses talking to them.
My mom was brought in 70 years ago-but not because of the message, it was because two nice JW ladies offered to give her mom an evening off and took my mom to the meetings with her. Then my uncle, too and later on the rest of the siblings. Others in the family came in this same way (all lived in the same neighborhood. I think they had something like one of those Baptist Sunday School Busses going on!). My grandma (and great aunts, save one) never really had much to do with the JWs other than accepting the free babysitting that was offered to her by the nice JW ladies. My mom, 70 years in the org brought in one other JW. She was her next door neighbor and long time best friend. She pioneered. Never brought in anyone from D2D work (permanently), but lots of nice people came once or a few times because she is the nicest lady you will ever want to meet. Too bad it is wasted on the WTBTS. My mom is the only person I know that could (as a stretch) be said to be brought in as a result of D2D work, but so far as her experience, she is essentially a born in-she never knew anything differently and never "Chose" to be associated with JWs, she just was dragged in, literally in diapers.
I think it is funny how the WTBTS has essentially admitted recently that their role is to make and keep money.
i blame my stepkids bad grades in school squarely on the watchtower.
they don't get enough sleep because of the demands of family bible study and thursday meetings but comprimise isn't in my wife's vocabulary.
my stepson has friends at school but there are also bullies, and the classes are overcrowded with sicknesses spreading through them in a way that is detrimental to the family's health.
I like this compromise between traditional and home school options, generally. I think it could work well as you will be his teacher. . .IF you take the opportunities that are available with local home school groups for music or art instructioon or PE, Science, social studies as well as field trips and other options to expand his educational experiences. YOU can have a lot of say in his actual educational growth. YOU can set lessons that teach him critical thinking skills. Help him find the group of kids that he fits with (just one or two good friends is all anyone needs) OUTSIDE of the org. How involved will your wife be? Who is supervising him day to day? If it is primarily your wife, this idea is not good.
I am always happy to see parents who are so involved with their children's (and stepchildren's) education. If your wife is an uberdub, beware that he will likely be dragged into FT pioneer work as soon as allowed and will likely be bullied into Aux Pioneering the minute he makes the choice for HS option.
I used to teach English to college level students and my literacy when posting on forums does NOT always reflect my abilities. Don't worry about your ability to help your son academically. They have instructional materials that I am sure you will be able to keep up with:)
It is the keeping up with it that will be the challenge. Be consistent, don't let him slack or end up playing on the computer or watching tv or reading graphic novels or MBoBS-there will be a great deal more time in his day even after he has finished with his academic requirements. Schools waste a lot of time. Do your best to enrich his education with that extra time. It is a great opportunity so long as he doesn't get coerced into FS all the time.
yes, we all know that, according to the bible, god originally established a union between one man and one woman - adam and eve.
however, later in the ot we see that polygamy started being practiced and god permitted it and later even gave laws to regulate it.
so in the ot god does not condemn polygamy and israelites practiced it.. fast foward to the nt.
When one considers the simplicity of the early christian congregations. . . I dont know that more than one wife was going to be as critical as it would be in the modern world with the responsibilities put on pastors, elders, MS's. What do they do now? Hand out magazines, organize conventions and pay bills for the congregation. They arrange field service. I don't think it was that complicated back then.
yes, we all know that, according to the bible, god originally established a union between one man and one woman - adam and eve.
however, later in the ot we see that polygamy started being practiced and god permitted it and later even gave laws to regulate it.
so in the ot god does not condemn polygamy and israelites practiced it.. fast foward to the nt.
Christian standards were often derived (and have been since derived) from the culture that they live in. Polygamy is still ok among Christians in parts of Africa. That Chrstianity did not promote polygamy and moved away from it is likely based in that Christianity was a Roman institution after a few centuries in addition to originating in the Roman world. That being said, polygamy has been openly practiced by Christians in various parts of the world since the beginning of the religion.
There is a contingent of "christian polygamists" that are not fundamentalist mormons in the US. The thought regarding the scriptures that direct that an overseer be the husband of one wife is that it means that the husband should at least have one wife. Single men were not qualified to be overseers of a congregation since they had not proven anything about their ability to even lead a household -how could he be qualified to lead the household of the saints?
Polygamy serves purposes in communities that go beyond supplying a man with more sexual partners. But they don't usually apply in the western world in any way that we really can comprehend when we have life insurance, social security and a social safety net for widows/orphans.
I don't think the Bible forbids it, but common sense should do so in the west.
improving our skills in the ministrydeveloping a magazine route.
what does delivering magazines have to do with skills in a ministry?.
"many people who enjoy reading our magazines do not wish to study the bible with us.".
in 2012, i met a girl online who lived colombia and who happened to be a jehovah's witness.
we got to know each other for about 8 months before i went down to see them.
i was there for 6 weeks during my first stay.
I don't know much, but I do know that JW culture varies a lot more than many of us would understand unless we had been exposed to it in different countries or even regions of the US. I have seen the difference just between the E and W coast and also in a bit of S. America.
I therefore wouldn't question the JW'ishness of the family for having a young man visiting to start with.
I would however say that the particulars of the way they act is not condoned. They sound like a manipulative and controlling family that had an agenda.
Good riddance to bad rubbish. Lesson learned (fill in your favorite platitude).
Take care of yourself. Stay away from JWs. Its just a mind muck no matter how "good" they are (or not).
