have you ever noticed how in the kingdom halls who have a mix of races, you find the whites sit in one area of the kingdom hall, and the blacks have their own section?
the district conventions and circuit assemblys too.
i've noticed one particular section where there were just black people who made up about 20% of the dc and the rest were white.
I have not seen any prejudice in the KH or assemblies in the western U.S. Even in Oakland, CA the KH and assemblies were not segregated and ones did not feel odd because they were a certain race.
Blacks, white, hispanics do not sit in groups at the meetings.
I have heard of such prejudice in the South/Eastern parts of the U.S.
That is up to God. There are some really nice JWs and there are ones that practice what God wants who are not JWs also.
I am sure that God is not determining who will be in His Kingdom only because they are a JW, because there are some JWs who are in good standing in the WTS but who go against God's Word.
even as a witness we always used to decorate for fall with pumpkins, goards, mums, candles and other natural things.
now that i can decorate for halloween, i realize that i really prefer to stick to the natural stuff.
i will have a few homemade hallween things when the time comes but for now i've decked my apartment out in fall goodness.
The decoration is really nice. God created these items to enjoy. A good pumpkin pie is always welcome.
hi!.
haven't been here for a while and i'm sure most of you have seen this site already but for you who hasen't.... http://examiningthescripturesdaily.blogspot.com/.
/newborn.
At every District Convention, they emphasize the need to consider the Daily Text every day, yet it is not online.
That just doesn't seem right.
should we not be bringing the goodnews of the kingdom to these people, so they would have hope?.
if i was in that shape, with a gun in my hand, the very last thing that would help me is yet another ding-dong - jehovahs's witnesses!!!.
or help the said jw, if you think about it -.
The JW good news is not a guarrantee to help in this situation. And when ones come to the realization that the new order is always just around the corner, they become disheartened and depressed. The good news can become a complete negative in ones life.
But I also know of JWs who continue to endure through all sorts of problems because of the JW message. Hence to say that the JW good news would not always help such individuals would not be right either.
poppers writes in the thread entitled: a conversation that sent me on a search, on page 489. .
but ask about hitler, stalin and queen ( bloody) mary of england and they would say that they didn't know, or that they would be resserected and given 1000 years to change their ways.... does anyone think that if the hitlers and stalins of history were resurrected and given 1000 years to change their ways that they actually would?
it seems to me they would end up doing lots of terrible stuff during their 1000 years.
We always want the worst for those who have done recent atrosities.
But you have brought up some interesting thoughts, especially the experience of Manasseh.
Thankfully God can read hearts and will extend forgiveness to those that He desires.
most of my former jw friends in the late 90's and early 00's were working in construction.
the housing bubble hit them particularly hard because.... they were all selling houses to fellow jw's.
everybody's plan seemed to be to sell each other houses, profit off the inflating prices and auxilliary pioneer off of your equity.. i don't think that kind of protectionism and isolation can survive this economy.
Yes I have noticed that many JW were affected by the housing crisis because their occupations were in construction. Now they are out of work.
I know of some JW who were getting elderly JWs to invest in housing, condos, etc to make a quick buck. I know of one who mortgaged her home to invest. They were doing quite well until the housing crisis. Now the elderly JW sisters who invested their money are upset. They have got various bodies of elders to investigate the possibility of fraud on the part of those JW who asked for investments. I know of one that was df over this situation.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_australia_dust_storm.
The comment about Armagedden in reference to the dust storm in Austrailia caught my attention this morning.
Comes to show that Armagedden definitely means different things to different people.
bearing thorough witness about god's kingdom, page 35, paragraph 20:.
"with a generous spirit like that of faithful disciples in first-century jerusalem, millions of present-day witnesses support the worldwide preaching work by making voluntary donations.
no one is forced to give either his time or his money to support this work.
If nobody is forced to give either this time or his money, just wait when a publisher stops turning in his/her time. A call from an elder asking for the time will come. If no time is given, then a visit from the elders will come. Time is very very important to the organization. It is a means for the organization to monitor you or as they say to determine your spiritual health.
We are not robots.
Free will means that we can make choices, either good or bad.
