i knew of a hall that allowed only white shirted speakers on the platform for sunday public talks!
when a visiting speaker did not wear the official white shirt he was either told that he couldn't give the talk or he could change shirts,as the hall kept a variety of sizes, just in case of an emergency!!!
i don't make this up.
A rule I will never forget from the congregation I atteneded for one year only (couldn't take it any logner):
-No just married sign hanging from your car on your wedding day. Even if you're not planning on hiring a 'showy' limo, and even if a couple of young kids in the Hall made the sign for you because they wanted to participate in the excitement of a wedding.
another topic gave me the idea to post this one.
i have always asked myself, why does the society not agree with the amount of time archeologists say dinosaurs and other species roamed the earth?
they agree the earth has existed for maybe billions of years.
The Creation book, and others, don't have an issue with the length of time sicentists say that life has been here on earth - unless I am mistaken. The Watchtower Society claims that Genesis agrees with finding that indicate that plants and animals have existed for millions of years. Their only two issues with origin-of-life scenarios are 1) that life did not evolve but was created as fully formed species and, 2) that humans have only been around since 4026 B.C.
they had, what, an 1.6% worldwide annual publisher growth increase last service year?
contrary to many predictions, i think they will better that this service year (ending 30 september).
and i think there will be ongoing increases for the next few service years.
The service year ends on August 31, not September 30.
i am baptised and wish to write a letter to the brooklyn branch requesting a response to two belief-related issues regarding which i have recently educated myself.
the reply to this letter will likely play a large part in my determining how the rest of my life is lived.
i have decided that whatever i do or do not believe in times to come, i will not disassociate myself.
Thanks!
(My wife and I joked that this track record means I was more successful at getting people to leave than the religion than getting them to join it, despite the fact that I pioneered for over five years.)
i am baptised and wish to write a letter to the brooklyn branch requesting a response to two belief-related issues regarding which i have recently educated myself.
the reply to this letter will likely play a large part in my determining how the rest of my life is lived.
i have decided that whatever i do or do not believe in times to come, i will not disassociate myself.
OTWO-
Yes, "framed" is a great word to use in my situation. I was careful in every case to choose words that would not make me sound rebellious or hateful in any way. I was never an elder, so I stand corrected about the elders not receiving my letters; perhaps they did. I never did hear about it, though.
The first two letters I wrote were while I was a member of a congregation where 3 of the elders were relatives (Dad, uncle and grandfather) and neither time did any of them say: "so, you wrote a letter to Bethel, eh?" When I wrote the third letter, I was a regular pioneer, and still no elder (not even my uncle) said anything to me.
Gopher-
Hey, good to hear from you. Hope all is well in your new dwelling. You're probably right, the secretary must have just read my letter, seen I was just asking questions about WTower literature I was researching and figured it was no big deal. My most recent two letters were a bit more pointed, though, but evidently the elders didn't care about them, either. That's why I was under the assumption they never received copies of my letters. This is especially funny when you consider that the only two Witnesses with whom I ever shared the information in my letters both left the Organization in short order.
i am baptised and wish to write a letter to the brooklyn branch requesting a response to two belief-related issues regarding which i have recently educated myself.
the reply to this letter will likely play a large part in my determining how the rest of my life is lived.
i have decided that whatever i do or do not believe in times to come, i will not disassociate myself.
Steady:
I have written to the Society a number of times and, to my knowledge, they have never contacted the local elders. In each letter, I tried to remain tactful and couretous - usually by saying "I don't understand.." or, "I was hoping you could provide further references on this point..."
my husband and i have been inactive for almost 8 months.
we haven't gone to a meeting and slowly our jw friends have stopped associating with us because we're "weak".
at some point, we'll be celebrating holidays.
Young Love:
No, sending a letter does not lead to disassociation as long as you make that clear in the letter. The letter I sent explicitly said that I and my wife are not disassociating ourselves. The letter clearly states that we are willing to meet with the elders (provided they meet certain stipulations), thus they cannot DF for not showing up at a judicial meeting.
Like I said, we sent the letter about a month ago and I know for a fact that we have not been announced as DF'd of disassociated. This has been great, as the elders are now off of our case and the family members that I still have relationships with have not been forced to shun me.
my husband and i have been inactive for almost 8 months.
we haven't gone to a meeting and slowly our jw friends have stopped associating with us because we're "weak".
at some point, we'll be celebrating holidays.
Young Love:
The elders recently contacted us after 1yr + of inactivity. Some of my family members found out my wife and I celebrated my son's birthday and so they contacted the elders and told them to deal with us. I pointed out to the elder that my family did not follow theocratic order (i.e., they did not contact me first), but he still insisted on meeting with us. I told him I would think about it and contact him within a few days. Then I hung up and dropped a letter in the mail. Haven't heard from him in a month now, and we have not been DF'd in abstensia, either. So, looks like we got off scott-free.
Let me know if you want a copy of this letter. You can modify it to fit your own needs if/when the time comes.
let's just say, hypothetically speaking, that an elder called me on the phone recently.
let's also say, hypothetically, that i just so happen to be recording the conversation.
let's then say he called me again and recorded it again.
Zack- Sorry, no can do just yet. Still need to get some things straightened out. I'll keep you posted.
anybody have problems at lenscrafters?
i live 80 miles from lenscrafters and i've been to them and their doctors 3 times in the last three weeks and they can't get it right.
asked if we could just do the whole thing by mail, but oh no, have to come in and get examined again.
Unfortunately, optometrists can't alter your prescription via mail. You do have to go in there. Are there no close eye doctors' offices to your house? I used to work for an optometrists office and we would routinely have patients whose eyes improved since their last visit a year or two before. Think about it, if you come in to get your eyes examined, the doctor isn't going to get more money if you need a stronger prescription. Especially at Lenscrafters, where the doctor's office is a separate company from the store (he/she rents space from Lenscrafters), so the optometrist doesn't benefit by your purchase of glasses. Even if he did, the pricing between differences in prescription is pretty minimal. Ask a Lenscrafters employee next time you back and you'll see that the prices between prescription strengths in minimal. Anyway, I know it's a hassle. Every so often, we'd get people who would come back four or five times saying that their precriptions didn't seem right. I remember one lady came in about this time of year and her allergies were bothering her so bad that it was messing with her vision and we couldn't get an accurate 'reading' until after her allergies subsided. You're really making a spectacle of yourself! :)
