Posts by Anony Mous

40

magazine supply reduction

by agent zero in

at the meeting tonight was read a letter to all congregations in canada.

it explained that since most publishers end up with left-over public edition magazines that didn't get placed at the end of each month, they will now no longer continue to have an individual magazine order per publisher.

instead, the entire congregation's supply of service edition magazines will be in a stack at the back of the kh, and they are to be taken according to need, with whatever is left over after service to be put back in the stack.

Anony Mous

Yes, it's slowly making it's way into other areas now. We've been doing it in our areas for over a year I think. It's a cost savings measure by encouraging them to take only 1 week supply and only coming back when necessary and bringing back all leftover and presentable old magazines so they can be used by the time they run out (which is usually 2 weeks).

Behind the scenes (that's not in the public letter) the amount of magazines ordered is now based on publisher/pioneer numbers similar to the invitations instead of at the discretion of the secretary or individuals.

The WT does not produce it's own paper however it does recycle mistakes and leftovers at the printing factories. They have been consolidating their efforts too by buying bigger machines that fewer people have to operate and using contractors for maintenance instead of training and paying unskilled volunteers with 'free' room-and-board.

They are a paper magazine producer and as the rest of the industry shows, they're going the way of the horsewhip manufacturers.

57

Hidden program in the new WT CD alerts Bethel who has visited apostate websites!!

by moshe in

jw
friends

just imagine, if that was a true statement- or maybe it is already in the works?

do you think it is possible?.

Anony Mous

@metatron:

How many elders do you think go through non-approved websites? Ever cleaned out an elders computer? You don't get virusses from surfing jw.org, 99% of those with a (recurring) virus problem visit lesser-virtuous websites frequently and not the clean kind either since 'normal' porn sites usually don't have malware.

For the rest, if you're worried, run the WTLIB on a Mac, Linux (Wine) or in another virtual environment, block it from making outside calls. jw.org/watchtower.org logs can be mined (although Safari doesn't pass referrers by default) if you visit them from other websites but again they can't find out who YOU are based on their logs unless they go through a court.

16

Blondie's Comments You Will Not Hear at the 06-12-2011 WT Study (DECISIONS)

by blondie in

jw
friends

make decisions.

all the decisions that we make?

why make decisions at all?.

Anony Mous

I couldn't get my comments in around blood but this is what I said in another one (the one about the boat):

When we are rudderless in a sea, we don't guide ourselves but the waves guide us, just like we need to have a steady faith as faith and truth doesn't change, if we notice that our faith or the truth keeps changing, as the paragraph says, we are guided by humans and human philosophies, not by God.

The conductor said "very good point", paused for what seems to be an eternity, then looked at me as if something clicked, paused and you could hear a pin drop it seemed like then uhm, well, uhm, let's move on then.

The one about blood seemed to be the elephant in the room, only 2 hardliners (Sr. Knowitall and Elder Betterthanyou) wanted to comment on it outright banning blood, the rest danced around the issue as if they wanted to say something.

85

Q for all Christians (not just JW) about the ransom.

by Anony Mous in

so this is the basic logical flaw in christianity i believe.

a brother identified it from the stage for me in a talk.

we all agree (as christians and jw's) that the ransom was necessary because adam lost his perfection and everlasting life.. this is a paraphrase from the talk:.

Anony Mous

@godrulz: There are 3 major problems with your argument.

If we sin because of what we do "having a body is not sinful, but it is what we do with it that determines vice/virtue;" then how do babies that die 5 minutes after delivery sin? They have done nothing but gasped for air and were somehow unable to do so and thus they have died and since every soul that sins, dies, babies committed a sin? That would be true of any child under 3 that cannot understand anything about morality, virtues or vices.

The other thing is that you assume belief and trust in Christ and the necessity of his body as atonement for our sins in order to accept the virtue of his sacrifice. I do not accept that this is "God's perfect will" but question why God did it in this convoluted way in the first place. There are several ways you can pose the question and give an answer but they all boil down to: God had his slaves in Paradise and they ran off to another master (or to freedom), how does it make sense that the original master pays himself in order to retrieve his slaves. And why do we have to be slaves if we're endowed with free will?

The last thing is that this is not a fine that somebody else can pay. It is a death sentence that everyone is confined by. The legal system does not allow somebody to sit out your jail time or death sentence for you so the argument falls apart right there. We are punished for something we didn't commit even if we didn't commit any sin, we would still die.

12

English-language congregations in non-English speaking countries

by dgp in

i am under the impression that english-language congregations outside of the united states must serve a purpose, other than just being the place where the missionaries can hang out and catch the occasional english speaker.

i think it's also a way to find the smarter guys in other countries and teach them the language and the jargon they will need if they ever climb up the watchtower corporate ladder.. what do people think?.

thanks.

Anony Mous

The English congregations I attended (and Circuits as well although the travel was killing both in time and in the pocket) were mostly a collection of fugitives, Africans and Brits/Scots (I love the Scottish accent) since Chinese, Russian, Arabic and other major languages have their own groups or congregations these days. So you have a bunch of people with no papers, a bunch of people you can't understand and a bunch of people with dry/no humor and then a few men with skirts (Scots are a lot more laid back), very easy to climb the ladder if you get in (you have to be not-local-language speaking either you or your spouse and be completely legal in the country) but service and out-of-town meetings are killing on your spare time. You can count your time however as soon as you leave the KH so we would easily get 2 hours just sitting on public transportation so it's a breeze for people who don't take service very seriously.

29

Why are men not allowed to do the bible study parts at the service meeting?

by garbonzo in

jw
friends

i know why they do it, because the women would complain, but it's not logical, the men need to be trained on how to conduct a bible study with a student, also.

if it doesn't matter, why are the sisters doing it?

just to give them something to do?

Anony Mous

@undercover

Most scholars do believe that Paul never actually existed as portrayed but was an amalgam of sect rules and Jewish influence. The Bible itself is just that, a collection of stories, laws and historical accounts that were mostly orally conveyed. Large parts of the gospel wasn't actually written until 100-300 years after the death of the supposed Christ and the rest of the bible books also don't have any evidence (not even a reference) that they were written when the classic canon said it did. Even the Dead Sea Scrolls are young enough to be written after the fact making all 'prophecies' bogus.

27

42% of Canadians can't read (DC Talk)

by burnedout in

i heard this statement at the dc today (saturday), the talk about some new brochure to help those who can't read in order to learn the basics of the truth:.

"one study finds that 42% of canadians can not read well enough to function in society... that's right brothers...

of course, no source was given, and then the speaker says how important this new 'tool' will be in the ministry.... i asked the wife what she thought of that and she agreed it sounded fishy.

Anony Mous

I would pose that even less Americans can't read if that's the definition you're using. It's reading with an understanding of the material that is a problem. Most of it people are just too lazy or too dumb (as in lacking basic education like math, literacy, psychology, biology, chemistry and logical thinking, not basic reading skills) to understand the meaning behind the words.

Basically, if you can't figure out how your VCR works you should get some additional schooling.

The problem is that the quality of American schooling is going down. It's not funding as most school districts have double the funding than what they had a decade ago even accounting for inflation and really need to be trimmed down. Just like government, it's easy to expand your budget but shrinking it seems to cost you the sacrifice of virgin blood for each dollar.

The biggest problem in most districts is qualified teachers and teacher unions preventing the sacking of unqualified teachers. In our school district there are several school buildings that are not being used due to a lack of students but they have to remain open because of the unions' of teachers and maintenance staff that still work there. The school district got smart last year and moved some of the least qualified teachers to those schools but still those are multi-million dollar investments in teachers, cleaning staff, IT staff, maintenance staff, heat, air conditioning and other utilities.

You are required to get extended education and have students self-motivated these days simply because basic education is severely lacking. Even the first two years of US college's math and science is what is thought in the last year of European high schools.

6

creflo dollar defends Eddie long GB take notes

by darth frosty in

this is funny as hell these cats can spin anything.

gb take note 1975...it was a wreck thats all.. .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbtncti_akw&feature=player_embedded.

Anony Mous

Sounds and looks a lot like the conventions. The GB made some mistakes but it is your fault if you're rejecting them for it. Different religion, same speeches.

85

Q for all Christians (not just JW) about the ransom.

by Anony Mous in

so this is the basic logical flaw in christianity i believe.

a brother identified it from the stage for me in a talk.

we all agree (as christians and jw's) that the ransom was necessary because adam lost his perfection and everlasting life.. this is a paraphrase from the talk:.

Anony Mous

No. Mine doesn't. Mine says, stop the poerson from committing another offence if possible and try and teach him to do better next time. Also, help the victim.

That describes more Jesus, not Adam's God. Adam's God said you made a mistake therefore you and all your innocent children will die because you screwed up once.

This is the point that many Christians make and which you can't logically wrap your head around:

Jesus couldn't have paid the "ransom" for our sins to the Father; you pay a ransom to a kidnapper, and the Father wasn't holding us hostage. No, it was the Evil One who had captured us, due to our voluntary involvement in sin.

So we should pay back to the Evil One since he is the one that captured us.

It cost Jesus his blood to enter Hades and set us free. That's the payment, or ransom, but it obviously isn't paid *to* the Father.

So to whom is the payment?

Yet it is a sacrifice or offering to the Father, as a brave soldier might offer a dangerous act of courage to his beloved General.

So the sacrifice, offering, payment or ransom isn't paid to the Father yet it was given to the Father voluntarily and at the same time he also provided it himself.

You can claim that this is not to be taken as a literal argument as Godrulz above does but then how do you explain it if it can't be explained in simple, logical terms? The main question boils down to: why was it necessary for Jesus (or anyone beyond Adam) to die because 2 people did wrong? Where is the justice in punishing all the children of an offender (the offense being using their God given free will) simply to make a statement to your adversary and satisfy the need for blood?

42

Today's WT lesson: Desperate for more MS. How many get appointed 1 yr after baptism?

by Open mind in

today's wt lesson: serving jehovah with all seriousness, excerpt from paragraph 11:.

"if a brother has been baptized at least one year and to a reasonable degree meets the scriptural qualifications for ministerial servants outlined at 1 timothy 3:8-13, he can be recommended for appointment.".

how often have you seen someone become a ministerial servant one year after baptism?

Anony Mous

In our congo our PO (now Overlord of the Body of Elders) got the 3rd talk slip last week. He rejected it saying he was going to be out of town. They've been grooming some other kids (14 & 18 yo included) to get into it, the rest is unqualified, the ones that already are are technically also unqualified thus non-MS'es are doing MS'es work.

In the other congo, at least one elder is being demoted because of FS time and others have been taken down because they were fully unqualified. There is a rich kid (pyramid scheme that got the PO some extra cash) that got to be MS 6 months after baptism and family of one of the elders got to be MS 2 months after getting married, 6 months after restrictions were lifted.

All those are getting approved by the Bethel rubber stamp facility so the entry levels are much lower than back in the day.