Posts by bemused

24

Books!

by dynamiterose77 in

i feel like i wasn't allowed to read a lot of books when i was younger, a lot of which i'm discovering are positivly phenomenal.. i was allowed to read edgar allan poe, who remains my all time favorite writer.

but, i've discovered the joys of stephen king, anne rice, joyce carrol oats, neil gaiman, george r. martin, david sedaris... and so so so many more.. i'm currently getting through "the shining" so i can move on to "doctor sleep".

i'm interested to see if anyone else that discovered the many joys of "worldly" literature, jumped immediately into what they weren't allowed to read... and what was your favorite?.

bemused

Some of my favourite books:

Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens

Have fun!

18

Last Friday I brought home 6 Peepers

by Still Totally ADD in

jw
friends

they are so cute in their cage with the red heat lamp warming them.

there are eggs in our future.

coop is built all i need to do now is put the fence in.

bemused

Good luck with the new venture. If you have a fox problem, I'm sure Dazed but not Confused could help out.

324

Is this new donation arrangement for real?

by nugget in

just read a post on jwsurvey about the new donation arrangement.

congregations are to pledge a monthly amount to be sent to the society to fund the building of assembly halls and kingdom halls.

congregations who already have a loan from the society will no longer have to pay back the loan but the amount pledged should not be less than the current monthly repayments to the society.

bemused

I'm getting a bit confused (or even bemused) by this thread. Please bear with me (I'm a never-in), but here's a summary of my understanding. I'd be grateful if you could highlight anything I've got wrong.

Currently - Anonymous (presumably cash) donations are made at the KH. These could go to one of several funds but most will pass to an account managed by the local elders, less any loan repayments to head office, eg repayment of loans provided for building their hall. (I'm not sure what the BoE then do with these remaining funds other than some local maintenance.)

New Arrangements - The local assets will no longer exist, other than perhaps a small fund for basic maintenance and any excess existing funds are to be transferred to head office. All new donations are to be passed to head office. The BoE will carry out an anonymous survey to ascertain what the congregation can afford and then, based on this survey, make a commitment to head office that it will do all it can to meet that contribution level. Individual contributions will still be anonymous.

Speculation - There will be pressure for individuals to make payment by, for example, direct debit so contributions would no longer be anonymous. Elders will review the level of individual contribution and speak to heads of households if the contributions are considered to be inadequate. This could include a review of finances and examination of tax returns.

Is this right?

Bemused

206

Took my son (5 yrs) shooting for his first time.

by dazed but not confused in

i went with my neighbor to an outdoor shooting range in the pawnee national grasslands in colorado.

its about 2 hours northeast of denver.

it was awesome.

bemused

I think the US puts a much higher value on personal freedoms than other developed countries do and this is particularly the case in gun ownership. Western European countries typically have accepted restrictions on weapons to benefit society as a whole. US society has accepted much higher death rates from firearms* as a trade off for the right to bear arms. It seems strange viewed from Europe but Americans are not just Brits with a different accent.

* Number of Homicides by Firearm 2007 (UN statistics, as reported in the UK's Guardian newspaper)

England and Wales 41

France 35

Denmark 15

US 9,146

206

Took my son (5 yrs) shooting for his first time.

by dazed but not confused in

i went with my neighbor to an outdoor shooting range in the pawnee national grasslands in colorado.

its about 2 hours northeast of denver.

it was awesome.

bemused

Yadda Yadda 2 - I think for many in the US it's exactly that, a hobby. The attitude to guns is probably the single biggest cultural difference between the US and the rest of the westernised world.

38

Which Conspiracy Theory Should You Believe?

by metatron in

jw
friends

http://www.buzzfeed.com/katieheaney/which-conspiracy-theory-should-you-believe-in.

it's a quiz to help you pick a conspiracy theory that fits you.

i ended up with "moon landing was faked" which doesn't exactly apply.. .

bemused

I got the Roswell incident too. I suspect that's the default for people who tend not to believe in conspiracy theories.

28

The best explanation of Matthew 24 and 'This Generation', that I've read so far

by Island Man in

http://meletivivlon.com/2014/04/02/this-generation-a-new-premise/.

bemused

I remember years ago when my newly converted relative was harping on ad nauseam about this gospel passage I decided I should have a look. I was surprised because, reading without any preconceptions, the meaning seemed obvious and I just couldn't see what the fuss was about. It seemed clear to me (and still does) that the generation Jesus was talking about was the then current generation, the people alive with him. As several others have said, that is by far the best explanation of Matthew 24.

28

Strong, odd and weird opinions on my brothers anniversary

by usualusername in

today my brother a non witness gave me a phone call.. .

he spoke about this, that and the other.

he then said that my oldest brother (an elder) was having his 25th wedding anniversary.

bemused

Hi UUN. If you would like more contact with your brother then, although it doesn't seem to appeal to you, I think Oubliette's idea has a lot going for it. If you attend and stay happy, friendly and relaxed throughout it would show the active JWs that leaving the WT does not inevitably mean that you become a bad, self-centred follower of Satan and your brother might give you some credit for supporting him and being friendly to his other guests.

6

Emotional cruelty law considered in the UK.

by nicolaou in

"the (uk) government is considering whether to introduce a new offence of emotional cruelty to children, it has been confirmed.

the proposed change to neglect laws in england and wales would see parents who deny their children affection face prosecution for the first time.. mr williams's bill would add a further category of harm for which the perpetrator could be punished: impairment of "physical, intellectual, emotional, social or behavioural development".

i'd like to hear from mr paul gillies or any other watchtower representative in the uk as to how they'd square this proposed new legislation with their doctrine of disfellowshipping minors.

bemused

My first thought when I heard this was how are they going to prove anything? Mind you shunning (does this really happen for minors) would be provable I guess. Instilling fear of armageddon would also be provable but would the courts want to get into the area of religious beliefs?

65

Same sex marriage legalised in the UK at midnight tonight!!!

by DuvanMuvan in

title pretty much explains it all.

lots of people are getting married at midnight tonight.. what do you guys think?

maybe if anyone gets called on by a jw this weekend you can ask them what they think about it.. im just glad because it shows that religion doesn't define our conscience, that basic human decency can prevail over time and hopefully, these types of gradual but big changes will be present in the wts too in the future .

bemused

I feel the same about it as I do about gay driving. It's not an issue that should concern anyone.