Just in case anyone has doubts that the video is legitimate and its source is JW.org, here is the link one more time...
http://www.jw.org/apps/index.html?option=QrYQFVTrlBBX&selLang=ASL&selPub=732 (it's #22)
JV
Juan Viejo2
JoinedPosts by Juan Viejo2
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241
5 Reasons Why the DEAF Masturbation Video is different than anything before...
by BluePill2 inas some of you have noticed the asl video warning against masturbation (another guilt trip) is creating waves.
this is not small fry.
1. it is humorous - most topics (like other policies) are serious/depressing (blood, shunning, pedos).
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58
New MS - Looking for the "better" job
by nochoice inlong, long time lurker and great fan of the site - first time poster.
i am not sure if i am truly a lurker since that implies i am apostate-curious.
in fact, i have been mentally out completely for a long time, but still physically in like many of you.
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Juan Viejo2
nochoice - welcome to JWN.
While you're here and trying to sort things out, maybe you can answer a question I've had for some time:
In a typical Kingdom Hall congregation, how many elders and Ministerial Servants are there? Is there a minimum number? Is there a maximum number?
What are all of the "servants" positions called now?
When I was a JW (back when dinosaurs still lived among us) we had about 6-10 "servants" positions. There were no "ministerial servants."
Prior to 1953 there were the following positions in the Riverside, California Central Kingdom Hall:
"Company Servant" (changed to "Congregation Servant" early that year) - (typically a lifetime position as long as the fellow was effective, popular, and met service requirements). We had an excellent, dedicated, and loving brother in that position [Ted Rogers].
"Assistant Company/Congregation Servant" - typically hardworking and effective. Took total charge when Congregation Servant was ill, on vacation, or otherwise unable to attend a meeting or other gathering.
"Theocratic Ministry School Servant" - ran the Thursday night ministry school, made assignments, and typically did most of the critiques after student presentations.
"Literature Servant" - managed the storeroom where literature was kept. Opened the literature counter before and after meetings, collected 3 cents per magazine and 25/50 cents for books and ordered additional supplies as needed. Provided handbills (ours had the dates and times of public talks printed on them) and other specialty items. Would also supply Pioneers with left-over or out-dated literature at no cost for their field work. Was responsible for the accounts for literature.
"Accounting Servant" (this was often a double-duty job for the CS or ACS). This was sometimes assigned to a brother with no particular skills, but married to a sister who was good at accounting and keeping the books. My mother was acting "accounts servant' when my father was assigned this position for a few months.
"Territory Servant" - some Kingdom Halls had a separate position for this, but ours was handled by the "Literature Servant." Handed out and logged the territory maps to "pioneers" and ...
"Book Study Conductors / Servants" - This was my first "elder position" assigned to me when I was just 20 years old. Conducted the Tuesday night Book Study held in a private home. Eight to twenty JWs and their families would meet at a private home for an hour to study one of the more advanced books. Would lead prayer, assign a reader, and (typically during the summer) would assign local streets to those who showed up for pre-study field service. Was also responsible for Saturday and Sunday morning field service management if located away from the Kingdom Hall.
Some Kingdom Halls had "Building Maintenance Servants," but these were rare. Our janitorial duty assignments were handled by the Assistant Congregation Servant. He'd post a calendar with cleaning dates and times assigned to family heads.
---- Jump to the present ----
When I attended a Memorial Service two years ago, the local Kingdom Hall seemed to have an elder's position for just about every well-dressed older man. It seemed like at least eight elders were involved in the presentation. One opened the meeting, introduced the song, and then invited another brother to say the opening prayer. He then introduced the main speaker (I assumed to be the COBOE). Two younger brothers adjusted the microphones and also carried hand mikes up and down the aisles. I counted four brothers on each main aisle (total of 8) who stood at the front and back during talk and then passed the bread and wine when that process began. There were at least ten brothers acting as parking attendants before and after the meeting. I believe an ASL meeting was taking place behind me, but I couldn't tell for sure. At the end of the meeting, the main speaker turned it over to the first "host", who then led the closing song and called on another brother to say the closing prayer. Before everyone was released (the Spanish congregation was coming in behind us), he turned the meeting over to another brother who made some announcements about the special talk that was scheduled for the following Sunday. After the meeting was dismissed, a nice younger brother (in his 30s) introduced himself and his wife. He then pointed out his wife's father and uncle (not otherwisde involved in the meeting) and told me that both of them were elders. I'm guessing this congregation of about 125 must have had at least a dozen elders and maybe ten Ministerial Servants.
So - can anyone help me out here? What is the typical configuration for elders and MSes in an average KH now? I've looked through all of my current books and the WT CD, but I can't find anything definitive.
JV
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64
The Good Food Thread
by MrsCedars inmy inspiration comes from the ingredients i have at hand, very often leftovers, and also home grown produce, herbs and spices.
i still have a lot to learn, but i have come a long way since i first started cooking for mr cedars.. i think the first recipe on this thread should by the one that oodad has posted on other thread.... .
shrimp scampi.
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Juan Viejo2
Mrs. Cedars - Your cedar plank Salmon looks delicious. I'll have to try that some day.
It reminds me to some degree of a recipe that my father taught me that has some similarities. Some of you longtime US readers (especially from the South) may recognize this.
My father was born in 1915, so as a teenager he was forced to live right through the very worst of the Great Depression. His folks were not quite Oklahoma "dirt farmers" - not because they were better off than most people in Oklahoma - but because they didn't even own dirt.
Oklahoma still had a lot of of Native Americans mixed among the poor whites in many small towns. The Depression forced everyone to share and try to help out in any way they could. My dad happened to have a young American Indian friend that played with him on the high school football team. One day my father happened to remark that his parents didn't have any food for the upcoming weekend and they were going to have to share a single loaf of bread amongst the 4 of them from Friday until Monday. Dad's Indian friend told him that he should go down and catch some fish at a nearby river.
"But there ain't nothing good in that river," Dad said. "Just some little ol' minnows and some nasty old carp."
"Carp makes a good meal as long as it's prepared right," his friend remarked. "Here's how you do it. Catch yourself a big ol' fat carp. Take it home, but keep it outside. It'll stink up your house real bad if you cook it inside. Dig a hole in your yard, bout three feet deep'll do. Shove some clean river sand on the bottom. Get yourself a nice cedar plank, the wider the better. Set it down on top of the sand and then pile a bunch hot coals around the edges. Put that ol' carp down on the board. Then add a bunch of salt and pepper. Toss in some radishes, celery stalks, pretty much whatever you can lay your hands on. Tomatoes and green peppers are good if you got 'em. Dandelions'll do. Add some more salt and pepper. If you have some cooking oil or some butter, sprinkle it all over. Add some cayenne and some o' your grandma's cooking wine - if she got any. Take a second board and lay it on top over that ol' nasty fish and then pile some hot coals on top of that. Use some tin foil if you got some, but it don't matter. Cover the pit with some dirt and let that old fish cook for about 6 or 7 hours. Longer won't hurt."
My dad asked what he should do next. His friend responded, "After about half a day, dig it up and clean all the ashes and dirt offen those boards. Then get both of them boards out of the pit and brush them off."
"Yeah. But then what about the fish?"
"Throw away the fish and serve the boards for dinner..."
Although this story is certainly nonsense, my dad used to love to tell it right during a fancy fish dinner (trout, bass, or catfish). But the truth is that the Seminole Indians living in Florida and other parts of the south did eat carp and managed to survive pretty well. It is said that they had awful body odor due to the fish oils in their diet, but they were never bothered by mosquitoes and stayed fed during the worst of times. They were also hard to wrestle with. The colonists would die from malaria, yellow fever and starvation because they simply couldn't stomache eating disgustingcarp.
So Mrs. Cedars - see if you can come up with a new recipe for our southern USA friends who have that disgusting fish in practically every lake and stream. I'm sure you can do it. You've got the planks going already...
JV
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127
Introducing Mrs Cedars...
by cedars ini just thought you should know that mrs cedars has finally taken the plunge and joined the forum.
she was able to log on for the first time yesterday.. though we both "awakened" at different stages, mrs cedars was very supportive and non-judgmental when i first began exploring my beliefs from a critical standpoint.
she is currently in the process of reading crisis of conscience and aquainting herself with some of the facts of witness history that were hitherto unknown.
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Juan Viejo2
Gee, Mrs. Cedars. I didn't mean to be a thread-killer, although this wouldn't have been the first time.
So for the first time ever, I'm going to do something I've never done before and may never do again...
BTT
Looking forward to see more of you, Mrs. Cedars!
JV
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24
I just learned that Steve Klemetti, famous JW apologist just got df'd last year
by Iamallcool ingoogle his name and d'fing too.
does anyone know if it is true or not?.
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Juan Viejo2
"sklemmetti" still posts on JWTalks (Yahoo Groups forum).
I check in over there every so often just to see what is going on.
JV
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30
Watchtower actually right about something!
by Nambo incopied from an article today in "the republic" of indiana which confirms what the org had written in their blood booklet.. .
posted purely for your interest.. .
doctors find patients do better without blood transfusionsrob wennemer - pittsburgh post-gazette august 29, 2012 - 7:50 am edtaaaa recent study suggests that jehovah's witnesses are on to something.
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Juan Viejo2
No. I meant "...decapitations." Pretty quick bleedouts.
I was just playing. I need a little humor in my ex-JW life...
JV
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30
Watchtower actually right about something!
by Nambo incopied from an article today in "the republic" of indiana which confirms what the org had written in their blood booklet.. .
posted purely for your interest.. .
doctors find patients do better without blood transfusionsrob wennemer - pittsburgh post-gazette august 29, 2012 - 7:50 am edtaaaa recent study suggests that jehovah's witnesses are on to something.
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Juan Viejo2
They took the blood stand because the leaders needed another way to set JWs apart from other "christian" religions. Fred Franz just carried on Clayton J. Woodruff's crazy medical beliefs and came up with the blood thing. They've been locked to it ever since.
Many here will not know that in the early 1950s - during the worst of the polio epidemics - Drs. Salk and Sabin were working independently on a polio vaccine. Polio was so bad at the time that almost every school classroom had at least one student who had it, was crippled by it, or caught it during those years. One kid with polio could decimate an elementary school if not isolated immediately.
Around 1952-54 when Salk finally came out with his polio vaccine, the number of cases dropped immediately. Jehovah's Witnesses, however, most often refused to let their kids take the vaccine. Their avoidance of vaccines was leftover from the Golden Age and Consolation magazine days when Woodruff regularly published articles claiming that vaccines were poisonous - and actually caused diseases rather than preventing them.
I'm not sure if the Awake! ever published an article saying not to take the polio vaccine, but the word was out and none of the Witness families I knew would allow their kids to take the vaccine. I finally took the Sabin vaccine (on a sugar cube) at a free clinic in 1962, after I was old enough to make my own decisions. I don't know if my younger brother and sister ever took the vaccine.
Within ten years, polio became almost unknown in industrialized countries. My kids could not enter school unless they had been given the vaccine.
Another example of the Watchtower being on the wrong side of an issue. Jehovah's spirit needs to catch up on scientific facts before it directs the governing body and its writing committee.
JV
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30
Watchtower actually right about something!
by Nambo incopied from an article today in "the republic" of indiana which confirms what the org had written in their blood booklet.. .
posted purely for your interest.. .
doctors find patients do better without blood transfusionsrob wennemer - pittsburgh post-gazette august 29, 2012 - 7:50 am edtaaaa recent study suggests that jehovah's witnesses are on to something.
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Juan Viejo2
After I had my open heart surgery in 2002, I asked my doctor if he'd had to use blood transfusions. This was heart artery bypass surgery. You know what pulses through those veins.
His answer was that they had several pints of blood at the ready in case of emergency, but they did not actually need to transfuse me. I slept through the whole thing, but as he explained they slowed everything down while I was under the knife (no idea how they did that) and used a heart bypass machine to keep my brain alive. Most of the time during the operation was used for removing a vein in my leg (open up, snip-snip, cauterize the ends, sew me back up) and cracking my chest (blood loss was minimized by avoiding arteries and cauterizing veins). Once the heart was available, only small incisions were made to patch the new veins around the blockages. My case was complicated because they had to take a large chuck out of an artery feeding my left shoulder and arm in order to get a larger piece for a blockage in one of the feed arteries.
In spite of all of that, my doctor said I loss less than two pints of blood, an amount that the body can replace in just a few hours. So even though blood was available, none was used. I was no longer a JW, so I had no qualms at all about taking blood, but the doctor obviously felt that was not a necessity even in my rather complicated case.
I've had three other surgeries, two abdominal. I both cases the doctors did not need or even consider the use of blood.
I think doctors see blood as necessary only in cases of severe blood loss like gunshots, car accidents and decapitations. The important thing is that knowing that doctors do not automatically start giving blood transfusions everytime someone goes under the knife is good to know (as my doctor said, "That is the lazy way to do surgery..."). But when they do feel they need to use that option, it is definitely a life/death situation.
JV
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284
ABOUT TERRY
by Quentin interry was admitted to the hospital yesterday.
he has a severe case of cellulites which has affected his neck glands.
his face and neck are very swollen.
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Juan Viejo2
Terry,
Whatever you do - don't let the Jehovah's Witness Hospital Liaison elders come to your aid...
JV
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284
ABOUT TERRY
by Quentin interry was admitted to the hospital yesterday.
he has a severe case of cellulites which has affected his neck glands.
his face and neck are very swollen.
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Juan Viejo2
Terry - get well soon! I need you to contribute to my new website that will be online this weekend.
I know you will get through all of this, but still worry about you. Hang in there...
By the way, I too have been guilty of using my teeth as ice crushers. I have two missing upper molars to show for it. Maybe our experiences will act to both inform and encourage JWN readers to use a hammer or crush their ice in less damaging ways.
JV