The situation in NYC is pretty much as has been stated in the opening piece. My parents are planning to take the counsel quite seriously (we were usually among the "offenders" who patronized the local fast food joints at break time. So much for spending more time talking to your brothers ), and they will be taking food to the convention every single day. When I suggested to them that the Society was being silly for not allowing the consession stands to be opened at least during the intermission time, they actually agreed with me. But in the end they'll be good little Witness, I guess.
crownboy
JoinedPosts by crownboy
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Nassau Colisseum contract with Society under threat
by truthseeker injust heard from a friend who attends a cong.
in long island - the elder said that the dubs should not buy food outside the colisseum (there is a mcdonalds nearby) as the contract the society has with nassau would be under threat.. this seems to be a new phenomenon - are the vendors putting extreme pressure on them to let them sell food?.
the gap between the morning and afternoon sessions is called an intermission.
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First gay couples wed in US state
by ignored_one inhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3719905.stm
first gay couples wed in us state
two lesbians were among the first same-sex couples to wed under a new law in the us state of massachusetts.
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crownboy
Well, I think this is a great thing. Much like the people during the civil rights era who had nebulous "societal concerns" and "states rights" objections that was mearly cover for their own racial bigotry, all these slippery slope arguments seem to coincidentally come from people who have strong religious views against homosexuality to begin with. I wonder if there's a connection ?
The California State Constitution bans discrimination based on sexual orientation
But didn't Califonia citizens overwhelmingly vote to define marriage as an institution only between a man a woman, rem? Or does that resolution not carry the same weight as the explicit non discrimination declaration in the Constitution?
logansrun, I'll have to disagree with you on the point of a Christain having to be against homosexuality. Since when has a fundamentalist interpretation of the bible been an absolute requirement for accepting it, except by those who happen to be fundamentalist themselves? If a person believes that there's some kind of nebulous spirituality to be found in the bible, or they feel that broad principles and not super literal stories are to be found in the book, what is intrinsically wrong with that? Liberal interpretations of the bible have always been found in the history of Christainity, but obviously more fundamentalist interpretations have been more dominant in its history. But even fundamentalist interpretations are just that; interpretations. They may be justifiable interpretations, but so are the liberal ones. (Hell, the only real problem I have is when the liberal interpretors try to play as if a conservative and backward interpretation of a religion is not possible. So when some western Muslim apologist tries to pass off Islam as some super-feminist religion, I'm not necessarily apt to ridicule that assessment, but I mearly object to them saying that a female repressive interpretation of Islamic text is all wrong, when clearly such an interpretation of Islamic text is quite legitimate, if not more legitimate that the pro-feminist one. More useful would be to promote the seperation of mosque and state and make societial decisions on more clear headed secular ideals than on the whim of religious interpretation).
I myself happen to share your view on the bible being purely man made with no more value than the next man made religious book, but I just see no reason to delegitimize liberal christainity as inferior to the conservative form.
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Happy 20th Anniversary Thunder and Sheila !!!
by xenawarrior inhave a great day !!
cheers to the next 20 years !!
love you guys !!
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crownboy
Congratulations, happy anniversary you two .
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How many were raised as a JW during their teenage years?
by codeblue in.
and how many of you feel because of that, you never really got to be a "teenager"?
codeblue
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crownboy
Born and raised JW.
Since most of my friends were "wordly" anyway (but good worldly ), and my parents allowed me the latitude to hang out with them for the most part (since they were "good" kids), I don't have memories of a terribly scared childhood, but certainly there were some things I was not allowed to do (go to dances, date) that I wish I were able to do back then. Of course, having to be risen from your bed on early Saturday morning to do preaching, or not being able to join a school club because it may interfere with meeting times weren't great either, but I don't really hold too much of a grudge or anything.
Of course, it helped that I was a (late) teenager when I began my mental exit from the Org., so I don't feel like I've wasted as much time in the religion like others unfortunately have had to. Without the earlier experiences in my life I wouldn't be who I am today, but I'm glad those "experiences" didn't last for too long .
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KM announcement - register with US Selective Service
by truthseeker inabout twice a year, the kingdom ministry features an announcement about registering with the us selective service system.. in the march km, the announcement reads like this.... u.s. selective service regulations require that all men register at the post office within 30 days after reaching 18 years of age.
a male noncitizen under the age of 26 who takes up residency in the united states must also register with the selective service within 30 days of becoming a resident.
from the time he registers until the year he turns 26, a brother must notify selective service of any change of address within ten days of the change.
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crownboy
no one, both these "draft" bills are protest bills to the President's current war policies and they have no shot of passing. The idea is that if everyone (at least every young person ) had to serve in the military (particularly from rich and powerful families), then there would be a great deal more deliberation before going to war. I sympathize with what they're trying to accomplish, but I disagree with the principle of mandatory military service unless it is absolutely necessary. Besides which, even if this bill did pass Barbera and Jenna Bush would not be driving a military convoy through Tikrit anyway; they'd get into the National Guard .
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Pharmacy Refuses To Fill Birth Contol Pills-Do They Have That Right?
by wednesday inyesterday, a pharmacy cvc, refused to fill a script for birth control pills.
the customer was btw, a married woman with 2 kids.
the pharmicist aparently did not believe in birth control, so refused to fill the script.
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crownboy
Wait untill some pharmacist's religion prevents him from selling cough syrup or band aids.
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, a very ardent Catholic, once gave a speech where he said that Catholic judges who think that their consciences would not permit them to sentence people to death should quit the profession, because sentencing people to death is one of the potential functions of a judge (this was in reaction to a Vatican appeal to all Catholic public officals to follow "church law" in their execution of public duty. The Catholic church is of course offically against the death penalty: http://www.cathnews.com/news/402/105.php). Very rarely do I agree with Scalia, but I do agree with that principle.
The same applies to pharmacists. People depend on them to provide them with medical needs. If the government permitted everyone to prescribe their own drugs then there would be no problem, but that's not the case. If your religion would prevent you from giving out birth control pills, or heart medication, or whatever, this should not be the customers problem. Being a pharamacist means you might be called on to dispense these things, so if your conscience can't permit you to properly execute your duties, then you should do something else.
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Seattle Post Intelligencer article on Moscow banning witnesses....
by jimbob inhere's the link, but i copied the article below.
you'll probably have to cut and paste it in your browser window.. .
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apeurope_story.asp?category=1103&slug=russia%20jehovah's%20witnesses.
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crownboy
Ditto, Euphemism. The cout decision is a total travesty; religious liberty should be a staple of civil society. Unless the JW's are urging the assasination of the countries leaders at their meetings or something (which we know they aren't), then the government has no interest in banning their work except on grounds of rank censorship. The JW's should be defeated with facts, not the unfair application of government power. I hope the JW's win on appeal, and I'm glad our US State Department spoke out against the decision; perhaps it might have an effect.
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Liberal Equals Ex-JW
by patio34 insomething i've noticed on this board is that there seem to be many more liberal-left types than conservative-right types.
what do you think of my following theories?
in the 70s, many converts to jw-dom were influenced by the anti-establishment philosophy and anti-viet nam war.
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crownboy
I'm liberal, and while I didn't find Pork Chop's joke funny on a purely humorous level (and not because I'm liberal, it just didn't have anything to it. I'd find it just as unfunny if it were a conservative insult), I most definitely did not take offense to it, and I don't think it does much good to make a big deal over something that is obviously a joke.
Oddly enough, for good JW's my parents talk about politics fairly often (but only among family members). Like me, they'd like to see Bush voted out of office in the upcoming election. They are, however, very socially conservative, as you'd expect from active JW's, whereas I'm basically a social libertarian (they thought that Bush's support for the gay marriage amendment was good, whereas I think the amendment is a bad thing). They're pretty socialist on their economic outlook (universal healthcare, massive wealth redistribution,etc.), whereas I'm fairly sympathic to a lot more conservative ideas in that direction (some privitazation of social security, school voucher choice, etc.), but I'm certainly open to some limited government help of the needy, and certainly government regulations insofar as cracking down on corporate crookery, as opposed to turning a blind eye to it because you received huge campaign contributions from the said crooks.
My parents are pretty suspicious of the military as you might expect, but I'm all for having a strong military with good weapons, etc. (but I'm with my parents in being against the Iraq war, because I think Bush presented a total lack of evidence for showing an eminent threat). Since my parents were "born JW's" just like myself, perhaps I'd have to ask my grandparents if they were politically liberal .
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"whites only" scholarship
by crownboy inthe aclu has recently defended the right of a college republican group to issue a "whites only" scholarship on free speech grounds.
even before knowing the aclu (of which i am a proud member) was involved, my sentiments pretty much mirrored their's.
http://www.riaclu.org/documents/rwucrletter.doc.
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crownboy
The ACLU has recently defended the right of a College Republican group to issue a "whites only" scholarship on free speech grounds. Even before knowing the ACLU (of which I am a proud member) was involved, my sentiments pretty much mirrored their's.
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Another reason I hate the ACLU
by freedom96 inever heard of nambla?
this is an organization that promotes man-boy love, with support groups, and magazines and books supporting the subject.. and the aclu has gone to bat for these guys.
pro bono, backing their rights to this sick group.
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crownboy
The ACLU has recently defended the right of a College Republican group to issue "whites only" scholarships on free speech grounds. Even before knowing the ACLU was involved, my sentiments pretty much mirrored their's.