well, i sat through day 1 or the "imitate jesus" convention.
they released the new brochure for inactive ones.
while no tomo-esque rants took place, it seems that the official policy is that "inactivity" merits the death sentence.
This is just another man-made rule, and an extension of the theme "Salvation by Report Card"
i.e. the sole measure of a person's worth is that column on the Monthly Field Service slip that is entitled "Hours".
You will definitely not find any reference in the Bible to the term "Inactive" meaning having not reported any Field Service Time for six consecutive months,that is for sure!
Bill.
a couple of saturdays ago i and my girlfriend (who happens to be baptised into the greek orthodox religion, but practises greek catholic...no, she's not greek) were on the virgin train from glasgow to london.. we had reserved seats on the quiet zone of the train, because y'know, a 5 hour train journey shouldn't be sullied by mobile phones ringing and noisy conversations.. somewhere around the lake district a very tall woman sits at the table across the carriage from us, a table already occupied by a very chatty, bearded man in his late 50s, along with his wife.
this man was directing people where to stow their luggage and asking random travellers questions about their journey to the point where i sent my girlfriend a text message (easier to communicate that way without others overhearing us) asking if he was the "train boss".. he struck up a conversation with this new passenger about his travels, but i wasn't really paying attention as i was watching a movie on my ipad, wearing noise cancelling headphones.
after a little while i noticed they'd stopped chatting and the woman was now reading.
This reminds me of a place where I once worked:
- owned by a family of Exclusive Bretheren, and the work crew included a JW (myself), a "Born-Again" fellow of a particularly fanatical stripe, plus one person who could not stand hearing the subject of religion being discussed. Needless to say, she was frequently quite irritated!
Bill.
mr. magnani reports his conversation with pres.
fred franz, and queries him about eve being created in the same year as adam.. he refers franz to the aid book, (topic: eve - p. 538) which states that: .
at the age of 130 another son was born to her.
in 1968, the WT had boldly stated that it was "logical for God to create Eve a few weeks or months later, in the same year" as Adam was created (w68 5/1 p.271 par.4).
Good pick up.
There certainly was much muddying of the waters in the years immediately after 1975:
- Talk about "Baffling with Bull$h*t if you can't Blind with Science"!
Bill
heard a lot buzz for our upcoming convention.
those that already been were saying how great it was and all the videos that were presented.. well, thus far not impressed!
in fact many times pure insanity!
freein2004:
OK - you have sold me, and I will be beating a path to the nearest RC, to find out what the fuss is about.
Oh man, I can't wait!
Bill
heard a lot buzz for our upcoming convention.
those that already been were saying how great it was and all the videos that were presented.. well, thus far not impressed!
in fact many times pure insanity!
Those that already been were saying how great it was
But always! I cannot recall ever hearing anything else to describe each and every convention / assembly that ever was.
William Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing seems a more appropriate description to me!
Bill.
its not easy being an introvert in an extrovert worldespecially when youre a kid.
it is even more difficult if none of the adults in the kids life recognize that the child is an introvert.
this doesnt happen only when the childs parents are extroverts, but also with introverted parents who have never understood their own introverted nature.. .
Now I know why I found it exceedingly difficult being (or trying to be!) a JW.
In particular, I used to dread the assemblies / conventions, and could never understand the party line about those things being "upbuilding", mind-altering experiences.
Bill.
are jws trying to make dysfunctional kids that wont "fit" in normal society so they will "return to jehovah"?
because there have been many stories about young people who have been out in the world only to find how bad it was and how correct the org was.. a good jw kid with "good" jw parents will have many big issues, some examples:.
fear of demons (fear, misfit).
The WTS/GB hates that term " normal life":
- declaring that " these are not normal times", and suggesting strongly that, as a consequence, a normal life is impossible.
So if JW children are being reared in a manner that makes it hard for them to fit into a a normal life when they reach adulthood, few JWs would be concerned.
The canned response is that line about " these not being normal times". (Never mind the fact that these "not normal times" have been going on for a bloody long time!)
Bill.
breaking news from co!!
according to a reliable source, the co in my area says that jws may have been hearing the phrase, "final push" being used.
what sage advice did this shepherd, duke, and "star" of revelation have to say?
We are in the last part of the last days, so very close to the last DAY.."
What, again!
How many times have we been told that one, and over however many different decades?
Early in 1991, a public speaker informed us that "Armegeddon is not any more just around the corner, rather, we are now looking down the final straight to the finish line."
Bloody long home straight, that one!
Bill.
PS: Anybody who thinks there is a connection between Joshua's 40 years and 1975's 40 years is the one who is (badly) deluded!
i was listening to my brother in law talk about his job this week.
he had a stable job for a long time.
it was not without problems but it was there.
All they can talk about has to do with sex, drinking and shady business.
So much for the WTS-inspired idea that a university / college environment is "bad" as it exposes young people to "bad associations" etc. As the OP's account demonstrates, the workplace is just at least as capable of doing the very same.
It matters very little whether it is amongst skilled or unskilled workers, either. I worked for almost five years in such occupations as truckdriver, farmhand and construction labourer, before finally waking up to myself. Truck drivers in particular are renown for their overuse of a certain expletive - i.e. the one that rhymes with the same motor vehicle that they drive!
Yet it was very little different when I (belatedly) began an apprenticeship, and also during the following decades that I worked in the electrical trade. Casual conversation amongst fitters, mechanics, electricians, plumbers, boilermakers or whatever differs not at all from those subjects highlighted above in yellow. (Anybody that doesn't believe that ought to be a fly on the wall in the Maintenance Department's canteen, during a meal break at any large Industrial Plant!)
Despite this, the WTS /GB seemingly have no problem with their young people entering a trade course. However, just mention university and the old "bad associations" line will be trotted out in no time.
Just another one of their red herrings:
- as others on this thread have pointed out, the WTS have other, ulterior and rather sinister motives for stopping a person from getting an education.
Bill.
and remember your boosters as adults!.
currently there is a measles outbreak in the u.s. the outbreak is clustered into communities where parents choose not to get their children vaccinated.
vaccination works primarily on herd immunity.
I am old enough to remember the polio epidemics of the 1950s:
- each one resulting in a number of deaths, and leaving many, many more children and young persons cruelly crippled.
I particularly remember the last such epidemic, which occured during the summer of 1961. That one was stopped dead in its tracks by means of a mass-immunisation program, using the newly developed Sabin vaccine. Furthermore , in this country, the last death from polio just happened to have occurred in that very same year,1961. Co-incidence? I don't think so!
That isn't all, either - the list could go on and on. For example:
(i) Typhoid. In the South African War (1899 - 1902) this disease killed more soldiers than died in the fighting. By the time WWI broke out, a vaccine had been developed, and was in widespread use by the British army. During that war, typhoid deaths were negligible, despite the very same insanitary conditions prevailing on the battlefields.
(ii) Tetanus. During WWII, all service personnel in the armies of Britain and its Commonwealth were immunised for tetanus, whereas those of Germany were not. That fact was reflected in the contrasting death rates due to tetanus between the two armies.
(iii) Smallpox. This disease had been completely eradicated by the late 1970s - thanks entirely to the smallpox vaccine.
How could a person possibly knock the benefits of vaccination? It is beyond me!
Bill.
