Thanks for the concise summary.
You may have had several miserable hours at the circus assembly, but look on the bright side... I've been enjoying a wonderful Sunday doing whatever the hell I want!
Billy the Ex-Bethelite
JoinedPosts by Billy the Ex-Bethelite
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27
What I Learned Today
by OneFingerSalute injust thought i would share what i learned today sitting for several miserable hours at the circus assembly.. while i took "notes" i just cannot stand trying to type out all the details.
so suffice it to say the entire program can be covered with these few observations.. do more!
give more!
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
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Videolink speech by a HQ member this Saturday
by Powermetal4ever inso this saturday we are going to have some kind of videolink speech, by a james mantz from headquarters apparantly.
how very exciting... or not.
thats what my mum said anyway, and i just thought like " yeah right" i can t remember we have ever had it before, is it a new take?
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
It started quite good, with a lots of talk about personal freedom in matters that are not specifically described in the Bible. Such as eating meat sacrificed to idols in Korinthians.
In actuality, that raises two HUGE problems for JW theology.
1) In 1 Cor. 10:25-30, this was Paul writing in 55CE saying that eating meat sacrificed to idols was a conscience matter... so "personal freedom", eh? But it was just a few years earlier in 49CE that the governing body decided in Acts 15 "to keep abstaining from things sacrificed to idols". So, in a very short time, something that was forbidden, to "keep abstaining from", had become a matter of personal choice. That means that what the governing body says today...
the speaker came to the subject of always obeying the faithful and discreet slave. Specially on the matter of higher education
...they may say that today, but it will become a matter of personal opinion. And remember, of course, that after the governing body decided that circumcision was no longer required, the very next event mentioned in Acts 16 was Paul circumcising Timothy. If anything, decisions by the governing body are something to be quickly discarded.
2) Of course, their acknowledging the validity of Paul's reducing the eating of food sacrificed to idols from being forbidden to being a personal choice would also reduce the validity of the command to "abstain" from blood. Once that phrase is discarded, the JW beliefs would roll back to what was stated after Noah left the ark (yeah, like that story ever really happened, LOL). There it was clearly explained that the blood was to be drained from a slaughtered animal you were going to eat. Since blood transfusions come from living donors and not dead animals, the WT prohibition of blood transfusions is trashed... Of course, WT has already trashed it with their bizarre "blood fractions" policy.
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How to Choose a Wife!
by snugglebunny inback in the day, when my family moved to a new congregation, i fell head over heels with a young sister who was an elder's daughter.
it wasn't long before we were talking about marriage and i was contemplating buying her an engagement ring.
my parents were not happy at all.
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
It factors down to putting organizational loyalty before any personal relationship in all such "marriage advice". Personal qualities that one would look for in genuine, loving relationships are steamrolled in favor of qualifications important to WT Corp. Which is more important for a woman: a man who is financially responsible and lovingly cares for his widowed mother and younger siblings, or a man who spends more money than he makes (because this system is soon to perish anyway) and wastes hours every month standing next to a WT litteratrash trolley and tells his family to "rely on Jehovah"?
Additional advice from WTland:
- When a new class of gilead would begin, there would be a Monday night program after the "family" botchtower study where each student/couple would give a brief introduction. There were lots of couples where they made it a point to mention that both of them wanting to go through gilead was pivotal to their establishing any relationship. There were some couples that established this in their first conversations upon meeting... and they were engaged and married just weeks later. These stories brought gasps from us bethelites. Personally, I was horrified because I had plenty of bethel roommates that I just didn't really like. Both of us having the similar desire to slave in bethel was no grounds for even a friendship. That was certainly one of the things that prevented me from getting married. If her desire to get into bethel or marry a bethelite was her strongest motivation to marry me, that could easily turn bad.
- I also remember in bethel when Losch had morning worship comments and "explained" how bethel brothers shouldn't get involved with sisters that weren't spiritual enough. He said that it might hurt to break up with someone you really think you love, but there are plenty of other spiritually qualified sisters out there that you can fall in love with just the same. He further added how there were brothers in bethel who lost their beloved wives in death but they went on to find new wives and came to love them just the same as their dead wives. This comment caused a stir for a while with all the wives as they imagined their husbands briefly mourning their death... but picking out their next wives at her funeral.
- On the other hand, I heard the story of a young bethelite asking Carey Barber about how to know whether a sister was "the right one." He responded, "Well, take her to the beach and see what you've got!" Yes, I could imagine him saying that.
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Regional Convention 2015 - Program
by Designer Stubble infriday morning9:20 music9:30 song no.
5 and prayer9:40 chairmans address: imitate jesuswhy and how?10:20 symposium: lessons from jesus word pictures observe the birds and the lilies have salt in yourselves build your house on the rock11:10 song no.
120 and announcements11:20 follow jesus patternkeep on asking, seeking, and knocking!11:45 keynote address: concealed in him are all the treasures of wisdom12:15 song no.
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
1:50 SYMPOSIUM: Imitate Jesus’ Use of Power
˙ Dear Young Ones
˙ Faithful Single Ones
˙ Precious Wives
˙ Loving Husbands
˙ Wise Parents
˙ Kind EldersShouldn't it be "Imitate Jesus' Use of Power by Dying at 33-1/2 Years Old"?
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"Neither can salt water produce fresh water." - James 3:12, RNWT
by 88JM ini noticed this verse the other night and thought it looked so obviously ridiculously provably untrue that there must be something more to it.
surely even a bible writer must understand that desalination isn't witchcraft?.
new american standard bible:"nor can salt water produce fresh.".
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
Obviously a Bronze Age religion with no real concept of science, only the supernatural. Lightning was from god and sickness was caused by demons.
What kind of intelligence can you expect of a god that's defenseless against chariots with iron scythes? (Judges 1:19; Joshua 17:16)
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Australian Football player Alex Rance
by Mattieu inhow can i describe alex rance?
if i was from the uk or europe, imagine your best football goal keeper.
if from the usa, imagine your best defence player in the nfl.
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/would-tiger-alex-rance-walk-away-from-millions-20150417-1mnbo4.html
Says here he's planning to go backpacking, eh? Why wouldn't he take this opportunity to preach?
This would be quite the opposite of the Williams sisters who have no problem playing pro tennis and thanking Jehovah for their victories... and posing nearly naked for pictures.
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Graduating college May 14. Update on Getting my GED and going to college thread from 5 years ago.
by noni1974 inhttp://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/187163/getting-my-ged-can-go-college.
i started this topic 5 years ago letting everyone know i had decide to get my ged and go to college in hopes of getting an education so that i could have a career instead of just a job.
i wanted fulfillment and a future, not just another job that has no really future in it.
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
Good job! -
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How a Gay Jewish Boy from New England Came to Be and Leave the JWs (and what he did next)
by CalebInFloroda inborn in cambridge, ma to a liberal couple that escaped the conservative south, my parents raised me better than to become a jehovahs witness.
funny thing was they got mixed up in it first.. while that is a story for another time, i myself had to go along as the third of five children in my family.
dads job transferred him to texas and my mom worked fulltime herself, but eventually we found ourselves drinking the kool-aid of ambiguity intolerance and full-fledge belief that the bible was literal fact and that salvation was found only by those who were smart enough to enter the confines of the watchtower.. its weird how many people claim they fear children raised by two gay parents will grow up to be gay.
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
Welcome! Thanks for sharing your story. -
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A Titanic Thread
by Billy the Ex-Bethelite in14 april 1912: rms titanic struck an iceberg during her maiden voyage in the north atlantic.. 15 april 1912: after two hours and forty minutes, rms titanic sank, resulting in the deaths of 1,517 people.. according to watchtower, when armageddon strikes, it will be the equivalent deathtoll of 4,000,000 titanics sinking.. praise jah?.
b the x.
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
Cool indeed snugglebunny!
Jehovah killed a bunch of people in Noah's day that refused to serve Him.
He's about to do it again. Don't say you weren't warned.Wait, are you saying that the story of Noah's ark is based on the Titanic? Were Russell's Bible Students warning people not to get on the Titanic because it was going to sink?
In case you are trying to give me the opportunity to provide links to my other informative threads that clearly prove that the Noah story is a fable, here they are:
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/183719/from-noahs-ark-australia-awake-jan-8-1969-pp-5-8
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/202031/tower-babel-built-babies
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What to cook for the CO?
by fulano inthe funniest i have seen since ages..... http://www.forevereating.com.
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
Here's a couple of suggestions:
- Just keep telling him that dinner will be ready very soon now! Tell him all the special appetizers, the plentiful meats and casseroles, finished off with the sweetest deserts he will ever taste. And keep him waiting the entire week until he has to leave to go mooch off the next congregation to preach his empty promises of "paradise very soon now".
- Tell him that you're prayerfully relying on Jehovah to provide the food. After all, if Jehovah could help some dude find a leak, as described in the WT broadcast this month, surely Jehovah could arrange to feed his faithful preachers by arranging for a pizza delivery driver to crash into a Chinese food delivery driver in front of the KH, right? Not only could they get free food from the wreckage, but they could count their time witnessing to the crash victims about how doctors have evil worldly educations, and how they should refuse blood therapy based on the dietary restrictions attributed to a Bronze Age god, and if they die now as nonJWs they have the privilege of being resurrected in a Panda Petting Paradise after their families have been slaughtered in armageddon for not being JWs. If that grizzly scenario isn't in harmony with jehovah's will, what is?