i would like to publicly thank alan for the encouraging conversation we shared this past friday evening.
while visiting a mutual friend we share, who also "studied the bible" with me years ago, alan happened to call after responding to my e-mail.. it was encouraging, exciting and a relief to speak with someone who is truly one the "literati" and "illuminati" on the wtbs.
he is extremely kind and very helpful.
I would like to publicly thank Alan for the encouraging conversation we shared this past friday evening. While visiting a mutual friend we share, who also "studied the bible" with me years ago, Alan happened to call after responding to my e-mail.
It was encouraging, exciting and a relief to speak with someone who is truly one the "literati" and "illuminati" on the WTBS. He is extremely kind and very helpful. Three cheers for Alan and others for speaking the truth.
for me that is a hard question to answer.
it seems like when your in the borg it is always pounded in your head that you need to do more so they made you think you were never doing enough.. the last five years that i was in it i guess you could say i was pretty gung-ho, i regulare pionered for almost three years as well as served as a ms, i used my home for book study as well as saturday field service.. but you know what all that does not amount to a hill of beans, you know why?
because the whole time i was a doubter, i never liked it from the time i was a kid.
I destroyed idols (crucifixes) that were three generations old and the last gifts my mother received when she left the old country. I wrestled my father to the ground and almost choked him to death.
I quit a high paying job because I was placed on the 3-11pm shift and was missing meetings, because a brother said I was falling out of the truth.
I lied to the elders to force a committee case so I could marry a disfellowshipped person.
I auxiliary pioneered and lent money to the needy, moved furniture, repaired homes and apartments, babysat young ones, and on and on and on.
I disowned family and refused communications. I embarrassed my parents and friends and made a fanatic, dysfunctional fool of myself in public attemtping to always steer every conversation into kingdom messages.
I would spend 50% of my paycheck on bound volumes and books.
Perhaps, in the end, the sum of all things, I am nothing more than a bona-fide jack of ass!
what are your motives for being here?.
1. to get information.
2. to slam the wtbs at every opportunity.
I came to these threads because many people I love are affected by whether or not the WTBS is just another 19th century, doomsday offshoot of american christianity.
I need to listen, study, read and research all of the information I can because there are futures and livelihoods hanging in the balance. More and more I am becoming convinced that MAN is not capable of producing the truth, speaking the truth, adhering to the truth, in its entirety. I am no longer convinced that the accepted bible canon as handed to us historically, and from judeo-christian sources and scholars, is in fact the complete inspired word from the Creator.
Is my faith shaken, in MEN and organizations, YES! In the Creator, NO. Perhaps the agnostics were correct from the very beginning. In an imperfect state, we can only specualte we know God and/or his will for us. In our side of the planet, we believe the Bible is holy, and the other side venerates the Koran and Buddah.
There is just too much room for doubt, too many interpretations, and too many groups and too much debate and confusion for anyone to claim to be the "voice", including parts of the Bible.
If you still believe there is a Creator, that he deserves worship, and that you want to know who he is so you can love him, I think you will have to do some serious, long and hard thinking and meditating and praying to begin getting any type of an answer.
If you think other men or groups have the answer, then their own holy books condemn them. Search elsewhere, perhaps your inner most soul.
I am becoming convinced that MAN seeks to control, inside organizations and outside.
the co in our circuit, has been using the following analogy when speaking about meeting attendance and field service:.
if your employer offered you $150.00 to skip the meetings and work overtime, would you?
how would you feel, insulted, right?
Fred:
In my opinion, the meetings are NOT mandatory. Hebrews talkde about NOT FORSAKING, in other words a willfull abandonment. When to attend, how to attend, and where should be left to the individual christian. It is part of the christian freedom Jesus talked about.
Now, here comes a self-righteous (as all appointed men become) pompous and arrogant load binder, attempting to use guilt and shame to induce attendance. Since when does negativity motivate and encourage?
After all, who is paying his expenses? It baffles me that the WTBS does not attempt to restrain its elders and overseers and advise them that the best way to increase participation is not to mention the lack thereof.
For example, by not asking for donations or passing collection plates, and simply asking the members to pray for a blessing or for help--aren't all the bills paid and repairs made in the hall?
Why not make all things a supplication. Throw the burden on Jehovah and ask him to use His Spirit to motivate and encourage and simply apply the golden rule to the flock. Love them and welcome them, all the time, no matter where they have been or how long since you last saw them.
how would you fill the blanks?.
name: bro bad publisher.
congregation: www.jehovahs-witness.com
Nice quality on the scan!
the co in our circuit, has been using the following analogy when speaking about meeting attendance and field service:.
if your employer offered you $150.00 to skip the meetings and work overtime, would you?
how would you feel, insulted, right?
The CO in our circuit, has been using the following analogy when speaking about meeting attendance and field service:
If your employer offered you $150.00 to skip the meetings and work overtime, would you? How would you feel, insulted, right?
Nice counsel during harsh economic times and without concern for those in the hall who might be financially challenged. Obviously, when the congregation decided to pass a resolution to pay for the CO's automobile insurance and traveling expenses, the unanimous vote was NOT achieved. When asked 'all those NOT in favor, my hand shot right up".
He who stands for nothing, dies for anything!
as an employee of the judicial branch of the federal government, i have access to a variety of information systems.
serving as a technology manager, i am familiar with the systems and databases that house public and private legal information.. after 15 years of witness life, i am forced by concern for life and family to rediscover the truth, the real truth.
i am posting this information in order to force people to think; think for themselves, inside their own minds and really get to know their own heart.
Hi Jon:
I am sorry that your life in the past became another "notch" in the WTBS belt. I am glad you are happy and have a beautiful daughter. I hope your family is together and I hope that any JW family out there is still in your life, applying the golden rule and not treating you or your wife and daughter "theocratically".
Continue to hang in there, you know it gets better all the time!
Hopefully, I did not offend anyone with the rhetorical question about virtual apostasy in a digital world? Unfortunately, it is impossible to go thru life without belonging to some type of organization, job, local bank, clubs, gyms, etc...
So, when we examine the organizations we are a part of, we are not apostates, right?
as an employee of the judicial branch of the federal government, i have access to a variety of information systems.
serving as a technology manager, i am familiar with the systems and databases that house public and private legal information.. after 15 years of witness life, i am forced by concern for life and family to rediscover the truth, the real truth.
i am posting this information in order to force people to think; think for themselves, inside their own minds and really get to know their own heart.
Hey Jon:
Are you a JW? If you are I am amazed. Let's exchange information and have an interchange? I haven't met anyone since I have been with the courts who is a JW so far, so this would be exciting. I am curious about your perspectives!
Are we all guilty of virtual apostasy?
