been lurking for a while on here and thought i'd jump in.
a great deal of many thoughtful posts on here but have to say am a bit turned off with the 'rabid apostate' ones!.
my history- was raised in a divided household, mum converted to jw when pregnant with me back in 1970, dad was never jw but was supportive of taking us to meetings, assemblies etc.
Welcome Kikura/Scott. Nice to have you.
You will find all sorts of discussions and all sorts of posts on here. Many of us use this as a place to vent.
I know I do from time to time. So sometimes it gets ugly, but that's real life and real feelings.
Those feelings aren't allowed at the KH so what choice do you have?
Anyway, welcome! Look forward to your experiences and take on things.
-TE
i have been in the fading process for over a year now.
nobody has really bothered my wife and me since we've stopped, which i am thankful for.
recently, i've had an old jw friend send me a few text messages relating to business.
Good advice Dozy.
It always leads back around to the GB saying "Because I said so". And you either swallow it or you get threatened with slander and extortion.
As far as texting goes, I even have stuff I save (on my phone) from people in case I need it for retaliation.
Such a loving environment of trust!
-TE
sometimes this sounds good...but....forever?
forever in a jw idea of perfection?
does this mean no sports, or detective tv shows, or bad neighborhoods?
What a blast all the resurrected pedophiles will have.
Little witness kids everywhere and the whole earth being run by an organization trained to keep it hush hush.
-TE
there have been a lot of threads regarding changes in donations, kingdom hall ownership etc.
and what it all means.
i'm about to put on my accounting hat on and seriously consider the what it all means part (and why they may be doing it).
I think the change has to be regulation related for this reason:
The Borg would never interrupt a locked-in income stream (aka Halls making mortgage payments) unless it was forced to do so.
There seems to be new banking legislation steadily kicking in since the downturn of a few years ago.
It could be, like someone posted on this forum, that their lending practices are now opening them up to mandated government scrutiny or disclosure.
And we know they don't like that! They have too many secrets to be inviting govt inspection.
And God forbid (see what I did there) anything possibly create more financial transparency.
My 2 cents...
-TE
i really enjoy making memes from the my book of bible stories..
Really cool . Laughed out loud several times!
-TE
very funny stuff
at the risk of being shouted down, i thought i'd point out that "tithing" means giving 10 percent of your income to a church.
it comes from the old english word teogotha meaning tenth.
i've seen nothing that establishes tithing in the watchtower.. while i'm all in favor of pointing out the watchtower's lies, hypocrisies and faults, the language we use matters.
The WBTS has always said the tithing arrangement died with the Mosaic law of the Jews.
Jesus came and taught priciples instead of rules.
The "widow's mite" story illustrates this. The lady gave all she had from the heart, which was supposed to be "more" than the others who gave from their surplus even though the amount was less.
The principle was of genuine generosity as opposed to giving out of obligation, formality, or show.
The WBTS has always condemned churches for all of their obligitory donation systems regardless of the name.
Calling it "tithing" on this forum is a mocking of the WBTS more than it is an attempt at precise terminology.
-TE
so we all know about this new donation arrangement.?.
every cong is supposed to send in all their savings to the society for them to allocate or use however they see fit worldwide.. but here is where true "selfishness" has become apparent!
(remember just this last weekend the wt study was all about not being "selfish" or self willed??!!).
So funny... It blows me away how dumb these people (dubs) are about everything else and suddenly when it comes to money - they can think for themselves.
Money is a very personal thing. Mess with peoples money and you get their attention in a completely different way. Plus people know the whole - let me hold your money till you need it - scam. Kids were trying to do that on the playground when I was growing up.
But then again, I couldn't believe cong's were sending the branch "funds on deposit" when I first heard about that little trick. I was like "what?! You gotta be kidding me, who would be that stupid?" And then I found out our hall had like 5 grand sent off already.
So nevermind, they're stupid with money too.
I guess their non-cult mind kicks in for a minute or two until they have a chance to delude themselves.
-TE
she and my dad brought us to the u.s. from ireland in hopes of giving the 4 of us kids a better life with more opportunities.. mom went to school in her village where her mother (my grandmother) was the teacher and the bible was part of the curriculum.
they even used the name jehovah.
her father was a plymouth brethern (think amish or quaker) who was shunned for the rest of his life for marrying my grandmother who wasn't "in the lord"...she belonged to church of ireland.. when the witnesses came to the door after we arrived in the u.s, mom was a shoe-in candidate for their recruitment.
I am sorry for your loss and your pain.
Nice to have the good memories though.
Thinking of you. Well wishes.
dear brothers:.
we are writing as a follow-up to the letters dated january 24, 2014, and march 29, 2014,. to all congregations regarding the adjustments now underway to accelerate construction of king-.
dom halls and assembly halls.. .
Just letting you guys know - still no new letter with any further instructions, at least not in my neck of the woods.
It is now Sunday night May 11 here in the US.
Again, the letter of the OP saying "chill out we got some new stuff coming down the pipe" was dated May 2.
It seems to be taking awhile to steady the plane IMO.
-TE
