Smiddy,
I did know some JWs in Oz who would part with a few coins for the blind - rationalising it along the lines "I could end up blind myself!". Admittedly, that was back in the days of Gough Whitlam, when wages were sky high for a time.
Bill.
Bungi Bill
JoinedPosts by Bungi Bill
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26
Charity
by aintenoughwiskey inwe know the wt interpretation of matt 25:40 is support of the anointed.
since most of us here are no longer in that situation, what, if any forms of charity are you involved in?
sorry for the awkward framing of the question, it's not meant to imply atheists, or non-christians are not charitable!
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Charity
by aintenoughwiskey inwe know the wt interpretation of matt 25:40 is support of the anointed.
since most of us here are no longer in that situation, what, if any forms of charity are you involved in?
sorry for the awkward framing of the question, it's not meant to imply atheists, or non-christians are not charitable!
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Bungi Bill
In Australia, there is an organisation called "Street Swags", which seeks to provide each homeless person with a floored tent (popularly known as a "Street Swag").
I always donate to Street Swags - $80 a time - which is enough to provide one person with a Street Swag. (Admittedly, not much, but still a bloody site better than sleeping out under the stars during inclement weather!)
Of course, why a country such as this, with its excellent social welfare system, has still got several hundred thousand homeless people is quite another matter! Something to do with the bright idea they got in the 1980s to turn the mentally ill "out into the community", I suspect.
Bill.
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Are Jehovah's Witnesses Christian or Cult, Do JWs Offer Solutions for Local and Global Problems of life?
by skepticSam inthe awake on "hope for the homelessness" was one of the worse illustrations how the cult has no love for anyone that can't provide donations to further this spiritual ponzi scheme!
the premise of this awake made no sense, i've read many books and took classes on social issues affecting mankind, the awake does not help fix the problem.
what did this magazine offer those who are suffering the humiliation of living out of their cars or "tent city" or under a bridge?
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Bungi Bill
Some 40-odd years ago, I was rather incensed when some "born again" type ridiculed the JW religion:
- claiming that all it could offer people was a "Pie in the Sky".
However............ he was quite correct in making that claim!
Homeless and/or hungry people have more immediate needs than a Pie in the Sky - let alone one that is forever going to happen "soon".
Bill.
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priveledges an extra layer of protection
by aintenoughwiskey ini have noticed when an elder or ms gets in serious trouble, many times it's simply a demotion.
local example.
well liked ms son of a prominent elder/pioneer gets caught doing the dance with no pants with his fiancee.
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Bungi Bill
Privileges do offer an extra layer of protection - more often than not, anyway.
In my old congregation, a prominent elder carried out an extra-marital "affair" for well over two years before any action was taken against him. While the BOE knew about his goings-on for at least two of those years, they were slow to even remove him as an elder, let alone DF him, because "he was such a good teacher."
That contrasts with the case of one "ordinary"Joe Doe publisher (actually, she was a Jane Doe) who got up to mischief one Friday night, only to be disfellowshipped by the time her parents got back from their weekend away.
Bill.
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Where are the Young Elders?
by James Jack ini was appointed as an elder when i turned 30, 25 years ago.
which was the norm back then.. now, i very rarely here of a young man becoming an elder.
in our town we have 2 english congregations.
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Bungi Bill
This is all very obviously a complete turnaround from the days of 1990, when young "brothers"were almost climbing over each other to get appointed.
Bill.
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Bungi Bill
My experiences from living in a high crime area have left me with some serious doubts about the level of protection firearm ownership offers a person.
Off an on over a 17 year period, I lived in what was a veritable cess pit of violent crime in a certain Third World country. Yet in all that time, I personally knew only two people who got shot:
- and both of them were "carrying" a firearm.
Both were gold buyers by occupation, and as such, were each licensed to carry a 9mm automatic. Both, too, knew how to use the things - regularly taking part in pistol shooting competitions against the police shooting teams. Yet, in two separate violent confrontations, it was they rather than their attackers who got shot (luckily, neither shooting was fatal, although one of them was only a millimetre or two away from being left paraplegic).
Maybe the Australian country singer, John Williamson, had a point in his song We must have a Flag of Our Own - a stanza of which reads "The way to get shot is to carry a gun."
My experiences while living "at the sharp end" tends to suggest so, anyway!
(I could also add the double shooting of two armed policemen. While not knowing these two officers personally, I was less than 100 metres away from them that Friday night when both were shot down by a .38 Special-weilding assassin. One officer was killed instantly, while his companion was greviously wounded. Again, the M-16 rifle that each man was carrying failed to protect him from getting shot, and the criminals escaped with the two M-16 assault rifles. However, it was our unarmed, 70 man strong security detail that recovered these stolen weapons, using nothing more than a dog unit. The culprit, also, was induced to surrender himself later the following day. That was brought about by using distinctly Melanesian methods, none of which would be approved of by Civil Libertarians, and which is the subject of another story altogether!)
Bill
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Preach, preach, preach....feel guilty...preach some more
by Tornintwo insince starting to wake up, i can't help notice how so many talks emphasise preaching, increasing your hours, pioneering etc...with a hefty load of guilt on the side.. i always noticed the guilt, but now i'm noticing how talks that seem to start out on another issue always seem to come back to hours!
visit talk seemed to start out about persecution, trusting in jehovah etc...but the main thrust in the end was, 'do more hours, pioneer, don't get an education or pursue a career, don't get distracted, hooray for the pioneers!
if you dont do more hours you will be 'the sort that shrink back to destruction'.
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Bungi Bill
In other words, nothing much has changed since I started taking an interest in this #u&*ing bloody cult some 50 years ago. Back then, the only thing that mattered was the column on the monthly field service report slip entitled "Hours" . Lo and bloody behold, it is still the same now! (Sad to say, none of this comes as any surprise).
Bill.
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This is a topic I am going to kill with my opening post.Why haven`t the Major religions of Christendom exposed J.W.`s as the true Apostates
by smiddy ini am initially thinking of the major religious institutions of christianity , catholic ,many branches , church of england , and the major protestant religions , too numerous to mention here.. after all their is 40,000 plus christian religions in the world today ?so obviously j.w.`s are not the only false religion .. so my real question is really , to do with the mainstream christian religions , why are`nt they more aggressive in their condemnation of the jehovah witness religion for their obvious failings ,flip backs ,contradictions ,prophecy`s that never eventuated , end of the world predictions ,re-inventing their past history , even distancing themselves from their past history , and their founding members , such as c.t.russell and j.f.rutherford whose policies they now reject... they need to get on board and bleed it for all it`s worth .. smiddy .
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Bungi Bill
Mainly, I think, because the mainstream churches regard fringe-groups like the JWs as being beneath contempt.
Bill.
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How many times were you told, "You Just Don't Qualify Yet to be an Elder"
by John Aquila inyou think it's the holy spirit that appoints the elders, at least that's what new jw males are told.
the culture within the organization dictates to all young male jehovah's witnesses that unless you are an elder, you will not get the sultry, passionate- brunette, the voluptuous, curvaceous,- blond, or the seductive, erotic, red headed-vamp..
so unaware of the social forces that are shaping your mind, you succumb to the dictum issued by the governing body to conform to the structure already in place- if you want to be successful.
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Bungi Bill
Sparrowdown,
You're right on the mark there. I never did have much of a taste for kissing people's backsides - no matter what it was going to gain! I guess my taste bud's were against me advancing too far in The Borg (and in retrospect, that was a bloody good thing, too).
Bill.
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How many times were you told, "You Just Don't Qualify Yet to be an Elder"
by John Aquila inyou think it's the holy spirit that appoints the elders, at least that's what new jw males are told.
the culture within the organization dictates to all young male jehovah's witnesses that unless you are an elder, you will not get the sultry, passionate- brunette, the voluptuous, curvaceous,- blond, or the seductive, erotic, red headed-vamp..
so unaware of the social forces that are shaping your mind, you succumb to the dictum issued by the governing body to conform to the structure already in place- if you want to be successful.
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Bungi Bill
Never!
I had one hell of a battle even getting to be an MS - despite being equipped with the necessary plumbing!
No doubt he good old Holy Spirit had something against me (read : I must have got in somebody of importance's bad books somewhere along the line - and that person in turn had a direct telephone circuit to the Holy Spirit).