we had this plan of action with our kid's, if they asked us a question that we deemed they were to young to know about we would divert their attention, oh, could you fetch mummy her cardi, i'm feeling abit cold, there's some sweets in my pocket, would you like one etc, you get the idea.
usually this would be enough & they would forget about what they had asked.
when they wern't diverted & asked again we would provide an honest explanation suitable for their age.
When my son was about 7 he asked me what a "Theocratic Throbber" was.
I hadn't heard that crude term in a long time and could hardly keep from laughing and asked him where he had heard this. Apparently he overheard some young JW guys talking about a cute girl they saw at the assembly and they used this expression and were laughing about it.
I decided it was time for an emergency change of subject and I said something like "Hmm...not really sure...so anyway....what's for lunch?
i googled my childhood best friend that i grew up with in the cult.
he's my age and has shunned me for the past 4 years despite my efforts to reach out to him.today, i noticed a listing online that states he is a director of his congregation.
i suppose only elders can fill this position (he wasn't an elder when i was a jw).
my middle brother called me a couple of hours ago.
our youngest brother, josh, who was 38, was found by his friends in his apartment.
he hung himself.
What a shock you've had today and it's perfectly natural that you'd post this sad occurrence here where we talk about everything and are here if for no other reason, but to be a sounding board to anyone who needs a listening ear.
Only too happy to help you put one foot in front of the other as you come to terms with this loss.
- Pete.
i was just thinking about how the wts has been spouting off for years that satan and his demons were cast down to the vicinity of the earth in 1914, but really, when you think about it, what was the difference before 1914 or after 1914?.
its not like satan and his demons did not have access to the earth.
satan and his demons always were messing with earth.
"It seems like Satan and his demon gang, must have really been "annoying" God and the angels. I mean, there was a WAR, right? What were they doing to them? Hurling insults? Calling then "nerds" up in heaven? Saying things like, "ha ha, we get to hang out on earth and YOU cant"?
"If you use Job as an example , it`s a contest between God and the Devil as to whose subject will be obedient under pressure ."
And millions upon millions of us have been used as pawns in their little contest and have suffered horribly because of it. We're supposed to feel unworthy, guilty and bad about ourselves for our so called imperfect and sinful state. Look at what's been going on at Headquartes (heaven) since the beginning. Who really should be sorry and apologetic to whom?
(picture taken from the wt study some weeks back).
all these years, i've always dreaded waking up early for field service.
i'm a night owl & love to sleep late, so it was excruciating for me to have to wake up early in the mornings & go door knocking.
Which one makes Jehovah sad?
the wt has been reducing it's printed output of the public wt magazine since 2012.this is how the figures breakdown:.
month ................. wt printing each issue ............. total pages per issue ..... languagesjanuary 2012 ....... 42,182,000 .................................. 1,349,824,000 ...................... 194january 2016 ....... 58,987,000 .................................. 943,792,000 ......................... 254. during 2012 the public wt had 32 pages, so there were 1.35 billion wt pages printed for the public to read each month.1,349,824,000 pages x 12 months = 16,197,888,000 (16.2 billion) pages per year.
by 2016 the public wt has only 16 pages and is being printed only on alternate months.943,792,000 pages x 6 times per year = 5,662,752,000 (5.7 billion pages per year).
And I would say the content went from deeper things to milk-toast over the years, even in the study edition. It's like drinking watered-down soda.
Either way it's all nonsense and as it turns out, was mostly incorrect all these years.
Besides, every possible topic has been covered over the years so there was no need to keep writing about them over and over each month and foisting them on the public every Saturday morning. They finally wised up and took the date off the magazines so they could be considered current, any time.
so the other night we had a resolution to purchase two 70 inch t.v.
's to hang on either side of the stage.
and also a smaller t.v.
High Definition TV has not been a friend to most of the Governing Body members. Those gentlemen are more suited to the radio or delivering their speeches from the center of a large ballfield or arena. Nevertheless, you could print out the photo below and jot down your thoughts on the new flat screen televisions on the back of it and drop it into the "contribution box".
it's so good to finally be nineteen years old.
graduated from high school, taken more seriously as an adult.
i even have a job.
Even under the best of circumstances, it's hard on both the parents and on the grown child when they reach that fork in the road where the child leaves the nest. Personal growth is almost always painful but in the end it can't be avoided. If you lay out a sensible plan before them and assure them that you have every intention of handling your new found freedom with maturity, it will do much to alleviate their worries. No matter what though, you will both have to push through all the emotions that this big milestone brings. You'll need to handle any objections or criticisms they may have about your plan, maturely and consider what they have to say with an open mind.
Like so many things in life, there is no right or wrong answer to this situation. Whichever route you choose to take and whatever the outcome, that will become part of the story of your life....the one you'll have to tell.
This song came mind as I read your post.
I posted the MEME below, on an earlier thread whose topic was discussing the recent attack on Paris. I had remarked on how impressed I am with those who are willing to help strangers and how they seem to come out of the woodwork in times of disaster. People will rush into burning buildings to help perfect strangers (think 9/11) and this weekend in Paris, people went on social media and were "tweeting" offers of cups of tea and places to stay, to anyone who found themselves stranded with no where to go, when the bombings took place.
It made me think back on my upbringing as a JW and the "them vs us" mentality which although was never said outright, fostered the idea that we didn't really need to help anyone else but JW's. Our help to the world was offering them the literature and that was enough and any other kind of help was virtually like putting a Band-Aid on Cancer.
Between that and waiting on Jehovah to solve everything, it was easy to rationalize inaction on my part with regard to charitable works. That's something I've changed since leaving off associating with the folks who claim to love their fellow man yet think it's normal to use every available public service out there but neglect giving back anything in the here and now, to the communities they are a part of.
1. watchtower & awake - under review as these is now a 16-page anorexic pamphlets (not magazines) .
2. espn: 42.9 million 3. people: 28 million 4. allrecipes: 24.5 million 5. forbes: 21.6 million 6. time: 18.1 million 7. entertainment weekly: 14.3 million 8. cosmopolitan: 13.7 million 9. bloomberg businessweek: 11.2 million 10. new york: 9.8 million .
Just because a magazine is printed, doesn't mean it's actually distributed or actually read and it's probably easier to be the most widely distributed magazine when you publish it twice a month. I'm sure it doesn't hurt business when the Publishers or should I say Paper Boys and Paper Girls who distribute them for free, are your best customers andthey have stacks and stacks of them lying around in their homes because they feel guilty about throwing them out.
Either way, the magazines once though of as the spiritual lifeline of JW's, is going the way of the dinosaur. What ever will there be to do on Sunday after the Public Talk?
