Wow, as a thirty-something, I can only experience these legendary five- and eight-day assemblies vicariously. JWs sure have softened up! Nowadays you always hear them expressing appreciation that the third day of the district convention ends earlier in the afternoon (~3:30) than the previous two days (~5:00). Imagine the GB today trying to get the rank and file to go anywhere for five, let alone eight full days! Even they're not that crazy!
Apognophos
JoinedPosts by Apognophos
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63
Does Anyone Remember the "Around The World Assemblies"?
by titch inso, being that it is 2013, i recall that it was 50 years ago, that the "around the world assemblies" were held.
for those of us who lived in southern california, the first week of september was when we had the assembly, and it was held at the rose bowl in pasadena.
yep, the rose bowl, with no seats, per se, but just those hard benches as seats.
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63
Does Anyone Remember the "Around The World Assemblies"?
by titch inso, being that it is 2013, i recall that it was 50 years ago, that the "around the world assemblies" were held.
for those of us who lived in southern california, the first week of september was when we had the assembly, and it was held at the rose bowl in pasadena.
yep, the rose bowl, with no seats, per se, but just those hard benches as seats.
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Apognophos
So a crumpet is classier than a strumpet. Got it.
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63
Does Anyone Remember the "Around The World Assemblies"?
by titch inso, being that it is 2013, i recall that it was 50 years ago, that the "around the world assemblies" were held.
for those of us who lived in southern california, the first week of september was when we had the assembly, and it was held at the rose bowl in pasadena.
yep, the rose bowl, with no seats, per se, but just those hard benches as seats.
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Apognophos
I thought it was "strumpet".
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63
Does Anyone Remember the "Around The World Assemblies"?
by titch inso, being that it is 2013, i recall that it was 50 years ago, that the "around the world assemblies" were held.
for those of us who lived in southern california, the first week of september was when we had the assembly, and it was held at the rose bowl in pasadena.
yep, the rose bowl, with no seats, per se, but just those hard benches as seats.
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Apognophos
That must have been quite a lengthy talk by Knorr if so many of you remember it going long. How long are we talking about?
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44
Disfellowshiping: Why the Terror?
by Cold Steel inthe more i read about ritual shunning and disfellowshiping in the society, the more i wonder how the governing body and elders have pulled the proverbial wool over the eyes of the congregation.
first, the society doesnt consider itself a church (unlike the ancient christians, who did consider themselves to be part of a church).
yet, like other sectarians, they have their hands out for contributions and exercise immense power over their members.
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Apognophos
Jehovah's Witnesses shouldn’t fret over the spiritual ramifications of being disfellowshiped. And if they lose loved ones who have died whilst disfellowshiped, they shouldn’t lose hope of ever seeing them again.
I see. I missed your point. You were speaking from a spiritual perspective, but I was approaching it from a secular perspective since I'm no longer religious. You probably have a good point for anyone who has left the JWs and still believes in God. But in most cases, I think those ones already realize that, since the org. doesn't have the truth, a disfellowshipping couldn't possibly affect their relationship with God. Sadly, they still have to suffer anyway because they are getting shunned by family and friends.
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Books used to study with JWs - what are they?
by Scully ini'm on the jw.org website, looking at the publications.. i'm curious as to the books being used with the 'new' studytm, and the order in which they are studiedtm.. anyone still on the inside, can you help me?.
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Apognophos
It's bad, but it's not that bad. I think the card we fill out has some blanks in it for the parts where you can use your conscience. Playing fill-in-the-blanks makes the job easier. I would give examples, but amusingly enough, my card is a couple months older than the policy change in 2000, and simply forbids any and all transfusions.
Perhaps more to the point, when a JW is in the hospital, the HLC provides advice* to the JW on what procedures are okay and which aren't.
*Of course, it's also a handy way of butting into the caregiving process to make sure the rules are followed.
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Who says Perfect Humans were created, [evolved] to live forever? WT does*, genesis does not. do you?
by prologos inthe only reference to living forever, (or indefinitely long) in the genesis 2&3 account, is in reference to the "tree of life".
gen 3:22 "--eat and live to time indefinite--".
this tree must have been hard to find because wt writers opined that eventually, in their faithful course, a&e would be led to that allowed tree to gain everlasting life's symbolic confirmation.. therefore as the ancients accidentally & correctly wrote, humans did not have inherent everlasting life, but it was gained through diet.
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Apognophos
On the subject of lifespan, it's interesting to note that we are very proud today of our advanced medical technology that can even raise the lifespan above 80 years... and yet the psalmist wrote that "our days may come to seventy years, or eighty" (Ps. 90:10). It seems that the main reason lifespans are listed as being lower in the past is the massive infant and child mortality -- as high as 66% in some places and times.
Those that lived to adulthood, however, could have expected to live as long as we do. Reading recently about Alexander the Great, I came across such long-lived individuals as Antigonos the One-Eyed (lived to around 81), Antipater (around 78), Ptolemy I Soter (84), and Isocrates (98!). The first three of those people were generals who saw plenty of combat.
It's definitely an interesting thought that Jesus was making reference to the tree of life when he said "Whoever eats this bread will live forever", that hadn't occurred to me!
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"You knew what the consequences were when YOU decided to leave The Truth. This is YOUR decision and the outcome is YOUR responsibility."
by nicolaou inhow many of us have had to deal with a version of that retort?!
it's hurtful and i suspect - for some - that's partly because of the nagging feeling that our families may have a point.. but do they?.
i was 15 when i got baptised, is it reasonable that as the 50 year old man i'll be on my next birthday i continue to be held to a decision i made as a schoolboy?.
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Apognophos
Oh my God is that apropos. I thought I'd seen that movie and I don't even remember that scene.
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Disfellowshiping: Why the Terror?
by Cold Steel inthe more i read about ritual shunning and disfellowshiping in the society, the more i wonder how the governing body and elders have pulled the proverbial wool over the eyes of the congregation.
first, the society doesnt consider itself a church (unlike the ancient christians, who did consider themselves to be part of a church).
yet, like other sectarians, they have their hands out for contributions and exercise immense power over their members.
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Apognophos
No one in the Society claims it is a church
Did you read my post on page 1? ;-)
Also, correct me if I’m wrong, but if you’re disfellowshiped in one KH, you’re considered disfellowshiped in all KHs, right? And if you want back in, or reinstatement, doesn’t the decision have to be signed off by the original KH?
Yes, exactly. And as you indicated, the traveling circuit overseers and their bosses, the district overseers, keep the congregations in line. There are still cases when a congregation's elder body goes a bit rogue and isn't caught by the CO, but in those cases, what sometimes happens is that a brother who was an elder in another congregation switches to that cong., and is reappointed as an elder. He then sees that things are not being done properly and blows the whistle. At least I've seen that happen, with the result that more or less the entire elder body is replaced.
But... if you know all this, why did you ask the original question? Of course Witnesses should be afraid of getting DFed. Even if the Society actually has no authority to disfellowship, they do, and it's a big deal!
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Disfellowshiping: Why the Terror?
by Cold Steel inthe more i read about ritual shunning and disfellowshiping in the society, the more i wonder how the governing body and elders have pulled the proverbial wool over the eyes of the congregation.
first, the society doesnt consider itself a church (unlike the ancient christians, who did consider themselves to be part of a church).
yet, like other sectarians, they have their hands out for contributions and exercise immense power over their members.
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Apognophos
But of course this doesn't change the fact that congregations communicate with each other, and will "carry over" one congregation's disfellowshipping to another if a DFed one attends there.