does anyone else remember(years ago) the wts claiming that as time went on and people became less and less godless, that in the years right before armaggedon was to strike, people would forego the celebrating of christmas?.
i remember this being taught when i was a young-un.
i don't know if it was ever in print or not, but i definately remember it being said at book studies and kh meetings.. somebody tell me i'm not dreaming this.
Does anyone else remember(years ago) the WTS claiming that as time went on and people became less and less Godless, that in the years right before Armaggedon was to strike, people would forego the celebrating of Christmas?
I remember this being taught when I was a young-un. I don't know if it was ever in print or not, but I definately remember it being said at book studies and KH meetings.
Somebody tell me I'm not dreaming this.
now, please remember, jw my entire life.
therefore, many prejudiced and warped ideas.. the deal is that a very nice co-worker invited me to a 'christmas play' at her baptist church and i accepted.
the play is tonight, and i have all these messed-up ideas that perhaps it's wrong to step foot into another church; or that perhaps since i've been taught all my life that demons reside in the false religion churches that i'll be bothered by these demons if i attend this event tonight.. please, help me win over these live-long thoughts.
I've been to a Baptist churches for funerals. No demons got me.
I went to a Catholic church for a wedding. I was close enough to the bride and groom to get hit with holy water when the priest shook the doohickey thing at them. It didn't turn to acid and burn my flesh off.
I was nervous about going to both of these events, but in retrospect it was interesting to see how different these religions were. I think knowledge about different faiths and cultures is a good thing. What better way to learn something about these things than observing them in person. It doesn't mean you have to join their religion or believe as they do. It also helps you break free from the prejudices learned through the WTS.
do others here feel that the prohibition about standing for the national anthem lacks any basis in logic whatsoever??
having been raised in the borg, this is one issue that i never understood.. the argument has always been that standing up indicated "worship" of the country, the same as saluting the flag (i'm not discussing the flag salute issue here, just the "standing" issue).. however, if you stand up when required for a person, i.e.
a judge in court, it is ok to stand because it is simply showing respect.
*** School Brochure (1983) pp.12-16 Flag Salute, Anthems and Voting ***
....So then, while others salute and pledge allegiance, our children stand quietly during the flag salute ceremony. But if, for some reason, the flag ceremony is conducted in such a way that simply standing gives evidence of one's participation in the ceremony, our young ones remain seated. In addition, our youths do not march in patriotic parades, which would show their support of the thing honored by the parade. We remain neutral....
When I was in school, I couldn't even stand. I remember in first grade being forcibly made to stand by a teacher. She grabbed my arm and jerked me up. I responded by letting my legs go limp. She help me up by my wrist the whole time. I went through that when I didn't need to because according to the school brochure, standing is OK.
As for the National Anthem, I never understood why standing was wrong. I felt it was just showing respect. I've been to NHL games with both US and Canadian teams and both anthems were played. The Americans didn't sit down during the Canadian anthem and the Canadians didn't sit down during the US anthem.
i hope i'm not repeating another thread, but i was listening to hannity and colmes on fox last night (thursday) and they mentioned a law suit (in washington state i think) filed by a woman to keep the word "christmas" in the holiday songs.. hannity said this resulted from several jw families that requested that the words be changed so their children could participate and sing the holiday songs.
the school made the changes and now apparently at least one mother wants the original words put back in.. .
one of the issues she brought up was that the word hannukah was not removed, only christmas.. .
The part about the JW families requesting the change I definitely heard ....that's what caught my attention immediately. I was surprised too.
My apologies on assuming that maybe you heard it wrong.
But it still doesn't smell right to me.
Hannity lies 90% of the time anyway...not surprised...
That makes more sense than JWs suing to have holiday songs changed, LOL.
Maybe he lumped JWs in with all non-observing-"christian"-holiday groups? These guys like to do that kind of thing anyway. Mention the lawsuit and bitch about it, and while you're at it, bitch about something or somebody else that really isn't involved but since they think the same way, it's okay.
i hope i'm not repeating another thread, but i was listening to hannity and colmes on fox last night (thursday) and they mentioned a law suit (in washington state i think) filed by a woman to keep the word "christmas" in the holiday songs.. hannity said this resulted from several jw families that requested that the words be changed so their children could participate and sing the holiday songs.
the school made the changes and now apparently at least one mother wants the original words put back in.. .
one of the issues she brought up was that the word hannukah was not removed, only christmas.. .
Hannity said this resulted from several JW families that requested that the words be changed so their children could participate and sing the holiday songs.
That doesn't sound right. JWs aren't supposed to run around changing things, their supposed to not get involved. Changing the words doesn't change the fact that it's a worldly holiday and isn't supported by JWs. Occasionally some JW nut might make waves but by and large most follow the guidelines set out by the WTS. Maybe you mis-heard it or Hannity got his story wrong.
december 2003 our kingdom ministry for the usa
"provisions to help us abstain from blood"
"baptized publishers who have previously completed an advance medical directive/release card or identity card with no print date or a 3/99 print date will not need to complete a new one this year.
Occasionally, a doctor will urge a patient to deposit his own blood weeks before surgery (preoperative autologous blood donation, or PAD) so that if the need arises, he could transfuse the patient with his own stored blood. However, such collecting, storing, and transfusing of blood directly contradicts what is said in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Blood is not to be stored; it is to be poured out?returned to God, as it were. Granted, the Mosaic Law is not in force now. Nevertheless, Jehovah?s Witnesses respect the principles God included in it, and they are determined to ?abstain from blood.? Hence, we do not donate blood, nor do we store for transfusion our blood that should be ?poured out.? That practice conflicts with God?s law.
If they respect God's principles and say blood should be poured out, then how can you use blood fractions for medicinal purposes? You have to have the blood removed, stored and then medically tampered in order to come up with blood fractions. True, JWs do not have their blood stored, but when they allow blood fractions used on them, somebody's blood somewhere has been stored. So, technically they are NOT following God's principle on this matter. For them to ignore God's principle in pouring out the blood but enforce it, with penalty, in abstaining from blood is hypocritical.
I know that you all already know that, but I just needed to vent a little. Hypocrisy really just burns me up.
2 of my wife's jw friends had dinner with her last night and pleaded to know what was going on.
were we taking a "break"?
was there anything said that hurt us?
Ah, the good ole "taking a break". How many times have we heard that. I know the elders hear it all the time. "I just needed to take a break. I was wearing myself out trying to keep up with everything."
If your wife's friends acknowledged beforehand that maybe it was a "break", then maybe that should tell them something. It should tell all JWs something. Their killing themselves and sooner or later they burn out and have to either slow down or stop.
Seems like I remember reading in the Bible about Jesus helping with our "yoke" and making our burden lighter. The WTS does the exact opposite. They make things harder and tougher. They apply weight to the yoke. Why is it that you can only see that from outside and not while still trying to carry that yoke around?
december 2003 our kingdom ministry for the usa
"provisions to help us abstain from blood"
"baptized publishers who have previously completed an advance medical directive/release card or identity card with no print date or a 3/99 print date will not need to complete a new one this year.
"Baptized publishers who have previously completed an Advance Medical Directive/Release card or Identity Card with no print date or a 3/99 print date will not need to complete a new one this year. For the Service Meeting the week of December 29, the secretary should have available sufficient quantities of the cards for newly baptized publishers, their children, and those needing replacements. Congregations will not be sent a consignment of these items. If the congregations does not have enough cards on hand, the secretary may check with nearby congregations or request more cards with the congregation's next literature request."
What is significant about that particular service meeting? Is this the annual "lets hand out cards and run around and watch each other sign" party but changed somewhat? If so, it looks like there still having the talk about the importance of keeping the card or new ones getting one. Does anyone have the Kingdom Ministry that shows the lineup of parts for that week?
edited to clarify
the bible, only in matthew(i think) speaks of the star that the astrologers followed to find the baby jesus.
the wts has claimed that this star obviously was a product of satan, since the astrolgers first wound up in jersusalem, met herod, who conspired with them to locate the baby.
after that, the astrologers continued on to bethlehem.. a couple of questions:.
Interesting information. Thanks for the link.
Only a miraculous phenomenon could have been the Star of Bethlehem. it was like the miraculous pillar of fire which stood in the camp by night during Israel's Exodus (Exodus 13:21), or to the "brightness of God" which shone round about the shepherds (Luke 2:9), or to "the light from heaven" which shone around about the stricken Saul (Acts 9:3).Some of the Fathers (St. Irenaeus, "Adv. Haer.", III, ix, 2; Progem. "in Num.", homil. xiii, 7) think the Magi saw in "his star" a fulfilment of the prophesy of Balaam: "A star shall rise out of Jacob and a sceptre shall spring up from Israel" (Numbers 24:17). But from the parallelism of the prophesy, the "Star" of Balaam is a great prince, not a heavenly body; it is not likely that, in virtue of this Messianic prophesy, the Magi would look forward to a very special star of the firmament as a sign of the Messias. It is likely, however, that the Magi were familiar with the great Messianic prophesies.....
But there must have been some special Divine revelation whereby they knew that "his star" meant the birth of a king, that this new-born king was very God, and that they should be led by "his star" to the place of the God-King's birth (St. Leo, Serm. xxxiv, "In Epiphan." IV, 3).
Answers a couple of questions, though I'm still curious if any other group holds to the idea that the star came from Satan.
I just can't see Satan advertising for free the birth of the Messiah. If he wanted him dead, why not send some demons to possess some pigs to trample the manger or something? That's a flip illustration, but the demons supposedly had that kind of power for the scriptures speak of the possessed ones. So, why all the cloak and dagger? Why not go straight for the kill?
think of your friends in the jws and think of your friends now.
how do they compare?
think of loyalty, trust, being there for you.
Friendship in the congregation is largely conditional. Many of the people that I considered friends, look down on me now because I am inactive. So I guess they weren't true friends.
That being said, I still have a few friends that are still "in". While I may not see them at meetings and therefore not have contact with them several times a week as before, we occasionally get together for movies or dinner. They seem genuinely concerned and because they have had "issues" with certain policies doctrines, they tend to accept me as is and don't let my position(or lack thereof) in the congregation get in the way.
Friends outside of the organization? I have had some difficulty making "true" friends outside the congregation. I have made lots of acquaintances. I have expanded the time spent on my favorite hobbies and met people through these activities. I have developed relationships with these people, but as of yet, none are real, true friends that I can depend on in times of crisis. I'm not an outgoing person to begin with; I am perfectly capable of entertaining myself if I am alone and have never felt the need to have constant compainonship or company to feel needed or liked. You have to be a friend to get friends and I am not always good at that.
