I didn't grow up a Witness, but I was one the last 10 years. I would say that there were many positive and happy things about it. You had good association and we made some good friends. Treat nights were fun. For a while when book study was at our house, we'd have treat night every other week, and people would stay an hour or more after book study. Gatherings tended to be fun, although since they were 'wholesome' they weren't too exciting.
Robert7
JoinedPosts by Robert7
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24
ANY happy memories at all of growing up as a JW?
by myababes indoes anyone have any good memories at all of beng raised a jw?
the cong i was brought up in was a different one to the ones we were in when we got married.
growing up the meetings were a great social event for all us kids.
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23
Is it compulsory to stay the 15 minutes for association after the WT study?
by truthseeker inwell, today was the first sunday meeting with the half hour public talk.. the public talk was not for the public at all - it was about staying awake spiritually and was very hardcore.
more like a service talk.. before the meeting, one sister says that we are all expected to stay for at least 15 minutes after the wt study, because the society.
wants us to have more "association".. .
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Robert7
I think the primary reason for the change was to squeeze in 5 meetings every Sunday. In our hall the first is at 9:00 AM, so the last is 7:00-8:45. This way there are fewer Kingdom Halls to build. From an Operations perspective, this makes complete sense.
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What do JW's do to help the poor & needy at this time of year, or ever?
by Must obey! injust about every church i know of does something for the poor and needy around this time of year, who are not necessarily christians or members of their church.
from helping prisoners to delivering food hampers to visiting the lonely and elderly to helping poor people and children overseas, most churches i'm aware of do at least something to materially help the suffering in the community, home and abroad, regardless of their religious orientation.
many of these churches have programmes providing such assistance all year around, even many catholic churches.. but what do the jw's do to actually practically help the suffering and poor at this time of year, or ever?
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Robert7
This used to always bug me. The argument is that the Kingdom will solve these problems, so we are basically 'wasting our time' fixing a sinking ship. We are doing much more good to humanity preaching the Kingdom as a hope in the future. What a croc.
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Robert7
A quick Google search says that there are well over 2 million species of life on earth. Some estimates say it can be over 5 million, even possibly over 20 million. So it would have been physically for 2 of every species of life to be on the ark. So if the ark story is just a myth, does this imply the entire Bible is a myth? Is this proof?
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Moments at the District Assembly You'll Never Forget...
by integ ini'll never forget the assembly in madison, wi.
where some poor sap had to tell everyone that he had become addicted to porno on the net, but through much prayerful contemplation and after confessing to the elders he was able to come to "grips" with it.. good luck to that guy with ever getting a fine sister to marry him.. poor guy.
i really felt sorry for him.
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Robert7
There was a virginity pep rally. The brother would say something along the lines of "will we stay clean and avoid fornication" then the crowd would say "YES!!!". Did it several times. I'm not arguing against fornication, but it was odd, and we all know that shouting this won't actually stop any teenager from doing what they were going to do anyway...
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MLM schemes @ the hall, i.e Amway, , etc...
by avishai inanyone get sucked in?
i always thought it was ironic how often they preached against this sort of thing from the platform, then were out in the parking lot trying to sell it to you.
tons of elders defrauding folks this way..
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Robert7
My wife was into one, and MLM as a concept is legit. Pampered Chef ($3 Billion company) and Avon are MLM. Of course there are tons of shady MLMs out there. What was interesting is that the WTS is SOOO much like an MLM. MLMs are structured so everyone is always recruiting. The tactics they use are so much like the Witnesses. My problem with MLMs is why don't they just sell on the store shelves if they're that great. Just like the WTS, why isn't the organization in such a way that makes people want to come (instead of recruiting) like many churches do.
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special announcements in NYC
by heyfea inmy jw mom lives in nyc and she said that her cong.
gave out forms from the borg.they want to know where each person would go for refuge in case of a disaster like katrina.
it was suggested that each make arrangements to stay with a relative,(no objection to wordly company there), a friend,(yes, like they have any), or another jw who lives away from the city.
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Robert7
No need to be overly cynical here. They are simply trying to prepare for natural disasters, to know how to reach everyone to ensure everyone's safety. I don't have much faith in the WTS, but sometimes I do think they sincerely doing the right thing.
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Is an Organization required?
by Robert7 inso i had a shepherding call recently, and i laid out my concerns to the elders.
i said how can put full faith and trust into jehovah's organization, one which is directed by holy spirit, even though its past is littered with issues and errors (new light)?
i mentioned the redefining of generation, 1975 issue, and the un involvement.
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Robert7
So I had a shepherding call recently, and I laid out my concerns to the elders. I said how can put full faith and trust into Jehovah's organization, one which is directed by Holy Spirit, even though its past is littered with issues and errors (new light)? I mentioned the redefining of Generation, 1975 issue, and the UN involvement. The comments I got are:
- The Bible says that there always has been an organization providing spiritual food to the people.
- Jesus said the "Faithful and discreet slave, providing proper food at the proper time" comment.
- Today there is no other organization providing the Bible Truths like the FDS is.
- The FDS and the Watchtower is made up of imperfect men, and although directed by Holy Spirit, it is not inspired by it, and can have errors or inaccuracies.
- Basically ignore the little issues because and focus on the big truths .
- "Where else can I turn?"
I really would love for this to be true, but my gut tells me otherwise. I still cannot understand how "Truths" can later be proven false, like the redefining of Generation.
So upon the issue "There has always been an organization" and that the WTS is the organization, what evidence is there to prove that an organization is not required?
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You just can't reach some people-they just don't get it!
by dawg inhey guys, album is going great so far... i hope we can finish it in 2008, around may or june.
anyway, i just had a thought which made me stop in for a while.
i was discussing something with a friend the other day, i hadn't even started speaking nor had i brought up the core of my point before he started screaming like some wild manaic; he started making up "straw man" arguments one after the other ad infinum, yelling like a banshee and accusing me of all sorts of thoughts that i don't believe... it was really bazarre.
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Robert7
JWs are trained to not even think about listening to anything against The Truth. Anything against the WT doctrine is Apostacy in their eyes. It's like a filtering process. If you give any logic, it immediately gets filtered out as Apostacy before their brains can actually process the logic. If you immediately discard anything remotely negative about the WTS, you will never see anything but The Truth. They're good...
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Will the WTS start taking a hardline towards all the ''faders'' in the org?
by RULES & REGULATIONS in'' faders'' are a thorn on the sides of the wts.
they miss meetings,don't contribute any money,don't go out in service,and can contribute towards the ''spiritual sickness'' of the local congregations.. will there come a point where they will ask each and every ''fader'' if they wish to remain in or out of the congregation?
can they come up with scriptures to warn the congregation that you are a ''fader'' and are be marked?
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Robert7
"Do you believe the WTS is god's direct chanel of communication?". Anyone who refuses to say YES could be DF for apostacy.
It's ironic, because I'm a relatively new fader, and I have a Shepherding Call next week! If they ask me this question, I think I will have to fake it and say yes. It's not my character to lie (see, I'm still a good guy without The Truth, lol) but this is way better than the affects DFing will have on my family. Lesser of the evils I guess...