NotBlind

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Posts by NotBlind

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  68

  Assembly Hall shakedown - Columbia SC

  by sir82 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  from someone who attended:.

  there was a big elders meeting in columbia sc on saturday june 9.. around 240 congregations, 2000+ elders.. the society wants to build a brand new assembly hall in columbia, sc, to handle the huge influx of jws moving to the us southeast from up north.. they expect to have it done in 34 months (finished by april 2010).

  total cost estimated to be approximately $8 - 9 million.. they want to have the whole thing paid for by the time the building is done - no long term loans.. they "strongly suggested" that each of the 240 congregations commit to supporting "their share" of the expense.

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  NotBlind

  Assembly halls are such a bad deal for local congregations that have to use them. The WTS charges the circuit several dollars per publisher per day (can't remember the exact figure), but back in the 80's, it was something like 3-4 bucks per pub.

  The circuit I was in had something like 700 publishers, so for a 2 day assembly, that's close to $6000 rent, which goes right back into the coffers of the WTS!

  By comparison, I later moved to a circuit that had to rent a facility for its assemblies. The same two days cost about $3000, and it was really just as nice as the ASSembly hall.

  The WTS would much rather get a free $10 million building built courtesy of the average window-washing members, then charge said members $6000 a weekend to use the same building they supposedly already paid for.

  What a racket!
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  7

  Has anyone had to miss school for an assembly?

  by WTWizard in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  usually, the district assemblies start past the middle of june, but i have heard a number of people that have had them start already.

  granted, that is in the south where school usually lets out in may and starts in august.

  on the flip side, some southern assemblies might be running in late august and school already in session.. i have seen a district assembly that ran june 16-18. and school didn't let out that year until june 23. this is the week when final exams are commonly given in school, and any children that missed them for the a$$embly got a zero on the biggest test of the year and likely flunked or did poorly as a result.

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  NotBlind

  School in several states now starts in early August, and I mean August 2nd or 3rd. The conventions in this area are sometimes held in in mid-August, so those JW kids have to miss at least a Friday (and usually a Thursday) to go to their district convention.
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  15

  Timothy And His Secular Education

  by Justitia Themis in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the following quote appears in a may 1 watchtower study article.

  does anyone have any information on the greek educational system?

  when did education begin?

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  NotBlind

  As usual, the WT is picking and choosing its examples, and completely making up others. For all we know, Timothy's father could have been completely supportive of his son's decision! Entire paragraphs are based on the imagination of some guy in the Writing Department.

  Anyway, the WT has no business preaching the evils of education out of one side of its mouth, then complaining that their followers aren't donating enough out of the other.

  NotBlind
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  74

  WTS Has Lost +35% of Elders in US Since 1994????

  by Seeker4 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  zack, on another thread, said he heard this figure from the platform at both the 2006 elders' school and his recent pioneer school:.

  that there were 93,000 elders in 1994, and less than 60,000 today, in the united states.. i thought these figures deserved their own thread, as they are shocking to me, and to see if anyone else has heard anything similar.. i'll post a link to the other thread as well.

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  NotBlind

  There are 12,390 congregations in the USA, according to the 2007 yearbook.

  Many of the congregations I know may have 5 or 6 elders, but there may only be 1 or 2 MS, and those MS are often up in years, 60+ years old, men who may very well never become elders.

  A tell-tale sign of trouble in the org is not only when elders start dropping out, but also when there are few 'future elders', for lack of a better word. There are not as many 20-something MS as there used to be, as far as I can tell. What shocks me more is that the elders I know are oblivious to the fact that there are no future elders in the congregation. I think they are so caught up in their paperwork, talk preparation, and just getting by in life that they pay little attention to what's really happening in the congregation.

  I know one thing for sure - anybody trying to live on six bucks an hour washing windows isn't going to have much time for being an elder...
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  11

  How do they announce DFing now?

  by avidbiblereader in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  do they still say so and so is df'd or da'd or is it more politically correct with a new way for the announcment?.

  abr.

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  NotBlind

  I tend to believe that the 'consolidation' of the disfellowshipping announcement and disassociation announcements may lead to something else down the line. I can see the day when the following blurb will appear on the Announcements page of the Kingdom Ministry:

  When a publisher becomes inactive and has not shared in the field ministry for six consecutive months, the following announcement will be read to the congregation: "So-and-so is no longer one of Jehovah's Witnesses."
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  22

  Why I Believe the Bible, A Nuclear Scientist Tells His Story

  by VM44 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  from awake!, january 22, 2004, pages 19-23.. "why i believe the bible - a nuclear scientist tells his story".

  read how a nuclear physicist reconciled his knowledge of science with his belief in the bible.. -- page 19. .

  why i believe the bible.

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  NotBlind

  Let's just say I know this guy.

  Alton Williams is an elder (P.O., I think) in the Spanish congregation in Huntsville, just like the article says. He's not a bad guy, but from talking to him, he doesn't come across as the kind of person who would have a Ph.D. in nuclear physics.

  He doesn't talk about his work much around the Witnesses, and he is pretty outgoing. He seems to be the kind of person who will see the light sooner or later and join us on this board.
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  32

  College Degree = $23K more a year salary

  by under_believer in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  check out the news on this recent press release from the us census bureau.

  here's the google news listing for it (so you can see all the places this story has been covered): click here.. .

  lest anybody think the society is taking a softer stance on this issue, well, they're not.

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  NotBlind

  The last thing the WTS wants around is people who can think for themselves. They desperately want (and need) people who need others to think for them. The average rank-and-file JW in 2006 is good at running to the elders for permission/advice as to whether a certain movie, sport, situation, or activity is 'appropriate'.

  Thanks to the aliteracy common even in JW households, fewer JW's than ever know how to use their own WT Library CD-ROM or Index.

  One benefit of a college education, often overlooked by many, is the experience one gains in locating information in a library, internet search engine, or a scholarly journal. Most JW's do not know how to locate information, even on their own WT Library CD-ROM. When an individual learns how to locate information, especially if that information is found on an internet discussion board, such as, oh, I don't know, www.jehovahs-witness.com or www.reexamine.org, the repercussions are dangerous for a group such as the JW's where information is so tightly controlled.
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  36

  Did you go to meetings while on vacation?

  by LovesDubs in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ugh...i did.

  im so damn spiritual id leave well oiled spots on your suit if you rubbed up against me.

  yeah...i packed kingdom hall clothes and service bags to go on vacation.

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  NotBlind

  In the beginning I did faithfully go to meetings while on vacation, sometimes even going to more than one of the same meeting.

  Not anymore though, especially since I realized that meetings cause the stress which necessitates taking a vacation.

  I don't even take meeting clothes on vacation anymore.
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  22

  A bethelites RULES to room with him

  by What-A-Coincidence in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  1) cologne, aerosol spray, solvent base products.

  i am hypersensitive to solvents.

  solvents used in aerosol sprays, cologne, perfumes affect my health.

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  NotBlind

  Sounds like the 11th - 16th commandments... JW & Bethel life at its very best - nothing more than a struggle for power and control. --"I have the room with the kitchenette. The kitchen is not available for use." Selfishness all the way around. I don't think my roommate in college came up with garbage like this.
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  20

  Did the Watchtower Organization make you "Cry" at a time or another?

  by JH in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  let it be the elders during a judicial meeting or just the way you were treated by your fellow brothers and sisters, did the emotions of being reprehended or deceived make you cry?.

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  NotBlind

  Yes, the organization definitely has made me cry...

  It made me cry when a close friend was disfellowshipped for smoking a cigarette, although the Bible is essentially silent on this issue.

  It made me cry when the new circuit overseer told me I had no business reading at the book study, as I was pursuing an 'advanced education'.

  It made my cry when I learned that I had been deceived into thinking 607 B.C.E. was a historically accurate date, when, in fact, it was not.

  Maybe I'm more emotional than I should be, but this organization has made me cry more than a few times.

  NotBlind