Our CO gave a talk to kids. Stay OUT of school! (page 5)

AnneB

Where is Judah Ben Schroeder these days?

https://directory.columbia.edu/people/uni;jsessionid=FA6E100DC192075A7A8AE45C6C058ADC?code=jbs2006

ANNE B- You are freaking hilarious ! Maybe all of us should e-mail Judah boy and mention to him that the society is discouraging college for younger ones - in spite of the fact his anointed governing body member father supported him going to college ! Just tell him - he has to progress with new light the organization is observing now ! So ridiculous

Awakened at Gilead

Thanks Anne B.... I live in NYC so maybe I'll bump into the guy (I sometimes pass by Columbia) jeje I could ask him myself...

Tuition's not cheap there either.. wonder where he got the money... Us r&f can't afford that...

Rapunzel

I don't understand how the Witnesse can claim that higher education is incompatible with religion. Don't they realize that the "life of the mind," and the "way of contemplation" can actually strengthen and reinforce religion? Maybe this has been mentioned before, but I want to state the obvious. All the Witnesses have to do is to open any history book, then they will see that many great universities were founded by religious-minded people. Great universities such as the Sorbonne; the University of Salamanca; Jagellionian University; Yale; Harvard; Oxford; Georgetown; Notre Dame; Holy Cross were ALL originally founded as religious institutions of higher learning.

The above-mentionned are all Christian in origin, but the same historical reality is also true for Islam and Judaism; both religions have always put great importance on learning. I have read that Judaism is the only religion that morally obliges all parents to teach their children to read. In other words, literacy is a moral mandate in Judaism. The Hebrew word, torah, refers to the first five books of the bible; and it means "instruction" in general. In Islam, Jews and Christians are known as "people of the book." So, in regard to the importance of learning, all three "Abrahamic" religions agree with each other. This is one of the few points on which all three religions agree.

In short,literacy and learning - and the love for literacy and learning - are "common threads" which run through Middle Eastern and Western cultures. Why the hell can't the Witnesses see this? Also, don't they realize that well-educated people make for the best "apologists" - the best defenders of the faith? If Witnesses are literate, they will be able to make cogent defenses of their faith. Too many ignorant and uneducated people can only be harmful to a religion.

Olin Moyles Ghost

We had this talk during a recent C.O. visit. To be fair, he did not spend much time harping on higher education. Rather, he focused on "positive" things, such as making a "career" in the organization (e.g., pioneer, bethel, MTS). As far as mid-week C.O. talks go, it was pretty balanced.

I hate to admit it, but I was disappointed in how balanced the talk was. I enjoy the crazy talks and articles because they give me an opportunity to make points with my wife. We have a C.O. who, while not particularly charismatic, seems like a decent guy. Sure, he does his job during the week pushing the congregation to do more, but he could be a lot worse.

lrkr

One minor, little regret- I'm sure that as the talk was being given everyone in our congo was nodding their heads saying "Yup, just look what happened to Lrkr and his wife."

Not enough of a regret to make me show up for the talk though.....

jaguarbass

I'm 55 years old and I remember being 5 years old sitting at the kingdumb hall and them telling me not to waste my time on education. And I didnt.

I'm still working.

Save My Soul

JW's going to college is great news.

Hopeful they will FIND truth through research and prayer.

observador

"I hate to admit it, but I was disappointed in how balanced the talk was."

I know how you feel. It is because of those balanced individuals in the org that JWs sometimes take so long to wake up.

Those are the individuals that help the org make the case that the JW religion is a rational religion.

Observador.

White Dove

One poster said that a degree didn't guarantee a job and that we were foolish to think so.

Not one of us ever said such a thing, but since this poster did, I'll address that.

True enough, but a HS diploma does!

It guarantees that you will work at McDonald's with no benefits for the rest of your life

Of course, not having a diploma at all will guarantee you much more than a HS diploma does: Window washing, janitorial work, living in mom's basement, living in the street begging, welfare, foodstamps...

Your chances of succeeding in life increase exponentially if you have an advanced degree.

It all depends 100% on what you do with that degree and which type of degree you get.

Why are people with Ph.D.'s living in the streets? You must ask the question: WHY?

The answer is usually personal tragedies like illness, mental illness, addictions, loss of social connections, loss of family in disasters, incompetence in using that degree in a wise way, economic emergencies, not daring to go where the work is, fear from moving away from family to go where the jobs are, laziness, making dumb decisions that the average person would not make, you got your degree from a diploma mill, fear of success...

Our CO gave a talk to kids. Stay OUT of school!