Posts by JeffT

24

do other religions change doctrines like the wt society does?

by sowhatnow in

i just wondered.

i mean ok, the catholic church seems to make 'adjustments' more or less , by accepting previously held prejudices.

against certain things, like gays, or birth control, or rather tolerate it more, but is that a genuine change of doctrine?.

JeffT

One thing to keep in mind is the difference between doctrine, personal belief, and tradition. The mainstream churches I've attended or studied make clear distinctions between these things.

Doctrine defines really important matters; the nature of God and Christ, salvation, etc. The church I attended for the longest time had cards set out for newcomers to take home with contact numbers and the beliefs to the church on it. The whole thing was the size of a post card.

Mainstream churches generally allow a lot of lattitude for personal beliefs, and recognize that a lot of things they do are "tradition" which is a big word for "we like to do it this way."

The problem JW's have is that their hierarchial system does not allow any room for anything not handed down from on high. Everybody has to think the same way about everything, whether its the nature of God or when its OK to get up and go to the bathroom. They are also incapable of admitting that they made a mistake, which means that everything has to be "new light." Combine that with an organizational structure that encourages elders to throw their weight around and you have constantly changing beliefs, all of which are strictly enforced.

59

At This Point In Time Would You Ever Subject Yourself To A Judicial Committee?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i certainly wouldn't.

and if the elders wanted to have a meeting with me, i would respectfully decline.

if the elders wanted to deal with you, would you talk with them?.

JeffT

I might, just for the fun of it. When accepting I'd tell them that I'd be willing to talk to them, but that I don't recognize them as having any authority over me. I'd have a TV news crew and a lawyer with me when I showed up. I know, they wouldn't talk to me under those circumstances, but would look good on the seven o'clock news.

164

Was justice served fairly in the Micheal Brown tragedy, whats your opinion ?

by Finkelstein in

the michael brown tragedy has garnered a lot of attention in the media recently highlighted.

by the recent county court decision to not indict the lone officer who did the shooting which caused the death of micheal brown.. .. now after more information of the event has been released openly to the public, we can evaluate upon are self.

in are own opinion toward was the law handed out in this particular event proportionately fair or to a professional standard ?.

JeffT

"Justice" is a process, not a result. The process led at least 9 of 12 people to conclude that Wilson should not be charged with a crime.

551

Officer Wilson not indicted in killing of Michael Brown

by Simon in

after a thorough investigation and weighing of the evidence the grand jury has decided not to indict the officer.. the reaction so far seems as predicted - people refuse to accept that the result represents justice despite claims that is what they wanted.. there is now violence and vandalism, including gunshots.

let's hope the police contain the troublemakers.. .

JeffT

When we're stopped we know to be respectful and polite to the police because it's common sense, nothing to do with race.

Some of us were taught to be polite and respectful to everybody.

31

Wal-Mart Workers Plan Huge Protest on Black Friday

by talesin in

wal-mart, which pays a top wage of $12.00+ to its full-time employees, is under attack, once again, by its employees and those who would like to unionize them.. i can't speak to the usa, but here in canada, most wal-mart employees are not full time.

it is mostly a part-time employer, so zero benefits.

in my opinion, that makes the $12.00+ look a lot smaller when you envision the actual paycheque.

JeffT

I went to Walmart once, I won't go back.

That said,

So a lot of 'adults' (ie, not students, for example) live on a Wal-Mart wage.

So how many people survive by shopping at Walmart. Yes, a lot of what they sell is junk that wears out three times faster, but for people going paycheck to paycheck its all they can afford. And no, I don't think making the paychecks bigger by legislative fiat is the answer, because the price of everything will also go up.

Let's see all the people belly aching about Walmart start their own department store so they can show us how easy it is.

4

The AMA Awards show

by Quarterback in

is it me, or am i getting to become an old man.

i just can't figure out the music this year.

it's like i don't want to leave the easy listening hits of the 70's-80's.

JeffT

Don't worry. Pretty soon you'll be yelling at kids to get off your lawn. My muscial taste runs to late sixties-early seventies, when I was in high school and college. Most of today's music is just noise to my ear.

19

Buffalo JW's in a panic!

by nowwhat? in

"we cant go door to door in 7 feet of snow!

".

JeffT

When Mt. St. Helens exploded in 1980 the town I lived in received a considerable ashfall. Traffic was restricted and only essential businesses open, this by order of local, county and state governments. The elders called Bethell to see if it was OK to cancel meetings and field service.

254

Michael Brown verdict discussion policy

by Simon in

it's likely that the grand jury verdict on the michael brown incident will be released in the coming days or weeks.. i've no doubt many people are going to feel strongly about things whatever the verdict is.. whatever the outcome though, here's what's not going to happen:.

we're not going to put up with inflamatory language and comments designed to rile others up.

be respectful.. we will not allow accusations of racism simply because some have a view of the verdict that contradicts others.. there will not be invented evidence or claims being repeated - if it's been falsely reported or debunked then it's off limits.. it's not going to be an opportunity for people to air past gripes over past discussions.. if you feel that you cannot discuss the subject in a rational way then it may be better to simply avoid any topics on the matter.. please try to be objective and respectful if you do decide to comment and not keen to take offense.

JeffT

Be in certain parts of America

We tend to think of this idea as applying to say, African-Americans in the south. But it can cut both ways, I can take you to a part of Seattle where a white guy in an expensive car at night is going to get pulled over for sure. A few years ago, a man was found shot in his car there, the attitutude of the police was "white guy in a BMW here at 2AM, he was looking for drugs or prostitutes or both."

He said something that sounded odd and so the interviewer asked if he was saying that "unless the officer is indicted, you don't believe there has been any justice ... even after a thorough investigation and a jury has reviewed the evidence?"

He couldn't even understand the question. He answered something else and so the interviewer asked him again, spelling it out in more detail.

The guy sounded genuinely puzzled at the notion that both justice and no-indictment could exist at the same time.

This is the part that bothers me about all this. If your going to demand "justice" that is going to mean living with what gets decided even if you don't like it. Demanding a particular outcome is not justice, its the the sort of mental process that led to lynch mobs. Unfortunately, I think some will take the protest too far, or worse, use it as an excuse to raise hell.

8

You can put the WT in your will...

by Raton in

this is probably all old news to most but i found it interesting.

i was trying to find the website that has all the boes and in my yahoo search these showed up and i checked them out.

there are probably better lines than the ones i picked out but if interested check them out.. http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/202012206#h=0:0-3:583 "a trustee or executor should be aware that whether the estate is large or small, liberties should not be taken with the assets.

JeffT

http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/202012206#h=0:0-3:583 "A trustee or executor should be aware that whether the estate is large or small, liberties should not be taken with the assets. Any bequests to a legal entity used by Jehovah’s Witnesses are dedicated funds that belong to Jehovah’s organization.— Luke 16:10; 21:1-4 ."

This is true of anything involving wills and trustees. As long at the request is legal the trustee has to honor it.

254

Michael Brown verdict discussion policy

by Simon in

it's likely that the grand jury verdict on the michael brown incident will be released in the coming days or weeks.. i've no doubt many people are going to feel strongly about things whatever the verdict is.. whatever the outcome though, here's what's not going to happen:.

we're not going to put up with inflamatory language and comments designed to rile others up.

be respectful.. we will not allow accusations of racism simply because some have a view of the verdict that contradicts others.. there will not be invented evidence or claims being repeated - if it's been falsely reported or debunked then it's off limits.. it's not going to be an opportunity for people to air past gripes over past discussions.. if you feel that you cannot discuss the subject in a rational way then it may be better to simply avoid any topics on the matter.. please try to be objective and respectful if you do decide to comment and not keen to take offense.

JeffT

I have to admit there is a certain entertainment value in reading comments about this from people who have never been in real fight and probably have never fired a gun. Pistols are notoriusly inaccurate and have low "stopping power." I'm not at all surprised when I hear about it taking multiple shots to bring some one or some thing down. And when your pumped up on adrenaline it is easy to keep shooting until you run out of ammo.

And no, I have not ever shot a person. I have done a lot of hunting.