i always understood the term 'black' (or 'black', if you write for the guardian) to refer to sub-saharan africans or people of sub-saharan african origin.. but, perhaps in a rush to embrace victimhood, more and more people are today are using the term black to refer to other people.. so, apparently barack obama is black - 'the first black president of the united states'.. and lewis hamilton is supposedly the only black driver in formula one.. and jordan peele is a black film director, apparently.. and then there's meghan markle.. there may also be people of pakistani heritage who refer to themselves as black.. and, sorry to say, it's all a load of bullsh*t.. barack obama, lewis hamilton, jordan peel, halle berry and meghan markle are all biracial (mixed-race).
they're not black.
disregarding the other half of their ethnic heritage is intellectually dishonest.. .
I always understood the term 'black' (or 'Black', if you write for The Guardian) to refer to sub-Saharan Africans or people of sub-Saharan African origin.
What difference does what "you've always understood" make?
Some racist folks have always understood that one drop of "non-white blood" makes a person "not Caucasian".
I've always understood that flying unicorns fart rainbow-colored skittles.
Perhaps "what I've always understood" isn't the best or final arbiter of veracity?
a pew study from 2020 (but one i just now came upon myself) reported that the more liberal you are, the more likely you are to have a mental health condition.
the worst suffering group are white females, ages 18-29 where over 56% have admitted to be described by their own doctors as having a mental health condition.
conservative females of the same age group suffer at less than half that number (27%).. while women tend to have more mental health problems than men (don't be mad at me for saying it, this is what the study reports) it is notable that liberal men have a higher percentage of mental health conditions than conservative women in the same age group.
The argument "anyone who thinks differently than I do must be mentally ill" is a pretty tough sell - it's unlikely to persuade many people whom you apparently want to persuade.
Back in my younger days, there used to be an air show in the city where I worked in a downtown office building. The air show was held over a long holiday weekend.
On Thursday & Friday, the planes would practice their performances from the small airport within viewing distance of the building I worked in.
Every year there was an exhibition from military planes - alternating one year the Blue Angels, the next the Thunderbirds.
The Navy / Air Force pilots got a kick out of buzzing the skyscrapers. You'd hear this low rumble, then a window-rattling whoosh, a remarkably fast shadow, and if you were quick enough, four F-15s or F-18s a few hundred feet away, at almost eye level.
I was a full on 100% believer at the time but I was always the first to jump out of my seat to try to catch a glimpse.
so you all probably heard that the awake magazine is back, .
https://www.jw.org/en/library/magazines/?contentlanguagefilter=en&pubfilter=g&yearfilter=.
and one of my jw relatives said they were told by some elders that meetings and field service will resume before the end of the year.. they said this covid virus was a test, like when the romans breached jerusalem and retreated, only to come back later and sack jerusalem.
Strange heard assembly will be online for 2022.
There was an announcement a few months back that there would be no international conventions in 2022.
They have not said anything about the "normal" (how's that for a misnomer) regional conventions for 2022.
from a very young age, i was always annoyed by this translation time indefinite simply means: time that has not been defined.
where the new world translation uses "time indefinite", other translations use "everlasting" and "eternal".
honestly, it makes much more sense to me "everlasting" and "eternal" as "time indefinite" would leave room for god to define that time later on.
It seems that the WTS have dropped the phrase nowadays.
The Revised NWT cleaned up the worst of Freddy's "I don't give a hoot if it is an idiom, I'm going to translate it as literally as possible" renderings.
They did the same thing with "soul" and "Hades" - now it is, for the most part, "life" and "the grave".
Although there are still readability issues - for example they have replaced every instance of "fornication" with "sexual immorality" which is remarkably clunky.
so you all probably heard that the awake magazine is back, .
https://www.jw.org/en/library/magazines/?contentlanguagefilter=en&pubfilter=g&yearfilter=.
and one of my jw relatives said they were told by some elders that meetings and field service will resume before the end of the year.. they said this covid virus was a test, like when the romans breached jerusalem and retreated, only to come back later and sack jerusalem.
told by some elders that meetings and field service will resume before the end of the year.
There's nothing "official", but it's definitely on the way.
For example, in the local congregation, they announced that the January 2022 circuit assembly is scheduled to be held in person at the nearest assembly hall.
Subject to change of course, but it's a sign they are planning on trying to resume "normal" activities.
donations to support theocratic activities.
2021-june-s-147-announcements and reminders.
zipped folder.
How can "video showings" be higher than before the pandemic?
Since JWs can't go door to door, they do a lot of "phone witnessing" including whatsapp.
They'll send links to jw.borg videos via WhatsApp to their return visits, studies, etc. Then they'll ask "did you watch the video?"
If the answer is "yes", cha-ching! More gold leaf to make their monthly report look shinier.
It's actually far easier to achieve a "video showing" now. It avoids the utterly bizarroid phenomenon of using a 19th century sales tactic (knocking on doors) to try to sell a 21st century invention (streaming video).
It just makes me cringe, trying to imagine myself knocking on someone's door and asking if they'd like to watch a video on the handheld device I happen to be carrying with me. Every "householder" would have to be thinking "WTF kind of loon walks from door to door trying to get people to watch a video? Why aren't they on Facebook or Instagram or TikTok or whatever?"
as usual there's a lot of serious shizzle being discussed on here .
i can only cope with so much serious , so here's something that's really not .
as some of you know l am getting married soon and organising the evening bash .
"The Shulamite Remnant"?
Sorry, couldn't resist.
i’ve noticed a change in family attitude recently, like there is just something extra on their mind.
i even had to call my brother to check if he was dying and too scared to tell me.
anyway, i saw a video last night my saying jws think we only have 12 months left before armageddon so thought maybe this is the reason for changes attitude.
Oh, here's another one:
Sometime in the late 90's a pioneer told me she had calculated that Armageddon would start no later than 2005. There was something in the old Aid book about how Cain had been born when Adam was 30 years old, or at least you could "back into" that age.
IIRC, I think the Aid book said that Cain must have been "about 100" when he killed Abel, and Seth was born to Adam at age 130 as a "replacement".
Thus, the pioneer's reasoning went, Adam had been alone in the garden of Eden for 30 years, then Eve came along, was tempted & sinned shortly after her creation, then soon after that Cain "must have" been born.
And, so, continuing on, the idea was that Jehovah's "rest day" was still somehow supposed to last exactly 6000 (or 7000 when you tack on the "1000 year reign") years. She still accepted that 1975 was the date for 6000 year's since Adam's creation, so 2005 would be the 6000th anniversary of Eve's creation - the last of Jehovah's "creative works".
I grant it was creative. It still used good ol' Freddy's chronology and "logic" that the "old system" had to last exactly 6000 years, and still fit conceivably within "one generation" of 1914, while also mitigating the failure of the "1975" prediction.
It was a pretty good "last gasp" for Fred's chronology and calculations - and, obviously, just like the 100+ years of failed expectation that preceded it, utterly wrong.
are you sometimes dumbfounded at the direction the governing body takes?.
thousands of documents proving 607 bce is wrong, yet the gb sticks to the date, why?.
the generation that would not die, yet they continue by introducing an overlapping generation.. disfellowshipping at a time when everyone is leaving, not a good idea, yet they continue to disfellowship.. here is a video that addresses these questions.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbgeqhp9o9i.
If you live in a bubble (aka Bethel), and no one ever provides you with information from a different perspective, and if anyone contradicting "the truth" is at best "disloyal" and at worst an "apostate"....
It is in fact quite easy to believe your own delusions.
And, in the case where somehow something does get through that provides evidence that it's all horse-puckey:
-- "where else would we go"
-- "if I rock the boat, I'll get expelled from Bethel and DF'ed. I'm [60+] years old with no practical work experience or skills, no savings, no retirement fund. My life quite literally depends on me never getting DF'ed. So..."
