i was thinking today about the issue of jesus' deity (or lack thereof), according to the wts.
they say that jehovah is god, jesus is not the same as jehovah, but that jesus is a god.
doesn't that make jws polytheists?
I suppose if you take into account the teaching of JW's that Satan caused the temptation in the garden and eventually set before Adam the opportunity to kill off all his offspring due to sin, that makes him the biggest murderer. Jehovah is just flashier.
W.Once
i can remember being an attendant at one of the circuit assemblies in nottingham, where a group of pentecostals were picketing out by one of the gates.
i was intrigued for a short while, until a guy in a motorised wheelchair type thing, tried to get into the assembly by ramming himself into us.
i could of quite happily baptised him in the trent !!
Almostatheist: I think that would qualify you as "Unborn again".
Apostates were to me like the zombies in the movie 28 days. They were soul eaters and liars. I remember telling a CO one time at the pioneer service school that I would "Never stand for any criticism of the organization."
What a drone.
Now? Bring it on!
I'm busy eating souls these days.
W.Once
lori (my girlfriend - a non-jw).
and i had quite a discussion last night.
i am almost always a very tolerant, easygoing person, but there is this one aspect of my personality that has caused us a certain amount of tension.
I find that I just don't care what others think unless it effects my livelihood. I seldom venture my opinion on the Bible or any subject related to it. It would like debating with people the veracity of the Humpty Dumpty story. Really, can we trust the report from the kingdom that all its horses and men couldn't put Humpty together again? It is, rather, a sense of futility that keeps me from engaging in the mind games of religion any longer. Don't need it. As far as being critical of those who assert things that are false, who cares. "A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still."
W.Once
song 7.
12 min: local announcements.
read accounts report and donation acknowledgments.
12 min: Local annoyances . Read accounts report and donation acknowledgments. Hound publishers to turn in doctored field service reports for November. Using the suggestions on page 4 (if annoying in your territory), demonstrate how to pressure people with the December 1 Watchtower and December 8 Awake! Other regurgitated presentations may be used. Include mention of the completely unsolicited and unobtrusive voluntary donation arrangement.
15 min: "How Can We talk?" Not Help . Give the few examples of the efforts made by servants of Jehovah to provide relief for fellow believers in dire need by providing talk about how good it’s going to be after the world slaughter by God. (See the Awake! issues of August 8, 2003, pp. 10-15; November 22, 2002, pp. 19-24; and October 22, 2001, pp. 23-7. Other self-congratulatory articles may also be shoved down the congregation’s throat.) Then deceive with the key points from the article on page 3 of Our Kingdom Ministry. Emphasize that if any wish to make a donation for humanitarian and relief assistance, it is preferred that they do this by contributing the funds to the worldwide work so we can do what the hell we want with it and not have to account for where it went.
18 min: Presenting the Good Snooze in December. Talk and audience domination. In a five-minute opening talk, briefly review the following points from "How to Use Pushy Presentations," found on page 8 of the January 2005 Our Kingdom Misery: (1) We will usually be more effective if we put presentations in our own words and don’t take no for an answer. (2) We must use good judgment and adapt our presentations according to what objection is popular locally. (3) We need to take into account the background and thinking of the people in our territory, then disregard them, making old people stand 45 minutes because they are too kind to tell us to buzz off, and sick people stand in the cold draft of their front door while we talk about a new world where no one will ever be sick again. (4) We should carefully read the chapter that we plan to feature and look for points that may stir up people into an angry frenzy that we can end by yelling, “you’re worldly and will die soon anyway!”. (5) We are not limited to using the approaches outlined in the sample presentations, feel free to say any crazy ass thing that makes you feel better than the householder. Then discuss how to apply those points when pressuring people with the literature offer for December. You may use the sample presentations in the January 2005 Our Kingdom Ministry insert or other presentations that are creating animosity locally. Demonstrate one or two confrontations.
Song 123 Move Your Head and concluding prayer.
<div>here are a few questions/observations that i would like more info on, but i do not have the guts to ask my 3 relatives that are elders (i always feel that they and the local body will hold it against me...) .
1. if the pioneer school is sooooo great and helpful why don't they just invite anyone who would like to improve in the ministry to attend?
2. if i am good enough to pray for 20 people and read for them at the cbs, why can't i count the attendance at the wt or the tms?
Here ya go:
1. if the pioneer school is SOOOOO great and helpful why don't they just invite anyone who would like to improve in the ministry to attend?
Well now, you wouldn’t want to cheapen the experience by allowing sincere publishers who only do a paltry 10 hours a month to attend, now would you?
2. if i am good enough to pray for 20 people and read for them at the cbs, why can't i count the attendance at the wt or the tms? or do the mikes, or help with the literature? even if i am good enough to help build kindgdom halls?
God works in mysterious ways. You have to fit into the profile to do such wondrous things.
3. why don't they every tell the publishers all these fancy rules about what is a judicial matter or not, do they really want you to come to them every time you may have messed up?
Just keep‘em coming is their motto. Really its in all the magazines, just read em.
4. technically you can not get in trouble for kissing someone else if you are married? am i correct(that is how it has worked with my wife and i)
Kiss for hello, kiss for comfort = OK Kiss for sexy feeling? = preadultry. You’re playing with fire Mister
5. Occasional smoking (once every few years) is not grounds for judicial actions?
Light up and you’re on your way out. Demons will swarm you and elders too.
6. Gambling- it is not wrong unless you are "greedy" the flock book said to stay out of it unless spirituality is in danger or affected? is it basically don't ask, don't tell?
Ok, you asked, now they know! They will be watching!
finally how often did you suspect something was up but did not pursue it? Especially with friends or relatives
Never, got it? Never I say.
song 40.
10 min: local announcements.. 20 min: making jehovah your god.
talk by an elder based on the april 1, 2005 watchtower, pages 25-8. make practical application of the lessons we can draw from the examples of abraham, david and elijah.. 15 min: "show personal interest - by being observant.
10 min: Local pronouncements.
20 min: Making Jehovah a God . Talk by an elder based on the April 1, 2005 Watchtower, pages 25-8. Make impractical application of the lessons we can draw from the examples of Abraham (Offer wife as sister for sexual gratification of enemies), David (take another man’s wife and murder her husband.) and Elijah (run and hide in a cave.)
15 min: "Show Peripheral Interest - By Being Observant." * Include a demonstration of a publisher observing something like a big fat cross or statue of the Virgin Mary that reveals the interests of the householder and then adapting his comments about how pagan and God dishonoring the are accordingly.
Song 67 Store Up Treasures in the Bank and concluding prayer.
*Limit introductory comments to less than a 60% of the time allotted and follow with a question-and-answer disruption.
what would you really like to say if you were given the microphone-----either at your seat or on the platform?
?
As it says in todays article, "elders should never lord it over the flock." This is good advice but unfortunately has never been applied here in our congregation.
i know some former witnesses away from the board and when we have talked, we have commented on how we still see people put elders in this category, even after the exit.
once in a discussion with someone who used to be an elder, the person who used to be an elder did something kind of harsh in their comments.
the person in the group stated, "there is no way someone like you would have ever been an elder.
I guess I'm setting myself up for some potshots for even admitting to having been an elder. So be it.
Can I change the fact that I was sincere? Can I change the fact that I gave of my time and money, even though pioneering and living on nothing, to help others. Can I help the fact that I was sickened from the moment I was appointed by the nepotism and egalitarian attitudes of the ruling few? I wanted out shortly after I was "in" the body. I could see that it was a puppet government of the PO who was an ignorant, self serving piece of ...well, you get the point. From the start I was the disturber who had no problem calling things the way I saw them. I was hated by many because I seemed to be stirring up the pot. It needed it. I knew from the time I was appointed that sincerity would mean I would have to expose this fraud by resigning. I was an elder for just over two years and at the top of thier game, Pioneer, Service Overseer, Subtitute Pioneer School instructor, Speaker on the District Convention, blah blah blah, when I walked up to the PO and handed him my Shepherding book and Pioneer card and said, "Here you go. I find that as an elder I'm too busy to be a friend to my brothers and sisters. Its not for me."
Since then the PO's wife left him. His son's wife left him. The other three elders were removed. OH IF ONLY I"D WAITED ON JEHOVAH! What a load of bull.
I was persona non gratis after that and have faded faster than ice on a hot sidewalk. So, some elders are on thier way out while on thier way in. Nothing like a dose of reality to clear the gunk from your eyes.
WasOnce
i'm writing this in the spirit of full disclosure and honesty.
if you really want to be an elder, you should get the whole story and honestly.
weigh how it may affect your life.
This is my first post in ages, my comp crashed and I lost my logon stuff. But now I'm back!
So, here goes,
In the world of the Theocratic man there is complete service to God and token service. Complete service means never saying "NO" to any assignment. Logically, Elderhood should be the goal of all men. So, in line with that, many sincerely seek to serve completely. I did. The cold hard facts are soon known. You cannot do anything about anything. ITs up to Jehovah to follow the rules because no man may be censured for imperfect actions, unless it pisses off someone with more influence than you. So, all elders are guilty of perpetuating a falsehood, there is justice and mercy in the organization. There is only petty little fifedoms that will strip you of you dignity when they get the chance. The "Truth" is a symptom, not an answer.
Was Once
.
every year the jw's have a new theme "scripture" written on the wall near the stage.. what would you suggest for 2006?.
how about, "is it for this year lord"?
(Jeremiah 2:23-24) A swift young she-camel aimlessly running to and fro in her ways; 24 a zebra accustomed to the wilderness, at the craving of her soul, snuffing up the wind; at her time for copulation, who can turn her back? All those who are looking for her will not go tiring themselves out. In her month they will find her.
Now that's a year text!!!
Everyone snuffle up!
W.Once
