sometimes it's hard to know if our own experience of jws was typical and what features were peculiar to our own area or the individual jws we knew personally.
i was wondering if others experienced this among jws:.
a few times on the ministry, when we were working wealthy areas with large houses, some brothers and sisters would make the comment that they look forward to taking ownership of one of these big houses after armageddon, when the worldly people have vacated them.
I think this is a key difference between JWs and Mormons.
If a Mormon sees a big house he'd like to live in he might think: I wonder what I can study and what job I can do to be able to afford that.
A JW might think: if don't study beyond school and give up on a career, maybe I'll please Jehovah enough that he'll let me have that house one day.
That sounds really crass. Is that putting it too strong?
I'm glad we've finally got around to discussing this topic. It's a subject we have really neglected on this forum.
I'd also ask:
Does the idea that there is one "correct" way of looking at situations or aspects of the world deserve respect?
i think people need religion because of fear.
fear of death and what will happen at death if they have been good or bad.
people say it gives them hope but is this not born too out of fear of not seeing dead loved ones again, or having a better life in the afterlife?
Believe it or not some scholars argue religion is more popular than ever.
https://www.amazon.com/Triumph-Faith-World-More-Religious/dp/1610171381/
sometimes it's hard to know if our own experience of jws was typical and what features were peculiar to our own area or the individual jws we knew personally.
i was wondering if others experienced this among jws:.
a few times on the ministry, when we were working wealthy areas with large houses, some brothers and sisters would make the comment that they look forward to taking ownership of one of these big houses after armageddon, when the worldly people have vacated them.
I find it interesting that the common JW rebuttal of this idea is technical and textual rather than ethical. Instead of simply saying: "cut that out, it's a crass, selfish and pathetic attitude to have to fellow human beings", they come up with: "the prophet Ezekiel (or some such) says Jehovah will divide the land according to the spiritus tribes, so we can't really know which heathen's house and land we will be allocated once they are all slaughtered".
sometimes it's hard to know if our own experience of jws was typical and what features were peculiar to our own area or the individual jws we knew personally.
i was wondering if others experienced this among jws:.
a few times on the ministry, when we were working wealthy areas with large houses, some brothers and sisters would make the comment that they look forward to taking ownership of one of these big houses after armageddon, when the worldly people have vacated them.
Yes notsurewheretogo I remember someone making exactly that response.
sometimes it's hard to know if our own experience of jws was typical and what features were peculiar to our own area or the individual jws we knew personally.
i was wondering if others experienced this among jws:.
a few times on the ministry, when we were working wealthy areas with large houses, some brothers and sisters would make the comment that they look forward to taking ownership of one of these big houses after armageddon, when the worldly people have vacated them.
Well I am sure it's not a false memory on my part or something I picked up on the forum only. The reason being I can remember a particular house in the west end one brother laid claim to and am reminded each time I pass it.
sometimes it's hard to know if our own experience of jws was typical and what features were peculiar to our own area or the individual jws we knew personally.
i was wondering if others experienced this among jws:.
a few times on the ministry, when we were working wealthy areas with large houses, some brothers and sisters would make the comment that they look forward to taking ownership of one of these big houses after armageddon, when the worldly people have vacated them.
sometimes it's hard to know if our own experience of jws was typical and what features were peculiar to our own area or the individual jws we knew personally.
i was wondering if others experienced this among jws:.
a few times on the ministry, when we were working wealthy areas with large houses, some brothers and sisters would make the comment that they look forward to taking ownership of one of these big houses after armageddon, when the worldly people have vacated them.
The reason I bring it up is because I'm reading about the revolutionary Watchtower movement in Africa and one writer mentions that:
"An informer told Stephenson that he had overheard Watchtower adherents discussing ways of equitably dividing among themselves his orchard, farm, house and other property in God's New Era. Stephenson conveyed this distressing news to the local administration. But although the informer had eavesdropped upon a private conversation, he reported no decision to take the path of violent rebellion. The Watchotwer men apparently satisfied themselves with believing and propagating belief, placing their full reliance upon God's future work, in the meantime, purifying their communities of sin."
It's intriguingly difficult to distinguish the universal JW experience from the particular situation here. On one hand many Watchtower adherents in Africa in that period did stray from official Watchotwer teaching and become political agents. Plus it's probably not uncommon for oppressed people to talk about taking ownership in general, quite apart from Watchtower religion.
Nevertheless there is also the sense that what at first might appear extreme, political, revolutionary talk (given the context) in fact is the sort of ordinary, everyday JW discussion that might as well take place during the ministry on the streets of Paris, Melbourne or Manchester.
sometimes it's hard to know if our own experience of jws was typical and what features were peculiar to our own area or the individual jws we knew personally.
i was wondering if others experienced this among jws:.
a few times on the ministry, when we were working wealthy areas with large houses, some brothers and sisters would make the comment that they look forward to taking ownership of one of these big houses after armageddon, when the worldly people have vacated them.
Sometimes it's hard to know if our own experience of JWs was typical and what features were peculiar to our own area or the individual JWs we knew personally. I was wondering if others experienced this among JWs:
A few times on the ministry, when we were working wealthy areas with large houses, some brothers and sisters would make the comment that they look forward to taking ownership of one of these big houses after Armageddon, when the worldly people have vacated them. Sometimes the conversations would get specific about who is going to get which big house. I thought it was pretty distasteful, and also a bit pathetic to be using the "truth" as a way of dealing with obvious resentment and envy issues.
Was that sort of conversation typical in your experience?
according to our sources, germany bethel will take in charge all treasuries for all europe starting sept 1st.. each bethel will deliver the funds as a donation to german legal entity.. gold ages for ibsa and other entities in eu are over :).
Can easily foresee consolidation into a handful of branches: Europe (Germany), Africa (South Africa?), Asia/Pascific (Japan/Australia?), North America (New York), South America (Brazil?).
Many sizeable countries have no branch at all now. Maybe the Briitish branch will disappear completely.
