i've done a jwn search on beards and had some great reads.. i've learned the history of russell vs. rutherford and knorr and the hippies.. here's what i'd like to hear about.. either you or someone you know who grew a beard and the fallout because of it.. for me, i'd love to hear about the squeaky clean elder who decided to grow a beard and got removed because of it.. katie kitten, from england, on another thread told the story of her dad, the squeaky clean elder who grew a beard in the 70's and got away with it.. i don't think that would happen in california 2009.. anyway, what are your beard stories?.
i'm all ears.
(and my ears are freshly plucked.
No beards in my midwest USA area but the black brothers got by with "soul" patches. Mustaches were not uncommon.
For a kick look at the progression of the "bible study" in the "What Does God Require Brochure?". The study loses his airbrushed on sideburns as he qualifies for field service.
i'm looking for scans, links or original publications or even cd-rom quotes from the articles telling people how they can donate land, wills, property etc to the wts.
was there even an entire specialised publication just on this topic?.
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I remember that KM article. Even as a JW I saw the flaw in their "suggested" donation. The costs associated with those materials go to pay profit to the writer/artist, printer, distributer, and seller. As a non-profit organization that self performs all these activities the cost should be lower.
Speaking of 50 Cent, Of course this is the same organization that charged .50 for can of generic lemon-lime soda I could buy at the supermarket for .20
i wanted to start a thread on this subject because i am so curious to get other observations on this.. .
the one thing that started me on the journey of questioning my involvement in the organization was the blatant lack of love that i had seen in so many instances.
did i have doctrinal questions - yes!
It was my experience that the caring elders were driven out of the local Body of Elders or stepped aside on their own.
There was one elderly sister that was sometime ridiculed by certain elders for being a pain. She was old and lonely and was seen as a bit of a nuisance. I remember a certain elder laughed about how he wouldn't answer her call, just letting it ring through to voice mail.
My wife and I drove her to the meetings on occasion and sometimes joined her for lunch afterward. I remember one particular time she asked very somberly, "Do you think the elders will look after me during the great tribulation?" She was so worried that they would neglect her then, just as they were at present.
Sometime later I guess she got something of answer. (I was already DF'd at the the time so my details here might be a little sketchy.) There was a power outtage I believe at the elderly apartment complex she lived. The residents had to be evacuated. Her non-Witness daughter had to phone the congregation elders and tell them that the local church down the street had been taking her of her mom for several days.
I'm suprised that bunch of pharisees didn't try to DF her for interfaith or something.
over 100 years into the reign of christ and six more years of damage from the internet.
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what do you envision?.
PSacramento
The "book study" meeting has been merged into the the theocratic ministry school/service meeting in an abbreviated form. Instead of meeting on three days a week, the Witnesses only meet two. The "extra" day is set aside for private "family worship" time.
over 100 years into the reign of christ and six more years of damage from the internet.
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what do you envision?.
one more ...
FINANCES
They have some form of a tithe.
over 100 years into the reign of christ and six more years of damage from the internet.
.
what do you envision?.
Here are my guesses -
Preaching Work
There will be a move away from distributing literature to the public which will mirror the decline in printed media in the rest of the world. They will shift more toward special tract distributions, such as invitations to conventions, memorial, and the Sunday public meeting. The public Watchtower will cease to be printed.
Meetings
The Sunday meeting will be more public friendly. The WT study will move to the weekday meeting accompanying an abreviated TMS and Service meeting. The book study will be moved to the off-night "Family Worship Night" along with selected articles from Our Kingdom Ministry.
Organizational Numbers
There continue to be an increase in memorial "partakers" and the WT will discontinue publishing this figure as it is vestigial from the days where it was a gauge of determining the nearness of Armaggedon.
In Western lands there will a general decrease as the current generation of children fall out during their teen and young adult years. This sharp decline will be obscurred by a campaign to weed out faders. This decline will be spun as a harvest sifting.
Doctrine
Blood will be officially a conscience matter but still be severely discouraged.
1914 will be held onto but will not be focused on.
The Governing Body will number themselves at twelve in equation with the apostles and will assume the role of the Faithful and Discreet Slave. The concept of the anointed will be further dilluted if not done away with all together. In Jesus parable the GB will be the FDS, all Jehovah's Witnesses will be seen as the domestics, and the belongings will include WT buildings and real estate holdings. (The WT may get more involved in real estate to offset the decline of income from literature sales.) There may some changes on who is considered "anointed" and who partakes, this will serve the purpose of organizing and controlling as well as solidifying the unofficial caste system that already exists while consolidating power.
The WT will get more involved politically though stopping short of direct participation in the military.
Leadership
There will continue to be a shortage of elders and ministerial servants which may contribute to reverting back to a single "company servant" type role supported by a body of ministerial servants.
http://exjehovahswitnessforum.yuku.com.
http://www.jwsupportforum.com/index.php.
http://www.jehovahswitnessrecovery.com/.
Two true stories --
A JW women relates how "new light" comes into the organization. She says, "Around the world the anointed recieve an idea from the Holy Spirit and they are prompted to write into Bethel. The Governing Body receive these letters and say, 'This is excatly what we have been thinking! This must be new light from Jehovah! Let us write an article!'"
A anointed JW man relates this, "There was once an anointed brother in prison disconnected from the outside world. While he was in prison he was reading the Bible and had a flash of new light. When he finally got out of prison he was surprised to see that this very same new light had been printed in the literature. Looking at the date on the magazine he realized that it occurred right around the same time as he had received the new light while in prison."
Now I don't know the Watchtower literature itself has ever promoted this idea, but JW urban legends like this have been spread in the organization. It wouldn't suprise me if over the years various anointed ones had bought into this themselves and wrote to the Society with their own flashes of new light. Perhaps the sharp growth among the partakers is inflaming this? I think that this article is attempting to squash these notions once and for all.
i have been reading up a lot about secret societies and what they do in order to control their members.
one thing they all have in common is this;.
the leaders of the group are never the real leaders of the group.
I have a tendency to embrace conspiracies too much for my own good but I do believe that there is a higher earthly power in charge of the WBTS, apart from the Satanic spirit that drives all religious corporations. Who? I do not know. I did have a dream once that an individual named Judah Bar Schroeder was secretly running the joint.
the grammar of matthew 24:45 46 (nwt) reads as follows:.
(a) who really is the faithful and discreet slave.
(b) whom his master appointed over his domestics,.
During the life of CT Russell he sometimes attributed the FDS as being "the Society"; whereas others, such as his wife Maria promoted the idea that CT Russell was the FDS. CT Russell conceded that it was possible that he could be the slave, though publically didn't seem to promote it.
After the death of CTR, Rutherford eulogized him saying that Russell privately admitted to being the FDS.
As we move into the later years Rutherford started moving away from Russell on many levels. I'm curious if anyone knows how the doctrine of the FDS shifted over these times. Did Rutherford ever print anything directly challenging his early statement that CTR was the slave? When did the anointed class become indentified as the FDS?
kind of tempted to see it but.... any other recommendations?
we are ready for a movie in a theatre..
Yeah if you are expecting an action movie based on the trailer -- well lets just say most of the action is the flapping of gums while people sit and have extended conversations around a table, mostly with subtitles. Just so you know what you are getting into.
I hated the gore ... it was gratuitous and pornographic. Had to turn my head quite a bit. (I didn't mind the blood in the Kill Bills because it was cartoony, this was more realistic.)
The dialogue was well written and generally had a nice bit of tension.
The acting was quite, quite good. Pitt was HILARIOUS ("bonjourno") but the real star is Christoph Waltz as "the Jew Hunter". He will be nominated come Oscar time.
@leavingwt - the basement pub scene was brilliant. The tension just built and built until a glorious release.
