When I was a JW, I rarely contributed money. I barely financed my pioneer work and showed up for lots of cleaning and maintenence projects and brought food for other projects. Back then I thought, "they get plenty of my time for free, I'm not giving them my money too."
Amber Rose
JoinedPosts by Amber Rose
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86
A little example of how severely the contributions for the Society are drying up
by sir82 injust a little tidbit from the congregation i attend..... the congregation has approximately 120 publishers.. well over 1000 magazines per month are picked up, not to mention all the books, brochures, and tracts that are picked up.. there was a "local needs" part on the service meeting recently, asking for more contributions.. it seems our congregation has averaged just about $300 per month contributions to the "worldwide work" over the past year.. .
assuming 1500 magazines / month, that's just 20 cents per magazine - and that completely ignores all other literature that is picked up.. the last price the magazines had, 20+ years ago, was 25 cents per issue.
with inflation that would have been about 50 cents each now.. just another sign of how severely the contriutions to the society are drying up..... .
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45
Why are they so anal about assembly badges?
by highdose inthey insist you must wear you and whats more it must be placed in clear view for everyone else to see.. i have been challenged before now " sister!
are you wearing your badge!?
" it made me wonder why?
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Amber Rose
For other conventions and trade shows that require badges, they usually also require registration. The badge shows that you are registered, your admission fee is paid and you are entitled to the services and information available at that show. Witness conventions have no registration, no admission fee and no information or services. They are free and open to the public. It really makes no sense to me what is the big deal about the badges. If you don't have one, nothing will happen to you, you won't get thrown out but perhaps someone will ask you "where is your badge?" You say "I don't have one" and they say, "Oh."
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69
Jehovah's Witnesses and Calvinistic Predestination
by AllTimeJeff inthis is a complex question, and i just want to get a discussion started on the message of jehovah's witnesses and how it relates to their adventist roots, and esp calvinism.. bear with me, i will try to be concise.. we all know that while jehovah's witnesses like to deny adventist roots, that it is clear that according to them, the man jesus selected to get the whole thing started, c t russell, was heavily influenced by adventist ideas, esp the (adventist) idea that has really never left them; the idea that somehow, a time date or period can be inferred from the bible if you read certain scriptures through an adventist lens.
(thus, the 2520 years, 7 gentile times, etc.).
so while this is relatively well known, there is a concept that jehovah's witnesses teach against, yet practice.
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Amber Rose
I had a hard time with this as a witness also. I couldn't make sense of the story of Pharaoh or Judas. Everything started in the Garden of Eden over the issue of free will. When Eve was about to eat the fruit, God didn't step in and try to change her mind. But Pharaoh, was going to let the Israelites go but "God kept hardening his heart". Throughout the whole story, god was credited with the actions of Pharaoh. Where was his freewill? And why was Jehovah such a jerk - just so he could be the star of some pissing battle with some earthly king?
And to believe in prophecy doesn't there have to be an element of predestination? It always seemed to me that Judas got screwed - he was set up as a pawn! He was a key element in the story of Jesus' death. Somebody had to betray Jesus, what if he had lived? What would the story be, he wouldn't have been a tragic hero. But I believe Satan was blamed for "entering Judas' heart" to cause the betrayal.
It seems that we have "freewill" but god can change our "heart condition"? So why doesn't he just set everyone's heart to "good" and then we can all get along.
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26
New method of distributing magazines
by jah1914 indon't know if someone already commented on this.
i did a search and did not find anything.
not that big of a deal, but the concept of having a personal order of the magazines is going away effective immediately.
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Amber Rose
How does the "Literature Servant" (TM) know how many magazines to order? Or does each KH get the same amount?
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74
Most people who are not JW's live with out moral restrain! All who have left the "Truth" regret it. June 15th WT
by life is to short inin the june 15th wt it says on page 9 i will just write it out as it is to hard and unbelievable to preface this.
so here it is.. "many who today are members of the christian congregation can tell you that before learning of and adopting jehovah's righteous standards, they lived without moral restrain.
yet, they were unsatisfied and unhappy.
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Amber Rose
Yep! Its true! Since leaving The Truth I beat up an old lady, quit paying taxes, started a meth lab, stole a car, and had four abortions and I live on beer and cigarettes. But when I was a witness I was a model citizen, funny how that happened!
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41
If someone is benefitting from being in a cult, should we leave them there?
by Confuzzled inif scientology has narcanon, and it has gotten people off drugs (although that 85% sucess rate they say they have is suspect), and becoming a jw sorta forces you into line, would it make sense to leave someone in if they were helping them?
if you knew somebody was a drunk, sex addict, drug addict, what have you, and they were studying, and it appeared that they were actually being helped (albeit by twisted means) would you leave them be?
like, if uncle jim was a fall down drunk that ran around on his wife, then someone introduced him to the wts, and it all stopped, would you still try and expose the cult even if they were actually helping and it was working?.
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Amber Rose
A person may "clean up his life" by means of the JW's. But most likely the changes will be temporary. JW's have no maintenance program built into their system. That person is working toward a goal usually baptism. The person is flooded with love and support in his effort to clean up. Once he is baptized, all that love and support vanishes, he is all on his own. If he slips up, they kick him out, and here you have a relapsing addict with nowhere to turn.
So, I say, no, there really is no "benefit" to being in a cult, for any reason.
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48
OKKKAAAAYY Now I get it! Another JW Belief Screwing W/My Life "Date To Marry"
by Confuzzled ini have a convaluted relationship w/my jw for-lack-of-a-better-word-bf.
we have a bizarre relationship.
i am not his gf but must act accordingly.
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Amber Rose
It sounds like you have a "friends with benefits" thing going on? Like someday both of you would find someone else you would rather be with but for the time being...well, you know. This type of situation definitely is not approved of by the WTS. He's probably hearing both things here "Hey, you gotta marry her, be a family man, she'll be so impressed with all the positive changes you're making that she will want to serve Jehovah too (i.e. you do the love bombing for us)" But he is probably also being told "Hey, you don't have to stay with her, you're not married. Serving Jehovah is the most important thing and she is preventing you from serving him to the fullest! How awful! Get rid of that wicked woman and prove true to Jehovah!" So, yeah, he's in a very volatile state. I can't tell you to keep him or dump him, if he's worth the effort. But here are some key points to remember when dealing with a potential convert.
Jehovah's Witnesses are horrible at converting others
Jehovah's Witnesses thrive on "persecution" (the more they are told they are wrong, the righter they think they are)
Jehovah's Witnesses have a terrible retention rate (So even if he does convert, there's a good chance that he'll get thrown out or quit on his own)
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9
"Take away my birthday"
by OnTheWayOut ini used the phrase on another thread and realized it might be of interest."....
take away my birthday" is:a sarcastic response when someone warns you not to do something that is considered socially unacceptable.. example of usage:'you really shouldn't drop stink bombs in the class room the same day of finals.
take away my birthday?
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Amber Rose
This just made me feel really sad.
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16
Are You Still Interested in Looking for Truth?
by cameo-d inwhat are our origins?
what has this life all been for?
is there anything after this life?
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Amber Rose
Where did we come from? What are our origins? What has this life all been for? Is this all there is? Is there anything after this life? Can the truth ever be found?
These questions have existed probably since human consciousness existed. But there has never been a satisfying answer until the Watchtower Society was formed. God has given us all the answers in His Word, the Bible. But who wants to read all those thousands of pages just to get to the good bits. This 32 page brochure entitled "What is the Purpose of Life" shows you the true answer to that question from the Bible.
But seriously, I always thought it was the most disappointing thing to not be allowed to explore these questions on my own and so crappy that the answer took 32 pages to explain. It seems to me that the answer should be able to be explained in less than five words or it would take a lifetime to explain. I am happy that I am free to answer these questions any crazy way that I want to and change my mind the next day and not worry that god will kill me because he doesn't like my answer.
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20
Why are gossip and slander tolerated in the congregation?
by hoser inwhy are gossip and slander tolerated?
is this part of the master plan to control the masses?.
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Amber Rose
A friend of mine was repeoved for slander. A group of boys got themselves thrown in jail, they called my friend. He told the guys, if you don't tell the elders about this, I will. The boys said nothing, my friend went to the elders but there was no second witness so my friend was reproved.
I heard about another guy who was DF'd for slander. His girlfriend was sleeping with some other guy. I think the rule was he wasn't supposed to talk about it because it was a Judicial Matter (TM). He got DF'd, she was reproved. Of course, she was the granddaughter of a CO.