Baptismal Pool

by Sunspot 38 Replies latest watchtower scandals

  • TheOldHippie
    TheOldHippie

    Wow, so much raving anger locked inside of a person, hitting out at another one. Had it not been for the raving madness of it all, I would have been impressed.

    Take care and don't forget your medication!

  • Sunspot
    Sunspot

    **Wow, so much raving anger locked inside of a person, hitting out at another one. Had it not been for the raving madness of it all, I would have been impressed.

    Take care and don't forget your medication!

    Oldhippy, Since you didn't bother to say, am I to assume that this post was directed at me? FYI, I have said on numerous occasions that I DO carry what you'd probaby term "raving anger" (or raging anger---whichever) towards the WTS, and I have verey right to both FEEL it and express it when I care to. Our difference of opinion as to the WTS hypocrisy is apparently on two ends of the scale----because I SO remember all they pounded down our throats for many years AND in the "Reveleation" book, as to the evils of the UN and any religion that has anything to DO with it! Perhaps YOU don't recall how the WTS taught and preached that. I do, and so many others do too. Funny how others posted that as well, isn't it? It does make me wonder what WTS were you in, as I said. The fact that you "would have been impressed" with what I said (had I not replied to you).......personally I don't give a flip if you're impressed or not! I didn't post what I had to "impress" you, fella. Sheesh! As to the remark about the "medication".......I'll consider the "source" of the kind of person who said it. This is an age-old tactic (sigh)----when you can't successfully address the topic under discussion---you attack the person who has an opinion different than yours-----which, BTW, doesn't impress me much either, OH. On the off chance that your post was NOT meant for me---then disregard my remarks :~) Annie

  • BrendaCloutier
    BrendaCloutier

    I have thought about this a little.

    I tend to be very pragmatic.

    I personally think the people involved with building the baptismal pool did not have any intention on creating a stir. The UN didn't provide the tarp specifically for a baptismal pool. They just used what they could find. Simply, someone should have turned the tarp over. Maybe UN aid workers (not politicians, just human beings working to make a bad situation tolerable) actually helped build the pool as a goodwill gesture and didn't have a clue on the problem with the logo or the WTS "former" attitude toward the UN. I bet the shovels used to dig the hole had UN labels on them, too. I bet the water came from the UN, too. And the food served afterwards was provided by the UN. What's a JW to do, starve?

    However, I do agree with the apparant fact that the WTS printed the pix without editing out the logo. They do have the techonology. I don't see the problem laying with those in the camp, but diretly with WTS.

    Hugs

    Brenda

  • Nosferatu
    Nosferatu
    All I have to do is to think about all those years we were counceled on not stumbling anyone with things that could be a cause for stumbling Don't hang up windchimes, don't burn insense, destroy a hundred year old inheritance from you Grandma if it has a tiny cross on it. Men don't wear a bit of hair on your chin. Men don't wear patterned shirts to the meetings. Children burn your carebears because they have idolatrus symbols on them....and the list goes on and on--all of things things were thought of as being causes for stumbling.

    I very much agree with this. I remember having to get rid of my Michael Jackson "Thriller" album because there was a demonic song on it. I was told by another brother to throw out all my Led Zeppelin albums because Jimmy Page sold his soul to the devil, so he could become the world's greatest guitar player.

    I also seem to recall a Watchtower article warning me against purchasing albums with titles that contained "Poison" "Destruction", "Death", etc.

    I also recall a good little JW kid who decided to dislike the band Ace of Base because their music video for "The Sign" had a bunch of symbols shown in it.

    So, if I wrote a song about the UN, made a music video with the UN logo all over it, would it be acceptable for JWs to listen to that song and watch my music video?

  • cyber-sista
    cyber-sista

    Aloha Brenda,

    I too feel for these people in 3rd world countries who have to make due with whatever resources they have to survive. But baptisms are organized events and under the direction of those who are supposedly in the know. The people in this picture were trained and educated by those ones who knew the WT doctrine and the baptism would also be under the direction of those in the "know." These ones getting baptised probably didn't know the whole story--who knows what version of it is told in less educated lands--but the rules they would have to agree to follow would be the same in order to have that "unity of worship and oneness" that the Org claims the JW have. I recently saw a picture of some magazines from an African land. The pictures are different and picture the people who are native to that land. I wonder if the message is different in some ways too...

  • catchthis
    catchthis

    OK, I read through all of the comments before I viewed the picture of the baptismal pool. At first, I was thinking why not just use a Sharpie or a Marks-A-Lot marker to black-out the UN logos? Or even duct tape? Granted, those luxuries might not be available in the local area. But then I saw the pool. Those are pretty big logos on that plastic tarp to cover up. True, flipping the tarp over would have been an easy solution - unless the logos also appeared on the flip side.

    The way I see it, assemblies are not put together at the last minute by the Society, no matter where you are in the world. A group of brothers would no doubt have been assigned to come up with a plan for a baptismal pool. If there was no river, pond, or lake nearby for a full immersion of a person, then the brothers could have requested from the Society for them to provide a temporary pool solution. Obviously, the Society did not come through for these brothers, or the brothers in charge of the baptism didn't ask for help. As we all can see, the baptismal pool must have been a last minute effort to provide a close place to submerse new converts. I imagine the digging of the pit wasn't an easy task either, unless they had many "volunteers" to help. So unless this was a mistake on the part of the local brothers or the Society, there could be another reason for them to use this tarp emblazoned with the UN logos. Are they trying to regain favor with the UN again? Who knows?

    Something else came to mind about these logos. I recall at many of the quickbuilds I used to attend, that we were always told not to wear any shirts that carried worldly logos on them.(shirts that represented brother's businesses were ok) We couldn't wear a shirt that said Coke, Nike, any beer shirts, etc. Even after I stopped participating on the quickbuilds and just visited them, I still noticed that many of the brothers were wearing plain white or colored T-shirts or plaid.

    So if wearing a Coke shirt is frowned upon at a quickbuild, why wouldn't a UN logo'd tarp being used as a baptismal pool also be wrong? Something tells me that the Society is trying to get back in bed again with the wild beast. But that is only my opinion.

  • TheOldHippie
    TheOldHippie

    And perhaps, Annie, I should also have the right to feel and express what I choose to, without being big-letters-yelled-at by angry persons like you? All I am trying to say, is that I do not feel each and every small "thing" should/could/ought to be used as a large-scale attack on the WTB&TS, but that perhaps one could reserve it to the questions that really matter, that really are big. UN, child abuse, legalism, chronolgy, role as a prophet - but not poor African refugees fleeing and then being baptized and feeling happy at that moment, in spite of the material used to contain the water was of UN origin. Save the ammunition for the Great Battle and don't wear oneself out thru attacks that are little more that loud shouting without contents or basis.

    Annie Get Your Gun - but don't use it till you have to ..........

  • jwsons
    jwsons

    I got my baptism in a bathtub. People in Africa can get their baptism even in a stand oildrum (off-course, after well-cleaning). They stand inside, pour water until the oildrum full. The brother who takes the role of John the Baptizer stands outside the drum and push the head of brother/sister inside until none of the hair float.He He He. Not U.N. symbol at all. Maybe The Watchtower printed that picture on purpose so latter on they may clear off the mess of NGO. Unfortunally, Kent found out NGO scandal before they can do something like "Long before we did use the facilities from NGO/UN in The Watchtower picture....bla bla....So we use UN/NGO for the Kingdom needs....bla bla..." jwsons

  • FreeFallin
    FreeFallin

    Don't forget the situation in Malawi (as if any one could) where the brothers couldn't even by a .25 cent card to save their very LIVES......all because of how it would "look."

    Kat

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