Posts by eyeslice

67

Dec KM indicates extreme paranoia over booking hotels NOT on the list

by truthseeker in

jw
friends

over the years, the society has included half a page in their annual guidelines when planning for and attending the district convention.. in particular, they have been very insistent that only hotels on the recommended lodging list be used.. .

the language in this month's km is even more insistent than last years.. .

here is the text in full, with the original emphasis.. .

eyeslice

Interesting topic.

Assemblies have always been a bit of an eye opener for me. There are so many rules; usually for the rank and file - as per "do I as I say not as I do".

If you wanted to attend an assembly abroad, you were strongly discouraged from making your own travel arrangements. I can understand if you don't travel with an official party then you cannot be an official delegate. But if you you weren't bothered about the 'delegate' bit and you simply wanted to see another culture then I could never see any thing wrong with that.

When I served in India, there were brothers and sister who had travelled for a day by train. They stayed in a cellar sleeping on a concrete floor. We visited them down there every day and took drinks and goodies for the kids - I never saw the DO, CO or Bethel reps down there though. I guess they were too busy arranging the the assembly for that, no just a minute, I was looking after the attendants, the parking, the washroom and first aid.

36

January Watchtower sets ambitious target for growth!

by slimboyfat in

jw
friends

individual action toward increase.

7 when we look at our task and the results thus far, the per cent increase for all nations on the average is splendid; but if we are going to see kingdom interests increase as we have never seen it before, what must we do during the year 2011?

individually, we cannot bring in a half a publisher or a third of a publisher, but we can, as publishers of the new world, aid another creature to understand gods purposes, help him in going out in the work, grounding him well in the truth, and letting him see his privilege of being a minister of the most high to join in this great shout like that of thunder and sing praises that jehovah is king.

eyeslice

It is interesting just how focused they were on figures in thise days. My earliest recollection of going to the Kingdom Hall includes seeing the big board that they used to have at the front with all the congregation's stats (for the year I think). Does anyone else remember that. I think the in your face stats must have been phased out some time in the sixties.

32

2010 drama: historicity of Christians leaving Jerusalem between Roman wars

by Billy the Ex-Bethelite in

sorry if this has already been discussed, i haven't been around here a lot and i have this question for any history buffs.. this summer's dc is a fictionalized account of first century jehovah's witnesses (gag), leaving jerusalem right after the first attack by rome and fleeing to pella.. http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/members/private/194498/1/drama-audio-only.

other than jesus "this generation" prophecy, the bible mentions nothing directly about this.

even john, who wrote his gospel and letters afterward, makes no hint of events in jerusalem during that era.

eyeslice

What struck me was the scene where the 'faithful' head of the household comments to the effect that he has been studying the meeting attendance figures and field ministry hours, which are all up. Not sure that is historical

73

Cure/Treat Cancer with Apricot seeds

by EndofMysteries in

she refused chemo and started the seeds.

if you want his phone number send us e-mail.. steve j. was going to the bathroom 4-5 times per night.

he was diagnosed with prostate cancer after a biopsy and is doing fine and will continue to do so.

eyeslice

A word about the China Study. The guy that wrote it grew up and a farm and grew up eating a diet of rich meat and dairy products. He subsequently became a highly respected expert in the field of nutrition and health and gave up meat and dairy products altogether.

I personally am vegetarian, mainly because I believe that eating meating means an unsustainable planet and because I strongly disagree with the concept of factory farming of livestock. Additionally, I am increasingly convinced that vegetarianism is the biggest single life style change that we can make to improve our health.

21

Congregation Elders got a letter from headquarters on "Sexting". I guess this is the latest trend causing problems.

by miseryloveselders in

jw
friends

last week, my coboe, formerly known as the po, read a letter from ny giving directions on how to handle cases of "sexting" in the congregation.

i've vaguely heard of sexting in news articles.

i'm thinking though, the branch isn't going to send out a letter unless there's a trend.

eyeslice

Robert7

I think you have it right. A lot of JCs deal with young people who are exactly that young, inexperienced and doing what comes naturally.

73

Cure/Treat Cancer with Apricot seeds

by EndofMysteries in

she refused chemo and started the seeds.

if you want his phone number send us e-mail.. steve j. was going to the bathroom 4-5 times per night.

he was diagnosed with prostate cancer after a biopsy and is doing fine and will continue to do so.

eyeslice

I agree this does sound too scientific to me. However, I would say don't discount diet and the effects it has on health and cancer. From what I have read and heard changing the diet of people with prostate cancer can have amazing effects. I would recommend a couple of really good (i.e. not quackery) books:

Anticancer: A New Way of Life - by David Servan-Schreiber, M.D., Ph.D

The China Study - T. Colin Campbell (a bit of an academic read but an excellent book)

good health to you all

Eyeslice

50

Did you really pay attention at conventions or assemblies?

by donny in

a co-worker of mine whose family (2 daughters, wife) are jw's related a funny story yesterday.

his wife and daughters missed the friday portion of the convention last week in order to attend a wedding of a worldly relative.

at dinner she mentioned to him that she would go to the convention this friday to make up for the one she missed.. he then asked why and she said so she could get the information she missed.

eyeslice

Sort of - I used to take notes!

I don't know whether they still do it now, but they used to have a Service Meeting that reviewed each day of the assembly a few months later. I hated getting one of those parts and often had to borrow someone else's notes if I had nodded off in the afternoon!

26

If You Were Ever An Elder...

by Henry in

what about the responsibility of being an elder did you dislike the most?

i served from september 2003 - june 2006. there were two things that bugged me the most the first was i got sick of the bickering amongst the body.

we had 7 elders and in nearly every situation, big or small, there was some division that got personal.

eyeslice

Being an elder really does open your eyes to the in-fighting that goes on within bodies of elders and sometimes between the bodies of elders of one congregation and another. And then the situation where you have to deal with something tricky but but elder X 'knows' some one at Bethel.

This happened to me several times and one occasion Bethel wrote a very snotty letter to our body elders (though in reality me) about a case that they really didn't know all the facts about having only heard one side of things. So much for being fair judges.

83

How to respond to "Whoelse is preaching the good news worldwide?"

by EndofMysteries in

this scripture stands out to me...... 1 cor 1:17-21 for christ dispatched me, not to go baptizing, but to go declaring the good news, not with wisdom of speech, that the torture stake of the christ should not be made useless.. 18 for the speech about the torture stake is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is gods power.

19 for it is written: i will make the wisdom of the wise [men] perish, and the intelligence of the intellectual [men] i will shove aside.

20 where is the wise man?

eyeslice

The JWs certainly haven't 'filled the earth with the knowledge of Jehovah'.

There are lots of Christian groups, such as the Pentecostals and Assemblies of God, who have had a far bigger impact in Africa and other 3rd world countries than Jehovahs Witnesses.

37

Most JW's are Concerned with Position/Appearance - Not Serving God

by flipper in

jw
friends

being raised in the jehovah's witnesses for 44 years ( exited 7 years ago ) - i observed many different variables that made each witness tick or operate.

but one of the most common variables was witnesses wanting to excel in progressing to positions becoming elders, ministerial servants, or pioneers because then and only then would they be looked at as allegedly " spiritual " or closer to jehovah.

but i learned as years went by that having a " position " in the congregation didn't make a person anymore " spiritual " or closer to god than witnesses who were not in appointed positions.. myself- having been appointed a ministerial servant at the tender baby age of 20 yrs.

eyeslice

Flipper you are spot on with your observations.

This is never more apparent than when at Circuit and District Conventions. How the high ups love their prominence on the platform and as heads of departments, assistant heads of departments etc. Often this is just an excuse to find some comfortable spot to sit and while away the hours whilst the masses have to put up with sitting in the stands.

The visiting Bethel VIPs are even worse - they sit behind closed doors often guarded by attendants whose job it is to keep the masses at bay.