Posts by eyeslice

7

What would Jesus be doing?

by eyeslice in

jw
friends

would he be working on the massive audio/visual complex being built at ramapo?.

i overheard my wife listening to some update broadcast this morning and immediately thought would a true humanitarian such as jesus, mahatma gandhi or albert schweitzer be at all interested in such things?

these were 'people' persons not interesting in the stupid trappings of life.. if the gb were to sanction the building of hospitals, orphanages, refugee centers and the like, maybe we would have a little more respect for them but this ramapo project seems like a sense waste of time, energy and money.

eyeslice

Would he be working on the massive audio/visual complex being built at Ramapo?

I overheard my wife listening to some update broadcast this morning and immediately thought would a true humanitarian such as Jesus, Mahatma Gandhi or Albert Schweitzer be at all interested in such things? These were 'people' persons not interesting in the stupid trappings of life.

If the GB were to sanction the building of hospitals, orphanages, refugee centers and the like, maybe we would have a little more respect for them but this Ramapo project seems like a sense waste of time, energy and money.

41

Pioneer Hours Update

by Bartolomeo in

regular pioneers: 600 per year, 50 on average per month.auxiliary pioneers: 30 hours per monthauxiliary pioneers in march and april: fee reduced to 15 hours.

eyeslice

When my was pioneering in the 70s, the requirement was still 1,200 per year. It was pretty tough back then.

However, no one has picked up on one huge change since then, and that is the change in magazine distribution. Back then, there were two issues of both the Watchtower and Awake each month and the way many pioneers got their time in was with so-called magazine routes. Have 50 people who would take the magazines twice each month and you had massive magazine placements and a return visit for each call. We used to leave the hall with huge piles of magazines under our arms.

Pioneers would start their time with a 'route call' at one end of the territory, then walk 45 minutes to the next and then back to the other end. If the householder was out, the magazines weren't pushed through the door but another call would be made a few days later. Lots of inefficiencies but that's the way it was.

6

I do not understand why you should be considered bad parents if you do not have your children submitted to you

by psyco in

after creating the first human couple, god had 100% of not submitted human creatures (0 out of 2).at the time of the flood, he had 99,9% of not submitted human creatures (8 out of thousands if not even more).. nowadays, he has 99,9% of not submitted human creatures (8 millions jws out of 8 billions humans).. but he is considered a "good" god or father of his human creatures: why then is having submitted children a requirement for christians or for being considered "good" parents as jws?.

i mean: if he does not have more than 0,1% of submitted humans, how could i do better?

.

eyeslice

pysco - good point and one I have used.

I was pressured to step down as an elder over my kids who in reality had never done anything wrong. Nothing like murder or immorality and the like. I gave them a bit of a free reign to go off travelling in Asia and the like. My son was dating an unbaptised publisher at the time and that was seen as unacceptable. So in the end I was viewed as not having children at home in subjection.

Of course I could have kicked them out on the street and let them degenerate into druggies and alcoholics with mental problems and that would have been fine with our elders. As it happens all my kids left the Watchtower and are doing great.

38

Seems to be a census on vaccine status

by Indoubtbigtime in

the upcoming km school for all elders and servants is going to be in person only with no provision for video conferencing.. only fully vaccinated may attend.

meaning if you missed your last booster you are no longer fully vaccinated.. every coordinator of body of elders has to ask every single ms and elder if they have kept up with all their boosters and are fully vaccinated or they can’t attend.. this seems to be a census the gb want to know how many are keeping up with booster shots.

eyeslice

Obviously a touchy subject but the fact is that vaccination has prevented (I won't use the word saved) countless deaths. Older people and vulnerable individuals particularly have benefited from being vaccinated. Have some people died because of the vaccine? Yes, but the same goes for almost all medical interventions.

However, I don't believe that vaccination should be mandatory for anyone. That's an individual's choice.

What I don't see is the actual scientific reason to exclude non vaccinated persons from any situation. Why is attending some sort of Watchtower School any different from going on public transport to get there, or popping out to Starbucks in the interval to get a coffee.

The reality we face is that Covid is with us to stay and we have to learn to live with it. Many choose to get vaccinated, others not, and how ill you become when you get it - not if you get it - depends on many, many factors.

42

Have you ever been on a congregation picnic?

by LostintheFog1999 in

were you ever on a congregation picnic?

i was on several occasions.. the arrangements were often announced from the platform after the closing song and prayer by the last elder up on the platform.. sometimes it was included in the service meeting announcements as "on saturday we're meeting at 10.00am at the kingdom hall for field service, and after field service for anyone who wishes, especially for the younger ones, we will be having a congregation picnic meeting at the beach carpark on seaview road.".

well, according to the new elders manual you won't be hearing those words again.

eyeslice

I've been 'out' for 20 years now but I remember plenty of 'get togethers' with other familes.

The problem with the edict not to announce these from the platform is that it just leads to cliques. You get half a dozen families and there always be one that doesn't get invited and then gets upset.

26

JW Broadcasting - simply a platform for narcissists?

by eyeslice in

jw
friends

one thing i notice from sitting through a number of broadcasts is just how much these guys love their titles.

it's always brother such-and-such, member of the gb, helper to the teaching committee, etc.

it's never simply brother such-and-such, a local elder with such-and-such congregation.. it seems to me the witnesses are pretty quick to pick up on catholics who call their priests father, which at the end of the day is in much the same vein simply a title.. i suspect these titles point to a huge amount of narcissism of the part of those who revel in such titles, certainly it doesn't seem to fall in line with christ's advocation that the greatest amongst you should be be the least.

eyeslice

One thing I notice from sitting through a number of broadcasts is just how much these guys love their titles. It's always Brother Such-and-Such, member of the GB, helper to the teaching committee, etc. It's never simply Brother Such-and-Such, a local elder with Such-and-Such congregation.

It seems to me the witnesses are pretty quick to pick up on Catholics who call their priests father, which at the end of the day is in much the same vein simply a title.

I suspect these titles point to a huge amount of narcissism of the part of those who revel in such titles, certainly it doesn't seem to fall in line with Christ's advocation that the greatest amongst you should be be the least.

13

How come the old boys on the GB don't get kicked out at 70?

by eyeslice in

jw
friends

it would appear that circuit overseers (no dos these days i guess) are taken off at 70 years old.

even older ones in bethels are disposed (sorry 're-assigned to the field) of before they get too past it.. how come though the old boys on the gb aren't shown the door at 70 and replaced by younger men - obviously of the recently anointed type?

they don't look a particularly fit bunch so they can't claim special mightiness because of doing 'the lord's work'.

eyeslice

It would appear that Circuit Overseers (no DOs these days I guess) are taken off at 70 years old. Even older ones in Bethels are disposed (sorry 're-assigned to the field) of before they get too past it.

How come though the old boys on the GB aren't shown the door at 70 and replaced by younger men - obviously of the recently anointed type? They don't look a particularly fit bunch so they can't claim special mightiness because of doing 'the Lord's work'. (unlike the Biblical Joshua who said at 85 he was as strong as he was 40 years earlier).

Seems like one rule for some and a different one for another.

I heard that one CO in UK kicked up a fuss about being put out to grass with no pension but don't know what became of him.

24

Why do Jehovah's Witnesses attend so many meeting?

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

ronald curzan ( helper to the teaching committee ) gives a talk on the real reasons jehovah's witnesses should attend meetings.

it looks like the zoom meetings have softened up many witnesses.

many are probably turning off their cameras and zoning out.

eyeslice

stan livedeath

Graham Carmichael

Yes that name rings a bell. We would have been in Mosely congregation, Birmingham at the time

24

Why do Jehovah's Witnesses attend so many meeting?

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

ronald curzan ( helper to the teaching committee ) gives a talk on the real reasons jehovah's witnesses should attend meetings.

it looks like the zoom meetings have softened up many witnesses.

many are probably turning off their cameras and zoning out.

eyeslice

BluesBrother

Hey we used to have Three meetings a week, Thursday, Sunday and the Tuesday Group Study. We all felt that they got rid of the best one when they axed the Group Study ….

Tea and cakes after the group study always went down well. The reason given at the time was to cut the travelling expenses for the brothers, so instead they closed and sold off kingdom halls, merged congregations and made them travel even more.

Also, I remember when circuit assemblies were three days (Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday) and 8 day conventions (they seemed to last an eternity). And then were was the Saturday evening congregation meeting with the circuit overseer. We had one comedian CO who used to say about this 'spiritual meal' - "don't be late, it'd dinner at 8:00, no need to bring your knives and forks, just your mugs".

18

Do the old boys on the GB actually report their field service hours?

by eyeslice in

this came to mind as my 71 year old wife got up at 6:30 to drive 1.1/4 hours to meet the field ministry group.

we live a long way from the kingdom hall and the traffic is horrendous where we live!.

somehow, i doubt the good old boys do much themselves.

eyeslice

RULES & REGULATIONS

Photo Op

Exactly. These all look so staged. Would a member of the public allow a couple of guys to turn up on their door step with a photographer. Somehow, doesn't ring true.

TonusOH

I don't remember if I ever counted the time from the public talks I gave. They owe me two hours!

The counting hours thing relates back to when 'Public Talks' were public talks, i.e. aimed at the public.

As a kid of about 12 (nearly 60 years ago now) I remember being assigned to hand stamp handbills with the time and place of each weeks public talk (the handbills were pre-printed with the title of the talk and some information on the back but each congregation had to stamp them with the date, time and location) to hand to the public. If the householder wasn't particularly interested, we used to give them one of the handbills, with a cheery, "you'd be welcome to attend if you have time on Sunday".

You couldn't count your time if you say conducted the Watchtower study.

But if you think about it, the GB broadcast the rank and file, not to the public, so I assume they don't count their time. But I also suspect they don't put in a 'report at the end of each month on the basis they are in fulltime service. Let's them off the hook for any door to door ministry and I can't imagine the congregation secretary chasing them up for their report at the end of the month.