i attended the regional convention (district convention) over the last weekend, and thought i would spend a few minutes putting down some thoughts, for your amusement.
i will bounce around a bit, as my notes and thoughts were a little craaaaazy.. we met at one of the smaller venues on the west coast, with attendance around 7,000.
(28 baptized.... <.04%) we were tied in to the international convention in arlington, tx.. my first thought, only about 2 hours in, was how much this sounded like a plain old sales meeting!
Mentioned the talk entitled "Millions Now Living Will Never Die". He said specifically that the brothers back then did not really mean THAT... what they meant was that millions of our BROTHERS in the FUTURE would never die..
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No doubt the word "now" will soon be redefined by WT as meaning "in the future, not really now, as in now". This will be on the same list as other WT defined words:
generation
soon
imminent
clearly
evidently
love
i've heard some view points that state, atheists are generally more moral & caring for fellow humans, than are theists.. i'd like to hear some personal stories of life changes and quality of life after you became atheist.
i have a simple theory that may explain this.. i'll explain my theory if you'd like, after a few responses, as i really am interested in the personal changes that you experienced.. thank you very much, and i look forward to your stories..
"A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death." -Albert Einstein
does anyone know what was said at the recent ras about jws owning pets?
was it discouraged strongly?
hopefully jw pet owners will tell the organization to f-off!
What about guide dogs for the blind.
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A devoted JW walks by faith, not by sight. Having a seeing eye dog reveals a lack of faith. Besides, the New System™ will fix your blindness...why run ahead of Jehovah™ by doing something about it now?
a discussion of this talk on friday morning deserves its own thread.
as i said elsewhere, it was a remarkable one.
the speaker was manfred vencebi (google him - he's a bethel bigwig) and some of his remarks are real gems.
Technological accomplishments. Photodrama of Creation; jw.org, "and the list goes on." All to promote spiritual food, the Truth.
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Ironically, the technological advances WT use to the full, developed by Satan's world, are the same ones it just got done condemning.
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Satan's Rule: Keeps advancing forward, steadily improving human life
Jesus' Rule: hasn't done a damn thing for anybody for over 2,000 years
the old guys sided with hobby lobby today in denying birth control coverage to its female employees based on the owners religious views.
intact- is viagra for the guys.
funny how the far right evangelical owners of hobby lobby didn't want to touch that one.... read judge ginburg's scathing counter argument and opinion.. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/13pdf/13-354_olp1.pdf.
Intact- is Viagra for the guys. Funny how the Far Right Evangelical owners of Hobby Lobby didn't want to touch that one...
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Now that birth control is off the table, it'll be getting touched even less....
here is the link: http://seattledelegates.org/.
i would guess this is the wave of the future.
a secondary channel of business revenue for the wts - compensation for recommending restaurants, tours, etc.
The Seattle Hospitality Committee warmly welcomes you to the 2014 “Keep Seeking First God’s Kingdom” International Convention.
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"Seeking The Kingdom First" includes:
> Your evening program of entertainment
> all-day tour to Mt. Ranier
> tour of Boeing (part of Satan's commercial system)
> all day whale-watching cruise
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At every convention I've gone to, the counsel is always don't stay out too late, don't focus on entertainment- we're not on vacation, an assembly is a program of worship...don't distract yourself or waste time on "worldly" pursuits and entertainment.
I guess when the GB endorses entertainment then magically it's acceptable.
here is the link: http://seattledelegates.org/.
i would guess this is the wave of the future.
a secondary channel of business revenue for the wts - compensation for recommending restaurants, tours, etc.
"Congregations are now being invited to assist in the initial cleaning of Husky Stadium on Thursday, July 3rd starting at 9:00 a.m. Due to the compressed schedule, all who come on that day must be focused on working while at the stadium. No young children will be allowed. Workers must be at least 16 years old, although those 13-15 will be permitted if working directly with their parent."
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So a child of 6 or 8 years old qualifies for baptism (a lifelong "contract")....but isn't considered old enough or mature enough to clean the stadium as slave labor? Really?
http://trcofliberia.org/press_releases/51.
http://trcofliberia.org/press_releases/51.
So if his profession was acceptable to WT, why can't a JW be a director of a blood donation clinic or sit on the Board of a tobacco company? As long as the JW doesn't smoke or take blood, it should be completely within the rules.
just saw a facebook post from an acquaintance who just went to the international convention in dallas, tx.
according to his post, there were approximately 50,000 in attendance on sunday, with 468 baptized.
there were an additional 9 conventions tied to this one, with an attendance of approximately 100,000 and 609 baptisms total, including dallas.
let's say that all 100,000 in attendance are JWs and they each reported 10 hours per month since the convention last year.
12,000,000 hours for 609 baptisms. Historically, half of all baptisms are children of JWs or others that were not converted due to door-to-door preaching.
12,000,000 hours for what MAY BE, at best, 305 baptisms.
Pathetic.
