Man, they haven't had a prodigal son drama since the late 60's. Wow! I remember Fred Franz sang a strange song about it at the Gilead grad that year to his own piano accompaniment.
Isaac
2009 keep on the watch district conventionfriday - prove yourselves ready mt 24:44. am.
chairman's address.
conventions help us to remain watchful.
Man, they haven't had a prodigal son drama since the late 60's. Wow! I remember Fred Franz sang a strange song about it at the Gilead grad that year to his own piano accompaniment.
Isaac
one thread already started on this, although you may have missed it since the topic title is not so descriptive: http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/173227/1/moving-sale.
here is a news article on it:.
http://www.lohud.com/article/20090326/news03/903260466.
What I don't get is why another facility? Don't they have enough with Walkill and Patterson? These guys just waste money all the time it seems. But they have been saying that all operations are moving tom upstate NY from when I was in. That was coming from bethelites in the know.
Isaac
i was perusing the latest 2008 wt library and i ran a search for luke 21:8 (one of the worst texts you could read to a jw).
when i first ran the search, the library only popped up with one article from 11/1/64 wt and a reference to some book called the kingdom of god is nigh (published by the wt in 1944, but is not found on the cd.
i did find it on the internet, though.).
Blondie, I found what you just posted. They include all the hyphenated citations like Luke 21:1-11, which of course say nothing about the text in question. Actually a bizzilion references pop up until you type Luke 21:8 in quotes then just the '64 reference pops up clickable. One other ni 15 (I guess that's the "Kingdom of God is Nigh" book civicsi00 refers to) shows up, which doesn't even show up in the publication list. I also checked the "due time has approached" search and sure enough at least three of those have Luke 21:8 clearly posted. Hmm...one can only wonder. They're still mealy mothed "wolves".
Isaac
i was perusing the latest 2008 wt library and i ran a search for luke 21:8 (one of the worst texts you could read to a jw).
when i first ran the search, the library only popped up with one article from 11/1/64 wt and a reference to some book called the kingdom of god is nigh (published by the wt in 1944, but is not found on the cd.
i did find it on the internet, though.).
Interesting. I must check this out. But I would not put it past them. Its obvious that incriminating material is left out. For instance they don't put in the Life Everlasting book. Or the Awake's that spouted the 1975 nonsense. or the 1967 Awake from the RAPE thread (http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/35408/2/Watchtowers-RAPE-Policy). They cover up as much as possible.
Isaac
i have an elder friend who is 'open-minded', so to say...he tells me what gets discussed at elder meetings, even though he does'nt give too much detail.. he says that they were instructed by the society not to hurry df'ing publishers, that they should try to reproof (1 timothy 3: 16,17) a sinner,,..that they should be a little considerate bearingf in mind that we are living in critical times of the end.. .
personally i know a few publishers(baptized or not) who now have children out of wedlock, and they were just "marked" or had privileges taken away..... the reason given is: "they realised that they have sinned, and they are fully repented, they gave enough evidence to jc that they want to be known as jw's".
now my question is : are they slowly doing away with the df'ing doctrine?.
Sir82 makes some good points on pg 1. I think that if shunning became a strongly encouraged conscience matter, we would still be shunned and need to support one another. JWN and such forums would live on.
Isaac
this week a letter is being read that changes the process for the approval of regular pioneers.
in times past you had to fill out an application, submit it to the elder body (who would then add their comments), and it would be forwarded to "the branch" for approval.. this is being changed so that the elder body grants the approval instead of brooklyn or the local branch.
it looks like the lawyers are removing any and all direct contact between the rank-and-file and the gb.
I always thought the branch was an unecessary middleman. Lessening their workload at the branch level may be part of the reason for this in addition to any legal benefits. A few years back the SC was given the power to approve a lower yearly requirement for one year if a pioneer could demonstarte a genuine need and a reasonable guarantee that they could do the regular amount of hours the following service year. This would seem like a natural progression of that empowerment of the elders in this area.
Isaac
this issue is coming up for me soon, the resignation.
a physical move is out of the question.
but the most likely scenario is that i will be in the same hall.
I was able to resign voluntarily and with the good graces of the body. Crying health concerns and burnout made that possible. I still wanted to make my voice heard however and so I sent an anonymous letter to the GB, Branch office and Service Department. Hint: Get some judicial envelopes before you resign. You can use them to mail your letter and guarantee that it will be opened as they will think it's a DF form. That's what I did and my letter did get through.
Check out my resignation letter if you'd like: http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/127812/1/A-Letter-to-the-Governing-Body
Isaac
all wooden ships leak to some extent, so what did noah do about the accumulation of water?.
a bilge pump would have been essential.. did the noah's ark writer really know or have any experience about the construction of large wooden ships?.
Damn that wasn't in the specs.
(Genesis
6:14-16) . . .Make for yourself an ark out of wood of a resinous tree. You will make compartments in the ark, and you must cover it inside and outside with tar. 15 And this is how you will make it: three hundred cubits the length of the ark, fifty cubits its width, and thirty cubits its height. 16 You will make a tso′har [roof; or, window] for the ark, and you will complete it to the extent of a cubit upward, and the entrance of the ark you will put in its side; you will make it with a lower [story], a second [story] and a third [story].hey guys its been a long time since i have posted but there was something i wanted to share that i had found and get peoples opinion.. in massachusetts south worcester county you can search real estate transactions from the past 40 years on a website called www.masslandrecords.com.. i was checking the history on the property at 700 worcester st southbridge , mass in worcester county which is the location of the kingdom hall.. it looks like from the records that the hall was first mortgaged back in the 60's by the wbts and then again in the early 80's by the wbts but then in the later 80's by mechanics bank which became bank boston.
that all makes sense.. the curious part is that in the 90's it looks like they expanded the property with the owners of the property being the southbridge kingdom hall corp but the mortgage of 60,000 was held by a member of the congregation.
i did a little more digging and it looks like this wealthy congregation member actually did a few mortgages over the years for other cong members for thier own houses.. has anyone ever heard of a cong member mortgaging a kingdom hall or other members?.
It makes sense though it's rare. In the Chatham Square project in NYC, an unbelieving husband outright donated a large sum to the Hall. Most dubs don't have that kind of money, but it would not be against the rules. Of course it probably wouldn't be recommended as if that member got df'd it would be a perceived conflict of interest on the congregation's part. How do you shun the person who holds your mortgage?!
Isaac
i have heard that "paradise" will be achieved gradually; that it will take all of the thousand years to reach that state of perfection.. .
now, while you may be convinced that it will take all that time to bring the earth back to it's pristine state....suppose it applies to humans as well?.
imagine this scenerio: wounds and broken bones heal slowly and gradually; your bags and sags are still there, but since you have seen results of other people, you hang on that the promise will be for you, too.
Actually it's amazing. When it comes to these topics they say speculation is wrong. But they speculate about every other damn thing! Sir82 is right though about instant healing of serious conditions. They point out that Jesus healed maimed people. If he did it back then he can do it in the "new order".
Isaac