on an earlier thread about ice cream i remembered a snack that was sold at assemblies and that started me thinking about some of my memories of childhood at conventions/assemblies.
i guess it was the taste/smell association because even today when i go to various convention halls for home improvement expos, car shows and the like it takes me right back to the past.
i have many memories wrapped around the conventions and experienced different things because i have lots of elders in the family that were used, literally, for food service, the accounting office, security and dramas.
I hated assemblies and out of all the assemblies I only actually remember one good thing.
Concorde flying over Twickenham. That was awesome. :)
On the 3rd day we were actually counselled against being distracted by it "because we wouldn't want to miss something important or potentially life saving would we?".
whatever we think of it, you have to admit that it's quite "genius".. the door to door ministry as done in western developed countries where the jw quirky religion has probably reached their saturation level was a complete and utter waste of time in terms of the effort expended to recruit people.. at the same time, it was rarely something that anyone enjoyed which led to people being labelled as inactive, being pressured to doing more and maybe ultimately deciding jwism wasn't for them and leaving.. there was also the issue that many jws are actually pretty bad at knowing and articulating their beliefs so were pretty incapable of getting any meaningful message across.. they solved all this with the cart witnessing.
the real point isn't to recruit, it's to make life easier for jws.
now they can stand and chat with their friend, have a coffee, not talk to anyone or make eye contact and still act as a walking billboard for jw.org.
I don't even know what to say about this.
Not a single one
It behooves us
Field Service
Return Visit
Memorial season
Husbands and wives calling each other brother and sister
the jehovah's witnesses claim that the holy spirit is none other than a force... however when we compare scripture with scripture, we begin to see that the holy spirit is a person.as the jehovah's witnesses dispute this, the question still remains..."who/what is the holy spirit?".
the holy spirit can :.
be grieved.
Was Cinderella's shoe really made of glass or was it plastic or resin or a very translucent fabric. Is it important, who cares and does it really detract that much from the story not knowing absolutely? She dropped it and ran :P
At the end of the day men wrote a book that was in a language that today can be translated and interpreted multiple ways into meaning variable concepts and more often than not used to manipulate the gullible.
It is a story. It isn't real. It doesn't matter. It is unnecessary trying to convince others (especially atheists) one viewpoint is more accurate or valid than another because at the end of the day it is all just a bunch of fairy tales and no-one should be wasting time worrying that much about ancient Jewish folklore but should be getting on with their lives, loving and caring for those around them. Life is too short to worry whether holy spirit is a force or a person and makes not a jot of difference to real life events and just causes vexation and frustration to those arguing for opposite viewpoints with no evidence or proof either is right as all of it is only opinion.
i really like my alexa.
a little creepy at first, but quite interesting.. i asked her if i should attend the assembly day on saturday.. she said "in your case, just go in the morning, walk around, see everyone, then at lunch walk to your car while talking on your cell phone.
then just leave.
I have a Google Home. I asked her if i should join Jehovah's witnesses and she told me not to listen to just their side of the story and study just their Bible and literature but research others as well!
whatever we think of it, you have to admit that it's quite "genius".. the door to door ministry as done in western developed countries where the jw quirky religion has probably reached their saturation level was a complete and utter waste of time in terms of the effort expended to recruit people.. at the same time, it was rarely something that anyone enjoyed which led to people being labelled as inactive, being pressured to doing more and maybe ultimately deciding jwism wasn't for them and leaving.. there was also the issue that many jws are actually pretty bad at knowing and articulating their beliefs so were pretty incapable of getting any meaningful message across.. they solved all this with the cart witnessing.
the real point isn't to recruit, it's to make life easier for jws.
now they can stand and chat with their friend, have a coffee, not talk to anyone or make eye contact and still act as a walking billboard for jw.org.
I never let on I'm an exjw when I approach the JWs on the cart but I wonder how many suspect that anyone coming up to them to ask a question is actually not a genuine member of the public but an apostate targeting them?
I have yet to see any of those supposedly responsible for sounding the alarm about God's imminent destruction of the world actually stop and warn a single person.
How they can call it "urgent work" when they just stand in front of a shop window idly chatting to each other not even attempting to attract anyone's attention to Armageddon is a joke.
whatever we think of it, you have to admit that it's quite "genius".. the door to door ministry as done in western developed countries where the jw quirky religion has probably reached their saturation level was a complete and utter waste of time in terms of the effort expended to recruit people.. at the same time, it was rarely something that anyone enjoyed which led to people being labelled as inactive, being pressured to doing more and maybe ultimately deciding jwism wasn't for them and leaving.. there was also the issue that many jws are actually pretty bad at knowing and articulating their beliefs so were pretty incapable of getting any meaningful message across.. they solved all this with the cart witnessing.
the real point isn't to recruit, it's to make life easier for jws.
now they can stand and chat with their friend, have a coffee, not talk to anyone or make eye contact and still act as a walking billboard for jw.org.
If Jehovahs Witneses manning a cart is all they need to do to be "a witness to Jehovah" these days then surely the "dog collar" worn by vicars means vicars have been "witnessing" since 1884.
In fact any religious garment could do that job so if JWs just wore a baseball cap with the JW logo on it when out that could be classed as "witnessing". Look at the hours they would clock up. They could be witnessing full time then if wearing the identifying cap while at work if such caps were allowed, out shopping or in fact anywhere there were people. A JW sticker would be witnessing.
When going d2d some days there were no people anywhere but then we were "witnessing to the angels" just by being out.
By the ever decreasing standard of effort required to be considered "witnessing to jehovah" wearing a logo will soon be enough no matter what activity you are doing.
What a merchandising opportunity for the GB to replace dwindling donations. Forget magic underwear. Sports gear, baby strollers, jumpers, coats etc etc. All with the JW logo attached. The list of items it could be displayed on is endless no longer limited to just buildings.
Stripes or stars could be added to clothing to denote ms/elder/pioneer status etc.
Oops I forgot. There is no hierarchy in that religion. :p
was anyone else taught that dinosaurs even old t rex was a vegetarian ?
i remember as a kid my parents contradicting what school taught.
they reasoned that meat eating was not allowed before the flood.
I was told that.
Someone answered at a Watchtower they knew of an experiment with lions fed exclusively on straw and it turned them tame again! The elder neither corrected them or questioned which experiment, by whom or when but moved on as if this could actually have been true not even hinting the statement was outrageously false
i didn't know where to post this but it's been on my mind and i'm looking for support and advice from people who know what it's like being shunned.
i was raised in a fundamentalist baptist church, so what i'm experiencing is a little different than most posters on this site.
i've been out of that church for years, and my brother's been out for a while too.
My parents have been no contact for 25 years. They can't blame JW doctrine as they never were even though the previous generation on my mothers side of the family were and she had no contact with them but I never knew why. I never even knew my mothers side of the family til i met JWs and joined them and found my maternal grandmother and the rest of my family in my middle 20s.
My point is some families and people are just toxic even without JW influence (my mother is a narcissist but I didn't know that until I was in my mid 50s) and although it hurts having no contact sometimes that is less stressful and hurtful so for the best if you want a peaceful happy life.
