i will use my other thread today to talk about gilead.. one must apply for several years to show they are serious, unless you know a gb member or another heavy in the service dept.
a couple first gets a long app in the mail usually after several years of applying at the dc.
it is over 115 questions.
One quick question--you mentioned a blue bible with silver gilded edges, is this a new bible the JW's have? I have never seen a blue NWT with silver edges.
Another cottage industry of JW's... Getting your bible professionaly bound in leather. Mine cost $100. Its pretty cool, full of crap, but otherwise nice to look at....
i have just been informed that something is going in with the blood issue within the borg.. a large meeting is being held this weekend with local elders and also many elders from all over the country/the united kingdom and members from the bethel and hospital liason committee to discuss the blood issue.. is anyone else aware of what this is going to be about?.
i wondered whether this would be part of the expected or possible changes that the organization is expected to announce this year that might lose them many members.
any elders here know anything?.
The GB have been divided over blood issue for years. There has not been the requisite 2/3 needed for a change.
In the HLC office at Brooklyn, we toured through before Gilead started, and I asked about what would happen if a person didn't want treatments involving fractions. The brother literally got mad and raised his hands and said,"Then there isn't much we can do for them." It was at this point that he launched into a diatribe about how the red stuff coming that comes out of raw chicken and meat is blood. He then said, no matter if you get a perfect draining, you will never get all the blood out. He said that those with conscience matters needed to understand that the blood was ceremonially poured out to show respect, but even the Israelites never got all the blood not. So what, he reasoned, is the difference with medicines made from fractions?
There is a lot of controversy in the upper circles on blood and fractions. Depending on which brother they send out, elders in different parts of the country and the world get slightly different takes on what you can and can't take. Should be interesting to see how it turns out.
i will use my other thread today to talk about gilead.. one must apply for several years to show they are serious, unless you know a gb member or another heavy in the service dept.
a couple first gets a long app in the mail usually after several years of applying at the dc.
it is over 115 questions.
I was assigned and shipped to Cameroon W Africa. Lovely place if you like jungles or dirty and over crowded cities. It's not the people. The people are awesome. I will take them with me forever, they are such a gentle and trusting people. (of course, they may want to kill you if you are white and they think you have money. I can't say I blame them to a certain extent)
Ciao!
i have just been informed that something is going in with the blood issue within the borg.. a large meeting is being held this weekend with local elders and also many elders from all over the country/the united kingdom and members from the bethel and hospital liason committee to discuss the blood issue.. is anyone else aware of what this is going to be about?.
i wondered whether this would be part of the expected or possible changes that the organization is expected to announce this year that might lose them many members.
any elders here know anything?.
Gil, if thats the case, then it might be something that is Britan related only. Any American elders hear anything like this? I haven't.... They might be having unusual problems. (Ok, that was ironic to say, all their problems are unusual, but that would mean this one is really big)
I doubt it is changes, I bet it is a ball bashing with the elders. Bet it will be fun. It sure sucks to be them!
i have just been informed that something is going in with the blood issue within the borg.. a large meeting is being held this weekend with local elders and also many elders from all over the country/the united kingdom and members from the bethel and hospital liason committee to discuss the blood issue.. is anyone else aware of what this is going to be about?.
i wondered whether this would be part of the expected or possible changes that the organization is expected to announce this year that might lose them many members.
any elders here know anything?.
I forgot, but after KM School, they have smaller follow up meetings about a year or so later. That could be all this is.
i will use my other thread today to talk about gilead.. one must apply for several years to show they are serious, unless you know a gb member or another heavy in the service dept.
a couple first gets a long app in the mail usually after several years of applying at the dc.
it is over 115 questions.
I am ALWAYS up for a free steak dinner!!
I posted my story and the reasons I left the ex, etc on the Private Discussion Board under "AllTimeJeff's Story". It has all the reasons. Make sure to set aside a few minutes, it is a little long....
i will use my other thread today to talk about gilead.. one must apply for several years to show they are serious, unless you know a gb member or another heavy in the service dept.
a couple first gets a long app in the mail usually after several years of applying at the dc.
it is over 115 questions.
I will use my other thread today to talk about Gilead.
One must apply for several years to show they are serious, unless you know a GB member or another heavy in the Service Dept. A couple first gets a long app in the mail usually after several years of applying at the DC. It is over 115 questions. One of the questions I thought funny at the time is "Do you believe that the FD Slave is the appointed channel of God today? YES or NO" I can only imagine what would happen if you answered no, but that is a big deal obviously, because the Gilead cirriculum is all about reinforcing the authority of the GB, and it's supposedly prophesied role in the bible. Once you get the long app in the mail and you still want to go, it is about 90% that you are going to get officially invited, it just depends on the class. Your official invite is mailed to the PO of the congregation you are in, and the Service Committee of the local congregation must decide whether you still qualify. (fortunatly, I was on the Serv Com, lol) Some get anywhere from 3 months to only a few weeks to get your affairs in order and show up at Patterson. You are required to have at least read the Old Testament before arriving, and the entire bible before mid terms or you will not graduate.
Gilead grads are expected to go wherever the GB SERVICE COMMITTEE sends them in the world. They only send married couples these days because of safety issues with sending single women alone. Single guys are still sent via MTS (Ministerial Training School) but they frequently leave due to horniness and loneliness. (funny, but true) Married couples supposedly are more stable. (Obviously not me and my wife)
The first two weeks you study the history of the New World Translation. It is all designed to build your faith in the Borg, the GB, their bible, and all the traditions and literature, because you will be looked upon with esteem, and you are expected to build others faith in the GB.
You start in week 3 (out of 20) with Genesis. JW study the bible at Gilead, not with a study of its history, geography, scholarship, etc, but with 2 key scriptures. Heb 8:5 talks of a typical representation, or "type". And in 1 Pet 3:21, we find a reference to a typical representation, or "antitype." The GB teaches that the types throughout Gen-Revelation include bible characters. They represent, (the antitype) and are fulfilled in the existence and activity of JW with their FS Slave today. (The FD Slave is represented by the GB, which of course is silly. The FD Slave as is described by the WT does not exist. The GB is in charge, has been since '76. That is a story for another day.) For example, the flood of Gen 6 and 7 has the following
TYPE ANTI TYPE
Noah Jesus
Noahs wife FD Slave
Noahs sons and wives Great Crowd
Ark Spiritual Paradise
Flood Armageddon
Here are some more favorites
Gen 24
TYPE ANTI TYPE
Abraham Jehovah
Issac Jesus
Eleizer (Abra Servant) Holy Spirit
Rebekah 144000 annointed
Rebekahs attendants Great Crowd
The Camels(!) The word of God, The bible
Job (Chapter 1) Jesus
Job (Chap 2-42) The 1900 year old FD Slave
2 Kings 1
Elijah Rutherford administration
Elisha Knorr Administration
It is like this through the entire bible. As you study, the point of it is to get you to believe that the role of the FD Slave, even the Presidents of the WTBTS were prophesied. Thus, to not obey these men is to not obey Jehovah. If they can get you every time you read the bible, to see the FD Slave and its governing body, then you will blindly go to whatever hell hole they send you to. In fact, some dear classmates of mind got sent to Congo Kinshassa, right before the fighting and civil war heated up. They spend much of their time in the bethel there, and they can't even go outside. What the hell they are doing there?
After the Old Test you get mid terms. Finals include New Testament and the Missionary Service course, which is once, sometimes twice a week, and is barely helpful. The theme is "Shut up, be happy whever you are sent and do what you are told." Also, the course Theocratic Organization is actually the study of the modern day history of JW. We studied and read every page of the Proclaimers book.
There are currently 56 (18 couples) per class, that is a recent increase. They base this on what they can afford or budget for the program. Because Gilead is in the US, they have to have at least one more couple that is American per class. To have foreign students come in, Gilead is registered with the US Dept of Education, but is not part of the US education system. The dilpoma you get (with a minimum score of 70%) is basically as good as going through a company management course sponsored by a company and passing. It is viewed as a certificate of internal training basically by the US govt. It is presented as a diploma because many countries will not allow foreign missionaries in without some kind of paper saying they have been trained. Thus, the Gilead diploma is often used to get missionaries in.
There are currently 3 instructors that are used as a committee. They are in every Gilead grad article in the WT.
Our class (119) was featured in the latest JW video released last year. My ex and I are in it I hear. We were filmed studying in the Gilead library. I have the blue bible with silver guilding, blue shirt, red tie, studying. (That was real studying btw) I am sure we will be edited out soon, so get a copy when you can. I haven't seen it yet, as I left just when it was being released. We are also in other scenes, and the graduation was also filmed.
Any other questions, feel free to ask!
as a publisher, still buying the wt line that they were god's sole channel and any problems, doubts, etc... i had were all a product of my own lack of.
wisdom and or humility or failure of application, i would be shocked and puzzled at how long-time elders would resign and then fade away.
i would wonder: what could have happened.
I am glad I found this thread. I agree that the ones who resign as elders are the ones who care. The GB doesn't want indiscriminate deletions. I would say that since 1994, don't forget that the borg asked elders who engaged in sexual predatory activity to resign, and many did. In addition, life is simply getting more hectic, and men just get burned out. They either stay on and don't give a crap, or they crack.
I for one, tried my best to be there for everyone. I was a SEC, SO, TMSO, in a small cong. It is nuts. And the CO's don't help. They think that the hooooly spirit will lift you up, and if it isn't working that way with you, then you need to get more hoooooly spirit.
Glad to be out. Elders leaving is one more crack in the crumbling foundations of the JW.
lets see.
by watchtower theology, millions if not billions of dead people will be resurrected in jehoobie's funland...... assuming 6 million dubs survive the fiery wrath of lord jehoobie, they will represent a tiny minority in the new world order!.
according to the borg, all of these newly risen dead will require a "witness", meaning, the kingdom ministry will by necessity be in full swing,.
This was interesting. I stumbled upon someone who did the math if all non JW's are dead soon, as JW are hoping for. What does that mean for sure? Remember, this means over 6 billion, closing in on 7 billion people now alive are affected by this "teaching" Here are some interesting stats. (Btw, I didn't have my abacus with me to verify his math, but it sounded true and disturbing to me)
If you could walk along that line of dead non-Witnesses (laid out six to a row):
Walking
18 hours per day
seven days a week
it would take you
43 years
to reach the end of the line
Of course, if they were laid out shoulder to shoulder in a single line, it would take you 258 years -- more than a quarter of the "thousand year reign".
And another
The number of corpses
if laid side by side in rows of six
would stretch all the way to the moon
Hope no one regrets their decision to leave this kind of thoughtless stupidity. And to think that this life saving work "prophesied" in Mt 24:14 is so self serving, so narrowly interpreted. This is horrible.
Edited to say: How much sense does it make to kill billions at Armageddon, just to resurrect billions who were "fortunate" enough to die before Armageddon? (this is a real teaching, if one dies before the Great Trib, it is entirely possible they could be resurrected if they weren't witnessed to. If you had a little 5 yr old with a colorful magazine come to your door, and you said no, tough sh*t, you are dead.)
i have just been informed that something is going in with the blood issue within the borg.. a large meeting is being held this weekend with local elders and also many elders from all over the country/the united kingdom and members from the bethel and hospital liason committee to discuss the blood issue.. is anyone else aware of what this is going to be about?.
i wondered whether this would be part of the expected or possible changes that the organization is expected to announce this year that might lose them many members.
any elders here know anything?.
When elders are called togeter, it is for circling the wagons. The fractions are becoming an issue because many JW feel to take a fraction will cause them to lose out on ev life. The GB can't say that this is an adjustment, or else they will open themselves up to the mother of all lawsuits. But despite what was stated in the 2000 WT and the subsequent WT's local elders still don't understand what it is and how to explain it or answer questions.
When we were in Cameroon last year, another missionary elder and I were in the same congregation, and we were asked to hold a special part on the SM to explain what fractions are. To the uneducated African who thinks of blood as only one liquid, the thought that you can split it into 4 major parts, and even further into fractions just is beyond their grasp.
Sooo, either the GB cleared with the Legal Eagle Dept that they can change this horrible teaching on blood, or otherwise, they are just learning to explain it in such a way that the flock thinks they get it.....
