Posts by respectful

16

Advertising the District Assembly on the Radio

by RubaDub in

is this just a local practice to south florida or is it done in other areas too?.

i'm driving to work last week and on one of the most popular radio stations (primarily talk and politics) they were advertising the district assembly in west palm beach florida for next week.. it was about a 30 second spot and was the typical "everyone is invited ... no collections taken" .... etc.

etc.. is this common in other areas ???.

respectful_observer

What just struck me as a bit odd (but maybe rather clever) was that is was advertised on the most political talk station down here ... talk and mostly politics 24 hours a day. It may be good to advertise on talk stations since people who tune in to them are generally there to actually listen.

I'd be surprised if they were that targeted in their approach, but sterotypically a larger percentage of political talk radio listeners are more conservative on social issues (gay marriage, abortion, etc.). At that point the Org would only have to convice them that they should be politically neutral!

16

Advertising the District Assembly on the Radio

by RubaDub in

is this just a local practice to south florida or is it done in other areas too?.

i'm driving to work last week and on one of the most popular radio stations (primarily talk and politics) they were advertising the district assembly in west palm beach florida for next week.. it was about a 30 second spot and was the typical "everyone is invited ... no collections taken" .... etc.

etc.. is this common in other areas ???.

respectful_observer

I've never heard a radio ad in my area.

Silly thing is, that one 30 second radio ad you heard was probably more effective and was noticed by more people than all "special invitations" left at empty houses by all the dubs in the county. Good thing the door-to-door work is still "our primary way of reaching interested ones TM !!!"

R_O

78

Something odd just happened when I logged on!

by tornapart in

i typed in my name, password and the captcha, expecting to see my name come up in the top right corner and what i actually saw was someone else's name!

(the name was another member of this board).

i looked at it for a few seconds feeling a bit puzzled and not sure what to do about it and as i looked it automatically changed (whithout me doing anything) back to my own name.. has anyone else had this happen to them?

respectful_observer

Maybe it was the demunz....

120

Why do the GB need a new Bethel compound if the end is so close? Here is the "official" answer

by sir82 in

jw
friends

as most of us know, the society is spending 10's of millions of dollars on a giant, state of the art, secluded bunker country club headquarters in very remote, isolated warwick ny.. the question that "some" have is, why?

if armageddon is coming "very soon", why go to all that time & effort & expense?

why have thousands of jws dedicating their time to this massive effort instead of the "lifesaving ministry"?.

respectful_observer

Maybe they finally realized that once Armageddon came, no significant construction project would be able to even start without "This System's TM " infastructure (power grid, transportation) or industry (mining, steel mills, microprocessor manufacturers, plastics makers, oil refineries, etc., etc., etc.).

The RBC may be able to build a Kingdom Hall over a few weekends, but I wonder how successful it would be at mining the ore, smelting, casting and machining all just to get a single drill bit. Or make the glass from sand to construct double-pane windows. Or refine crude oil to make plastics for the light switches, and on, and on, and on.

R_O

(I suppose instead of Jehovah covering the ground with Manna every morning, every JW could wake up to go out and collect construction equipment and building materials..."Look Mom, I found a table saw this morning!!! That's even better than the 20 lb box of finish nails I found yesterday!!!)

120

Why do the GB need a new Bethel compound if the end is so close? Here is the "official" answer

by sir82 in

jw
friends

as most of us know, the society is spending 10's of millions of dollars on a giant, state of the art, secluded bunker country club headquarters in very remote, isolated warwick ny.. the question that "some" have is, why?

if armageddon is coming "very soon", why go to all that time & effort & expense?

why have thousands of jws dedicating their time to this massive effort instead of the "lifesaving ministry"?.

respectful_observer

I see the Manhattan skyline, and I know that it is all going to be utterly destroyed.

That reminds me of Anthony Morris speaking at a DC a few years ago. He kept going on and on about how he looked forward to standing of the roof at Bethel and "looking out and seeing the entire Manhattan skyline in flames." He was literally cackling with anticipation and glee at the idea. My better half looked at me and said "does he realize that there are people here who had friends and relatives that died on 9/11? How insensitive can you be? And HE'S on the Governing Body?"

Why not build far away from there, and we'll have beautiful buildings which we can continue to use after Armageddon?"

Doesn't he mean "...and YOU'LL have beautiful buildings which YOU can use after Armageddon?" After all, he'll be comfortable in his new heavenly assignment by then. (I wonder how many Bethel points you would need to be next in line for his old room?)

R_O

35

Interview of a sister - Friday morning at the District Convention

by Red Piller in

from my memory and shortened for highlights [my comments in brackets.

i found the whole interview astonishing]:.

"sister x-, you've been a baptized servant of jehovah since 1972.. you must have seen a lot since that time".

respectful_observer

Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.

Adolf Hitler

....................................

"...make it simple..." That's where they went wrong. "Overlapping generations" isn't simple; it defies logic and common sense.

35

Interview of a sister - Friday morning at the District Convention

by Red Piller in

from my memory and shortened for highlights [my comments in brackets.

i found the whole interview astonishing]:.

"sister x-, you've been a baptized servant of jehovah since 1972.. you must have seen a lot since that time".

respectful_observer

Yup, pretty much the same interview happened at my DC as well. The person sitting next to me leaned over and mumbled under their breath: "What is this, the 3rd assembly in a row where they've trotted someone out to state they finally understand the overlapping generation? Maybe they wouldn't have to keep doing this if it actually made sense."

I just gave them a sympathetic "I know, but what can you do" look.

R_O

31

What Is The "Typical" Elder In The Organization Like Now?

by minimus in

jw
friends

when i was an elder, most of the elders were pretty independent 40 to 80 year olds.

they had no issue speaking up to the circuit overseer.

i wonder what the average elder is like now.

respectful_observer

I had a friend who was reproved and had not heard from the elders for over a year. The CO visit was a week away and they hurried up and had a meeting and gave him back all of his privileges.

I've seen this EXACT thing happen before. The Judicial Committee ends with reproof and promises from the elders that they will work to help the person rebuild spiritually through service arrangements, shepherding calls, etc. These promises are followed by complete radio silence for a year, then....WHAMMO!...the person miraculously gets all their privileges back the week before the CO's visit. The last time I saw this happen, the person had been approached by one of the elders (on his committee no less!) who expressed how much he missed hearing his comments at the meetings. When he responded that he missed having the privilege of commenting, the elder gave this puzzled look, followed by a flash of realization across his face. At the next meeting they pulled him aside and let him know he had gotten all his privileges back.

My experience is that 60-70% of elders are actually pretty cool, work hard, sacrifice a lot to serve the congregation, try to do the right thing, and aren't uptight about a lot of stuff. 10-15% of elders are obnoxious ego maniacs, and 10-15% are so clueless and out of step that they don't know the names of half the publishers and might not be able to tell you what book is even being studied at the Congregation Bible Study.

Of course what tends to happen is that certain congregations will often "breed" like-minded elders. That can be great when they're laid back and reasonable, but a complete nightmare when they act like a bunch of self-righteous, entitled, dictatorial d-bags.

R_O

7

Radiolab Episode: Blood

by enigma1863 in

jw
friends

i was listening to an episode of radiolab on blood.

i thought the last section would be interesting to jws.

its about the big business of selling blood.

respectful_observer

1. I love Radio Lab.

2. Did they talk about what percentage of blood donations go to which uses? I once read/heard that something like 75%+ of donated blood is used for uses other than transfusions (anti-venom, vaccines, etc.). Back when this was fresher in my mind I would occassionally mention it to other JWs and follow it up with something like "does that mean JWs could donate blood if it was guaranteed your blood was being used for pharmaceutical purposes, and not transfusions?" Their response was always funny to watch, because if they say "no", they sound like a selfish idiot because they would/can except any of the products derived from all that donated blood; if they say "yes", it would be tantamount to accepting a straight blood transfusion in many JW's eyes.

R_O

23

Long serving pioneer no longer has hours quota to stay on the list...

by NVR2L8 in

jw
friends

a family member visited us this past weekend and said that my 80 years old mother was recently told she no longer has to meet the annual hour quota to remain on the pioneer list.

"what a loving provision from the brothers" were my sister's exact words.

"mom was so stressed out with having to get her hours in every month" are you freaking kidding me?

respectful_observer

NVR2L8, I did that once before too. It was some special campaign for something-or-other years back. Everyone kept asking each other "are you pioneering this month?" I always replied "no," yet was out in service almost every day. When the end of the month came, several people asked "I thought you said you weren't going to pioneer! What made you change your mind??"

"I didn't change my mind. I didn't pioneer this month."

"But you must have gotten over 60 hours!"

"Yeah, I did."

"Well then why didn't you fill out the slip to pioneer?"

"Did I need permission from someone to go out for over 60 hours?"

"Well, no but...."

"I just enjoy being out with the friends. I don't need a title to feel good about doing it."

If they tried the "it would be encouraging to the congregation" my retort was "are you saying that it wasn't encouraging to have me out in service with you this past month??"

It was always fun to sit back and watch those rusty gears try to turn that one over in their minds.

"PIONEER" The only title handed out by the WTS that enables you to do exactly what every single other JW on the planet can do if they want.

respectful_observer

Posts by respectful_observer