Many I've spoken with would have rather had the TMS/SM canceled and retained the CBS. As mention, its the only meeting many felt comfortable in and the social interaction afterwards helped build community. I hosted one for many years and goodie night was always well attended. My wife is sad that its coming to an end. When you think of it, the house meeting goes all the way back to the beginning of the religion. It's a major change.
Doubting Bro
JoinedPosts by Doubting Bro
-
54
Last bookstudy group this week I think there will be great sadness in the
by eyeslice intuesday sees the last group bookstudy for many.
i know the group that my wife attends will be having a bit of a party afterwards.
even my son ,who is 17 and has not attended the meetings for the past 6 months, says he wants to go on tuesday.
-
-
-
23
Are we entering a new era?
by BurnTheShips in19 december 2008situation report: global economy, december 2008filed under: post-wwii era, end of tags: financial crisis, napoleon, peak oil, transition, treaty of paris, wwi, wwii fabius maximus @ 5:00 am this is a situation report on the global economy.
speculation, attempting to find order from the confusing and rapidly-changing datastream.. the roots of this crisis lie in the cumulative decisions of us all collectively over the past 3 decades.the problem grew to become major problem as a result of regulatory decisions made over the past decade or so.we passed the last exit during the 2001 recession, with the governments decision to supercharge credit expansion instead of allowing a natural recession to rebalance the economy (as volker did in 1980-82).the financial crisis ignited in december 2006 with the collapse of the mortgage brokers.it became a conflagration as a result of the governments ad hoc response, incremental steps taken into the void without a plan.the financial crisis hit the real world in fall 2008, a cardiac arrest of global economic activity.so far main street has experienced only the fore-quakes, the tremors before the main event.i suspect it will hit during the next few months.the defining characteristic of this downturn is the unexpected breaking of links in the economic machinery.
home prices crash far beyond anything seen since the 1903s.
-
-
Doubting Bro
I think we are probably towards the end of the US superpower reign. Civilizations rise and civilizations fall in terms of world importance or relevance. The US will likely enter into its worst depression and my opinion is that its going to take at least a decade to recover.
-
251
RIP Dansk (aka Ian), 18.12.1953- 20.12.2008
by faundy inhave posted this on the other thread but just making this one as well:
i need to let you know that dad passed away this morning at 8am.
he fought so hard but in the end they could not get his blood pressure to rise and he died of heart failure.
-
-
Doubting Bro
So sorry for your loss.
-
38
Someone in my family died this week - I am not doing well
by BonaFide inso i am sitting here crying, i am a pretty emotional guy.
i have been a witness all my life, so this is so hard.
first, this is my immediate family.
-
-
Doubting Bro
Bonafide, I'm so sorry to hear about your loss. I know the tendency is to focus on what you "wish you had done" with your dad. We all could handle our relationships a little better, especially when you take into consideration the influence of the WTS over our relationships with non-JWs while we were fully indoctrinated. But, try to think of the positive aspects of your relationship. The things "you did" with your dad. Your pain is a normal reaction. It will subside in time, but I know that doesn't make it any easier right now.
-
7
WT Library PDA edition and other "holy" stuff
by outofthebox ini am the secretary in the congregation (don't ask) and i wanted to share with you guys the "meat in due season": .
starting jan 2009, the field service report can be sent until the day 20th of the month, instead of the 6th of each month as it is now.
but, like the letter says: "it is not necessary to announce this change to the congregation".
-
-
Doubting Bro
OOTB - I just laughed about you being made secretary. That's pretty quick. I got stuck with that job for about 4 years and man it sucked. By far the worst job on the BOE and the most labor intensive. Even when I was a believer, I hated it. Once I realized the WTS was full of it, I REALLY hated it. Hey, on the bright side, at least you have more time to put the report together.
-
18
No field svc reports in OKM - a possible reason?
by sir82 inmaybe i'm being influenced by all the "conspiracy nutters" on this board, but what if.... ...what if the society is planning some sort of huge "bombshell" in the next 2-4 years?
this bombshell, they expect, would cause maybe 20, 30, even 50% of the jws to leave.
it has been speculated here, and i tend to agree, that the society would rather have 3 or 4 million fiercely loyal adherents than the current mix of 7 million or so zealots, lukewarm hangers-on, slackers, and inactive "ones".. seeing a precipitous drop in the number of publishers in a short period of time would have a devastating effect on morale for even those most-rabid zealots.
-
-
Doubting Bro
Anything is possible. But the only thing I could see making that big of a sudden drop would be 1) another specific end of the world prediction ala 1975, 2) a complete mainstreaming of doctrine and practice ala World Church of God (no way that's going to happen) or 3) tithing. I say tithing because over and over again we were told how wrong it is to tithe because giving should be done from the heart. If they instituted tithing, that would push folks that go but don't contribute to make a stand. Maybe this is part of a grand scheme but more and more, I just don't think the top leadership is smart enough or united enough to actually have a long term plan and stick to it. I see the WTS as a rudderless ship.
-
101
NEW KM style
by stillajwexelder inthe january km is completely different.
the style has been totally revamped
-
-
Doubting Bro
You could always go in between and have only the pioneers submit their time or have some other criteria for being a pioneer. I agree that's the only title a woman can hold as a JW and given the title driven nature of the religion, that would be very demoralizing. I still think that time reporting is so much more than just collecting data. Its the very yardstick by which every JW is measured. Not saying it couldn't happen, but they'd need to replace it with some other yardstick by which JWs could measure their spirituality by.
-
26
Meeting for baptized brothers only???
by cinnamon1642 inrecently they made an announcement at our hall that there would be a meeting for all baptized brothers only, no matter how young or old, or whether you are serving or not.
any baptized brother.
one of the elders wives said there is a 45 minute outline from the branch and then another 15 minute part.
-
-
Doubting Bro
daniel-p - You're right, but it sounded from stilla's description as something more than just a local needs thing. I do recall several years ago giving the non-servants a "pep talk" about reaching out. But it was a local needs part that was followed up by a 1/2 meeting conducted by 2 elders. The result from the guilt trip? Nothing changed!
-
-
-
Doubting Bro
Dan - your in our thoughts. So sorry for your loss.
-
26
Meeting for baptized brothers only???
by cinnamon1642 inrecently they made an announcement at our hall that there would be a meeting for all baptized brothers only, no matter how young or old, or whether you are serving or not.
any baptized brother.
one of the elders wives said there is a 45 minute outline from the branch and then another 15 minute part.
-
-
Doubting Bro
Stilla, did you guys already have it. I haven't heard a peep about such a meeting here. Sounds riveting, NOT. Was it covered like the lame outline given by the CO to the servants or the annual pioneer meeting? We just had a CO visit about a month ago and nothing was mentioned.