in light of the recent letter read to congregations, it would be good to review the article they have on financing religion.
while jehovah's witnesses do not practice tithing, they sure do have a way of getting that proverbial plate round the congregations.. for those not familiar with the recent letter to congregations in the us, here is a snippet... wts bills us jws $8.4 million for traveling overseers.
being announced at service meetings this week at all us congregations:.
Thanks for the link Kenneson.
About 5 yrs ago the congregation's "bill" (and yes, it was essentially a bill that was expected to be paid) was about $620. Now it's gone up considerably. For a family of four that's a $32 'donation' that is expected - on top of contributions expected for a mortgage, utilities, and of course the "Worldwide Work".
he said that the biggest challenge that faces the jw's in north america is getting along with the brothers and sisters and aint that the truth?
i can't stand half of them.....partially cause i'm a bastard too but i mean there are some genuine assholes out there.
you know when the co talks about it something's gotta be goin down anyways talk to y'all later i'm off to have some beer.
While it's ceratinly true that there are strange, paranoid, and weird people in all walks of life, the jw religion seems to attract its fair share. But I think the religion itself is responsible for creating people who are 'little Pharisees' - judgemental, self-righteous, and intolerant of anyone who doesn't view the worship of Jehovah or the activities of the religion in the same way they do. I find it hardly surprising that they are at each other's throats, and while I was an active jw I heard enough negative comments to confirm my suspicion that I was part of a religion that hardly knew the meaning of 'having love among yourselves'.
Only Jehovahs Witnesses, those of the anointed remnant and the "great crowd," as a united organization under the protection of the Supreme Organizer, have any Scriptural hope of surviving the impending end of this doomed system dominated by Satan the Devil. (Revelation 7:9-17; 2 Corinthians 4:4)
Btw, a direct contradiction to this statement at their web site:
"No. Millions that have lived in centuries past and who were not Jehovah's Witnesses will come back in a resurrection and have an opportunity for life. Many now living may yet take a stand for truth and righteousness before the "great tribulation," and they will gain salvation. Moreover, Jesus said that we should not be judging one another. We look at the outward appearance; God looks at the heart. He sees accurately and judges mercifully. He has committed judgment into Jesus' hands, not ours"
for instance, especially kids under the age of eighteen, or dfing folks for questioning the society?
i think if i had been involved, i'd have to get on the horn with everyone i'd df'd.
except the child molesters
I haven't really had an opportunity - any who were df'd by committees I sat on have not bumped into me (or I them) and I'm not especially inclined to call them, since I've lost track of where they are.
There's another factor too - the people who were df'd were part of the religion too. What I mean is, they assent to the whole process, just as I did as an elder. It's all part of the religion. I can't see the point in issuing an apology for doing what we all understood at the time as my job.
But, if I had abused anyone verbally or emotionally, or asked inappropriate questions, or been unduly harsh, then I would feel compelled to apologize. But as far as I can tell, I treated those before the committee with respect and tried never to ask improper questions. Actually, I never really asked many questions at all. I mostly stayed quiet during the proceedings.
i was thinking while watching the new star wars film last night that when it first happened it was truly outstanding....so what other movies grabbed right from the off.
brubaker...where bob redford as the prison governer enters the prison undercover as a prisoner.
die hard 3...summer in the city.
I've always liked the opening of Star Trek VI when the Klingon moon Praxis explodes and the Excelsior encounters the blast wave. There's a certain corniness to the whole scene (now I just laugh at Zulu saying "My....God") but it's a rollicking start anyway. I also like the start of Star Trek:Generations (though the rest of the movie is goes downhill), and First Contact (which pretty much maintains the momentum).
i just started doing this (blogging) and it is not unlike writing a diary put into public view.. there a zillions of these things floating around out there.
many are extremely inventive, artistic, interesting and startling.. however, most are utterly inane!.
sturgeon's law at work.
the following was forwarded to me, and i post it in its entirety, with a few edits for clarity, without comment.. ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ .
many of my friends are well aware that i'm not the slightest bit religious.
with other friends the subject has never come up - and might never have - i'm not much of a proselytizer.
A: It's an interesting thought that in some remote time in the future, people may look back on the 20th and 21st centuries as a watershed in evolution -- the time when evolution stopped being an undirected force and became a design force. Already, for the past few centuries, maybe even millennia, agriculturalists have in a sense designed the evolution of domestic animals like pigs and cows and chickens. That's increasing and we're getting more technologically clever at that by manipulating not just the selection part of evolution but also the mutation part. That will be very different; one of the great features of biological evolution up to now is that there is no foresight.
Just a thought - could evolution have been a "design force" all along? Since humans can now "manipulate not just the selection part of evolution but also the mutation part" couldn't it be possible that God (or whatever one wishes to call him) has done the same thing?
...Wants to have his cake and eat it too Class...
what was your worst point of counsel?
i think for most men, it was gesturing to an audience while trying to make it look natural.
i remember writing on my notes to gesture and to speak slowly... what was your hardest point of counsel to work on?.
Confession, I know where you're coming from in regard to giving speech cousel. I assisted in the School for several years before becoming Schoolmaster Overseer (), and yes, it was very tough giving a W, especially on things like personal appearance. I'd get quite nervous, and often had no idea of what I'd actually end of giving out even as I made my way to the platform.
I also noticed that the worst offenders in the area of Timing were elders. The Bible Highlights part almost always ended up running very long, and the Instruction Talk was a problem as well. Not being able to ding a little bell, tap a pencil, or otherwise stop the talk, I felt pretty helpless as I then had to rush the rest of the School because one or two elders couldn't shut the heck up.
while i was at the kh i picked up a field service report and it looked the same as it did 30 years ago.
i asked some elders who were visiting me a few months ago why a field service report was scriptual.
he said something about how records were kept in the bible, or something like that.
So in a way, you could interpret Field Service reports as a total lack of faith on the part of the Society. They really don't trust in Jehovah to make sure that the witnessing work is getting done.
Interesting perspective Tammy. And of course, they don't trust that the rank-and-file would actually do the work (many would not if there was no report to file).
this is an interesting list of top 10 sports conspiracies..(albeit from a us perspective).
as i was reading about conspiracies and whistle blowers i couldnt help but think of what is happening at wts and esp people like ray franz,barbara anderson and bill bowen and others.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/3594758?gt1=6444.
Just a few weeks ago I watched Ali-Liston II on ESPN Classic, trying my best to see the near-phantom punch that took out Liston in round one.
I can't think of any other "conspiracies" off the top of my head. I do recall a missed chip-shot figgie by (then) Saint's placekicker Morton Andersen a few years back during the final week of the regular season that affected the playoff chances of a couple of teams. That miss looked so bad that I wondered if the fix was in.
