When I thought of this topic it made me think of why some people want to go to boot camp -- it is not fun and prison might be easier for the short term. People do things because sometimes the perceived benefit outweighs the stress. I would never want to climb Mount Everest bit some people yearn for it. Some people like the structure and the fact that someone makes all their meals for them. I wanted to try it when I was younger but realized that I am too much of an individual to enjoy and conform to institutional life.
wisdomfrombelow
JoinedPosts by wisdomfrombelow
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24
Bethel experiences sound like a prison sentence.Why even go?
by goingthruthemotions inwhen i read about bethel experiences my mind go to the show locked up raw!.
why would someone subject themselves to this without commeting a crime.. the wife and i went to see bethel in broklyn a few years ago and it was unlike anything i expected.
very cold.. went the bosert hotel and was talking to a brother there and asked how long he had been there, he said 25 years...i asked how old he was.
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A thought about the convention: Anticipate Future Blessings...
by wisdomfrombelow inone of the parts had a skit with 3 or 4 young brothers playing a game of "what i will look forward to in the new system".
one wanted a house by the beach.
one wanted a house in the forest.
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wisdomfrombelow
One of the parts had a skit with 3 or 4 young brothers playing a game of "what I will look forward to in the new system". One wanted a house by the beach. One wanted a house in the forest. One wanted to travel the backpack across country for 25 years. They also used the scripture where God is "opening his hand and satisfying the desire of every living thing" as justifcation that what they want is ok...because they desire it so God could give it. (I'm quite sure teenage boys might desire something different than a house.)
I sat there and thought "Why does everything they want seem materialistic?" I also thought, if it was not bad to have these things why should they have to wait until the "new system" to get them? Is getting them NOW a sin and somehow LATER no longer a sin. (Like sex before and after marriage?) I can see people putting off their desires for some future time just to impress people who make arbitrary non-biblical rules as such a waste of time and effort. Everyone is encouraged to pioneer but there is no bibical command to pioneer. In fact the definition and requirements of pioneering changed so many times. Why not live life now and pioneer in good and perfect health in the new system...for an eternity...that seems like a better deal than putting all personal desires off now and growing old and regretful.
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Speculation: Female Ministerial Servants coming soon
by Londo111 inive no source for this, just personal speculation.. * there is a good case to be made that there were female deacons (ministerial servants) in the bible.. * there is a lack of qualified brothers for basic assignments such as microphones, accounts, literature.
in some cases, elders have had to do double duty because of a lack of ministerial servants or qualified brothers.. * women outnumber men in the organization.. * there is supposedly a surprising change coming "down the pipe".. perhaps the only difference between male and female ministerial servants is that women will still not be allowed to teach..
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wisdomfrombelow
The Governing Body can do whatever they like and spin it however they wish and everyone will just accept it. There was a time when women weren't allowed on the Theocratice Ministry School but who can imagine a time like that now? Why not have women handle the microphones and do accounts and other things which are really just busy work? They can even make a a new role/title for it being different than Ministerial Servant title/role. It would show that JWs are more "progressive" to the younger generation when, in reality, it is nothing.
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2014 God's Kingdom Rules PDF!
by Atlantis in2014 god's kingdom rules pdf!
we would like to thank cedars who contacted a friend who sent us the book to scan.
the sender was promised that the book would be rerurned to them unharmed.
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wisdomfrombelow
Thanks. I appreciate your efforts in this.
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STOP calling JW's a CULT--unless . . . they fit the checklist!
by Terry init is unkind, premature and even irresponsible to label people with whom we disagree using pejorative names.. for example, labeling a movement as a cult.. consider this example:.
sociologists d. bromley and a. shupe once described what they called the tnevnoc cult.
membership was open only to women, who were required to shave their heads, change their names, and wear specific clothing once they had entered the group.
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wisdomfrombelow
What makes you think the checklist is definitive? I agree with Vidiot about semantics and using equivalent terms that better explain who they are rather that trying to use a label. There was a time when Jehovah's Witnesses didn't consider themselves a "religion". They are definitely an authoritarian, high-control group.
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The new phonograph
by Pistoff inway back in 20's or 30's, (someone correct me if i have the time frame wrong), the wt's strategy for witnessing was to give each publisher (or have them buy one) a phonograph to set on the householder's steps so they could play one of the judge's speeches.. flash forward and there was a testimony card that publishers handed to the householder, introducing them.. this gave way to the current model of the publisher being informed and able to discuss a subject with the householder.. .
that seems to be giving way to the new approach being used by the wt: the website.. the wt realizes that slick content is more impressive that a publisher talking, one who can't or won't keep up with the insane doctrinal changes.. publishing books and magazines is taking the back seat; the wt and awake have less than half the content they used to, and are published half as often.. the wt's trolley cart method involves not getting into discussions with people, but using an ipad to play them a video.. .
the past is the future!.
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wisdomfrombelow
I'm surprised it too them so long to adapt to the new media. They are a publishing company and everything is being published digitally so they should have know it was coming and been ahead of the game and they could have influenced it. But that would take forethought and the Society never seems to exercise that. It saves money and can be modified and tweaked at any time. They will always print but they will print less and less....
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80 Year old COBE Layoff Conspiracy
by XBEHERE inwho else thinks something is afoot with this?
is the gb deciding to go back to pre-1971 times with perhaps the cobe as the man in charge and the rest just ministerial servants.
so for this reason they want younger men in those postitions?
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wisdomfrombelow
I still tend to think it is part of a strategy for retirement of the GB and perhaps retirement for all elders at some point in the future. To paraphrase the Princess Bride, "the fear of the Dread Pirate Roberts was more in the name than the individual"...so as long as the Governing Body is revered the acutal members can retire (or die). None of the current members of the Governing Body were on the Governing Body working with members of the original Governing Body from 1971. That was just 43 years ago and some of the members of the Society's Board of Directors have held that position for more than that long as individuals. If they are just a figurehead then having a retirement age prevents any one individual or group of body members from amassing too much power and makes it easy to always insert new members whenever it is deemed necessary. I suspect many more changes to come after September 1
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Heads Up: If you are an older JW, WT has no further use for you!
by AndDontCallMeShirley inwt is retiring district overseers, has sent older jws serving at bethel packing despite years of faithful service, and as of june 1, 2014, has announced that any elder that has reached 80 years of age is no longer valued or wanted as a cobe.
in wt land it would appear that older people have little or no value, and wt sees no reason to use them in any meaningful capacity.
i wonder how this makes older ones feel after devoting their lives to wt's interests while shelving their own hopes and dreams?.
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wisdomfrombelow
I can't help but think that putting in such a high age requirement as 80 for the COBE is just a placeholder that they will use to lower it later. Perhaps the Governing Body will allow it's older members to retire and become GB Emeritus. That would be a real perk...work hard and get to retire to upstate NY...not work and work until they die. Since the individual GB members are not significant, only the body as a collective, perhaps they want to keep the GB fresh and flowing in the 21st century. Of course there is no retirement for locals but putting a time limit on privileges of service may increase the urgency to get them because if you wait too long it won't be available.
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If I asked for a loan from the WBTS would they give it to me?
by objectivetruth inif this were the "organization" that jesus chose in 1914.. err 1919, wouldn't the principles that he laid out while on earth apply to this organization as well?.
matthew 5:42 "give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.".
so if jw's all asked for loans from the org, every now and then, it would be the orgs responsibility to grant those loans (interest free).
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wisdomfrombelow
I don't think the WTBS would give an individual a loan. Then again if you were to ask me I don't know if I would also. I have however seen money from congregation accounts been given to someone in need and passed as a resolution from the platform (without giving the name). It was a GIFT and not a loan so the elders could do that on their own but it was not a common occurance
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QFR August 15, 2014 - Resurrection and Marriage
by wisdomfrombelow inthe article addressed luke 20:34-36 and now they finally admit jesus could have been referring to the heavenly resurrection.
they said "put simply, the answer is that we cannot say" which is surprising because they have something to say about everything.
perhaps all the old people who are waiting the new world as widow and widowers want to know if they have a chance to be reunited with their dead loved one.
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wisdomfrombelow
The article addressed Luke 20:34-36 and now they finally admit Jesus could have been referring to the heavenly resurrection. They said "Put simply, the answer is that we cannot say" which is surprising because they have something to say about EVERYTHING. Perhaps all the old people who are waiting the New World as widow and widowers want to know if they have a chance to be reunited with their dead loved one.