Posts by eyeslice

From what I can read from the few JW's I still associate with, The end of the BS is a very sad thing

I think that is very true. If it came to a vote which meeting to get rid of, it would have been to ditch the TMS and Service Meeting. I know most find these repetitive and boring. And, I used have great difficulty cajoling people into to doing service meeting demonstrations, interviews, etc.

54

Last bookstudy group this week I think there will be great sadness in the

by eyeslice in

jw
friends

tuesday sees the last group bookstudy for many.

i know the group that my wife attends will be having a bit of a party afterwards.

even my son ,who is 17 and has not attended the meetings for the past 6 months, says he wants to go on tuesday.

eyeslice

The original meetings of the true followers of Christ were in individual homes, not a synagogue, church or other public building.

I totally agree. I have attended the group study in the humblest of homes in India and was perhaps where I felt the most comfortable with the 'truth'. The cold, clinical surroundings of Kingdom Hall does not make for true spirituality.

By the way, I am out; I have not been to a meeting at either the KH or at a group for 5 years now but I still feel a little sad about the group disappearing. Not for myself but for those who did love it more than the other meetings.

46

Born again JW's?

by free2beme in

jw
friends

i am sorry, but i just find it so hard to see a bunch of former witnesses doing the whole born again thing.

acting in a way that is just trading one line of thought, for another.

basically, one time you said you were waiting for the "new system" and now you pulled that thought out and replaced it with the "waiting for heaven" comment.

eyeslice

Personally, I believe that life should be a spiritual journey of discovery and a search for a truth that perhaps we can never really find. I would find the dogmatic certainty of being 'born again' far too like the dogmatic approach of the Jehovah's Witnesses.

I have to admit though that I really do love the book A Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan as recommended 'quitelyleaving'. It is a book about facing up to religious uncertainty and weakness in what is sometime an overwhelming journey that we call life.

54

Last bookstudy group this week I think there will be great sadness in the

by eyeslice in

jw
friends

tuesday sees the last group bookstudy for many.

i know the group that my wife attends will be having a bit of a party afterwards.

even my son ,who is 17 and has not attended the meetings for the past 6 months, says he wants to go on tuesday.

eyeslice

Also, I think this mover will lead to increasing control and centralization. The groups allowed, to certain degree, the brothers and sisters to expression personal opinions and raise genuine questions. The meeting now are so scripted that getting the audience to answer 'in their own words' is a farce - they may as well print the answers for the brothers and sisters to read out.

Also, as someone who conducted a group study continuously for over 30 years (I started at 19!) I know that many would answer up at the group and would read a scripture who would be far too shy and reserved to do so at the hall.

So, I get back to my point - this is all about control.

23

Are we entering a new era?

by BurnTheShips in

19 december 2008situation report: global economy, december 2008filed under: post-wwii era, end of tags: financial crisis, napoleon, peak oil, transition, treaty of paris, wwi, wwii fabius maximus @ 5:00 am this is a situation report on the global economy.

speculation, attempting to find order from the confusing and rapidly-changing datastream.. the roots of this crisis lie in the cumulative decisions of us all collectively over the past 3 decades.the problem grew to become major problem as a result of regulatory decisions made over the past decade or so.we passed the last exit during the 2001 recession, with the governments decision to supercharge credit expansion instead of allowing a natural recession to rebalance the economy (as volker did in 1980-82).the financial crisis ignited in december 2006 with the collapse of the mortgage brokers.it became a conflagration as a result of the governments ad hoc response, incremental steps taken into the void without a plan.the financial crisis hit the real world in fall 2008, a cardiac arrest of global economic activity.so far main street has experienced only the fore-quakes, the tremors before the main event.i suspect it will hit during the next few months.the defining characteristic of this downturn is the unexpected breaking of links in the economic machinery.

home prices crash far beyond anything seen since the 1903s.

eyeslice

The economy will recover. People's appetite for new cars, new computers and the fineries of life will mean that as a society we will never regress to the rather modest expectations that parents and grandparents had. People may hold off buying new stuff for a while but as soon as the money market frees up, they will want to start spending again.

Longer term I agree that the problems of

Peak Oil (yes oil may have dropped to $40 a barrel but will shoot back up as soon as the economy starts to pick - as will house prices)

Climate change

The shift of power from west to east

The second demographic transition, aging populations and perhaps extinction for some major cultures.

are the real challenges that we will face in years to come

54

Last bookstudy group this week I think there will be great sadness in the

by eyeslice in

jw
friends

tuesday sees the last group bookstudy for many.

i know the group that my wife attends will be having a bit of a party afterwards.

even my son ,who is 17 and has not attended the meetings for the past 6 months, says he wants to go on tuesday.

eyeslice

Tuesday sees the last group bookstudy for many. I know the group that my wife attends will be having a bit of a party afterwards. Even my son ,who is 17 and has not attended the meetings for the past 6 months, says he wants to go on Tuesday. I think it is the nostalgia factor. I am very careful not to have any 'spiritual' contact with the witnesses so that they can no longer consider me as part of the congregation any more (there is always the lurking feeling they will disfellowship me if I am not careful) but I might pop down for a cup of tea and a cake after the study itself has finished.

I know from speaking to quite a few witnesses, the majority consider this the end of an era and are not looking forward to the 'new arrangement'.

251

RIP Dansk (aka Ian), 18.12.1953- 20.12.2008

by faundy in

jw
friends

have posted this on the other thread but just making this one as well:

i need to let you know that dad passed away this morning at 8am.

he fought so hard but in the end they could not get his blood pressure to rise and he died of heart failure.

eyeslice

So sad to hear such bad news. Deepest sympathy to all the family. Although I never met Ian personally, I found him to be a true gentleman. I really appreciated his private emails to me when I was struggling, having just left the 'truth'. I know that he was a man who believe that life was a spiritual journey. May his spirit find the happiness he deserves.

251

RIP Dansk (aka Ian), 18.12.1953- 20.12.2008

by faundy in

jw
friends

have posted this on the other thread but just making this one as well:

i need to let you know that dad passed away this morning at 8am.

he fought so hard but in the end they could not get his blood pressure to rise and he died of heart failure.

eyeslice

So sad to hear such bad news. Deepest sympathy to all the family. Although I never met Ian personally, I found him to be a true gentleman. I really appreciated his private emails to me when I was struggling, having just left the 'truth'. I know that he was a man who believe that life was a spiritual journey. May his spirit find the happiness he deserves.

6

Salvation Army v Jehovah's Witnesses at Xmas

by eyeslice in

jw
friends

the salvation army were out on streets in my town this morning.

they weren't playing carols today, simply out with collecting tins and big smiles.

as far as i can see people were giving gladly and stopping to say a quick hello.

eyeslice

The Salvation Army were out on streets in my town this morning. They weren't playing carols today, simply out with collecting tins and big smiles.

As far as I can see people were giving gladly and stopping to say a quick hello.

It occurred to me just how differently people view them compared with Jehovah's Witnesses. At the best of times, people don't want to stop and talk with the Witnesses but at Xmas it is even worse, they are viewed as total kill joys.

Whilst personally, I don't see Jesus ever wanting to see his followers being called an 'army' and have to wear a uniform of faith, I do get the impression that the Salvation Army is well respected by the community in general for being honest, Godly people who really care and work hard for the poor and less well off amongst us.

Hats off to the Sally Army I say.