Posts by erandir

43

#4 Talk on Tues Sept 25 - Blood

by still_in74 in

hey all, i have to give a #4 talk on tuesday.

topic:.

"why true christians do not accept blood transfusions".

erandir

Hmm...you don't want to give the talk? So don't give the talk. It's not that hard to say no. Practice that a couple times. And you don't have to give a reason, either. But to be polite, if that is what floats your boat, you could say you can't for personal reasons and leave it at that. Kind of like this:

You: Brother, I can't give that talk Thursday night. I'm letting you know now so you can reschedule me or find a replacement, whatever you think is best.

Brother: Ok, but why can't you give the talk?

You: Something came up, something personal.

Brother: Oh? Can you tell me about it?

You: Sorry, Brother, it's personal.

Brother: Very well.

Or you could resort to a more passive stance. Just don't attend that meeting. Don't call the school coordinator, don't show up. Easy.

Or if you feel comfortable lying to an organization that lies to you, just make up an excuse.

Or if you wish for a more long term solution, just resign your enrollment in the completely "voluntary" school (yeah...just like blood fractions are completely up to your conscience...whatever).

Hmm...that give me an idea. If you do decide to give the talk, focus on the blood fractions and how they are a matter of conscience even if the book study overseer tries to tell you otherwise just so he can get done with helping his group fill out those annoying DPA "No Blood" forms.

15

God Or Satan?

by Lloyd Braun in

jw
friends

here's an interesting question about "satan" and "god".

recently, i have been studying some material that suggests that "satan" in the hebrew is never defined as a rebellious angel, that only comes in revelation (greek) later.

in the ot, satan and yhwh are the same being in certain circumstances.

erandir

So basically, throughout history and down to our day, those who have claimed to be inspired of God and part of his "chosen people" continue to reinterpret the concept of God according to their surrounding cultural influences. So the WTS has its modern view of God being a personage of divine justice, wisdom, and love who has a grand purpose for creation and will shortly fulfill all his promises and make the world into a paradise just like he intended it back in the day of Adam and Eve. But that modern view was not always shared by the writers of the bible, as we can see by analyzing the books of the bible in order of when they were written. I find this concept interesting. Thanks for the information, everyone.

Also, another thing I take away from this thread is a bible example of God-inspired false prophecy. So, if God does this to his chosen people for whatever purpose, then the WTS's record of false prophecy is really proof that it is really God's chosen channel of communication on earth today? Naw...

61

2007- Witness Meetings= Why can't women wear pants/trousers??

by Witness 007 in

when my mum went to her first meeting she was dressed to perfection, she wore nice ladies dress trouser/pants.

the witness stuying with her told her it was "not apropriate" to wear this to the meeting...in 2006 i was in a congregation where a sister would put a skirt on over her pants she wore to work.

it looked weird, but the pants ban still is in force 2007.

erandir

"No garb of an able-bodied man should be put upon a woman,neither should an able-bodied man wear the mantle of a woman; for anyone doing these things is something destestable to Jehovah your God." Deut 22:5 NWT
"A woman must not wear men's clothing, nor a man wear women's clothing, for the LORD your God detests anyone who does this." Deut 22:5 NIV

Ok, so who defines in each culture which clothes are men's and which are women's? Women's pants resemble mens, but their cut and style are very different. Therefore, pants by themselves do not belong to one gender. (Btw, women wearing men's clothes looks a lot hotter than vice versa, I have to say.)

My wife and I have nearly the same waist measurements, but not the same length, but anyway, long story short, she put away laundry one time and managed accidentally to put a pair of her black dress pants in with mine. I was hurrying to get ready for a meeting and put on her pair. The length wasn't the first thing I noticed; it was the way the hip line curved that got my attention. Oy vey, something is wrong here, I thought, and then finally noticed what I'd done. Ha.

61

2007- Witness Meetings= Why can't women wear pants/trousers??

by Witness 007 in

when my mum went to her first meeting she was dressed to perfection, she wore nice ladies dress trouser/pants.

the witness stuying with her told her it was "not apropriate" to wear this to the meeting...in 2006 i was in a congregation where a sister would put a skirt on over her pants she wore to work.

it looked weird, but the pants ban still is in force 2007.

erandir

This was a Watchtower flip-flop; allowing pantsuits for sisters at Kingdom Hall meetings in the summer of '75 and later in the same year reversing the policy. It not a dramatic a change as organ transplants or blood fractions but it illustrates the micro-control the GB has always had on JW lives. I guess the current posters are just too young to recall this historical change.

I was born in 1975. So I don't think I am qualified to comment on this......but, I will anyway. Wasn't 1975 the start of Armageddon and the 1000 Year Reign? (That should be a band name.) So the rules were loosened that summer, because they knew the end was going to go down in a few months. That's my theory.

61

2007- Witness Meetings= Why can't women wear pants/trousers??

by Witness 007 in

when my mum went to her first meeting she was dressed to perfection, she wore nice ladies dress trouser/pants.

the witness stuying with her told her it was "not apropriate" to wear this to the meeting...in 2006 i was in a congregation where a sister would put a skirt on over her pants she wore to work.

it looked weird, but the pants ban still is in force 2007.

erandir

I have two hypotheses on the matter:

1) This "rule" is in place because none of the men making the rules ever has to wear things like dresses, skirts, and pantyhose and does not know how it feels to wear stuff like that in various situations where it is very uncomfortable. For example, the wife tells me that summer time is definitely not a good time to wear hose. And wintertime is much more comfortable with pants.

And the argument about men having to wear suit jackets in the summer is not valid because a lot of congregations will make an exception on hot days that the men don't have to wear them. There are no exceptions to the dress/skirt rule for women, however.

I have only seen one exception to a sister wearing a dress/skirt to the TMS/School meeting. She had to work close to the meeting time and had to wear a uniform, so there was an exception made for her special case, except for when she had a part on the school. Then she would have to dress appropriately. She wasn't considered very good association by many for this and other reasons, however. That is sad.

2) The witnesses work for a publishing company. And most publishing companies have dress codes for their sales staff and their office staff, don't they? Gotta keep up that corporate image, ya know.

91

Avatars

by Vernon Williams in

jw
friends

to all,.

i wish a thread would start where in everyone would explain why they picked the avatar they have.

i have not found one, yet..... v.

erandir

I love the Bender character from Futurama. I like his rebellious yet humorous attitude. "Bite my shiny metal ass" says it all.

74

Can men discuss feminism critically?

by Paralipomenon in

jw
friends

i am currently studying some of the issues of the feminist movement.

one of my first observations is that men are really not welcome in the discussion.

all the reference books and topics i have looked at so far are written by women.

erandir

How can these WOMEN possibly really know what a man thinks or feels?

Here's a rule of thumb as to what a man is thinking as revealed in this true-to-life (using a WTS phrase here, btw) demonstration:

Woman: (aloud) Blah blah blah, the boss was a jerk today blah blah blah, I feel that blah blah blah, and you don't understand me blah blah blah.

Man: (thinking) hmmm...I'm hungry, I need a beer, and I need to have sex with something. I wonder how many of these things I can accomplish today...oh wait, she's still talking. Maybe if I pay attention and say something nice, I can kill two birds with one stone.

(aloud) Gee, honey, I didn't realize you felt that way. I'm sorry. You sure look pretty today. You worked hard today. You wanna go out for dinner? I'll drive!

(thinking) I may just get lucky tonight!

Woman: (aloud) Thanks for listening, dear! Sure, let's go to an Italian restaurant.

(thinking) My guy is the best!

----

Erandir

86

What Did You Actually Do At Meetings?

by minimus in

jw
friends

were you a note taker?

did you truly listen??

were you a daydreamer?

erandir

I took notes at almost all public talks and every talk at assemblies. I even sat towards the front so I wouldn't get distracted. Towards the end I went to the restroom a lot, out of boredom, there was always someone there that I could chat with for 20-30 minutes.

A&W, I did pretty much the same thing till close to the end with the exception of the restroom breaks. I was a good little exemplary dub and seriously endeavored to follow the train of thought of the speaker.

But more and more towards the end of attending the meetings, I started making a habit of modifying the study article pictures and nudging my wife with the results and making her giggle. Or sometimes the speaker would make a mistake or say something that sounded kind of lewd if taken out of context, I'd write that down in my notebook and show it to my wife. More giggles.

Odd thing is that early on in our dub-ness, she had an established history of doodling, altering pictures, daydreaming, making a grocery list, balancing her check book, etc., while I was taking notes and nudging her to pay attention. Now I don't attend, have faded, and yet she is still attending and doesn't plan to fade but to just tolerate things and "wait on Jehovah." Ironic, or does that say something about our personalities?

51

How Honest Are You Really???

by minimus in

jw
friends

here's the scenario: you buy an item and it's on sale for 10% off the original price.

a new cashier charges you, instead of 10% off, 10 cents!

this happened to a woman who bought a leather coat among other things and when she reviewed her slip she knew absolutely that the new cashier messed up.

erandir

I didn't even look in the purse but maybe I should have because of the reaction I got from the clerk. Maybe I should have returned on my own. I just hope that person got their purse back with everything in it.

Yeah, I feel the same way. I have found a purse in the parking lot of walmart and thought twice about taking it in to the lost/found at walmart, but sometimes there is liability involved in returning an item yourself. What if someone already found the purse, removed any cash from the it and put it back on the ground. Then if you return it in person, you get blamed for the cash missing. It's better to return it anonymously or take it to a lost/found and hope for the best.

Also I found a wallet and took it to the house on the driver's license address and left it in the mailbox with a note saying where I found it. Basically I did what I would hope someone else would do if our situations were reversed.

51

How Honest Are You Really???

by minimus in

jw
friends

here's the scenario: you buy an item and it's on sale for 10% off the original price.

a new cashier charges you, instead of 10% off, 10 cents!

this happened to a woman who bought a leather coat among other things and when she reviewed her slip she knew absolutely that the new cashier messed up.

erandir

I know darn well that no one in their right mind would sell a leather coat for 10 cents, so I would definitely not be able to walk away from that situation without talking to the manager and telling him/her what a dope the cashier is (but in a nice, tactful way, of course). 2 things combine here for me, the Golden Rule (or karma, or whatever you want to call it) and the fact that I'd be mad and disappointed with myself for taking advantage of an idiot.