i am curious as to what the members here look like.
be totally honest now.
not everyone looks like a knockout or mr. buff.... .
keyser soze - maybe John Cusack...but your avatar looks more like that lovable old, foul mouthed, back-stabbing, cut-throat, alcoholic, manipulative, bladder stone passing, hog feeding, whore-mongering, ---- but lovable ---- Swearingen character on Deadwood. That must mean you are a typical Aussie zone servant.
I only hope that I can achieve such heights when I grow up.
JV
i really love a good western.
the remake of true grit by the coen brothers (fargo, o' brother where art thou?, etc.
) was a pleasant surprise.
Don't forget "Appaloosa" - another great film with gritty realism.
if the watchtower discourages the study of biblical languages, then why did they publish twice, in 1969 and 1985. the kingdom interlinear translation of the greek scriptures?.
would this not actually encourage the study of the greek language?.
Terry you are right about getting the words right.
Our modern age has vinyl recordings, movies, and newspapers from the beginning of the 20th century. They are news events, speeches, court cases, and other original sources.
And yet how many times do we see living politicians, writers, commentators, and performers misquoted - or their words bent to mean something totally different than the source material.
Perfect example: Churchill DID NOT say, "All I have to offer is blood, sweat, and tears." And yet that is the common quote repeated several times daily in newscasts, at schools, and in movies.
No he didn't. Rock singer David Clayton Thomas may have said those words, but Churchill DID NOT. And those words are only 70 years old and have been transcribed and filmed and recorded at the time he gave his famous speech to the British people.
So how do you think the writers of the Gospels and Acts could possibly remember Jesus words perfectly - especially since they were not there. Mark and Luke were not even present at any of the events in Jesus life. They were writing from third person accounts. Matthew sourced his material from Mark. John may or may not have been present, but his accounts do not agree with the other three gospels in many cases. Paul was not even converted until well after Jesus death - and yet he frequently quotes Jesus.
Nah, the Bible is more like a modern history book that you'd find in an American high school. Major events like World War 2 are "fleshed out" across two or three pages. The Civil War is frequently misreported and misinterpreted. Korea? What was that. President Jimmy Carter barely gets a mention, and the Iran revolution of 1979 is ignored. I could give hundreds of examples.
So how can modern Bible thumpers like the JWs use the Bible as the only precise and totally accurate record of Jesus' life? The answer is they can't.
BTW - Churchill's words were:
"I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat."
JV
Mary is absolutely correct. Up until 1990, Kingdom Halls were built to serve a community once the existing KH was getting too crowded. As cities and towns expanded and grew, new Kingdom Halls were built to serve the suburbs and growing nearby cities. But it seemed that the best size for a KH was a population of 80-130 total publishers and their family members.
In the late 1950s, as dedicated publishers left their home congregations "to go where the need was greater," KHs were built with smaller populations in mind. The goal was to put a Kingdom Hall in as many towns as possible so that non-JWs would be more inclined to come to public talks and the Memorial meeting.
Now Kingdom Halls are being built as little assembly halls, some actually having two or more congregations meeting with simultaneous or overlapping times. Some areas have multiple congregations meeting in the same KH, but on different week nights and staggered Sunday meetings. I understand that a few even have the traditional Sunday meetings on Saturdays.
One interesting development is the introduction of Sunday morning meetings. Growing up, Sunday AMs were field service hours, as were Saturday AMs. I really doubt that they have moved service hours to Sunday afternoons after the WT study in those areas.
One last development: Many KHs won their zoning variances based on past history of one evening meeting per week and a 2-3 hour meeting on Sunday afternoons or evenings. Now they are merging Kingdom Halls, so that there are meetings almost every night, plus ALL DAY Sundays and some Saturdays. I'm sure the neighbors did not expect all that additional traffic and street parking in their quiet residential areas.
Way to go, WT! Piss off the neighbors, why don't you?
JV
this was a very moving story just posted on another ex jw site please read it's good .
elder reveals his secretjanuary 28th, 2011. by shadow elder, jr.. a few weeks ago, my father and i were out working together in the door-to-door preaching work.
that morning only four of us showed up at the kingdom hall my dad and i, and a married brother and sister.
Baba Yaga-
Thanks for the suggestions...
Shadow and Jr. ARE reading this thread and tell me that they are loving it. Hopefully they will take your suggestions and discover better ways to approach Mom and their siblings.
I personally think that they are on the right track. Hopefully when they succeed and decide to leave the Kingdom Hall behind forever, they both will come on this site and share their story in person with you all.
In the meantime, I'm asking them to keep me up to date and share stories about their successes and failures.
Shadow repeated what he said in his story: They will leave when they are ready and on THEIR schedule. Not the WT's or ours.
They are hoping that something the WT does or some other external incident occurs will provide them with the opportunity they are hoping for. Maybe the WT will predict something for 2014, or disband the GB and appoint some single man as commander-in-chief, head honcho, or "FaithFul, the Discreet Slave/Master". It could happen.
JV
by opening this post, you are admitting that you are failures - well done!
lol.
i must say, i have had so much fun on this site - some real laugh out loud moments for my friends and i to enjoy.. no need to respond - i am busy pioneering from tomorrow, so will no longer have time on my hands to sit at my pc enjoying laughing at your pathetic comments.
As we pseudo bandidos would say,
ADIOS!
i've noticed quite a few dissidents of jehovah's organization that have left with some fixation on jehovah's witnesses concept of new light.
i really don't understand.
the antiquity of religion may be historically educational, but not always personally illuminating.
New light means that as we go forward we will have a broader understanding of the details and nuances of the Bible's teachings.
What the Bible means is that it like being in a room where more lamps are added and the room gets brighter and everyone can see clearer.
What the Watchtower means is that the bulbs keeping burning out and new ones have to replace them. That the lamps quit working and new ones are made to replace them. That someone forgot to pay the electric bill and God has turned off the power.
Sorry - new light? Hardly...
JV
by opening this post, you are admitting that you are failures - well done!
lol.
i must say, i have had so much fun on this site - some real laugh out loud moments for my friends and i to enjoy.. no need to respond - i am busy pioneering from tomorrow, so will no longer have time on my hands to sit at my pc enjoying laughing at your pathetic comments.
Donnye,
Good luck. Have fun. See ya. Your wish is your reward. Welcome back to the Tower of Brooklyn (or Walkill, or Patterson, or whatever).
The rest of us will watch you from a distance, thankful that we're not you - thankful that we've seen the light and don't have to knock on doors, repeat nearly word for word canned and outlined speeches, or have to sit through mind (and butt) numbing meetings.
For the life of me, I have no idea why you sound so happy. Wonder how happy you will be in a couple of years when you look back at this time when you made your decision to become a non-paid book and magazine salesman for a failing publishing company.
JV
this was a very moving story just posted on another ex jw site please read it's good .
elder reveals his secretjanuary 28th, 2011. by shadow elder, jr.. a few weeks ago, my father and i were out working together in the door-to-door preaching work.
that morning only four of us showed up at the kingdom hall my dad and i, and a married brother and sister.
Bohm - I think their computer problem is that they only have one, it's in the living room or den at home, and it's hard to get on it privately for very long. I think the WT made a suggestion like that - not letting the kids have computers in their rooms where they could be out of sight and maybe able to access porn. I get the impression that the household has been run very theocratically and mom keeps a watchful eye.
I think their plan is to try to get the support of the two unbaptized brothers. That would then put them in the position of outnumbering mom 4 to 1. Dad could pull rank on her eventually. Maybe the older son would find shunning his whole family too painful, and at least give them a listen, and then maybe being won over eventually. If they all DA, (although the dad might be DF'd for apostacy considering his article, if they ever found out that he wrote it), mom might just go inactive being outnumbered and not wanting to lose her family.
If I remember right, Shadow Elder Sr. mentioned that he had to go to the library on his lunch hour to send his article to me. I got the distinct impression he did not send it from home. So Firefox would not be a solution to their problem, I'm afraid. Maybe they could both get iPad or Droid phones and send their emails from them, but trying to type out a long story on one of those small virtual keyboards could be labor (and time) intensive.
JV
i rang a sister who i haven't spoken to for years who said "she couldn't talk since she was cooking for the c.o and his wife who have special dietary needs......was this like a royal visits at your cong and whats with the "we can't eat flour, or yeast" or blah blah blah!
!.
My family would always put our name on the list to invite the COs over for lunch or dinner.
Some were so appreciative and loved it when my mom would cook up some pan-fried chicken, pre-sweetened ice tea, mashed potatoes, and cornbread. She'd finish up with a chocolate pudding pie. These were the things we loved to eat and just about all of our friends enjoyed that menu too. So for us it was a great meal shared with friends, no matter what their position.
But some COs and their wives would act offended - like, hey, were not YOUR family - WE'RE SPECIAL. We expect steak, or ham, or a pasta plate with caesar salad. And "pudding pie"? How low class is that? They acted like my mother had been disrespectful to them.
One CO (I think he went up higher, but I lost track) was Lester Dugan. Some of you may have heard or remember him from the 1960s. His mother lived in our congregation's area. When he was in town, we'd always invite him and his mother over for dinner. We could serve tuna sandwiches and Pringles Chips and he'd act so pleased and happy. He just loved my parents and he was always so appreciative. My dad always gave him a green handshake - even though we couldn't afford it - because he was such a loving man and brought such joy into our home. I hope he didn't change, as so many do, as he got higher up in the Society. Anyone know what happened to him?
JV
