Posts by konceptual99

124

Are JWs the worst restaurant customers?

by Alfred in

jw
friends

(a little background info before i ask my question...).

my sister-in-law (non-jw), who manages a popular chain restaurant near a kingdom hall, just found out that my wife and i have recently faded, so she decided to get something off her chest the other day... you guessed it: she wanted us to know that jws are the worst customers ever!

she then told us some really embarrassing stories about how jws would request a table for 15 to 20 people (after a sunday meeting) and then (when the bill came) some of the jws would start deliberating amongst themselves on whether or not the waiter was diligent or not (to justify the low tip he was getting anyway).

konceptual99

I have eaten in groups both of Witnesses and non-Witnesses. I have never had such bad experiences as when with Witnesses and this goes back to when I first went out in groups of young ones 25+ years ago.

I recently made the statement that Witnesses are often as tight as a gnat's chuff and there is nothing like a group meal to bring that out. I've seen it time and time again and it continues. My daughter recently went out and a load left paid their "share" and left as soon as the bill arrived, leaving the table £100 short! As usual one person stumped it up and is now trying to get the cash back from a bunch of other people.

Friends of ours had a problem with just 4 people. They were out, everyone ate the meal with no complaints then one couple said they were only going to pay half because the meal was not what they expected. They stood their ground and let their "friends" stump up the excess to save any more embarrassment. Needless to say they've not eaten together since.

It's shocking, childish and embarrassing to see how poorly Witnesses behave in restaurants.

42

U.K. NHS Attitude to Blood Transfusion and its Safety

by BluesBrother in

while visiting someone at the local hospital i saw this leaflet " will i need a blood transfusion ?

- patient information" .

now i was raised in the belief that doctors are transfusion-happy and just give you one willy nilly if they operate , further that a trans.

konceptual99

I wonder as well what the blood policy would look like if being started from scratch now.

If the GB came up with a ban on blood transfusions based on Genesis now then would it be anywhere near as convoluted as it is? Would they even try to do it?

42

U.K. NHS Attitude to Blood Transfusion and its Safety

by BluesBrother in

while visiting someone at the local hospital i saw this leaflet " will i need a blood transfusion ?

- patient information" .

now i was raised in the belief that doctors are transfusion-happy and just give you one willy nilly if they operate , further that a trans.

konceptual99

Thanks FM for reminding me that JWs look to the GB for direction on what to believe. I'd forgotten that.

Honestly FM you do make me wonder what point you are really trying make sometimes. Nobody questions the fact that what is said here makes zero difference to the GB and most Witnesses will submit to their ramblings whatever they are. How does it move the conversation forward to say that the GB would disagree with the view of an exJW or someone still in but questioning the policy?

42

U.K. NHS Attitude to Blood Transfusion and its Safety

by BluesBrother in

while visiting someone at the local hospital i saw this leaflet " will i need a blood transfusion ?

- patient information" .

now i was raised in the belief that doctors are transfusion-happy and just give you one willy nilly if they operate , further that a trans.

konceptual99

FM, I don't think Lee is ignoring the base scriptural reference to blood. The point is that the WTS has not actually stuck to their original position on this scripture. When the policy was first implemented you just had whole blood transfusions. Whilst the relationship between eating blood and intravenous delivery can be argued, at least the position was consistent with a simplistic interpretation of scripture.

With the advancement in medical technology the lines have become ever more blurred over time. Instead of sticking to their position they have muddied the waters by allowing the wide use of products obtained by processing donated blood. It is impossible to back up what actually is permitted with scripture - what is acceptable or not acceptable is simply down to the whim of the GB.

There are a mass of inconsistencies, illogical arguments and nonsense surrounding this policy which are conveniently ignored by the faithful simply because they are indoctrinated to accept the ramblings of the F&DS.

Why have the Witnesses got themselves in this mess? Because they are stubbornly holding onto a policy for no other reason than to keep the lid on a legal Pandora's box were they to say they were wrong and remove the prohibition.

To that end it is and organisational policy. Sure, it has a history in scripture but policy and scripture are so far apart now it's ridiculous.

12

Is it a once a week church now? Or can you skip that and listen on the phone?

by Xanthippe in

i would like to outline what exactly this religion is now because i've lost track of all the changes on here.

this forum's my only source of information as my family still-in shun me.

so what do jws do now?.

konceptual99

Yup - no comment on your sisters but the number of Witnesses with ME, fibromyalgia, anxiety, depression and other illnesses that let you spend lots of time doing nothing is incredible. There are undoubtedly genuine cases but there are also plenty of "me too" kop outs.

12

Is it a once a week church now? Or can you skip that and listen on the phone?

by Xanthippe in

i would like to outline what exactly this religion is now because i've lost track of all the changes on here.

this forum's my only source of information as my family still-in shun me.

so what do jws do now?.

konceptual99

Two meetings a week. You can listen in on the phone if you are long term sick. Some regular attendees who are short term sick/away for work are sometimes given the code to get in over the phone but they discourage the regular use of this facility by any one they deem not worthy.

One Regional Convention in the summer. Three days.

Two one day Circuit Assemblies a year.

FS reports are still mandatory if you want to be considered as "active". "Irregular" is still not reporting for one month. "Inactive" is still 6 months or more consecutive non reporting.

Keeping your head down and doing what you like has been the order of the day for years.

For elders and MS it's still about being seen to be doing the right stuff but you still get the elders who swan off organising everyone but don't do any work. Licking backside is still the route to circuit assembly and RC assignments.

The JW definition of spirituality is still as much about what you are seen to be doing as any notion of connection to God/Jesus let alone thinking about help out those in need in the community.

74

The Watchtower's Real Crisis

by JeffT in

jw
friends

when discussing the watchtowers financial problems, i've generally been of the opinion that they probably are not in a real financial crisis.

i've come to believe that money may be something of an issue, but its wrapped up in a much larger problem.

this came to me this morning when reading about the annual meeting.. i think the society's leadership is just plain out of ideas.

konceptual99

Ahaa - gotcha waton

74

The Watchtower's Real Crisis

by JeffT in

jw
friends

when discussing the watchtowers financial problems, i've generally been of the opinion that they probably are not in a real financial crisis.

i've come to believe that money may be something of an issue, but its wrapped up in a much larger problem.

this came to me this morning when reading about the annual meeting.. i think the society's leadership is just plain out of ideas.

konceptual99

Yup - I'd forgotten the F&DS only being the GB as a recent change.

74

The Watchtower's Real Crisis

by JeffT in

jw
friends

when discussing the watchtowers financial problems, i've generally been of the opinion that they probably are not in a real financial crisis.

i've come to believe that money may be something of an issue, but its wrapped up in a much larger problem.

this came to me this morning when reading about the annual meeting.. i think the society's leadership is just plain out of ideas.

konceptual99

Virtually everything over the past few years has been distraction.

Rebranding, carts, meeting changes, organisational changes, restructuring, Warwick, Chelmsford, South Africa, the Silver Sword, broadcasting etc. etc.

The only major doctrinal point addressed in recent history has been the overlapping generation and that has been a classic exercise in trying to sell the impossible.

They have offered nothing in the meat of the scriptures and how world events are reflecting a progression towards Armageddon for YEARS.

The fluff and guff continues with the change to the WT & Awake. It's just meaningless and more and more people are working it out.

130

2017 Annual Meeting

by Jules Saturn in

this just in from the 2017 annual meeting:.

1. watchtowers and awakes won't be released regularly, at least three watchtower and awakes per year.

6 magazines a year.. 2. a new book is being released: remain in god's love, more of an update like how they did for the what does the bible really teach book.

konceptual99

This is very true Steve. The org is lost about it's position and place in time as far as it's understanding of the Bible is concerned. They are caught in this dichotomy of needing to feed urgency and expectation whilst also having nothing to give back in terms of concrete understanding of world events and their relationship with their beliefs.

To that end, I can believe that they might create their own news but you are absolutely right about the risks.