Yeah they had a big announcement here. "good opportunity" since these "worldly holidays" give us some time off. "easier to find people at home" etc etc. I've never been big on harrassing people when they are obviously pre-occupied. Fortunately we seem to go away on holidays a lot, or do stuff as a family, and mom always hated calling on veterans on remembrance day so we never went then.
Mysterious
JoinedPosts by Mysterious
-
44
The Society has given up on "holiday witnessing"
by dothemath in.
up until a few years ago......every dec. km had a part encouraging everyone to go in the ministry on the holidays.......christmas day, etc.. no one ever got too excited about it in our cong.
.........it was pretty much a joke to everyone even when commenting on it during the meeting part.. that no longer seems to be the case..........haven't seen any parts like this for a few years now......i guess they've given up completely.. the meeting part usually included some "fine experiences"......but i have heard exactly the opposite from some who actually tried it one time.. have any of you ever went in service on christmas day?
-
-
-
30
Maybe the Beatles were right......
by Sentinel ini just came upon a very interesting article, appearing in the atlantic monthly, may 2003, titled let it be, by jonathan rauch, correspondent.
the first introductory statement reads: the greatest development in modern religion is not a religion at allits an attitude best described as apatheism.
this immediately caught my attention.
-
-
Mysterious
I like to keep the artist and their personal life separate from my opinion of their music. I don't care who wrote a song, or what they did with their life, if I like the song I like the song. If the song has meaning to me, it has meaning to me. If the message is powerful, it's powerful.
-
22
After Baptism Was There Anything That You Didn't Comprehend About The Truth
by minimus ini've seen a lot of persons that got baptized and go thru 100 questions with the elders say that they did not know that such and such a thing was a disfellowshipping offense.
or that they would be counseled or looked down upon for a certain thing.
did you ever experience that type of thing?
-
-
Mysterious
It's such an ego trip. As a child you think wow I'm special. If you were raised in the truth even more so. And you look down on all the "fools" who don't see the "truth" which is so very "obvious".
-
6
After 58 Years Together, Gus and Elmer Eloped
by Gretchen956 inny times article.
december 16, 2003. .
after 6 quiet decades as 'friends' and partners, gus and elmer eloped.
-
-
Mysterious
Aww. It's more people like that taking the stand that the world needs to finally shatter the stereotypes that have led to the prejudices we see all too often.
-
27
Non Jw and Jw can the relationship last?
by Dayshdeess ini have recentley fallen for a very nice female.
she's in her early twenties and i am 31, age we dont have a problem with and to be honest and soppy we truly love each other, her family have disowned her because of what she believes, my family have their doubts but again thats not a problem, i value my familys opinions who have already voiced their doubts, but i would like to make this work, albeit for her beliefs.. i feel she has been shown this way, firstly by her best friend who was born into it and has recentley been disfellowshipped for falling for a non jw, and also by things which have happened to her in her short life.
i knew after the first month that she was a jw, but she kept telling not to worry, as it wouldnt affect our future.
-
-
Mysterious
I really cant seem to have a sound conversation with her about simple things, sounds silly but its as if she looks down on me, like as if because she has seen the light so to speak and she feels better than non Jws. Is this the norm?
JWs believe they have the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth as far as religion is concerned. You will not convince her otherwise while she remains a JW.
I know they say love is blind but it seems a very three way affair, my love for her, her love for jehovah and then me. I dont want her to change but is it really as bad and strict as Im reading it.
You will always come after Jehovah in her life, always. That is what they are taught and that is what they adher to. If it ever comes to a conflict between the two..
My partner was going to the meetings up untill the time she started seeing me, then she felt as she was sinning she could not go untill we marry, however last week she started to attend again, despite my objections and having sex before marriage and seeing me. Talk about being a hyprocrite she stated she would not attend again untill we got married, could she be losing her path from this ?
Not attending meetings is a guilt thing for JWs. A lot of pressure is put on you to be there for either one. Though from what you said she could face counsel or disciplinary action from the congregation.
A joint savings account for our wedding was set up a few weeks ago and an engagement ring was bought a few weeks but now despite the fact that I love her, I really dont fancy the prospect of my future of having my front room filled with members talking shop, my kids being pushed into this belief, and just her looking down on me and the fact that she may try to convert me in the future. She has already asked if I would like to attend a meeting just to see what went on and to stop me from being so cynical about it, to which I politeley replied in the best phrase I could think of go away and no..
Do not let her drag you into this. No woman is worth being sucked into a religion, a cult really, that will suck your life away from you. If she raises your kids to be JWs make sure they DO NOT get baptised until they are old enough to understand how hard it is to "get out". While a JW kid at 14 may be able to convince you they know what they are getting into, they DON'T. I see it as being difficult to have a postive relationship where she is already looking down on you. The only way I've seen the JW/nonJW relationship work is where religion is not discussed in the house.
-
12
love bombing meh
by Mysterious ini keep hearing how everyone posts and says that no one in the congregation noticed or cared about them..i have the opposite problem.
i can't get sick of miss anything and they are all swarming around me "making sure i'm okay" telling me "how much they missed me" and some of them quite sincere about it.
i just wish they would all leave me the hell alone.
-
-
Mysterious
The fond phrase around here by the diehards is "If I missed a meeting I'd fall out of the truth". How true that without the constant pressure on you a little time away can make you realize you no longer want to be part of it. It seems more than a few people are appalled a the number of meetings I've missed in the past few weeks, from being sick and disinclined to drag myself to the meeting if I had so much as the slightest excuse to stay home. Of course they were of the opinion I was probably on my deathbed since I had such a habit of never missing the meetings ever..
As for wanting gossip, they'll sure as hell get their fair share of that at the end of the month.
I remember time and again as one youth would leave "the truth" and the congregation would swarm their "friends" making them cut off all ties and ensuring the now "worldy" youth could not pull them away.
-
23
After Disassociation or Disfellowshipping, can u still pray or read bible?
by NaruNaruChan in...because i can't, not after what they said to me.
i've been noticing more an more that i'm more athiest than anything else because i don't have a gret attachment to god or spirituality.
ive mentally grouped it as a pseudoscience.
-
-
Mysterious
I am a bitter person to religon now. it is hard to accept religous beliefs after our minds have been raped by a org. that wants to control every aspect of a persons life. i feel lied to and used. Now i have a very hard time accepting god in any form. I am now into trying to straighten out my own mind. After i do that then maybe i can accept god into my life. Until then though i feel that have to make up for almost 26 years of being lied to.
That's why I found it important to find beliefs that were open and on my own terms, not just more "set" beliefs that one is required to ascribe to in many of the world's religions. I tend to think of myself more in terms of being spiritual than being religious. I also try to remind myself that not having all the answers is okay, something no witness in their right mind would ever accept. With them it was a case of having an answer for everything even if it was wrong..just so as to have an answer.
-
20
Fluffiness: Hiding Christmas gifts?
by bebu inwhere to hide those gifts... i've got some ideas, but i'm hoping to find more.. one great place i've found is the large boxes that were originally holding the christmas ornaments.
they get put back on the garage shelving with lots of things stuffed in.
my kids would never consider it.
-
-
Mysterious
I don't have prying children, just a dub mother.
Best hiding places are things that are known to be full to the brim with junk, things no one goes in. Perhaps an old dresser that is full of papers. Take some papers out and stick gifts on the bottom fill to the top with papers again. The drawer gets opened, it's just the same old (undisturbed) papers and the drawer gets closed again.
-
14
Ponderings on the 'refreshing highlight' of tonight's meeting
by Mysterious inthe refreshing highlight in their opinion that "[jehovah's witnesses] are free from the snare of the pagan traditions of today's holidays".
the talk was of course about christmas.
i find it amusing how many times they mention pagans or paganism at the meetings, considering neither word is found in the nwt.
-
-
Mysterious
The refreshing highlight in their opinion that "[Jehovah's Witnesses] are free from the snare of the Pagan traditions of today's holidays". The talk was of course about Christmas. I find it amusing how many times they mention Pagans or Paganism at the meetings, considering neither word is found in the NWT. (excluding footnotes in the reference bible). Should they not be dwelling more on the "truth" than on bashing everyone around them?
The talk was laughable anyway, made me want to correct the speaker on more than one occasion. No doubt his research on Pagan customs associated with Christmas came right out of the Watchtower and nowhere else.
-
18
JW usage of Jehovah
by Kymegg ini have been talking with two jw ladies and we got on the subject of the name of jehovah.
i was trying to make the point that they cannot claim to be the only "true" religion.
at first they wanted to start pointing out why they felt they were.
-
-
Mysterious
61 Five and a half years of such witnessing for the divine Name followed. Then came the time for the Christian "slaves" to identify themselves, to differentiate themselves from all the professed Christians of religious Christendom. To this end, action was taken by the "slaves" of Jesus Christ on Sunday afternoon, July 26, 1931, at the international convention held in Columbus, Ohio, U.S.A. At 4:00 p.m., there was presented and read to the thousands of conventioners a resolution, the fourth, fifth and sixth paragraphs of which we are here pleased to quote: NOW, THEREFORE, in order that our true position may be made known, and believing that this is in harmony with the will of God, as expressed in his Word, BE IT RESOLVED, as follows, to wit: THAT we have great love for Brother Charles T. Russell, for his work?s sake, and that we gladly acknowledge that the Lord used him and greatly blessed his work, yet we cannot consistently with the Word of God consent to be called by the name "Russellites"; that the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society and the International Bible Students Association and the Peoples Pulpit Association are merely names of corporations which as a company of Christian people we hold, control and use to carry on our work in obedience to God?s commandments, yet none of these names properly attach to or apply to us as a body of Christians who follow in the footsteps of our Lord and Master, Christ Jesus; that we are students of the Bible, but, as a body of Christians forming an association, we decline to assume or be called by the name "Bible Students" or similar names as a means of identification of our proper position before the Lord; we refuse to bear or to be called by the name of any man; THAT, having been bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ our Lord and Redeemer, justified and begotten by Jehovah God and called to his kingdom, we unhesitatingly declare our entire allegiance and devotion to Jehovah God and his kingdom; that we are servants of Jehovah God commissioned to do a work in his name, and, in obedience to his commandment, to deliver the testimony of Jesus Christ, and to make known to the people that Jehovah is the true and Almighty God; therefore we joyfully embrace and take the name which the mouth of the Lord God has named, and we desire to be known as and called by the name, to wit, Jehovah?s witnesses.?Isa. 43:10-12; 62:2; Rev. 12:17. 62 The eighth and last paragraph of the Resolution said: We humbly invite all persons who are wholly devoted to Jehovah and his kingdom to join in proclaiming this good news to others, that the righteous standard of the Lord may be lifted up, that the peoples of the world may know where to find the truth and hope for relief; and, above all, that the great and holy name of Jehovah God may be vindicated and exalted. 63 This resolution was enthusiastically adopted, not only by those in convention assembled at Columbus, Ohio, but also, later on, by the congregations of the "slaves" of Jesus Christ all around the globe. Thus they voluntarily embraced the name "Jehovah?s witnesses." This Resolution on the name was also published in the booklet released at the convention entitled "The Kingdom, the Hope of the World." That title was also the subject of the public address by the Society?s president J. F. Rutherford to both the visible convention audience and the invisible audience listening in by means of a vast radio network, from twelve o?clock noon onward. Thereafter this booklet containing both the public address and the Resolution was placed directly by personal bearers into the hands of the religious clergymen, Catholic and Protestant, and afterward into the hands of prominent political and professional men. There was also a wider circulation among the people in general. In this way notice was served on all the world that these justified and spirit-begotten worshipers of the Most High God would walk in the name of their God and acknowledge only the name Jehovah?s witnesses.?Micah 4:5.64 Inasmuch as there were also witnesses of the one living and true God before the first coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, they recognize themselves to be Jehovah?s Christian witnesses.?Isaiah 43:10-12; 44:8; Hebrews 11:1 to 12:1. See also The Watch Tower as of September 15, 1931, pages 278, 279.
God's Kingdom Has Approached, Chapter 12
44 So from 1919 C.E. forward, the remnant of spiritual Israel began calling the "nation" that they at first did not know about by preaching "this good news of the kingdom" to more and more nations. (Matthew 24:14) They did not fear that they would be shunned because of having God?s name called upon them, but, after years of witnessing to Him world wide, they embraced the fitting name for themselves, Jehovah?s witnesses, his Christian witnesses. This began on Sunday, July 26, 1931, at the international convention that they held in Columbus, Ohio. Despite the prejudice against the divine name, even in Christendom, many searchers for God began running to the remnant of spiritual Israel. They saw in the remnant of spiritual Israelites a spiritual beauty that Christendom and pagandom did not discern or recognize. They came running by the hundreds from the spring of 1935 onward. They desired to enjoy the spiritual paradise that the members of the remnant were enjoying since their restoration to the favor of Jehovah. Without fear of reproach, they too accepted the designation Jehovah?s Christian witnesses.
Man's Salvation, Chapter 6
During the years that followed, the work of Kingdom proclamation was given tremendous impetus, as by an irresistible force. The events in 1914 and thereafter had made it evident that the great prophecy in which the Lord Jesus Christ described the conclusion of the old system was undergoing fulfillment. In the light of this, in 1920, The Watch Tower pointed out that as foretold at Matthew 24:14, this was the time to proclaim the good news concerning "the end of the old order of things and the establishment of Messiah?s kingdom." (Matt. 24:3-14) After attending the Bible Students convention at Cedar Point, Ohio, in 1922, the delegates left with the slogan ringing in their ears: "Advertise, advertise, advertise, the King and his kingdom." The role of true Christians came even more prominently into focus in 1931 when the name Jehovah?s Witnesses was adopted.
Proclaimer's Book, Chapter 15
Yet another historic convention was held in Columbus, Ohio, in 1931. On Sunday, July 26, after hearing Scriptural argument, the Bible Students adopted a new name?Jehovah?s Witnesses. How appropriate! Here is a name that directs primary attention to the Creator himself and that clearly identifies the responsibility of those who worship him. (Isa. 43:10-12) The adoption of that name infused the brothers with greater zeal than ever before as proclaimers of God?s name and Kingdom. As a letter written that year by a Danish Witness expressed it: "Oh, what a magnificent name, Jehovah?s Witnesses, yes, may all of us indeed be such."
Proclaimer's Book, Chapter 17