gb member anthony morris mentioned a letter that was sent to bethel by a concerned jw fearing the gt.
he mentioned it on the last sunday talk.
i always wondered if any letter sent to bethel ever reached gb eyes.
If that was part of his concluding talk, it was covering reasons not to be anxious....
I know that whenever someone has a part on the assembly and they need a particular experience for their talk, they ask around. The word will go round to various halls that an experience is needed about so and so topic.
Could it be that word went out at headquarters, asking if anyone has written in about stockpiling food? Im sure every possible topic under the sun gets written in by someone!
Not in the sense that what they think say or do matters to me in MY opinion of me.
But yes in the sense that being DFd would restrict my movement amongst family members.
we all know the sort of thing..... in many congregations, specific "rules" creep in...introduced by the local elders that become set in stone.. years ago, i heard of a congregation that sat down during the first song of the evening but stood for all others (the co changed that very soon after).
then there were the older accounts of congs that had rules to make the public speakers wear only white shirts.... in one cong now, i heard that brothers can only be used for sound or microphones if they do a minimum of 5 hours per month in the ministry!.
another cong has ruled that all appointed men must pioneer for at least one month each year in order to remain qualified.. .
All this talk about skirts made me remember another one.
NO jeans skirts! Bad, bad, bad! (apparently)
here is one... my mil told me according to a co talk that she heard jehovah could strike you dead when he is executing judgement based on the clothing you are wearing.
she was mad at the moment of skirts that were above the knee on me and her friend.. i said to her two things:.
1) i hope i am not in the tub during this predicament.. 2) i thought jehovah read hearts?.
So let me get this straight.....
The God who created people to be naked, now cares about an inch or two of hemline?
we all know the sort of thing..... in many congregations, specific "rules" creep in...introduced by the local elders that become set in stone.. years ago, i heard of a congregation that sat down during the first song of the evening but stood for all others (the co changed that very soon after).
then there were the older accounts of congs that had rules to make the public speakers wear only white shirts.... in one cong now, i heard that brothers can only be used for sound or microphones if they do a minimum of 5 hours per month in the ministry!.
another cong has ruled that all appointed men must pioneer for at least one month each year in order to remain qualified.. .
NO chewing gum
No wrinkles in your clothes if you are going to be on the platform
No local flavor in your speaking mannerisms (such as saying "ya'll" in the south)
Music turned to very low volume to force people to sing louder(?) actually the opposite is true
No cowboy boots on platform - or any other dress western wear
Shouldnt watch TV on meeting nights (announced from platform)
Cant read information board except for before or after meeting (not during if you happen to be passing by)
and my personal favorite: NO mirrors in the sisters restrooms (might encourage primping) we used to see this one carry over to assemblies too, anyone remember that?
in my area the general sense is bleak.
many are in survival mode.
even at the convention the appearance of the majority was unhappy and tired.
Similar to yours.
Most everyone here skipped bits and parts of the assembly. Some skipped a day, some a session.
I remember when if you even left before the prayer - you were weak!
....... then why wouldn't the wtbt$ easily make the entire program, complete with rockstar gb's, cheesy dramas, etc, available on youtube or some other free or almost free web streaming service?
obviously it is a huge burden for a majority of the "friends" to attend a regional convention and many either cannot go or it takes all of our their funds (or borrowed funds) to be able to make it.
how about all the "friends" that are morbidly obese, infirm, have extreme health conditions, have unbelieving mates, or have mental issues which prevent them from attending a convention?
LOL.
Do ya think there will be a stampede for seats? Guess not...
What about lunch? Can a person bring a cooler? Maybe scarf a few chips during the program?
Most important....can one bring the large coffee that they ordered at McDonalds that morning just so they could sip it all day?
(that last one is a personal experience)
((heck, so is the one before that))
consider an example i often hear.
youre sitting at a dinner table.
the topic of conversation is regarding your mother.
Well noonehome, objectivity is hard for me on this topic but here goes....
Shunning is found in many societies and even among animals. Therefore shunning can serve a purpose. It can help an individual to moderate their behavior to remain part of a group when survival depends on being part of a group. It can help the group identify individuals that might be of danger to the group.
The thing is, you would only find that being used with the most extreme examples of anti group behavior. Murder for example (not killing - that is different than murder).
What the JW's have done is take the concept of not associating with someone spiritually and applied that to practical day to day living.
Completely lacking any factual basis anthropologically OR scripturally speaking.
If a JW doesn't want to spiritually converse with someone at the Hall, that's fine. But to take the "shunning" outside the Hall or anywhere near the family arrangement is an over reach on their part.
It smacks of the same pharisaical mind set that Jesus condemned. It isn't scriptural. It isn't applied with fairness.
It has become a cruel aberration that serves the purposes of a harsh leader - the governing body.
an elder in my cong.
test drove a new a car and was entered in this contest to win a new hot tub.
i don't know if he had to enter to was just.
I for one would like to see an elder in hot water!
okay, let's do a big what-if: suppose the gb for its own unfathomable reasons suddenly got new light (tm) and decided to start appointing women elders and ministerial servants.
they would, of course, refer to the examples of junia (apostle), and priscilla and phoebe (deaconesses in wordlyspeak) in the greek scriptures; never mind what mental somersaults it would take to get them there.
stranger things have happened in wt history.. that being the case, would having women in positions of real authority make any significant difference in the congos or in the borg as a whole, and why or why not?.
Interesting quote SAHS.
Maybe they are priming everyone for something with statements like that?
