Shepherd Book

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Posts by Shepherd Book

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  25

  Words in other languages which have different meanings to when we say them

  by The Nothing Man in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  does anybody know of any words, which are spelt and pronounced the same, which are used in other languages but which mean completely different things?

  as an example (which doesn't work i know) love in english means affection, but love in say, spanish, means hate?

  dumb example i know, but do you catch my drift?

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  Shepherd Book

  Mist, in German, is equivalent to our slang word crap.
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  8

  New video showing inside of Brooklyn Headquarters

  by Shepherd Book in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  well, this is nothing terribly scathing or impressive, but i thought i would upload some of the footage i shot while on tour at bethel.

  at the time, i was volunteering to work there, so i received a slightly more in-depth tour than the kind they give people who just show (like on bus tours).

  i shot some footage of a video talking about the graphic arts department.

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  Shepherd Book

  Gopher -- thanks for making the link clickable. Frosty -- how does one go about getting the job of tour guide? Was it your full time job, or did they take you off the 'line' when your services were needed in the tour-guiding department?
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  8

  New video showing inside of Brooklyn Headquarters

  by Shepherd Book in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  well, this is nothing terribly scathing or impressive, but i thought i would upload some of the footage i shot while on tour at bethel.

  at the time, i was volunteering to work there, so i received a slightly more in-depth tour than the kind they give people who just show (like on bus tours).

  i shot some footage of a video talking about the graphic arts department.

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  Shepherd Book

  Well, this is nothing terribly scathing or impressive, but I thought I would upload some of the footage I shot while on tour at Bethel. At the time, I was volunteering to work there, so I received a slightly more in-depth tour than the kind they give people who just show (like on bus tours). I shot some footage of a video talking about the graphic arts department. The odd angle is because the tour guide told me not to film it, but I did anyways. I also filmed the inside of their super-secret-vault. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cGn4UQqa6A&feature=user
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  51

  update...husband made appt. with the elders, what do you think of this?....

  by New light for you in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  ok... so my husband felt bad that the elders wanted to meet with us and he wasn't responding... so he set it up for saturday at 2 even though everyone said dont meet with them.

  oh ya, and everyone said not to meet with them at your house, but again, he didn't want to rock the boat.

  it's funny, though he was the first one to leave, he's still afraid and doesn't want to "raise any red flags" he's willing to just say "we're discouraged, can you just leave us alone fora while" feel free to yell at him (robert7).. here's the thing.

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  Shepherd Book

  New light, If it helps, you can use this letter: http://www.watchtowerletters.com/our_letter_elders.html (just modify it to suit your circumstances). My wife and I had not been to a meeting in over a year, and the elders still contacted us and requested a meeting. Like your husband, I did not want to say no, for fear that they would 'punish' me anyways. So I said I'd think about it, and then I sent them this letter.
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  Looking for scans from 2006 Convention

  by Shepherd Book in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  does anyone have a scan of the 2006 district convention program?

  the title was "deliverance at least 2 years off"...i mean, "deliverance at hand!

  also, the final talk of that session featured a resolution being read.

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  Shepherd Book

  Does anyone have a scan of the 2006 District Convention Program? The title was "Deliverance at least 2 Years Off"...I mean, "Deliverance at Hand!" Also, the final talk of that session featured a resolution being read. Does anyone have the manuscript of that dialogue?
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  3

  Toastmasters... again?

  by Bryan in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i know, not the most exciting topic, but.... as most of you know i have been speaking at many of my book signings and am working to increase my speaking career.. the toastmasters international competition has been going on for a month or two.. i have won the club, area and division contests and i go on to the district competition in spokane, washington on the 19th.

  this is really a great joy for me and the higher i get in the competitions the more recognition i get from speaker bureaus (agents for speakers).. help me with some positive thoughts as i compete in the next two competitions.

  if i can get through those, i'll get to the big one!

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  Shepherd Book

  Positive thoughts for Bryan:

  I read and enjoyed your book. Let me know when you're in the Land of 10,000 Lakes (aka: Minnesota) and I'll show up to hear you speak. Good luck!
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  12

  Witness intelligence vs. stupidity

  by Shepherd Book in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  there has been a recent thread debating the intelligence of jws.

  i was going to post on that thread but, alas, i have gotten too verbose and have decided to start a new thread.

  i was and am a nerd.

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  Shepherd Book

  Darth- Your example is a great example of another aspect to leaving / not leaving the religion. Certainly not all leave because they uncover the truth about the truth. Some leave simply because they want to smoke! There were definitely people who left for psychological reasons, just as there are people who were kicked out (DF'd) but still believe it's true. Again, I was just responding to the 'Witnesses are stupid' theory.
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  12

  Witness intelligence vs. stupidity

  by Shepherd Book in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  there has been a recent thread debating the intelligence of jws.

  i was going to post on that thread but, alas, i have gotten too verbose and have decided to start a new thread.

  i was and am a nerd.

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  Shepherd Book

  Darth - thanks for formatting. At work, on Windows, I seem unable to post at all, while at home, on a Mac I can't get the formatting right. My apologies if the post came across as cocky or arrogant, but there was a recent thread in which a few people claimed that all Witnesses are stupid (sorry, can't find the thread). I don't think that's the case, and that was the point of my post. Most people on this forum probably take a certain pride in the fact that they've had the smarts to see the Watchtower Society for what it really is. Once out, there is a tendency to think that those who are still in the religion are 'stupid' in some way. So, I was also trying to point out that it's possible that there are some highly intelligent people who Witness - not merely despite their smarts, but because of them. I can see how my example at the end of my initial post came across as trying to sound intelligent; maybe a different example, in which I was not smart, will be more to your liking... I always grappled with the fact that God, in the old testament, was such a blood-thirsty war-monger. I could never get this to jive with a supposed 'God of love'. It always bothered me. I hated discussing it, because I couldn't think of a way to satisfactorily explain it. Now, I bet there are people still in the religion who can come up with an explanation that satisfies them. Heck, I bet there are people on this forum who used to have a great way to explain that. I wasn't one of them. A person smarter than me, therefore, probably can explain it away and remain in the religion.
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  12

  Witness intelligence vs. stupidity

  by Shepherd Book in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  there has been a recent thread debating the intelligence of jws.

  i was going to post on that thread but, alas, i have gotten too verbose and have decided to start a new thread.

  i was and am a nerd.

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  Shepherd Book

  There has been a recent thread debating the intelligence of JWs. I was going to post on that thread but, alas, I have gotten too verbose and have decided to start a new thread. I was – and am – a nerd. I always loved studying and, to this day, I’m quite the bookworm. Of course, when I was a Witness, I looked for any sort of ‘proof’ to support my belief that I had the truth. Throughout my teenage years, this was partially supported by the fact that those of my peers who left the religion were dumber than me. I don’t mean to sound cocky, but it was always the ‘cool’ kids – the ones who slouched in their chairs, gave lousy talks and seemed to cop an ‘attitude’ that left. I, and my friends, the ones who loved studying & discussing intellectual topics by and large remained Witnesses as we morphed from adolescence to adulthood. Needless to say, I thought to myself: “Of course the dumb kids leave the truth, because they’re too lazy to find out for themselves that it’s the truth.” And I think that was an accurate assessment. See, I was such a nerd, I would have been made fun of in school whether I was a Witness or not. I was such a nerd that being a Witness was EASY for me – I always did well on my talks. In fact, the last talk I ever gave, I just got up & gave it with no preparation whatsoever. Afterward, the School overseer said: “I can tell you put a lot of preparation into that talk”. Commenting was easy, so was talking to people at the doors (relatively). What’s more, worldly things didn’t appeal to me; I had no desire to go to clubs, or to do drugs, or get a tattoo or celebrate Xmas. Compare this to others in the congregation. They got along with their schoolmates and probably resented the fact that they had to keep ‘worldlings’ at arm’s length. They probably disliked studying, and so found the additional requirement of studying for the meetings to be additionally burdensome. When they commented, they knew their comments weren’t anything special, and they struggled to give decent talks. Going out in service was an embarrassment. So, in time, they left. So… When I left the religion, I was left with an odd quandary: I left for intellectual reasons and so I wondered if all those who left before me were, in fact, smarter than me and if all those who are still JWs are less intelligent than me. This didn’t seem right, as I had a tough time believing that I was smarter than all 7 million JW, and I also disliked the idea that I was dumber than all the non-nerds who left before me. My wife pointed out, however, that the non-bookwormish people who left (that is, those who left because they wanted to be ‘bad’ as opposed to leaving due to doctrinal issues), probably always felt that something wasn’t right w/in the religion. As I had an entire support network of 70+ Witness relatives & was constantly propped up; being told I was a good speaker and so on, I never felt that something wasn’t right. So, in a way, those who weren’t as book-smart excelled in common sense. In his book “Why People Believe Weird Things”, Michael Shermer spends an entire chapter explaining how smart people can be duped into falling for ‘weird things’. Here’s his conclusion (in a nut-shell): Smart people believe weird things because they are skilled at defending beliefs they arrived at for non-smart reasons. Let me offer one such Witness example. I knew of JW who wondered how God could see into the future if we had free-will. That is, if our future hasn’t happened yet, how could God prophesy about what was going to happen? While this stumbled some, I reasoned thusly: Perhaps God’s superior intelligence can merely extrapolate better than we can, much as we can extrapolate better than our pets. For instance, I can ‘prophesy’ with reasonable accuracy, that I will wake tomorrow between 6 and 8AM, that the temperature will be ~40 degrees F, that I will drive in a car, that I will use my microwave, and so on. My cats, on the other hand, can make no such prophecies. Likewise, God can ‘extrapolate’ (i.e., foretell) far better than we can. Long story short – I was skilled at defending an absurd teaching…
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  15

  Who's your favourite film director?

  by lfcviking in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  1. martin scorcese.

  2. steven spielberg.

  3. ridley scott.

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  Shepherd Book

  Alfred Hitchcock by a large (no pun intended) margin.