Present Truth - I really was pretty sure they were older than that. I was in a congregation with his son as recently as 5 years ago, and the son was in his 70's then. Maybe I have the ages mixed up somehow... if so, sorry about that.
Chaserious
JoinedPosts by Chaserious
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167
Was There Ever A Circuit Overseer That You Couldn't Stand?
by minimus ini know this has been discussed before but i think a fresh thread on this will be enjoyable.
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167
Was There Ever A Circuit Overseer That You Couldn't Stand?
by minimus ini know this has been discussed before but i think a fresh thread on this will be enjoyable.
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Chaserious
Present Truth - I am pretty sure Rosie passed away also. I vaguely remember that happening, but I really only knew them as a child, and these things kind of fade over time. I am pretty sure they would be over 100 now if still alive. Chet Ruch was the School Overseer when I gave my first #2 talk as a little kid, and I want to guess he was about 80 then, and that was 1987 - 25 years ago. I remember him being intimidating as a school overseer. This was when they would give you counsel from the platform if you didn't do a good job on the counsel point you were working on. If I recall correctly, he wasn't afraid to give out W's. The other thing I remember about him is people used to say he was one of the few circuit overseers who had kids, and I think he liked to promote the idea that the society wanted him to be a CO so badly, they waited until his kids were grown and then sent him out. He also sent his son to college, which was before my time, but I have to think was pretty taboo in the 50's. I guess if you were connected, you could get away with it.
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167
Was There Ever A Circuit Overseer That You Couldn't Stand?
by minimus ini know this has been discussed before but i think a fresh thread on this will be enjoyable.
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Chaserious
Present Truth - I was in a congregation with him a while back, as well as congregations with other members of his family. He was in a regular congregation after he got too old to be a CO. He passed away a number of years ago, I don't remember exactly when, but it was probably not long after people were posting that he was sick.
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Contributions For Local KH VS. World Wide Work
by turtleturtle inseriously, if i am going to stay a jw for now, is there anything wrong with donating all for local kindom hall purposes, and simply not donate to the world wide work (wt)?
i mean, won't the local money just go to the kingdom hall expenses (among some other expenses)?
i'm telling you right now, the wt ain't getting my $ until things change!.
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Chaserious
I was an accounts servant for two congregations. One of them was "just getting by" and would never have been in a postition to send any money to the WTS. At one point, we had about $400 to our name as a congregation until one of the elders gave a local needs part about being broke. The other congregation did have some surplus that we had "on deposit with the society". As I understood it, it was bascially an interest free loan to the society where we would park our money instead of putting it in a bank CD. We only had a surplus because they did a fund drive for a new KH where they asked people to resolve to commit a certain amount every month, so we raised some money that way, and then the building plans fell through. I think it's fairly rare for local congs these days to build up enough surplus to send $$$ to the society. If they did, they'd have to do a resolution to the congregation, at least they did when I was last accounts servant (circa 2008).
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Have JW's ever called themselves a Church in legal issues ?
by Poztate inmy wife was watching the news tonight about the bus crash in miami where a few jw's got killed.. she got all hurt and indignant when the jw's were refered to as "a church group".
we are not a church...only true religion...the "truth" etc.
i am sure they have called themselves a church when it fitted their needs.
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Chaserious
Here's another court document from the Menlo Park case. Church is used throughout by their lawyers, but for one example, just see the top of p.5
http://ex-jw.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Court-Trial-Testimony-Redwood-City-2.pdf
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The Teaching of Evolution in UK Schools Mandatory
by Joe Grundy inlink to news story here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-20547195 (sorry, don't know how to make it 'clickable').. i, for one, am glad to see that this has been clarified.
is it the same in the us?.
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Chaserious
Thanks James - this is what I don't understand. Given that education is a government-mandated requirement federal or state), how can it incorporate religious beliefs?
Joe - I think that for state-funded schools, the U.S. and U.K. are on the same page. While I don't know much about the U.K. school system, it appears to me that the free schools still are paid for by the government. In schools that are government funded, e.g. all public schools, creationism/intelligent design cannot be taught. I think the difference may be that in the U.S., parents have the right to send their children to private religious schools where the parents pay tuition in order to attend. This was established in a Supreme Court case called Pierce v. Society of Sisters. In that case, basically a state said that to meet our mandatory education requirements you have to go to a public school, and not a religious school. At the time, Catholics were a disfavored minority in the U.S. (and also the main proprietors of religious schools), and the law was seen as anti-Catholic. The state was not allowed to impose such a law under our Constitution. That case is from back in the 1920's, but it's still the law here. So, in the private schools, religious doctrine may be taught as the school sees fit.
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Is college worth it?
by NewYork44M inmy life has been transformed by higher education.
however, i am aware that college is not for everyone.. here are some interesting thoughts:.
http://www.theatlasphere.com/columns/080926-williams-higher-education.php.
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Chaserious
Well, my $0.02 is that a degree in general studies is of limited value compared to other degrees, but if you have one class left, I don't see what the point of dropping out is. Having a bachelors degree (I'm assuming that's what you would get) automatically qualifies you for a lot of jobs that you wouldn't even be considered for otherwise just by virtue of having the degree. Anymore, a lot of jobs that you wouldn't think you would need a college degree for require them, for example working at a rental car company, working a lot of government jobs, etc. It sounds like you are discouraged, but you don't know what kind of jobs might be out there that you want in 5, 10, or 20 years, and the money and time commitment to take one more class is probably pretty minimal. You didn't say what your alternative is if you drop out. If you don't have one in mind, why not finish?
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Is college worth it?
by NewYork44M inmy life has been transformed by higher education.
however, i am aware that college is not for everyone.. here are some interesting thoughts:.
http://www.theatlasphere.com/columns/080926-williams-higher-education.php.
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Chaserious
d- What are you studying? Why do you want to drop out? If you leave, do you have an alternative, such as a job or career that you are qualified for? How close are you to finishing? How are you paying for college, and are you incurring a lot of debt? The only think I can say for sure is that no one can answer your question without more information.
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New here
by Change Name ini had been studying with the jehovah's witnesses for the last couple years.
they have been interesting study sessions and have learned quite a bit about them and their beliefs.
much of what they teach is what i had learned through personal bible study.. growing up was normal.
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Chaserious
Change - if you are not trolling us, you seem to value being able to look into what you see as both the positives and the critques of this organization and then make the choice you think is best, whatever that may be. How do you reconcile that with the organization's policy of banning all consideration of dissent? If you were to be baptized, you would then be subject to expulsion and shunning for even looking at a website such as this one or others considered to be "anti-JW". What about those who were born into the organization, as I was? Surely you don't think that reasonable people can't differ on whether JW is the true religion. Why should those born into the WT not also be allowed to look at the positives and negatives before making their choice? Instead, they are taught that you will lose your everlasting life if you listen to anything critical on the part of former members.
Also, have you considered the history of flip-flopping on doctrine? As an example, the published position of the WTS has changed 8 times with respect to whether those destroyed in Sodom and Gomorrah have any chance of a resurrection. I can provide the citations if you are interested. For the cliff notes, it's basically Yes/No/Yes/No/Yes/No/Yes/No. While this is not a key piece of doctrine, if they are really God's mouthpiece, why would God give them the wrong answer, then the right one, and so on and so forth. Yes, there is a scripture about the light getting brighter that they are fond of using, but unless there is one that says the light will get bright, then dark, then bright again and so on, I'm not convinced.
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newbe
by emperorslaundrist inthank you for this forum.
thank you for your stories which helped wake me up from my delusion.
thank you for letting me join you.
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Chaserious
Welcome! Best wishes planning your "escape". It's good to approach this kind of thing with a lot of deliberation. I thought my wife would choose the org over me as well, but she didn't, and we have both been out for two and a half years now, and never been happier! If it looks like your exit will be prolonged, finding a way to start a degree program somewhere would be great if it's practical for you. The education we got before/after our exit was really a lifesaver.