Posts by sparky1

23

Reflecting On Death

by Charles Gillette in

jw
friends

reflecting on death.

i can't remember, maybe steve jobs before he died.i thought i would share it with you and see what you think about it, and i'm quoting i think from his book.. "i'm about fifty-fifty on believing in god.

for most of my life, i've felt that there must be more to our own existence than meets the eye.. i might be overestimating the odds 50/50 out of a desire to believe in an afterlife.

sparky1

One of the issues that I see with us 'older ones' is that we belonged to a death denying religious cult. We were told that 'Millions Now Living Will Never Die' and so we never had to work through the reality of our own deaths. Remember our parents telling us that Armageddon was 'just around the corner' and we would never have to finish elementary school, then junior high school and then high school? Or they would put things off such as medical care or financial planning and savings because we would never need to take care of such things because Armageddon was so close? As young children we were programmed to put death out of our minds by the Jehovah's Witness religion because death would not be a part of our human experience. We were promised that we would be the first generation of humans not to face death. And yet here we are. Growing older by the day (I'm 63 years old ) we must now admit to ourselves that our time on this earth IS LIMITED and there probably is nothing else beyond this. We have been the victim of a cruel hoax and now must deal with the consequences.

These two books have helped me immensely in coming to terms with death and life. I learned a lot about the human condition from them also. I have them in my personal library and highly recommend them. (My post pertains mainly to those who were born in to this religion and those who joined pre-1975.)

19

The Society is Blocking Research On their Web Site

by new boy in

jw
friends

it seems, you can not research many of the older publications on society's web site anymore.

for the obvious reasons, that they don't want people to go back and read about all the false prophecies, changing guide lines (new light that became old light that became new light once again) and the just plain stupid stuff they have said over the years.

i not quit sure what publications they have blocked.

sparky1

The older (subjectively speaking) publications are found at the Watchtower Online Library page. Go to the JW.ORG homepage and scroll down to the bottom of the page. The link to the library is found on the lower right hand corner. Click on the link and you can do research from there. Printed books and AWAKE! go back to 1970 and WATCHTOWER magazine back to 1950. I could find nothing previous to those dates.

21

Who else had to sit though last weeks WT study, 6th Jan 2019 - "Buy Truth and Never Sell It"

by skin in

that title, “buy truth and never sell it”.

is that not our goal has jw’s, to try to sell the truth to those who have the right heart condition to accept it?.

para 9: “when the fishermen peter and andrew were invited by jesus to become “fishers of men,” they “abandoned their nets.” (matt.

sparky1

And my name could be Sparky.......'cept it ain't!

57

WT Study October 2018....spinning ''layoffs'' into ''reassigning'' ex-Bethelites ''to the field''

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

wt study october 2018. maintain inner peace despite changing circumstances.

lloyd and alexandra learn that they have been reassigned to the field, they at first felt sad.

after all, they had been serving at bethel for over 25 years.

sparky1

"anybody know if Bethelites get any kind of severance?" john.prestor . When I left in 1976 I had the clothes on my back, my personal belongings, the mornings breakfast in my stomach, and a letter of recommendation for employment. I had to ASK for the letter of recommendation.

57

WT Study October 2018....spinning ''layoffs'' into ''reassigning'' ex-Bethelites ''to the field''

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

wt study october 2018. maintain inner peace despite changing circumstances.

lloyd and alexandra learn that they have been reassigned to the field, they at first felt sad.

after all, they had been serving at bethel for over 25 years.

sparky1

25

Hello

by Hendrixgrip in

hi, this is my long overdue introduction.

i’ve been visiting this site since probably around 2011. in that time, i’ve taken a lot from these discussions and never contributed anything.

i’m not sure that i have much to contribute these days because i just don’t pay too much attention to wt land.

sparky1

Welcome, Hendrixgrip. Stick around awhile. Lot's of intelligent and kind people post here. I look forward to your postings.

27

Cart witnessing

by Phoebe in

jw
friends

not sure if anyone has posted this before but it's just been put on youtube so i guess it's okay to show you??

if not, please delete it.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdusnlvjm-k.

sparky1

Personally, I am at a loss for words.

13

Capitalizing names

by john.prestor in

just a random thought here but does anyone else notice than when the name "elder" or "circuit overseer" appears in the organization's magazines and books they're always lower case even though they're proper nouns and should be elder and circuit overseer... but branch committee member, governing body helper, governing body member, they get to be capitalized.

another subtle indication of how the governing body and other high-ranking elites see themselves, i think.

.

sparky1

I see what you are driving at John. Not being raised as a Witness, I am sure that this is confusing for you. Titles are anathema to Jehovah's Witnesses but by the same token they love their positions and ranking. In the Baptist tradition it would be good manners to introduce you as Deacon John. However, in the Jehovah's Witness tradition you would be Brother John, one of our ministerial servants. Go figure. It's just more of the Jehovah's Witness schizophrenic, 'new language', 'pure language' doublethink. But you are 100% correct in thinking that those 'higher up on the theocratic food chain' try to keep their subordinates in their place. Ask any ex-Bethelite here and they can attest to the 'unwritten' hierarchy rules in Jehovah's loving theocratic arrangement.

13

Capitalizing names

by john.prestor in

just a random thought here but does anyone else notice than when the name "elder" or "circuit overseer" appears in the organization's magazines and books they're always lower case even though they're proper nouns and should be elder and circuit overseer... but branch committee member, governing body helper, governing body member, they get to be capitalized.

another subtle indication of how the governing body and other high-ranking elites see themselves, i think.

.

sparky1

The term "elder" or "circuit overseer" are common nouns and do not refer to a particular person or entity and are therefore not to be capitalized when used in a sentence. The term "Governing Body" ( which I believe the average Witness assumes is a shortened form of Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses) is a proper noun which refers to a specific named group or entity and therefore should be capitalized when used in a sentence. As a side note, I have continually made the grammatical error of capitalizing both elder and circuit overseer in my postings.

34

New JW phrase: bouquet of truth

by ohnightdivine in

i heard it from someone who attended the latest wt study, and quickly posted it with - you guessed it - a picture of a lovely flower bouquet.

.

"how big is your bouquet of truth?".

sparky1

"Bouquet of Truth", my ass. It's more like a bouquet of lies, falsehoods, prevarications, misstatements, 'theocratic tact', and out and out deceit.