i was at bethel for a couple of years (relatively) recently (2000-01). i don't recall a letter stating that meetings or service were mandatory. in my experience, bethelites missed far more meetings and service than the avg publisher. (i'm a perfect example of that as i was technically incative at bethel. oh sure, i turned in my time slip, but...you know...cmon, work 6 days AND go to meetings? screw that. )
doogie
JoinedPosts by doogie
-
20
Bethel letter about meetings, field service are mandatory for Bethelites
by VM44 indoes anyone have the bethel letter that states meeting attendence and field service are mandatory for bethel workers?
.
there is also another boe letter that states meeting attence and field service are voluntary for the ordinary jehovah's witness, because they are volunteers.. i am trying to find both letters as, together, they show bethel workers are, unlike ordinary jws, truly representatives of the watcthower .
-
-
-
29
"Go and get yourself ADOPTED THEN!!!!!!"
by Jez inmy 15 year old phoned her jw father tonight.
a relationship between the two does not exist.
(i have touched on the reason why in other posts regarding both my children).
-
-
doogie
jez-
you must be so proud of your daughter. i wish i was half as mature as her when i was 15.
doogs
-
70
Movies that make me cry
by Lady Lee inok i just finished watching antwone fisher.
it's not the first time i've watched it.not even the second or third time.
i've seen it a lot.
-
-
doogie
Club Dread.
(god, that movie was terrible.)
-
136
Something I want to tell you apostates
by LeftBehind ini want you to know that you have destroyed a family because of your lies about jehovah and his organization.
a family member went apostate and has turned his back on jehovah.
he told us he is never coming back and i know he went and visited internet sites.
-
-
doogie
mom? is that you?
anyhoo...like dave said, if your family member is shunning you, i'm so sorry. i know that hurts and hopefully someday he/her will resume their relationship with you. however, if you are shunning your family member, i'm sorry to say that unfortunately, you have only the policies that you are enacting to blame for your family difficulties. not apostates.
-
59
WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE HUMAN RACE?!
by Mary ini watched dr. phil yesterday, where they were highlighting the disappearance of natalee holloway who disappeared in aruba over 5 months ago, and amy bradley who vanished from a cruise ship 7 years ago.
i always assumed that these girls were raped and then murdered and they very likely could be, but the program highlighted the sex-slave trade that is growing in leaps and bounds all over the world.
i sat there and listened in shock as one guy revealed what happens to some of these girls during snuff movies.
-
-
doogie
ok, that was definitely rambling... i'm sorry, it's been a long week.
i'm just trying to say that we say that we are NOT sadistic and that these individuals who do these terrible, terrible things are broken and we are fundamentally better. but technically, humans are all sadistic ("the gaining of pleasure or enjoyment from causing or viewing physical or mental pain in people or animals"), just to varying degrees.
edited to add: it's not a recent flaw in the human race, it's another layer of the uniquely human experience.
-
59
WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE HUMAN RACE?!
by Mary ini watched dr. phil yesterday, where they were highlighting the disappearance of natalee holloway who disappeared in aruba over 5 months ago, and amy bradley who vanished from a cruise ship 7 years ago.
i always assumed that these girls were raped and then murdered and they very likely could be, but the program highlighted the sex-slave trade that is growing in leaps and bounds all over the world.
i sat there and listened in shock as one guy revealed what happens to some of these girls during snuff movies.
-
-
doogie
i just finished reading American Psycho...
if you've seen the movie you can probably imagine what the book is like (not for the squeamish...). Some dispicable acts are depicted in the book, but the book is sooo nuanced that a million people could read it and come away with a million different opinions (wait, i'm getting to my point...)
humans are violent. some people (like Bateman in the book) do dispicable things. others merely view it and shake their heads in disgust...but keep watching it. i just finished reading a study for a sociology class about the apparently very human desire to view destruction. there are a bunch of possible reasons, but humans seem to be fascinated by violence, destruction and suffering especially as it relates to other humans. the fact that this subject was the main topic of Dr. Phil's (highly rated) show is proof of this. also, everyday when i get home, my girlfriend is telling me another horrible story about some lady that was raped or kidnapped or beaten or murdered that was the main topic on Oprah. heck, why do any of us know the name Natalee Holloway anyway??? sort of cursing it aloud but secretly needing (enjoying?) it on some level.
there is clearly a market for violence and pain that the media regularly taps. it's not the media's fault...people keep buying it! and they've always bought it! public executions, whipping posts, sacrifices...or nowadays, watching the suffering (or the remainders of the suffering) from a more remote location. sometimes the suffering is at the hands of criminals or sometimes it's the criminal themselves that experience the pain. in substance, suffering is suffering; we may rationalize it, but at times, we do enjoy seeing people suffer. (i.e. i would love to see the people responsible for the videos mary mentioned suffer as much as possible. that would please me VERY much.)
we have to face it: humans are all violent to degrees. a small percentage of people do amazingly evil, sadistic things. always have, always will. a larger percentage will eagerly watch (or eagerly watch the culprit receive his own share of sadism). maybe watching others suffer helps us feel better about our lives ("it could be worse"), so every night we watch the poor families in new orleans who lost everything or the mother who lost her daughter on vacation and suddenly we're just a bit more aware of the softness of our comfy couch. maybe the concept of misery piques our interest since it stands out from our own mundane, and honestly, not terrible day-to-day lives (at least not THAT terrible...). maybe we're just supremely aware of our own personal mortality. i don't know. whatever the reason, we do eagerly watch suffering; be it on Dr. Phil, the news, Oprah, or movies, pain and suffering is a staple of our entertainment and news programming (how many of us have willingly seen, and enjoyed, Saw 2?...).
chances are, we say that we watch suffering on dr. phil or the news or whatever because of our extreme compassion. but i have a feeling that there is more to it than that.
-
17
South Park skewers Scientology
by undercover inanybody see south park last night(11-16-05)?
scientology, along with tom cruise and john travolta got the typical south park treatment.. during one segment that had the leader of the 'church' explaining what they believed they ran a subtitle on the sreen that said, "this is what scientologists actually believe".
i don't exactly know what they believe but if that was actually true, well, i thought mormons and jws were fucked up, but that shit takes the cake.. first they blasted mormons, now scientology.
-
-
doogie
man, that was hilarious! i especially liked all the references to sueing at the end.
SCIENTOLOGIST: "You can't talk about our religion like that! We're gonna sue you! You are so sued!"
STAN: "Yeah?! I don't care! So sue me!"
at least they're apparently ready for legal repercussions. i liked how the credits just listed "John Smith" and "Jane Smith" for the names of all the crew/cast members. for legal protection maybe?
-
34
Born ins...how far did you go?
by wanderlustguy inhow far from where you grew up do you live now?
did you leave to get away or to take ownership of your life and create a new destiny?
did you leave before or after you figured it out?.
-
-
doogie
grew up in madison, wi. now i'm in houston, tx. i don't know how many miles that is, but last time i went back to wisconsin i felt physically sick. i don't know how some of you guys do it.
-
14
response to JW guy (another one from that MSN thread...)
by doogie infreewilly just posted some entertaining shtuff from a new friend he made on that msn jw thread.
i posted on there too and new friends are just coming out of the woodwork!
it seems like everyday there's another handful of messages from these jw defenders (some of them are unbelievably mean too!).
-
-
doogie
I can't get into a conversation with a Dub about blood transfusions without wanting to strangle one in sheer frustration.
just make sure to bleed it afterwards. (sorry, that was in poor taste...)
-
14
response to JW guy (another one from that MSN thread...)
by doogie infreewilly just posted some entertaining shtuff from a new friend he made on that msn jw thread.
i posted on there too and new friends are just coming out of the woodwork!
it seems like everyday there's another handful of messages from these jw defenders (some of them are unbelievably mean too!).
-
-
doogie
what the heck?? how do they justify this:
If the bleeding of butchered animals is not the regular practice in your locality, or you are not sure what is the customary handling of the matter where you live, the best way to find out if meat has been properly bled is to make personal inquiry.
with 1 corinthians 10:25????:
25 Everything that is sold in a meat market keep eating, making no inquiry on account of YOUR conscience; 26 for “to Jehovah belong the earth and that which fills it.” 27 If anyone of the unbelievers invites YOU and YOU wish to go, proceed to eat everything that is set before YOU , making no inquiry on account of YOUR conscience. 28 But if anyone should say to YOU : “This is something offered in sacrifice,” do not eat on account of the one that disclosed it and on account of conscience. 29 “Conscience,” I say, not your own, but that of the other person. For why should it be that my freedom is judged by another person’s conscience?