Just some pioneer or perhaps elderly publisher trying to get their time in. If you hand write it instead of typing it, you can draw the letter out to an hour. Recycle it!
Doubting Bro
JoinedPosts by Doubting Bro
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11
Is this normal?!
by Lo ini'm one of those ones who drifted away before getting to heavily in...thank god...but upon arrival in my new house i found a letter, a hand written letter in my letterbox from a local witness saying they had called around a few times and no one had been in, had a special message etc etc and gave an address which is a kingdom hall should the residents wish to contact her.
is it usual to write such a long hand written letter??
i think it's a bit strange.
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54
Wrecking of United States of America
by BurnTheShips ini am almost shaking as i write this for what is happening to the capital markets, this country, and the free world.
the impact of the past two weeks' action in the financial markets, if not reversed by cooler heads, will have irreparably changed the world in a way that only terrorist attacks and acts of war have in the past.. .
nationalizing fannie mae and freddie mac, providing an emergency quasi-legal bridge loan to aig, temporarily banning short-selling on all stocks in the us, and instituting an rtc-type entity to handle the toxic waste of the financial system is economic violence on a grand scale.. .
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Doubting Bro
"Libertarians are real loons... what we need is party that's pragmatic." Not sure which of their policies are particularly loony but I do agree that it would be impossible to implement their platform as stated in the near term. Things like abolishing Social Security (which I'm in my late-30s and realize that I'll NEVER collect)and legalizing drugs (I understand their argument but think the social consequences will be worse than they think) are probably not very pragmatic. Also, allowing free market education could perhaps be a long term goal but unlikely to get by the powerful teachers unions and retirement pension funds. Plus, I do think the government needs to ensure that there is a good fundamental educational base since that is necessary for a well adjusted society. But, I think they have some really good ideas about ending welfare (both domestically and especially welfare provided to foreign countries as well as industries who get subsidies) and certainly good ideas about protecting individual freedoms. Actually, if you could pick and choose policies from the big 2 and some of the smaller parties, that would be the best. But, no way that happens. Oh, how about term limits? 1 term, no re-election so only people who actually want to fix things serve instead of the life long blood suckers who reside in DC. I certainly wouldn't hire any of those bozos to work for me. They wouldn't know any honest days work if it bit them in the rear end.
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Wrecking of United States of America
by BurnTheShips ini am almost shaking as i write this for what is happening to the capital markets, this country, and the free world.
the impact of the past two weeks' action in the financial markets, if not reversed by cooler heads, will have irreparably changed the world in a way that only terrorist attacks and acts of war have in the past.. .
nationalizing fannie mae and freddie mac, providing an emergency quasi-legal bridge loan to aig, temporarily banning short-selling on all stocks in the us, and instituting an rtc-type entity to handle the toxic waste of the financial system is economic violence on a grand scale.. .
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Doubting Bro
Dawg - I do agree that too much power concentrated in the hands of any party is bad. In my opinion, the problem isn't necessarily with the Republicans or Democrats. Its with the fact that those are the only two viable choices we have. Really, what we need to have a few more political parties to emerge with enough power to force the other parties actually work instead of sucking the country dry. The Dems have controlled Congress for the last 2 years yet haven't accomplished much. My personal view is that they want the economy to be bad so that they have a better chance of winning in November. Cynical I know, but it seems to me that a politicians number 1 job is to get elected and then once elected, the job is to get re-elected. We need greater accountability in the political process and our current 2 party system just doesn't cut it. I do agree with some of the traditional Republican views of less government interference in the average persons affairs, smaller government, lower taxes. I just don't think the Republican party agrees with those views. However, the Democratic proposals seem to me to expand government even further so I don't agree with them either. I really don't agree with the Republican president circumventing the constitution, yet Congress let him do it so they are equally to blame. Obama doesn't have the necessary experience in my opinion and I think his economic policies will only push us further into debt. And with the same party controlling Congress, there will be an open checkbook. On the other hand, McCain may have been a maverick at one point, but he's a bought man now. And, he's old which means the VP position has a good chance of taking over. Palin has even less experience than Obama. And while I really try hard not to put a religious test on politicians, her extreme fundamentalist views concern me quite a bit. Actually, she scare the hell out of me. I thought about Barr (Libertarian candidate) but the media has made it almost impossible for them to even enter the discussion. I agree with many of their ideas, but think they're a little naive in thinking they can gut the federal government quickly. Sorry for my ramble, I'm just annoyed at the corruption and incompetence I see. We need change, but its got to be more drastic and just moving from Red to Blue.
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54
Wrecking of United States of America
by BurnTheShips ini am almost shaking as i write this for what is happening to the capital markets, this country, and the free world.
the impact of the past two weeks' action in the financial markets, if not reversed by cooler heads, will have irreparably changed the world in a way that only terrorist attacks and acts of war have in the past.. .
nationalizing fannie mae and freddie mac, providing an emergency quasi-legal bridge loan to aig, temporarily banning short-selling on all stocks in the us, and instituting an rtc-type entity to handle the toxic waste of the financial system is economic violence on a grand scale.. .
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Doubting Bro
I normally don't comment on these political threads yet feel compelled to. As a disclaimer, I am an independent who thinks that both the Democrats and Republican parties are completely out of touch and out of control. Actually, at this point, I think that what the White House and Congress has done to this country in the last 25 years is nothing short of treason and should be punished accordingly - both sides of the aisle. Having said that, I think BTS list of whose to blame is pretty accurate. I think everyone saw this crisis coming but just hoped it wouldn't happen on their watch. Dawg mentioned the greed at the top and while I agree that is a problem, remember that without some element of greed there is no innovation or economic growth. Its only when greed pushes into the illegal that its a real problem. A lot of the problems we're seeing today isn't necessarily consequences of illegal activity but rather bad business decisions. The government is attempting to shield business owners (AIG, Bear Sterns)from the natural consequences of bad business decisions which is failure. I do agree that the government should in-force the law and that the likely consequence of this crisis (just like the Great Depression) is a bunch of new laws. Some of them will be good and some will not. What I'm most concerned about is that the US government is stretched so thin right now with the things BTS mentions (1 trillion in bail out money, war in Iraq/Afghanistan/"terror", social security, medicare/medicaid) I don't see how its going to stop a depression. Unfortunately for all of us, time has come to pay the piper. It will be ugly and hopefully we will come out of this mess better than before.
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Will the collapse of the US financial system lead to an increase in JW's?
by jwfacts inhttp://money.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=632789 discusses that "the collapse of these pillars of the us financial system inevitably will result in the decline of the us as a financial power.
" i have received emails from jws saying this proves the end is near.
(surprise surprise, i hasten to remind them that hurricanes, floods and us economic issues are not part of the sign of the end.
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Doubting Bro
The 9-11 bump in my area was at least 15-20% but it only lasted about 3 weeks. When another attack didn't happen right away, or people remembered why the stopped coming to begin with, the numbers went right back to normal. Its kind of like a gym in January. Its completely crowed with folks trying to live up to their New Years Resolutions. By mid-Feb, its right back to the same old folks. The only difference I could see is that if we hit a major depression like the 30s, they could spin it into a 2014 date. I don't know how, but they've done it before and I'm sure they'll do it again. I really think its a matter of time before we go through another depression anyway. Its been over 70 years which means we're probably due. These things run in cycles.
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BOE letter: "presiding overseer" becomes "coordinator of the body of elders
by Billy the Ex-Bethelite inhere's the text of the letter:.
christian congregation of jehovah's witnesses.
to all bodies of elders.
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Doubting Bro
james_woods, You make a great point. Someone else mentioned about how the new Family Study night is similar to the LDS Family Home Evening program. Actually, they would be a good model for the WTS to follow. They are a very high control religion just like JWs are. I've actually spoken with Mormon missionaries at my door and they agree that while the doctrines are different, they sort of view JWs as kindred spirits. If that's the ultimate goal, they would need to sink quite a bit into the infrastructure of the congregations. LDS has stuff for little kids, youths and adult programs that the WTS just doesn't seem to care about. I just spent a little time on their website and its much better than the WT website in setting forth their views. I don't agree with them, but I was impressed. They give the impression of being a mainstream religion yet I know they are even more controlling (no coffee comes to mind) than the JWs, they practice shunning as well.
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2009 Circuit Assembly Program - Devil's crafty acts in "education"
by truthseeker infor your viewing pleasure:.
2008 2009 keep conquering the evil with the good circuit assembly of jehovahs witnesses.
saturday .
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Doubting Bro
I honestly don't remember the hatred of education being this blatant when I was a kid in the 80s. Its so over the top! The fact is that the horse is out of the barn. By giving the go ahead in the early 90s (I missed it but am almost finished my Bachelors now), they have a whole generation that has gone to college. Also, you've got folks that weren't allowed to go now seeing that they would have been better served going to college and wanting to make sure that their kids don't make the same mistake. Honestly, I know a ton of JWs with kids in college and a bunch more with kids in middle/high school who are planning on going. As Mary pointed out, the JW mindset that I'm familiar with is that the dangers of college really come with living on campus as opposed to the actual education. So, most that I've seen attend a local college. Not sure what happens when you live in an area without a university within driving distance. The more radical they become, the more passive aggressive rebellion you see among the average JW. I actually want to go to this CA so I can point out the craziness to my wife who is very pro-education.
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BOE letter: "presiding overseer" becomes "coordinator of the body of elders
by Billy the Ex-Bethelite inhere's the text of the letter:.
christian congregation of jehovah's witnesses.
to all bodies of elders.
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Doubting Bro
Snakes- Nice summary. I agree that any of these moves are being made to make sure control is not lost in the shuffle. Its all about setting up the structure to reduce liability while at the same time, making sure they have as much control as possible. I've had more than one CO tell me that their biggest headaches are with BOEs, not with the r&f. Sir82 - I guess your PO didn't read the Gospel accounts where Jesus was hammering the Pharisees for making long, pretentious prayers?? Funny, I was the chairman of a CA once and the CO specifically told me to limit my prayer to under 2 minutes. By the way, long public prayers has long been a pet peeve!!
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BOE letter: "presiding overseer" becomes "coordinator of the body of elders
by Billy the Ex-Bethelite inhere's the text of the letter:.
christian congregation of jehovah's witnesses.
to all bodies of elders.
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Doubting Bro
Billy brings up a good point "But back to the subject of PO, the position had been elevated into a headship position by [drumroll please] Botchtower Corporation themselves. One most recent example is the "Elders School" at Patterson. So, they have all the POs go through the school first to be better trained to run the congregations, right? Oops, I guess not anymore." Why are they sending all the POs to Elders School at Patterson when they are just another elder?? I saw someone suggest that perhaps they wanted to evaluate them to help determine who should be elevated to the "circuit elder" position. And why now? Why not wait until the elder school is finished? This is all part of a plan, but I'm definitely missing something right now. It's fun to speculate though! Sorry about the formatting, using firefox.
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CO compensation
by isaacaustin inhealth/auto insurance- finded by the wt correct?
(not by the congregation?).
they also get a monthly sepdning account?
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Doubting Bro
My understanding is that: health/auto expenses - This is "billed" to the local congregations each year. The "suggested" contribution is $8 per publisher (I think that's the amount). It is generally passed as a local resolution each year. The local congregations also contribute an amount to the KHAA (the WTS captive insurance program) for liability and property insurance. That "suggested" contribution is also sent in the form of a per publisher amount but I don't remember what last year's was. housing & related expenses - paid by the local circuit expenses during the week - the PO is supposed to ask the CO to submit receipts for reimbursement. If not covered by the congregation, the CO can submit to Patterson for reimbursement. I've seen information posted here about the monthly stipend - its really not that much. I honestly think the CO change is more about reducing liability than it is about saving money, although there will be savings that should filter down to the congregations in the form of lower annual billings and lower housing related expenses.