Without disclosing information leading to incrimination, it is possible to remain "in good standing," a.k.a. not df'd or reproved. I know of one brother who is in a similar situation as e-watchman. The elders leave him alone. Calling e-watchman a liar without knowing the actual facts is premature. He very well could be in a so-called DMZ within his hall. My guess is, he does not attend the meetings. If he did, he would be associating with the brothers and sisters which the elders would then probably frown upon.
catchthis
JoinedPosts by catchthis
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21
E-watchman is not disfellowshipped!?
by Noumenon ini note that e-watchman has just confirmed that he is not disfellowshipped, despite running an 'apostate' website and having sent 1000's of letters around the us, canada, and bethels around the world.
this from his latest mailbag questions and answers:.
"as for any judicial action taken against me, no, there was none.
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Words to Live By - What are Yours?
by pettygrudger inin trying to deal with the everyday realities of our existence, we usually pick "catch phrases" or principles with which we use to try & guide our life, growth & development.
in my case, the #1 thing that i try to live by is to take what is mine & own it.
yep, i didn't have the best circumstances growing up, and had some pretty crappy things that happened to me as a child.
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catchthis
p.s. forgot to add ---- Rhonda, are you now divorced??
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Words to Live By - What are Yours?
by pettygrudger inin trying to deal with the everyday realities of our existence, we usually pick "catch phrases" or principles with which we use to try & guide our life, growth & development.
in my case, the #1 thing that i try to live by is to take what is mine & own it.
yep, i didn't have the best circumstances growing up, and had some pretty crappy things that happened to me as a child.
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catchthis
I can't say that I have a specific phrase, but here's my take on life -- Once you leave the JW's, either mentally or officially, you need to come to terms that you will die in your lifetime. You need to put out of your mind that you will live through armageddon into a paradise earth. It is hard to do because even I catch myself at times thinking about it. Immediately I have to tell myself that I am not thinking clearly and to remember 1975, the UN thing, etc. It helps to have a barrage of information like that to counter the old JW style of thinking to prove to yourself that the Org was always wrong in the first place. As soon as I began looking at my life this way, I found a new respect on life, primarily for other people that I am always around. Before, I always saw those same people as the living dead. What good would it do for me to bother caring for them if god was gonna kill them off anyways, right? These days, it is totally different.
I think most ex-JW's deep down wonder if armageddon will actually come in their lifetime. Some may even vocally oppose it saying it cannot happen since the bible is purely fictional. But since you lived the JW life before, it IS a part of your person, something you can never get rid of. There will always be that small, little nagging doubt if you made the right choice. But here again, if you die, you are going to know what is on the other side. Heaven, hell, ghost walking the earth, reincarnation, resurrection, or whatever your idea of rebirth is, it's going to happen if one of those unknowns actually exist. And if it just happens to be the JW version, well then guess what? Jehovah wipes your slate clean and you are resurrected.
catchthis, feeling the need to go do volunteer work now
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For fun: True or False?
by catchthis in.
statement: jehovah's witnesses avoid making rules and regulations beyond those provided in the scriptures, and they do not follow traditions that contradict bible teachings.. true or false?
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catchthis
For those of you that know this statement is false, just point your local elder to http://www.jw-media.org/beliefs/membership.htm the next time you are told that you must shave that beard before giving any talks or handling the mic's. (or you can fill in whatever for the beard)
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For fun: True or False?
by catchthis in.
statement: jehovah's witnesses avoid making rules and regulations beyond those provided in the scriptures, and they do not follow traditions that contradict bible teachings.. true or false?
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catchthis
Statement: Jehovah's Witnesses avoid making rules and regulations beyond those provided in the Scriptures, and they do not follow traditions that contradict Bible teachings.
True or False?
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JWs and voting. Is it okay now?
by NikL ini know there has been lots of discussion on this issue in the past year but i have been unable to find it.
i need to know where to find the questions from readers that talked about it being okay for people to vote if their concience allows.
i brought this issue up with a couple of people, one a rank and file dub and the other an elder.
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catchthis
Let's look at this from a witness perspective for a minute. First off, ask any witness: Who allows the present governments to exist on earth today? You should get the same answer each and every time - Jehovah. Then ask them if Jehovah knows and can predict the outcome of all political elections until the cows come home. Again, all answers should be in the affirmative. So, if Jehovah already knows, and most likely himself guides the outcome of all elections to fit his purposes on earth, what difference would it make if an ordinary r&f witness were to vote? Couldn't it possibly be Jehovah himself guiding the witness to vote one way or another?
Let's face it, according to JW theology, Jehovah has his timetable and plans set in stone. There is absolutely no human on earth that could change Jehovah's plans for the future. This includes anyone who votes for a certain political party. If Jehovah's path to armageddon is unchangeable, vote away. You're just a puppet afterall, right?
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Men and their size........
by morty inwhy must men have the biggest tv they can cram in the living room?
i figured we had a nice size for now.
it is a 36 inch.
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catchthis
We use a 60" 16x9 widescreen in the entertainment room with a little 27" in the living room. When it comes to size, bigger IS better with regards to televisions. But you also cannot skimp out on picture quality. Monsters Inc. looks a little too real with our setup.
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Did Your Hall Make You Go To Meetings During Inclement Weather.......?
by minimus inand did they make you make up a meeting that was cancelled?.......we had a couple of elders that loved to schedule extra meetings in the week because a snowstorm cancelled it.
we had a few elders that would make it a point to keep a meeting going during the worst of snowstorms.
for years, we wouldn't go if the conditions were icy----simply because we could get killed!
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catchthis
I remember back when I was "in," there was a big snowstorm that closed most of the county in which I lived in. From where I lived, there was only two routes to the KH. One was usually closed during big storms as it wound along a lake and it could be easily driven off into. The other way was a typical two lane road that was always driven by tourons that did not know how to drive in inclement weather, even with 4-wheel drive.
I thought I would have some fun that evening and come to the KH in style. I rode my snowmobile to the KH. It was only about 4 miles from my house. I had a talk that night, a number four. I remember working on it while I was at work and that I spent a lot of time preparing for it. I put my meeting clothes in a small suitcase which I strapped down to the rear of the sled. Snowmobiles were a common sight in the winters on normal roads.
I showed up at the hall in my riding clothes - parka, bib, snowboots, etc. carrying my little suitcase. I changed into my meeting clothes and waited for the meeting to start. That night, only about 20 people out of 100 showed up. Yep, no official cancellation was sent out. So now I get to give my number four in the front instead of the back school. But I tell you what, it was the most interesting meeting I have ever been in. It felt like a book study it was so small. Everyone sat in the front of the hall instead of scattered around. I think only one elder made it and he led the whole meeting.
p.s. this congregation was in a high altitude location and usually had large amounts of snowfall. the entire time I was there, there was never a meeting which was cancelled. other places in which i have lived, meetings would get cancelled if just a little bit of ice was present.
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Baptismal Pool
by Sunspot inthe other day i received an email from a man in croatia, who sent me and someone else a copy of a picture from a wts magazine.
i wasn't quite sure about the contents, but it looked to be legitimate----but being in croatian i was not sure of what it actually said and i ended up putting it aside intending to check it out (if possible) and then forgetting all about it.
he had also sent this to another person, who went to the trouble of verifying the facts and getting an understanding of what was being said in the picture.
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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.
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Ask any JW this line of questioning.
by apocalypse inif you have opportunity to enter a discussion with a jw (i am still active so for me it's not a problem) ask this line of questions.. q) are you going to go to the red cross to give blood?.
a) they will answer speedily... no!
(without hesitation).
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catchthis
If they could guarantee that it would not be used for that purpose, and only for extracting fractions to treat various infections, deceases, etc, then I would think about donating.
But SOJ, you're missing the point. JW's are not concerned with the medical aspects of blood, but rather, the biblical instructions on what to do with it. According to the biblical "principle" found in the OT, any blood that leaves their body must be poured out upon the ground. At least that is what the WTS's position is on the matter. How dare you for even thinking about going against Mother's direction.