Gerrit Lösch (it's pronounced kinda like "Lirsh") did two things at our DC (Portland, OR June 30-July 2). He released the new book about the minor prophets, and he gave the closing talk, the one with the resolution in it.
First of all, Lösch was not promoted to the Governing Body because of his speaking ability. He's very dry and has an unpleasant accent. He has a creaky, dry, dusty voice. He is given to odd, cryptic threads that go nowhere and humor of the variety that is unrecognizable until five minutes later. He also employs a lot of JW jargon that would be totally unrecognizable and fly right over the heads of any actual members of the public who happened to be enticed into the statium by all the 16 year old "sisters" in tight revealing clothing.
He said a couple of weird things. One was about sports, he was being all secretive and speaking in a confidential manner: "Jehovah's servants must be careful to avoid sports that exist to promote violence. I REPEAT! Jehovah's servants must be careful to avoid sports that exist to promote violence. Can you think of any sports in the US that exist to promote violence? I won't name any, I'll allow you to draw your own conclusions." Perhaps the fact that we were sitting in an arena that is primarily used for ice hockey had something to do with it.
The second weird thing was the resolution. I suppose this isn't really Lösch's fault, but still. He was all like "here is a resolution." And he started talking, it was like 7 or 10 points, the content has been well covered in previous threads so I won't go into it here, but it literally went on for like 10 or 15 minutes, I'm not exaggerating. I forgot he was even doing the resolution at one point, it went on for so long. Finally he goes "everyone who accepts and agrees with this resolution should say..." and just stops and holds his hand out. After like 5 seconds everyone realizes he's waiting for a response and there was a collective disjointed "Aye!"
Overall, not an impressive person. Maybe he "really loves Jehovah" or something.
under_believer
JoinedPosts by under_believer
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Governing Body member Gerrit Lösch spoke at my District Convention
by under_believer ingerrit losch (it's pronounced kinda like "lirsh") did two things at our dc (portland, or june 30-july 2).
he released the new book about the minor prophets, and he gave the closing talk, the one with the resolution in it.
first of all, losch was not promoted to the governing body because of his speaking ability.
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under_believer
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The Fourth of July, and Letting Go
by under_believer inbackground for those who are not aware of my situation: my wife is an active, faithful witness.
i am inactive and in the process of attempting to fade.
we were both raised "in the truth.
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under_believer
It definitely wasn't the hypocrisy, though that is... interesting. And I have pointed out on numerous occasions that I consider this hypocrisy, too, but it doesn't sink in. She really just has different, more relaxed standards than I do, which is clearly why she's able to maintain her position as a Witness when I am not.
Puck, your secret is safe with me. :) -
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The Fourth of July, and Letting Go
by under_believer inbackground for those who are not aware of my situation: my wife is an active, faithful witness.
i am inactive and in the process of attempting to fade.
we were both raised "in the truth.
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under_believer
Background for those who are not aware of my situation: my wife is an active, faithful Witness. I am inactive and in the process of attempting to fade. We were both raised "in the truth." We have an unenumerated multiplicity of children.
Apparently, my wife and I were raised with really different standards. I was raised to take everything from the Society very seriously and literally, and regard it essentially (though it this was never explicitly stated) as coming from Jehovah. I took very seriously anything that was declared verboten; holidays, nationalism, politics, sports, you name it, I conscientiously avoided it. On the other hand, she was raised with a much more relaxed viewpoint on all of these matters.
So even though I'm the inactive one, even though I'm the evil wicked fader, even though I'm the one with the doubts and the apostate thinking, every once in a while she still does something that totally blows my mind.
Last night was case in point. We Americans celebrate our Independence Day on the 4th of July by getting drunk, having barbecues, and shooting off an unreasonable quantity of fireworks. This holiday is, of course, totally forbidden for Witnesses on the grounds that it's patriotic. During our dinner that evening, my daughter says "The 4th of July is a stupid holiday, right mom?" And my wife is like "Of course it is" and goes on to explain exactly why we faithful Witnesses don't celebrate Independence Day.
Even so, the kids were really excited about the fireworks (they're young.) My wife (the faithful Witness, remember) actually set up lawn chairs on the front lawn for everyone, got drinks, and we went out there with the kids and watched the show. After we sat out there for a while, she actually went back in the house, got some glow sticks--chemically luminescent little toys that you bend and then they glow--and gave them to the kids so they could run around our front yard swinging these glowing things. This was something that a lot of the celebrating kids were doing in our neighborhood. By the way she did all of this by her own initiative--I would have happily sat inside watching TV or something.
So--she's a lousy Witness, right? Right. Any elder driving by would have words for us the next morning, no doubt about it. Even watching the fireworks is considered evil by some Witnesses, and actually getting the glowsticks and joining in would give many Witnesses serious conscience problems.
The strange thing is, thoughout the night, I feel myself getting more and more upset. The anxiety grows bit by bit to the point where after about half an hour of this I can barely sit still, I'm practically in a state of terror! I am mystified as to the source of this anxiety, until it suddenly hits me--I'm upset that we are compromising by joining in the holiday celebration. What the HELL? I'm floored by this, but it's true--even though I don't even believe in or agree with the reasons behind the holiday ban, it still is upsetting me on a subconscious level that we're doing it.
How, I ask you, is it fair that I should be the one fading out on conscience issues, and yet I retain all these phobias and mental misfires, and my wife can keep her status as a Witness and yet not worry about holidays? -
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DC, all but gave directions to the JWD site
by ocsrf in.
i found the dc very interesting this year do to my reading of this site.
i took note that the danger of the internet was menitioned no less than three times, once with a demonstration showing a brother who found a site by a innocent search of the web on a jw subject to the very last talk, concluding remarks and final "resolution" that consisted of 10 items with number 10 staying away from dangerous sites and chat rooms.. makes you wonder what the real story is behind that much attention being given to this problem iof theirs.. oc
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under_believer
I'd like to amend to that bit on the "Internet Skit."
Posters here seemed surprised at the specificity of the skit, and truthseeker's notes said "Talk against the Governing Body?"
In reality the (more accurate but still not verbatim) words were "This says the Governing Body is directing the Katrina relief work only towards prominent ones in the Congregation, and not the poorer brothers and sisters."
Now THAT is specific. That is so specific that it can only have come from the writer of the skit or one of his researchers actually doing a web search and finding that information.
It is also incorrect; I know several who helped in that relief effort and by their report (and they are people I trust, Witness or no) they spent almost all of their time in the Lower Ninth Ward.
So what this amounts to is a strawman; a very specific purported "apostate claim", one which is easily debunked (and one which many who are hearing have personal experience to contradict), exactingly designed to make ex-JWs and "apostates" look foolish and petty. -
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Hello! Im new here........
by Garden Rose ini am familiar with the jehovahs witness faith though i have never belonged to it.
i am not attracted to it.
i am deeply interested in the welfare of individuals who have been injured in their souls.
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under_believer
Welcome to the forum! There are some fine thinkers here (myself excluded, of course.)
I have no comment on the rest of your post, however; my problems remain too personal and involve others whose situations I am not (yet) at liberty to expose. -
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J.Manuel Cano in Watchtower Literature
by GermanXJW ini have searched the watchtower library with no results.
but since cano was a bethel elder serving in walkill, even being sent abroad as a watchtower representative there could be a chance that there is a picture of him in the literature or that he was a model for some bible character.
would be hard to find but maybe someone has inside information?
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under_believer
I think he's the dude on the far left.
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www.watchtower.cc
by Lord-Quad inthank you all for your continued support!
www.watchtower.cc is growing extremely fast, faster then i had expected, in the event that watchtower.cc is unavailable tomorrow (tomorrow only), please use www.quad-central.com everything is the same on both sites!
thanks elsewhere for your advertising.
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under_believer
It's a good site, but I have a few questions.
- How does "protective custody" allow you to commit crimes for which others have been punished? I don't consider any of that activity to be copyright infringement, but the Watchtower does and they have successfully forced sites down under that justification.
- Who is Dorothy Tucker? I can't find any evidence that a federal judge Dorothy Tucker exists anywhere.
- If you are so well protected and invulnerable, why is your site registered with Domains By Proxy instead of your real name?
- Your understanding of the legal system seems to be a little incomplete. Judges don't proactively "do" anything to anyone unless there is some legal case in progress. What is the case involved? These are matters of public record--not secret. You should be able to provide us with this information if in fact it is real.
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The "Revelation" Book...did you HATE that thing as much as I did??
by LovesDubs inok the first time i thought it was pretty cool how they applied every little scripture to themselves.
i sat rapt with my young children while we discussed wonderful things to come.
the second time i was like...where's my old book with all the notes in the margins, im not looking all this sh-t up again!.
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under_believer
james_woods, the real anomaly with this book is that it actually includes language early in the text that says that the interpretations in the book are not claimed to be infallible:
*** re chap. 2 p. 9 The Grand Theme of the Bible ***
It is not claimed that the explanations in this publication are infallible. Like Joseph of old, we say: “Do not interpretations belong to God?” (Genesis 40:8) At the same time, however, we firmly believe that the explanations set forth herein harmonize with the Bible in its entirety, showing how remarkably divine prophecy has been fulfilled in the world events of our catastrophic times. -
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The Americans who Risked Everything
by XJW4EVR ina few years ago, rush limbaugh read this speech that his father gave every independence day.
regardless of your view of rush or his politics, i find myself going back to re-read this speech everytime independence day comes around.
it is a reminder of the price that was paid in order for us to bask in the liberty we have now, 230 years after the declaration of independence was signed.. .
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under_believer
That page has fscking embedded midi in it, which blasted out over my speakers when I opened the thread. I'm at work.
My suggestion for the future is to either post a link to your content, or duplicate the text. Embedding it in an IFRAME without at least warning people that patriotic music would be vomiting out of their speakers when they opened it is highly irritating. -
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The "Revelation" Book...did you HATE that thing as much as I did??
by LovesDubs inok the first time i thought it was pretty cool how they applied every little scripture to themselves.
i sat rapt with my young children while we discussed wonderful things to come.
the second time i was like...where's my old book with all the notes in the margins, im not looking all this sh-t up again!.
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under_believer
like fitting a condom over a bowling ball
Very apt, I like that.
Yeah, the Revelation book is boiled shit. I won't be attending even if my wife begs me.