so all of us that grew up as witnesses never did certain things because of them having pagan origins.
why don't we celebrate christmas?
pagan origins.
John the Baptist's head was served to Pharos daughter on a platter at her birthday celebration. Because of this, we never celebrated birthdays or used any type of platter, in our house...just to be on the safe side !
Wasn't wearing a "white" dress by a bride at her wedding and walking down the "asile" something that came out of Chrisendom? Same thing with singing songs "Hymns" at the meeting.
omg i just heard this morning that they have a table set up at the local walmart, so i had to drive by.
it is huge with two huge signs one spanish and one english of blown up pictures of some of the book covers like you can live forever and young people ask, etc with a card table in the middle and two very boarded looking people just sitting there.
this morning was the spanish congo's turn but the walmart is in my halls territory so the english speaking ones from my hall will man it on the english speaking times i guess.
you're less likely to find them outside the doors of Macy's of Saks.
I was thinking the same thing.
I was also thinking (with a guilty mind) about the quality of new recurits you'd start seeing at the Kingdom Halls if this trend takes hold and the kinds of problems they'd bring with them for the elders to sort out. I'm sorry if I sound like a snob, but I guess I'm just snobbish enough to notice that there is something about that store that attracts some pretty strange folk. It's as if you walk in the door and everyone is 50lbs heavier than the general population and are dirtier and louder too. There is a Walmart super store on my way home from work. I have gone in there out of necessity a few times. It felt like people were looking at me as if to say "What are YOU, doing HERE ??
Have a look around at this site and see what I mean. http://www.peopleofwalmart.co/?page_id=9798
i was attending a seminar being conducted at a local community center.
during the break i wandered around the building.
in one of the meeting rooms there was a gathering of about 50-60 men and boys all looking to be of middle eastern decent.
I was attending a seminar being conducted at a local Community Center. During the break I wandered around the building. In one of the meeting rooms there was a gathering of about 50-60 Men and boys all looking to be of middle eastern decent. They were all sitting on mats on the floor while an older man was reading sayings from some writings. He read them in the native tounge and then in English. All the men and boys repeated in unison what he said. Everything I heard was very positive and upbuilding...things that sort of sounded like this. " A wise man listens and does not boast...for if he is truly wise, he knows it is because of no special powers of his own "
Later I saw the men and boys all standing in the corridor. The young men were holding little baby boys and cooing and fussing over them. Fathers were holding their little son's hands and the older boys looked so proud to be with their Fathers and the other men.
It was really heartwarming...
Why wouldn't something like this be pleasing to God? Why wasn't I part of something nice like that? I grew up being taught that my Dad was going to be destroyed at Armegeddon because he wasn't a Witness. Now he is gone and I wish I could have told him I realized how much of his life he sacraficed in order to keep our family together. He was alone many nights of the week, worked two jobs so my mom could pioneer and then he died because he signed the No Blood Transfusion paperwork in case it was the right thing to do. I can hardly bear to think about how alone he must have felt all those years and then to have his life end so unnecessarily soon.
new here, but have followed this site from the very start.
as my name states, i have seen it all.
former elder, bethelite, po, ms, 4th gen and still active as pub.
What's a G Job?
A G job is a side job a Bethelite takes outside the Watchtower in order to earn a little extra money. The Job is done outside his/her normal Bethel hours. It was highly frowned upon while I was there. It seems like it may have been grounds for serious dicipline if I remember right. The term isn't technically accurate when applied to a Bethelite, But G Job...is a contraction for "government job." A questionable act, usually using public funds or resources, performed by a public employee geared toward personal or political gain. At times, this act may be preceeded by some degree of coercion or veiled threat from persons in authority.
Tommy is supposed to be checking for loose manhole covers, but he's really on a g-job painting the mayor's house.
i'm sure this has been covered before, so please excuse me if it has.
my questions are:.
how do people know that they're part of the faithful and discreet slave class?how is seniority established?.
Our Overseers do their Job and it's one of the reasons I am a witness. I have no interest in religions with leaders that enjoy all the money, pomp and ceremony, jewels and private planes without doing any of the bible assigned work of feeding/rebuking/guiding/teaching the sheep.
It's easy to watch and critisise from the sidelines if your not doing the work. but that doesn't change that you are not doing the work.
A very typical Witness response...that of comparing ones self to the worst example possible, in order to prove they are doing the right thing.
And talk about critisising from the sideline....most Witnesses have never been in a church or have been allowed to look into any other religion other than what we were told about them from Headquarters. And yet they have already decided that without fail, every last one of them are to be destroyed at Armegeddon. From the society's publications, we heard about only the worst examples out there, we never heard about any of the good they are doing or even considered it could be possible. Also, they kept their own flaws quiet and made themselves appear to be without reproach. A lot of Witnesses want their ears "tickled" by their religion...same as everybody else.
i'm sure this has been covered before, so please excuse me if it has.
my questions are:.
how do people know that they're part of the faithful and discreet slave class?how is seniority established?.
Did anyone see anything about a Faithful and discrete slave "Class" (as they call themselves) in the above information? And who says the WTBTS GB is it, other than themselves? How do we know they are taking care of the other servants properly and that when the master returns, he will be pleased? What if he feels they have abused his household? I know they certainly abused mine.
i'm sure this has been covered before, so please excuse me if it has.
my questions are:.
how do people know that they're part of the faithful and discreet slave class?how is seniority established?.
Jesus Parable about the faithful and discrete slave never reffered to a "Class" of people who would exist in the future.
i have been testing the waters with a fade.
waiting to see the reaction.
my friends and family still talk to me, although i haven't been to meeting since november of last year.
It's your choice. I wouldn't dare sway you one way or the other. If it is right for you...you'll stay only you won't be there with the same blinders on and will be there for your own reasons. If it's not right for you, you'll find a way to exit without loosing the network of friends you've developed for yourself so far in your life.
there's always a lot of discussion about "bringing down the wts" and how it will "never happen" because they'll just keep going and going.. so here's my question.
granted that barring some major international changes of a catastrophic scifi nature the wts is going to exist in some shape or form for the next hundred years and probably more, what progress on the "apostate" front would you personally consider a success?.
would you simply be happy to have all of your blood relatives out?.
I wouldn't care it stayed "In Business" so to speak, so long as they admitted the errors they made in the past while claiming to be directed by God. Wouldn't it be something if they were to have a "special assembly" and totally come clean about everything they have swept under the rug. If they came out and appologized to all those who were made to feel like they "imagined" the whole 1975 thing, and to all those whose lives were forever altered by following their directives such as those who lost loved ones due to the blood issue, or those who's familys were blown apart by a wrongful disfellowshipping. Not to mention all those people in Malawi and Burundi who died supporting their organization. If they went back to just being"Bible Students" who admit they are constantly in the process of learning, rather than being the "absolute chosen ones" of God, I would consider it a victory for everybody.
This would never happen however, as they are so concerned with their own image. It always seemed to me that this was the reason we always had to wear suits and ties...even little boys, and even for a one hour book study. They wanted to lend ligitimacy to themselves by spiffing up their followers. They have been too arogant, smug and self satisfied over the decades to ever humble themselves enough to admit the made some disastrous mistakes.
when i first started attending the kh i remember being shocked by some of the lyrics to the songs.
i remember there was one we sang said something like "no-one likes us, we don't care" - someone said it was like a millwall supporters song!
however, cannot remember which song it was, does anyone remember this one?.
I know what you mean about the" Kingdom songs". There was usually an (imaginary) "Them against Us" flavor to them. Some almost sounded like military marching songs. It was a song at one of the last meetings I went to that finally made me realize how ridicuilously out of touch the leaders of this organization must be and that the serious doubts I was having about them were not unfounded.I started a thread about it here. The song had lyrics that used the expression "Molested Bees" http://.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/195969/1Angry-Bees
I remember lyrics such as:
"Fear not those who Kill the body, But fear those who kill the soul" or
"Though the world smears us with lies"
