Posts by Skimmer

14

Asembly security questions

by Skimmer in

jw
friends

i've been reading the comments on the recent district assemblies and i've got some questions about the wtbts convention security teams.. 1) is it a given that anyone who tries to get in without a convention badge is going to be carefully scrutinized?

questioned?

tailed?.

Skimmer

Hello Victor_E:

Yes, any adult without a handful of literature would certainly be suspect. Also, any woman with a skirt cut above the knee or wearing any but the most modest top.

Certain jewelry, like a cross, is a definite no no. Also, anyone with a college ring would be under close observation, I suppose.

Even if an attendee is identified as an opposer, what can the security do if the person is not actively being disruptive? The assembly is defined as a public event, is it not? The rental contract likely states so. As we all know, the WTBTS has no problem lying whenever its suits them to do so, but I think they will hesitate in those cases when an unfavorable legal response is probable.

Just as the security persons work in teams, so should any opposers. If for nothing else, then they will have a witness as well should the matter go to court.

Ray Franz was written that he does not support anyone causing a disruption and for the most part I agree. But I see nothing wrong in trying to peaceably make the real truth available in a public venue, and if some JWs feel that they've been "disrupted", then that's their problem, not mine.

14

Asembly security questions

by Skimmer in

jw
friends

i've been reading the comments on the recent district assemblies and i've got some questions about the wtbts convention security teams.. 1) is it a given that anyone who tries to get in without a convention badge is going to be carefully scrutinized?

questioned?

tailed?.

Skimmer

Oh, and she should have a ouija board in one hand and a pitchfork in the other.

14

Asembly security questions

by Skimmer in

jw
friends

i've been reading the comments on the recent district assemblies and i've got some questions about the wtbts convention security teams.. 1) is it a given that anyone who tries to get in without a convention badge is going to be carefully scrutinized?

questioned?

tailed?.

Skimmer

A big giant NAKED Smurfette.

With red horns and a "666" painted on her posterior.

47

WT & Awake Subscription Procedure

by Gopher in

jw
friends

i moved into a new area several months ago, and my subscriptions to the watchtower and awake magazines expired.

(note: i'm baaad, not attending meetings in my new area.).

so it'd be easy to renew my subscription, right?

Skimmer

Perhaps a better way of getting WTBTS literature is for one of the posters to this discussion board who is still associated to help out. While I dislike giving any money to the Brooklyn Boys, i would certainly reimburse any JW for his or her out of pocket expenses including mailing. Of course, I would keep things confidential.

I'd really like to get some of the WTBTS CD-ROMs. Can anyone help out?

47

WT & Awake Subscription Procedure

by Gopher in

jw
friends

i moved into a new area several months ago, and my subscriptions to the watchtower and awake magazines expired.

(note: i'm baaad, not attending meetings in my new area.).

so it'd be easy to renew my subscription, right?

Skimmer

[Another double post]

14

Asembly security questions

by Skimmer in

jw
friends

i've been reading the comments on the recent district assemblies and i've got some questions about the wtbts convention security teams.. 1) is it a given that anyone who tries to get in without a convention badge is going to be carefully scrutinized?

questioned?

tailed?.

Skimmer

I've been reading the comments on the recent district assemblies and I've got some questions about the WTBTS convention security teams.

1) Is it a given that anyone who tries to get in without a convention badge is going to be carefully scrutinized? Questioned? Tailed?

2) Are all of the security staff JWs, or to they hire for some of the positions? I have heard that they do hire armed guards for cash transport.

3) Does the security crew use two way radio? Has anyone checked which frequencies they use?

4) Would it be fairly easy to make a badge that looked a whole lot like an official badge? I'm not suggesting counterfeiting, but rather something that was close enough without being fraudulent.

5) Has anyone tried attending with press credentials?

---------------

On a side note: here in the United States, there is a friendly college rivalry between Harvard and Yale that is in part manifested in their annual (American) football game. The jovial hacker students at the nearby Massachusetts Institute of Technology use the annual game as an opportunity to display their talents in a nose-thumbing sort of way to the other two universities. One such instance was the secret placement of a little surprise shallowly buried in the playing field: a vacuum cleaner motor with an attached timer. Just when all of the Harvard and Yale attendees are waiting for the start of the game, the motor energizes and out of the ground comes a large balloon inflated by the motor. In bright silver letters on the side of the black balloon was: "MIT".

If you could have a balloon inflated at a WTBTS assembly, what would you want painted on its side?

47

WT & Awake Subscription Procedure

by Gopher in

jw
friends

i moved into a new area several months ago, and my subscriptions to the watchtower and awake magazines expired.

(note: i'm baaad, not attending meetings in my new area.).

so it'd be easy to renew my subscription, right?

Skimmer

A few years before the Swaggart tax case, I had a subscription to both magazines. I had them sent to my post office box; a few months into the subscriptions I got a letter from a JW, local to the post office but not to me, asking if he could make a call. I should have replied in the chance I could talk him out of the organization.

I let the subscriptions lapse after a year; most articles were just too boring. The Writing Department is only interesting when they are at their most strident and paranoid with their bashing of opposers.

I've thought about getting a WT subscription again, just to keep track of the WTBTS. I currently have a private mail drop in another town and I would have it sent there. Does anyone know what would happen if I just sent a check for $20 to the WTBTS along with a request for a WT subscription? Would they send one, and then separately send a thank you note for the "donation" without acknowledging the subscription?

10

Accepted 66 books of Canon

by SharonUT in

considering an apostacy that was well into swing by 100ad, and worse yet by the time the nicene council was held in 325ad... how are jehovah's witnesses sure about the basically protestant canon they initially accepted which was canonized about 376ad at earlist and still even then, many christians didn't agree upon that and still don't today!

i could go into more detail if desired... but upon what basis to jw's accept this canon from an apostate generation?

how do they know that other books such as the book of enoch originally held to be scripture and quoted frequently in mark or the shepherd of hermes should not be included as inspired?

Skimmer

Hello SharonUT:

Russell used the Protestant version ofthe Authorized Edition (King James Bible) becuase that's what the Second Adventists were using at the time; that's how the WTBTS wound up with the 66 book canon.

22

When things started to "fall off"

by comment in

jw
friends

i was thinking about this in several areas today.. 1) district conventions and house-to-house work.

if you were a witness for a long time, you probably remember a time when going to the conventions seemed perfectly "normal" to you: it was absolutely "the thing" to sit in a sports arena all day listening to bible talks and counsel from men in suits.. but at some point, did you ever start to feel like you were participating in a cultural relic, so to speak?.

as in, "here it is, the 1990's, and the society is still using fundamentally the same old format they've been using all century long.

Skimmer

Hello betweenworlds:

Outside of the WTBTS, you won't find many people who believe that there is any scriptural support for house to house work. The NWT mistranslated verses that describe house to house really mean that worship was supported in private residences.

The WTBTS has relied mainly on the door knocking campaign because it is a relatively profitable exploitation of free labor. As ever fewer persons are willing to respond positively to the WTBTS when the JWs knock at the door, I expect that there will be expansion into proselytizing in public places like bus stations, shopping malls, and other locations that now see solicitations from Moonies, Larouche supporters, Hare Krishna, etc. Also, I expect more more acceptance of counting time by phone, mail, e-mail, and the like as long as literature goes out and the money comes in.

Years ago the WTBTS had its own radio station WBBR and at one time had a syndicated radio program and also a syndicated newspaper column. Alas, these cost money and so the WTBTS is more interested in what it can get for free.

The WTBTS must look with envy at the various televangelists and the money they rake in with every television show. I predict that they will soon succumb to temptation and start their own cable TV channel or at least their own syndicated TV program. But don't hold your breath waiting for a viewer call-in show; remember that the only questions the WTBTS allows are those it prints as study article footnotes.

One problem that the WTBTS has with the production of a television program series is the lack of material. Their literature presents the same stuff, over and over. Also, who would they have as hosts and speakers? The best they could do would be to re-present convention speakers, but who wants to listen to the typical convention talk? (E.g., "You must do more!", "Do not question the Organization!", "Obey us or die!", "Fight independent thinking!")

There is an important secondary reason for the house to house effort. Because of the time and literature reporting (this will never go away), the elders can keep track of the rank and file and use field service as an indicator of a person's "spirituality".

28

Hi, I'm New!

by Ashley in

jw
friends

my name is ashley and i'm 17 years old.

i'm from abbotsford b.c., canada (an hour out of vancouver).

i have blond hair and blues eyes, thin, 5'5.

Skimmer

Hello again Ashley:

I am reminded of a young woman I know, about two years older than you, who is also from Canada and who works in the United States during the summers. A couple of years ago she applied for financial aid for college and received enough to cover all of her tuition and campus housing expenses. I think part of it was from funds set aside by the government for helping Canadians with Inuit ancestry, but a lot of assistance is available for any prospective student who might ask for it.

Anyway, she is really nice and she is also quite proud to be a Canadian. Sometimes I've seen her with a colorful shirt that has a big logo on the front: "I Am Canada". She enjoys college and from her description of some of the parties, maybe she enjoys it a bit too much. Yet she is a serious student and doesn't let it interfere with her education.

As others and myself have said, please consider a college education. You seem like an active and intelligent person, and if you don't try for college, you will very likely regret that decision as time goes by. What you may not know is that the Society for many years strongly discouraged college attendance and did not change the teaching until around 1992. This is why there are some long timers on this discussion board who, like myself, push education so strongly as we fear that some younger JWs may not have a family history of college attendance.

It may be that some will discourage you from trying college and might even consider it an indicator of selfishness. But I disagree; I think it's okay to be a little selfish early in life if you are doing something that will enable you to help so many others later in life.