yes, nakedness.
i tend to believe that the end of the world .
started when people put on clothes.
Having been to a, shall we say, "European style" beach, my opinion is:
After my extensively brief research, I conclude that 5% of humans are welcome to walk around naked if they'd like. The rest should wear clothing to prevent me from gouging out my eyeballs.
B the X
i can not describe the sadness of hearing him tell me, i asked him to think about what a great part time job he has, with free schooling.
he says they will probably take him back.
his abilities are suitable for closing down brooklyn, so at least he will be there (i love nyc).
Sorry Oompa, I guess I'm a little late to the party. So much good has already been said.
Ask him why they are calling him in when a couple of thousand have just been asked to leave?
He will be going into HQ at a very depressing time. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't get a warm welcome from everybody since his coming in represents the booting out of others. Also, since he's going into Brooklyn, he's going into the 'superiority complex' of spiritual giants where 'new boys' have typically been viewed as grunts that will likely get into trouble in the big city. But some of the reputation goes back to the bindery days. I don't know what it's like these days.
How does your son feel about 'dress codes' as outlined in the crap sent to the congregations to visit Bethel? The list of rules is truly astounding.
Keep us posted...
B the X
i was told today by a heavyweight elders wife, both of whom were at bethel for many years and are very well connected to the brooklyn brass, that all brooklyn bethel operations will be moved to wallkill and patterson.
in fact, there is a very exclusive walk-through next week for some of the top real estate investors/developers who will see all the properties, starting with the sands, and its lobby has now been remodeled to look just like a high-end hotel..................just fyi.................................oompa
Brooklyn was an increasingly expensive area to operate in. The move out will make money from the sale of the properties. They'll save money by getting rid of excess Bethelites. And save money by living more cheaply upstate. However, the Society is a spending organization. And I've seen how they can burn through money very quickly. They've never worried about serious budgetting since Jehover will always provide more, and the end is so very close...
It will be interesting to see future developments.
B the X
the kh that i attended has always held it's meetings on sunday morning, and still does.
even on the days when the co visits there are normally only a handful of cars left in the parking lot after 3 pm, as the co typically quits service and heads home by 3 or 4, and besides, if you are not in his group it is usually 'take a few doors, count an hour, and get home in time to watch the game' attitude.
so today i drive by after work - it is 4 pm when i pass the kingdom hall, and the damned parking lot is just packed - maybe 45 or 50 cars in the lot.
Maybe things have gotten so bad throughout the circuit that all 20 congregations held their Special Assembly Day at the one Kingdom Hall instead of an Assembly Hall...?
why is my jw faith so vacant?
it could have to do with the fact that wt's official position on the bible is that is has been altered over time, and they have done their best to "restore" it the way they think it must have been, despite have zero manuscript evidence to do so.
but this only got me studying more in depth the history of jw teachings, and caused me lose faith in the bible.. what can you conclude if a religion has made literally hundreds of changes to its teachings in just over 100 years?
If history were to really repeat itself, I think the JWs are following the course of the Pharisees and Jews of Jesus' day. If a miracle-working prophet were to appear today and expose all the bogus traditional teachings of the JWs, their greed and hypocracy, the GB would quickly dismiss every miracle and truth presented. They would have the returned messiah DFd and killed in less than 3-1/2 years.
Having lost faith in WT and the Jehovah that I was taught, I would need some convincing to put faith in the Bible. I'd love to see a real, true prophet appear that would perform miracles of Biblical proportions, give straight answers to questions rather than spout illustrations that can be misunderstood. And a leader that will stick around for more than 3-1/2 years.
Otherwise, I'm hoping a UFO will land and provide all the answers and a wonderful future for 'righthearted individuals'.
In the meantime, I'm trying to make the best of a bad situation.
B the X
it seems that the watchtower society was very ill prepared for the advent of the internet.
perhaps, some of the governing body thought the end would come before it became a big problem.
now it is a big problem and is only going to get worse.
The Interwebs really took off whilst I was in Bethhell. WTBTS is totally unarmed against the Internet.
Even as many secular publishers and newspapers struggle to compete with online media, the WTBTS is similarly left behind by technology. In the old days, people would shell out a dime for some interesting mags, somewhat educational articles, just ignore the religious crap. Now, who cares if they give away the magazines? In a time when they should produce more to keep the R&F inspired and interest the general public, they are producing less. And what they produce is of poor quality and superficial compared to what you can find online. 20 years ago, a 4 page article about a remote part of India might be interesting. Now, you can browse online and almost be there with pictures, videos, articles and stories. They used to brag about the kids that would use Awake! to inspire award-winning essays. Now, the awards are going to the Internet savvy kids. B-bye Awake!
As for the R&F, I often found my self bombarded by the Internet circulated stories, illustrations, and poems... by 'friends' that likely didn't regularly read the magazines. Why? What WTBTS serves up is dull and uninspiring... except for some wacky Losch talks but you'll find that on the Interwebs, too.
Nowadays, if I'm going to buy something like the "Super Amazing Pasta Cooker", first thing I'll do is browse the WWW for any other purchasers' comments on it. If it gets fabulous reviews from lots of people, I'll buy it. Interestingly, I've found that if there's even one negative review, I just have to read it. What did they find wrong? Will I have the same problem? Now, suppose I go online and find that there are hundreds of negative reviews and found they were for a variety of reasons, well documented, and came from people that actually tried using the "Super Amazing Pasta Cooker" for years? Suppose the positive reviews came from people saying, 'we have faith that the Super Amazing Pasta Cooker will work correctly very, very soon and are willing to settle for gooey blobs of starch in the meantime.' Okay, thanks, I'll just keep boiling my spaghetti. End of illustration. If I were thinking of buying into a religion, I'd research on the Internet and walk away from the JW cult.
B the X
a (conditional) friend sent me some notes from the talk in hawaii.
gerrit was the keynote speaker.
this occurred 'immediately after the tribulation of those days' (matthew 24:29), referring to the destruction of babylon the great.
I found one sentence that I could agree with...
No, it's not reasonable.
All that talk is recycled crap from the 70s. Back then it was more convincing with "1975", the 'generation', the USSR 'king of the North' wanting to destroy religion, etc. Now, well, it's just "not reasonable".
B the X
this notice was emailed to a third party who embeds watchtower comments videos on his blog:.
"my name is tom shepard, co-producer and co-director of knocking, a documentary about jehovah's witnesses.
you have violated u.s. copyright law by not gaining permission to use footage from knocking in the opening sequence of your series of short videos "watchtower comments" archived at the url: http://jehovahswitnessesvideo.blogspot.com/2008_03_01_archive.html .
V-
I'll give prayerful consideration to what you list in your needs. We'll see what the flying spaghetti monster says
Wow! You've really got them shaking to make an issue out of that! It's not even that great of a clip.
Okay, so the clip gets replaced. Fair enough. Next, will the WTBTS themselves say, "Hey, you can't use our artwork!" Or, "You can't use quotes from our literature without approval!" ?
On a somewhat different note, what would be the legal issues of doing a "The Making of "Knocking"" documentary farce? Or for legal reasons would it have to be called "The Making of "Knockers""? Then, we'd need a sequel, "The Making of 'The Making of "Knockers"'"...
B the X
as many of you know , me and my fading 23 year old son have been trying to reach out to my polite 21 year old jw daughter .
sending cards, letters , phone calls just to let her know we love her, miss her , and remind her of good family times we've had in the past !
not being pushy - just being authentic with her !
Great Job Flipper !
Sounds like you expressed yourself in a way that she had to respect. With the questions she posed to you, she's told you what stands in the way of her leaving. The bOrg can give such a sense of security, hope, and safety in an evil, wicked, dangerous world. It is hard to unplug and deprogram. It's good that you've made yourself welcoming and available to her.
Keep us posted! It will be interesting if she speaks to the elders what BS line they'll try to tell her.
B the X
after the memorial, we decided to go out and grab a bite to eat.
my family and i went out with a witness couple that we consider close friends.
for the last couple of weeks, i've expressed my views re: wts to my good friend openly and turns out he had the same thoughts and doubts as well.
Pick an elder, any elder, and tell him what she said about wanting her husband dead so she can get a new one. Sounds like she needs some serious shepherding for lack of submission, lack of love, and tearing down her household with her own hands. What anyone else said is irrelevant. What she said is inexcusable, particularly if she thinks she's a good Jdub. I fear for her husband's safety.
(Matthew 5:21-22) 21 "YOU heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You must not murder; but whoever commits a murder will be accountable to the court of justice.’ 22 However, I say to YOU that everyone who continues wrathful with his brother [her husband] will be accountable to the court of justice; but whoever addresses his brother with an unspeakable word of contempt will be accountable to the Supreme Court; whereas whoever says, ‘You despicable fool!’ will be liable to the fiery Ge·hen´na.
B the X
