Posts by flamegrilled

63

A great suggestion from a current Bethelite on the chopping block

by Gilbeath Haaraloth in

a very close friend of mine has gotten his letter.

although he was planning to leave willingly, he told me that he can't help but feel a sense of being stabbed in the back by a bunch of self righteous traitors.

he gave tours for years, always telling the visitors "this is the best way of life, i would never change anything here and i'll never regret making this decision to come here.

flamegrilled

That's funny cos I was reading through this thread thinking I should post that DJS is an ass. But he beat me to it.

15

A True short story

by Terry in

____a true story___.

shortly after the incident, i drove back along the pacific coast in a euphoric daze of confusion, tears, and exhilaration; there was no place for it to go inside my head.

i pulled over on the shoulder of the road and sat in stunned silence.

flamegrilled

I really enjoyed that Terry. Very nicely done.

75

Evolution and Atheism - please help

by Fernando in

not being familiar with either, my question is:.

what is the relationship between evolution and atheism?.

i'd love to hear from anyone and everyone, and also from any perspective.. without limiting the conversation in any way, i would of course also appreciate comments that are simple, clear, direct and correct (as i don't have the capacity to do a phd in evolution or atheism)..

flamegrilled

Understanding evolution increased my awe of God.

I'm aware some people will mock that, but the more I read the clearer the answers to other questions became.

The marvel of the laws that have been put in place to guide the evolutionary process, and the results we observe, are way more impressive to consider than a creator just molding finished products from other matter IMO.

19

Talk on "Reaching Out"-Only What BOE Thinks Matters

by Simon Templar in

for the “living as christians” section of the workbook, “are you reaching out?” talk (15 min), the bethelite gave this talk at the meeting.

he totally departed from the subject matter which is the watchtower of september 15, 2014, pages 3-6. he was so far off the reservation, it wasn't funny.

here are a few highlights of what was said: 1) if any brother asked why they haven’t been appointed, and wants to know if there is a problem or condition that exists, that brother is too “presumptuous” and therefore, can’t be used.

flamegrilled

Per what TheOldHippie said - we also had exactly the same three points said by the speaker. There must have been some "behind the scenes" outline.

34

My boyfriend is thinking of becoming reinstated

by gypsyvine in

i'm not really sure where to post this.. i've been with my boyfriend for 4 months now and i've really never been happier.

i was brought up in the church of christ with an elder father and i really believe in my religion, although i will admit to being a lousy christian at times due to sheer laziness (not wanting to get out of bed on sunday).

my boyfriend essentially lives with me.

flamegrilled

I came here because I am not a JW and I needed advice from people who know more about it than me. Not to ask strangers for advice..

I phrased that clumsily in my post I will admit. All I'm saying is that you've got people here say "you should do ..." "I would hate to see [such and such] happen to you", etc.

The reality is that most of these people will forget you exist once they move to another thread. It's just an internet forum. I know you know that, but people throw advice around on life changing issues like this as if it's confetti.

I wouldn't have even commented except that at least I've been through a personal situation where there were at least some similarities with the place your BF is in. He's the guy you need to talk to. And the questions are like a lot of difficult relationship questions - what's his commitment to you? what will happen if he has to choose between you and his status with someone or something else (in this case JW's)?

I hope things work out for you.

34

My boyfriend is thinking of becoming reinstated

by gypsyvine in

i'm not really sure where to post this.. i've been with my boyfriend for 4 months now and i've really never been happier.

i was brought up in the church of christ with an elder father and i really believe in my religion, although i will admit to being a lousy christian at times due to sheer laziness (not wanting to get out of bed on sunday).

my boyfriend essentially lives with me.

flamegrilled

Seems to be a lot of people making assumptions about your boyfriend and his mum.

Although some are giving you good things to look out for, there are a lot of variables that could lead to some bad advice.

Personally I feel that if you are asking a bunch of strangers whether you should get out of a relationship, then you've probably already answered your own question.

However I'd like to address to point about him being duplicitous. A lot of people on this site have had to be duplicitous at one time or another in order to manage their situation in relation to the organization of JWs. I think it would be hypocritical of most to judge your BF on that basis.

And as far as his mother, I have the most dyed-in-the-wool JW mother you could ever expect. She would shun me if the org told her to. However she was perfectly prepared to see me hitched with someone who was not a JW if that's what I decided to do at one stage in my life. She might have hoped for her to become a JW, but her support in that particular case was not conditional.

So it's really hard for someone else to make these judgments for you, although many will no doubt throw their hats into the ring.

If you decide to stay with him it will be complicated. That much I can certainly agree with. But then many relationships are complicated, and people work them out. It all depends what you want.

25

New "most frustratingly addictive game ever" to play - agar.io

by Simon in

one of my kids got me hooked on this.

it's incredibly simple but also kind of fun and addictive.. you start as a small cell and need to eat things to grow.

that's pretty much the game.. of course as you get bigger you can eat smaller cells too ... and bigger ones can eat you.. as you get bigger you get slower but you can "eject mass" to shrink and speed you up (w key).

flamegrilled

If you enjoy this then "Osmos HD" might be up your street also (Android). A little less manic. Very serene playing with headphones. And some great variants in play. Hopefully there is a still a free version to try out. It was one of the few games on Android that I upgraded to paid version and really got my money's worth.

Not sure if available for iOS too.

78

Need Help with Blood Transfusion Illustration

by Dissonant15 in

please, who can provide an intelligent rebuttal to the following illustration?

i always thought it was bullet-proof:.

"if your doctor directs you to 'abstain from alcohol' would you be ok to have it injected into your veins rather than drink it?

flamegrilled

Dissonant15 - if you are looking for responses I've found it's better to get fully informed on all aspects of what's wrong with the doctrine rather than be armed with an answer to a single illustration.

Some good resources have already been listed, but I would add these that I found particularly helpful and comprehensive:

http://marvinshilmer.blogspot.ca/2010/09/wtsblooddoctrine.html

http://meletivivlon.com/2013/09/10/jehovahs-witnesses-and-the-no-blood-doctrine/

13

The Governing Body sends dissenters 'into the corn field'.

by Esse quam videri in

br.

flamegrilled

This was one of the four Twilight Zone stories remade in "Twilight Zone - The Movie".

None were as good as the originals IMHO.

You're right though. The new teaching on "this generation" is ... real good. And the next one will be real good too. It's real good that their able to keep coming up with new light on this

... just please don't send us into the corn field.

61

Today's Special Day Assembly Expenses and the $10,499 Deficit. Silent Majority?

by Tenacious in

today i attended a one-day assembly in my hometown.

i knew when it came time to read the afternoon expenses that it would be an incredibly high and ridiculous amount that was nowhere near the real expenses for that day.

sure enough, after lunch came the announcement.

flamegrilled

This is how they announce the biggest possible deficit:

The largest contributions come in at the end of the day. Now that assemblies are 1 day only it is common to only have counted the morning contributions to include in the report that is read from the platform. Those will always be pitiful. Depending on the circuit they often find it prudent not to include the lunchtime contributions which would make a big difference. Since these are counted after lunch and the report has to go to the overseer before the mid-aft announcements it's easy to excuse operating in this way. But when the announcement is made that “at this stage in this convention we have a deficit of $$$” that's why it's often a high percentage of the total “expenses”.

Now in terms of the actual expenses, yes for sure they are loaded as much as possible. But here is the way they are made up and why, even though the building is paid for, it's not just $100 to open the doors and turn on the lights:

To begin with it would be an error to think of the expenses in terms of one day of use. Things have to be maintained year round even when not in use, and periodically there will be reno's (yes, I know the labor will be free but there are still expenses). So think instead of the cost for a weekend being the expense of running the whole hall and keeping updated, replacing appliances, etc, for 10 years and then calculate as:

(Total for 10 years) divided by (10 x number of assemblies per year)

... in order to get a real cost. Okay remember I acknowledged that it is loaded, but it's not peanuts either.

One of the biggest additional items is the amount that they resolve to send into “mother” at the start of the assembly. This cannot be a conditional amount, so they make a guess in advance as to how much they can send without experiencing a deficit at the end and add that to the bill. Once committed this cannot be undone, even if it causes a deficit at the end.

On top of that will be added things like circuit contribution to a circuit apartment if there is one, CO and visiting speaker expenses, and any other ancillary costs that they resolve at that convention.

I don't know the basis for the new huge hike. The explanation publicly given was BS to be sure. The costs were already spread evenly. If there was a truly plausible and palatable explanation then I'm quite sure it would have been given, but I don't think even the regular elders understand it beyond this vague idea of restructuring.

I have heard that with this change several assemblies ran into deficits after the final tally this past year. Congregations had to top up the account afterwards. It used to be very rare for this to happen, but it seems to be becoming more common. Personally I think mother got too greedy and this will be an ongoing problem. But on the other hand if they can keep pushing and persuade the die-hards at all levels of wealth to increase the contributions as they are obviously trying to do, maybe they'll be able to pull it off.