sd-7

Joined

• started 290 topics
• posted 3,788 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by sd-7

• 
  59

  Elders finally took me to the back room...

  by OneDayillBeFree in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  after several months of leaving the meetings as soon as they ended or only staying for "the first meeting" then leaving the "second part", the elders finally cornered me at last night's meeting.. they said they were concerned about me and that being that i am a young brother in a recently divided congregation they saw so much potential in me to help out the congregation and become a ms.. i told them i was thankful for their thinking of me to help the congregation but that at the moment i could not due to my job.

  then the began asking personal questions that got on my nerves.. they asked where i worked and how much i made.

  they asked if i was going to college and what i was studying and for how long.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  sd-7

  What I learned once I actually engaged the elders was that they're really not used to people standing up to them. They seem to be accustomed to getting their way, to having this spell of authority. You don't have to be antagonistic with them to be a man about it all. Heck, if even I was able stand up to them, and I'm a doormat, you should be able to manage just fine!

  But it sounds like you're clever enough to deal with them. That's a very Bat-like move with the phone, bro. "Helps if you're prepared."

  --sd-7
• 
  19

  Rutherford Doing Some Work

  by Bangalore in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .

  .

  bangalore.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  sd-7

  The positioning is clearly a pose, not the look of someone who was actually chopping a tree. I'm sorry, but that's got to be staged.

  --sd-7
• 
  20

  Post KM Elder School, you may see elders become a little nosier or nebby than usual.

  by Theocratic Sedition in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  after reading through onedayillbefree's thread about being taken into the back room and asked inappropriate questions, i was reminded about a part done at the km school.

  one of the common themes throughout the one day school was viewing things the way god sees them and how doing so will require that elders develope insight.

  they defined insight as, evaluating individual aspects in light of others, or getting & understanding facts and how all relate to one another.. next, they gave specific examples where an elder will need insight in order to assist wayward sheep.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  sd-7

  If a person or group claims to be Christian, from what part of the Bible should they get their teachings? The Mosaic Law or the Gospels? For them to

  ignore what the Gospels said about the same subject (in this case the Sabbath) and find how the matter was applied under the Law, shows where

  their

  priorities are.

  --sd-7
• 
  46

  US Entitlement Programs At Glance

  by Scott77 in

  1. social
  2. current

  1. thirty-nine percent of adults who make more than $100,000 have used entitlement benefits at one point, compared with 70 percent of people who make less than $30,000, according to the pew study.. 2.. the average monthly food stamp benefit is $133.42 for an individual, according to the department of agriculture, which administers the program.

  the rate is highest in hawaii ($213.65) and lowest in minnesota ($115.98).

  in fiscal year 2012, 46.6 million people (in 22.3 million households) received food stamps, and the federal government spent $74.6 billion on the program that year.. 3. .

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  sd-7

  Looks like the bulk of the money is in Social Security. What's your opinion on how people over 65 who maybe didn't earn that much, maybe were living from check to check for a long time, should sustain themselves?

  --sd-7
• 
  22

  January 2013 WT Article is Cruel to JW Parents

  by NoRegrets in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  while looking at the pdf of the new "reduced in size is a blessing from jah" wt for january 2013, i noticed this latest sickening "how the bible changed my life" article.

  under the history banner is listed "prodigal son".

  (i also noted the person was born the same year as me.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  sd-7

  I know what it is to hope and wait for someone to come back into the organization. (I guess compared to how hard that time was, it's actually a relief to be married to her, to be honest.) I had no idea just how painful this situation was for people until I had to deal with it myself. And just how cold the elders can be as far as this issue is concerned. I found no comfort at all in anything the Society published on this issue. My one ray of hope came from something Paul wrote at the end of 2 Corinthians 12, a scripture I'd never seen discussed in its context before in any WT literature, about how he mourned for those who hadn't repented.

  They hold out this hope to parents, but the fact is, people are never really forgiven once they get booted out. You can only hope to live long enough that no one still alive remembers and never speak of it again, but it'll be in your file long after you're cold in the ground.

  It's nothing new, though. Manipulating people's emotions--more like taking an ice pick to them--is something they're experts at.

  --sd-7
• 
  23

  Could the angel be Jesus @ new watchtower Earthly organizational sheet

  by Gorbatchov in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  questions raised in some topics about the absence of jesus in the new watchtower / gods "earthly" organizational sheet.. the illustration shows an angel, who could be jesus.

  in a watchtower article from 2010 i found a jesus who looks.

  similar to the angel in the organizational sheet.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  sd-7

  No, it is NOT Jesus, in my opinion. The Jesus in the previous photo is clearly wearing a diadem or something that denotes royal authority. The angel in front is not wearing that, and seems to be specifically flying in the direction of the people out in the ministry below, which seems to suggest more likely these are the 'angels involved in directing the preaching work'.

  --sd-7
• 
  20

  Post KM Elder School, you may see elders become a little nosier or nebby than usual.

  by Theocratic Sedition in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  after reading through onedayillbefree's thread about being taken into the back room and asked inappropriate questions, i was reminded about a part done at the km school.

  one of the common themes throughout the one day school was viewing things the way god sees them and how doing so will require that elders develope insight.

  they defined insight as, evaluating individual aspects in light of others, or getting & understanding facts and how all relate to one another.. next, they gave specific examples where an elder will need insight in order to assist wayward sheep.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  sd-7

  If he takes the job, then it shows he's thinking with human wisdom as opposed to Godly wisdom.

  "If anyone does not want to work, neither let him eat" is 'godly wisdom', too, if I'm not mistaken.

  The thing that really underscores the whole it's a cult problem is that the Bible only says "let us not forsake the gathering of ourselves together". It does not say we MUST gather together for 5 meetings a week and meet a group for field service. Those are rules that were invented by men. Everything about the meetings is contrived from 'human wisdom'. The structure of the meetings is nowhere found in scripture.

  So how do they figure that godly wisdom requires a man to continue struggling to feed his family when an opportunity to do so is presented to him? A man who doesn't provide for his family is supposed to be worse than a man without faith. If anything, taking the job would be quite the opposite. It's really a matter of control. Even if you were attending all your meetings that still wouldn't be good enough.

  There were a number of ways to handle the man gathering sticks on the Sabbath. I mean, if Adam and Eve weren't executed immediately for what they did, and David wasn't executed for what he did, then how does this guy get the death penalty? There were a thousand different ways to punish him if such was warranted. Remember, this, too was written to help us see that God's way of ruling is best. That says it all to me.

  --sd-7
• 
  38

  Jan. 1 WT, Their confession for given incorrect dates for the end.

  by jam in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  have jehovah,s witnesses given incorrect dates for the end?.

  jw,s have had wrong expectations about when the end would.

  like jesus' first-century disciples, we have "sometimes" (lol).

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  sd-7

  Nor did they say they unfortunately DFed people who revealed some the bible inaccuracies and understandings .

  That particular lie by omission is a glaring one from this article. Pretend to obey Jesus, and expel anyone who actually listens to him...

  --sd-7
• 
  28

  Girlfriend probably getting DF'd

  by The JHWH in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so the local jc decided to df my girlfriend because of basically premarital sex.. she confessed few weeks back to the elders, and the judicial system had its wheels rolling.. they confronted her today, and eventually came to the conclusion described above.. .

  she told them that she regretted our sexual acts, and that we wouldn't perform that kind of actions before we're married.. they talked with her about getting married etc.

  a week before the jc.. now the reason they decided to df her was not the sexual acts itself, nor the lack of regret,.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  sd-7

  Quite literally: Any JW can be disfellowshipped at any time for anything that 3 elders agree upon.

  As much as this would ideally not be true, it's kind of the bottom line reality.

  --sd-7
• 
  28

  Girlfriend probably getting DF'd

  by The JHWH in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so the local jc decided to df my girlfriend because of basically premarital sex.. she confessed few weeks back to the elders, and the judicial system had its wheels rolling.. they confronted her today, and eventually came to the conclusion described above.. .

  she told them that she regretted our sexual acts, and that we wouldn't perform that kind of actions before we're married.. they talked with her about getting married etc.

  a week before the jc.. now the reason they decided to df her was not the sexual acts itself, nor the lack of regret,.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  sd-7

  Well, there are variations on how this situation is handled, depending on the local elders. I mean, my wife and I got hauled into a committee months after we were already married, for premarital sex. And I take it we were to prove our repentance by what, not having sex anymore as husband and wife for awhile? Well, don't worry, we covered that part already...ha ha...

  But in her case, she got off with private reproof and was commenting at meetings like 2 months later. Of course, that was also probably an extra reward for turning me in for having doubts about the organization, but there's no way to know for sure--I think they assumed I was the instigator and seduced her or something, when it was actually quite the opposite...

  That said, it does seem strange that they would make that decision based on not having a marriage date planned. Isn't the whole point of repentance that you stop committing the sin? I mean, did it only happen once, or several times? If it was several times, maybe they're just doing a sort of preemptive strike because they're expecting to keep doing it before marriage whether you get married in the future or not. Either way, well, that's elders for you.

  --sd-7