at my mom's bed side all i see is either jw family or friends making a concerted effort to have me return to their fold.
evidentlyy, my mom has encouraged this and i'm a trapped prisoner, as they do their best to have me come back.
it's bad enough that i have to endure my mom's dying, now i have to be bombarded with this bs..
Give them an incredulous look and say, "Really? I'm here to be with my mom. Now is not the time. In fact, there is no time that this is appropriate. In spite of all promises to the contrary, my mom grew old and is dying. You are too. Resign yourself to it."
I'm glad you are with her and loving her to the end. JWs do a lot for nothing all their lives. Having family is all anyone really wants when it all comes down to it. She has that. I'm happy for her.
i am still serving as an elder but just hanging in there.
i think their quandry is that they don't see me out in the field, but when they need encouragement and decent prayer they come to me.. i just got off the phone to this poor sister who i have only met twice.
she is not even in my congregation (her sister is).
An elder being honest with me about what happened in 1975 helped cement my resolve about objections to the scriptural teaching. That and other elders admonishing me about trying to organize a group of kids to help out a non JW elderly couple that clearly needed help with house and yard. There were a lot of things, but his transparency about 1975 and their transparent LACK of love gave me some steel in my back. I hope everyone has the experience of an honest elder-for the contrast of the total lack of concern of the others for anyone (even IN the congregation).
My mom is still in. Our relationship is cordial-thats all we can manage. Right now I am screaming with curiousity to know her thoughts on what is going on, but she hasn't been honest about that since I've known her.
churches and religious organisations would lose millions of dollars in tax breaks, concessions and hand outs under a radical plan to force priests, rabbis and imams to sign up to a national faith register.
under the bold proposal clergy would for the first time be forced to undergo government-specified training and security checks and would be monitored by a national body, or risk losing government funding..
former premier ted baillieu has backed the plan that has been put to federal and state leaders including the prime ministers office, and premier daniel andrews..
i would get home from work,eat dinner,shower and put on jeans,a shirt and gym shoes to the book study.
then,one day a letter was read where men would need to wear a suit and tie and the woman would have to wear dresses.
it was stated in a letter that the change was due to, '' giving a better witness to anyone who would watch us walking into our local congregation or a neighbor's house.''.
I don't really remember breaks, but I think maybe when I was really young. NEVER ever wore casual clothes to any meeting, ever. I remember a debate about what to clean the hall in! It was like we were polutingit if we wore jeans or pants. The only JW attended occasion that I wore jeans to was a youth WT study prep meeting that was soon (in early 80's,thanks Bethel) cancelled. We did that for an excuse to have a gathering after, play games and have treats (there was only treats at one book study night a year if the person whose home it was held in had an anniversary on a day close to the meeting day on Thurs. Then we had a sheet cake or cookies).
i just wanted to say that my dear 89 year old mom is terminally ill and will soon pass.
she is on morphine and hanging on.
she has been a devout witness for about 60 years and a wonderful mother.
this letter will be read in all the congregations of brazil on the service meeting this week.
(google translation - original available)originala todas as congregacoesprezados irmaos:nao ha duvida de que jeova tem abencoado ricamente seu povo no mundo inteiro.
isso fica evidenteno aumento do numero de publicadores e no notavel progresso espiritual de nossa organizacao.
with today's events the message and tone of this video makes a lot more sense.
thus the defeated, failing, delivery.. http://tv.jw.org/#video/vodprogramsevents/pub-jwbmw_201509_1_video.
it had a purpose.
Obedience brings blessings-like branch increases? Growth? Really?
So, are they all experiencing the consequences of disobedience, or is the failing of the WTBTS financially evidence of THEIR ("FDS") disobedience or (dare I say it?) failure to be in line to get direction from God in any case? Individuals going to meetings are fine, it is the ORG that is failing. Individual congregations are just people worshiping god (after a fashion). They can do what they are doing, including FS without a single publication from the WT society. They can do it from homes, they don't need a KH or assemblies or Bethel.
So, really, where is the disobedience coming from? Who is failing to follow the leadings of God?
since this will be the norm in america, perhaps we should put a date on each of these topics.
can't really put school mass shooting because too many to choose from.
I was working in a university today with the staff, administrators and teachers. I remember thinking how being on a college campus is not without a certain degree of risk. I was aware of that several times today as various folks left stuff in the room as they moved in an out. Getting paranoid. . . or I guess they say its not really paranoid if you are at risk. . . clearly today, I was in a risk zone.
I feel so bad for those people who are sending their kids, husbands and wives off to school today and lost them. My heart is breaking. That population is in such a positive place to grow-and then to have their innocence, if not their very lives shattered is so heartbreaking.
"downsizing" has reached special pioneers.. this is the template mexico is using to get rid of many of its special pioneers.
see how cold and unloving is the language they use.
a translation attempt is as follows:.
Worldwide, they are spending about 2 million a year for circuit overseers in the org. How many special pioneers at $450 a pop? In the grand scheme of the WT's alleged expenses, I don't see the personnel costing them that much monthly as the earlier talk (was that May?) indicated.
Since the JWs are all paying for the "world wide work" and hardly any people will be DOING it anymore, how are they going to justify more than a dollar or two to the org to justify the printing costs of the pitifully few magazines that any of them place? Anyone else wonder what the hell JWs are paying for now other than big buildings in scenic places for the few chosen ones left at the helm of this ship that looks to be sinking? They are consolidating buildings, laying off MISSIONARY personnel and Bethel workers wholesale. Are JWs just paying for resort properties? Are those sweet apartments just nice buildings to move the WT lawyers and money men and their families to?
I wish I could ask mymom what she thinks, but she has her head firmly embedded in the pile of WT dung that they have been piling up for the last 70 years.
bethel reductions.
special pioneer reductions.
construction reductions.
