lrkr

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Posts by lrkr

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  79

  IT'S OFFICIAL - New Elder's Manual by end of 2010

  by sir82 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  per a "top secret, confidential, burn this after you read it" letter to all boes, dated march 2, 2010, but not read in our congregation until this past week:.

  new "kingdom ministry" school for all elders and ministerial servants, to be held (in the us anyway) between november 2010 and january 2011.. 6 hours of jaw dropping tedium instruction for ms, 9 for elders.

  ms session to be held on a sunday, elders on friday and saturday.. the "super secret surprise", for elders only: a new textbook will be released to be studied at this "school".

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  lrkr

  Well- I would like to put the challenge out there to everyone. Lets see if we can be the first to have copies of the new book!! (This site usually scoops most things JW)
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  42

  Turning in time?

  by crazy2try in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have a problem.

  my hubby and i are tying to fade out completely, but we ran into a snag.

  my in-laws showed up with a stack of time slips and said that they will turn them in for us if we fill them out.

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  lrkr

  Its funny how such a meaningless little gesture like turning in time is such a control point for the JWs. I too turned in "1 hour" for 6 months after I quit going to meetings. I guess I thought that would keep the elders off my back. Then I just didnt bother. And funny thing- no one asked me. I think seeing 6 reports with 1 hour each on them made the point. Obviously I was not going out in "service". By the time the elders came around again- it was clear that I was an inactive witness and no one needed to pretend that I was active and had just "forgotten" to turn in time.
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  3

  Due diligence- JWs vs Big Brother, Big Sister

  by lrkr in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  i met this evening with the director of our local big brothers, big sisters chapter.

  this organization pairs at risk minors with volunteer adult mentors.

  she said that this is possibly the highest risk thing that any organization can do- introducing a stranger into a position of trust with a vulnerable youth.

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  lrkr

  Religious organizations are given a pass- while non-profits have to live up to an entirely different standard. No one asks the Episcopal church if the Sunday School teacher was background checked. (Never mind Witnesses!! Their standard is even lower!)
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  3

  Due diligence- JWs vs Big Brother, Big Sister

  by lrkr in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  i met this evening with the director of our local big brothers, big sisters chapter.

  this organization pairs at risk minors with volunteer adult mentors.

  she said that this is possibly the highest risk thing that any organization can do- introducing a stranger into a position of trust with a vulnerable youth.

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  lrkr

  I met this evening with the director of our local Big Brothers, Big Sisters chapter. This organization pairs at risk minors with volunteer adult mentors. She said that this is possibly the highest risk thing that any organization can do- introducing a stranger into a position of trust with a vulnerable youth. It is also very successful at helping prevent delinquincy, etc.

  The thing she said that stood out was that there is an extremely careful prequalification and monitoring program for all of their mentors and mentees. For a volunteer to be accepted, they must go through a month long qualification process which includes fingerprinting, checking state, federal and local law enforcement data bases, psychological profiles, references, etc, etc, etc. Then, they check in on the situation from both sides on a regular basis. And they carry a significant amount of insurance in case anything goes wrong.

  Compare this with JWs or Catholics or any other "religious" based organization. Strangers come into the home, offer counseling, etc, etc without ANY SHRED of due diligence or training and without any insurance. How is it that the standard is so high for a charitable, non-profit organization and so non-existant for a religious organization??? It boggles the mind!!!!
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  62

  This week's Bible Highlights, verbatim quote: "Jehovah is a Killer..."

  by Open mind in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  it's amazing what you notice when you go through the bible again with a changed worldview.

  this week's watchtower-assigned bible reading is the opening chapters of 1 samuel.

  this little gem just jumped off the page at me:.

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  lrkr

  Psalms 137: 8,9- "O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction,
  happy is he who repays you
  for what you have done to us-

  9 he who seizes your infants
  and dashes them against the rocks.

  Nice guy!!
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  33

  Forget 2012... The world will end May 21, 2011

  by Elsewhere in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://articles.sfgate.com/2010-01-01/bay-area/17466332_1_east-bay-bay-area-first-time-camping.

  biblical scholar's date for rapture: may 21, 2011theologyjanuary 01, 2010|by justin berton, chronicle staff writerformer civil engineer harold camping of oakland, who runs family radio, has studied the bible for almost 70 years.credit: lance iversen / the chronicleharold camping lets out a hearty chuckle when he considers the people who believe the world will end in 2012.. "that date has not one stitch of biblical authority," camping says from the oakland office where he runs family radio, an evangelical station that reaches listeners around the world.

  "it's like a fairy tale.".

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  lrkr

  You guys are all false prophets. All of us True Christians know that the world will end on April 23.
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  60

  April 15th WT/ Generation - MORE Points/ Mind Control by WT Society

  by flipper in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  we all chewed on this article pretty well when the news first came out about the " overlapping anointed " concept , however we discussed so much on just those 2 paragraphs dealing with the new " generation " theory - that almost the rest of the article was overlooked .

  our lurking inactive jw friend on the board sent us a copy of the april 15th.

  i think you folks may find this interesting.. on pg.

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  lrkr

  The Plan vs Purpose stuff has been out there for some time. I remember someone going on about it at Bethel (cant remember who). 'Humans plan things and circumstances can affect a plan- Jehovah purposes what will happen and no matter what comes up- his purposes come true..blah, blah, blah, blah'

  They may have allowed this particular old guy a chance to put his great idea into the WT. I wish I could remember who it was- it was definately the "talking point" of someone in particular. Billy or others- do you remember this?

  Its coming any day now!!! (130 years now and counting- any day now!!)
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  55

  New BOE letter on inactive ones

  by JWFreak in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  again..please do not ask for a pdf scan as the only copies i have are the interbranch electronic copies from the us branch to our local branch.. .

  november 3, 2009 .

  to all bodies of elders .

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  lrkr

  Well this would explain the 3 phone calls I got in the months of December and January. I guess everyone else just figured I was beyond hope.

  Ohhh a Bible Study- quite tempting!! It would be a challenge to see how long it would take before I could see a "deer in the headlights" look in my "teacher's" eyes. (No- just stay the course- keep head low and avoid the DF)
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  16

  Englewood Hospital Gets $4.6 million to develop bloodless Medicine

  by purplesofa in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yptrya2-ihg.

  englewood hospital to train military, others in bloodless surgery techniquesfriday, january 29, 2010 .

  last updated: saturday january 30, 2010, 12:07 amby mary jo laytonthe recordstaff writerenglewood hospital and medical center will receive nearly $4.7 million in federal funding to train military and civilian physicians in bloodless surgery and other medical procedures, rep. steve rothman and hospital officials announced friday.. the hospitals institute for patient blood management & bloodless medicine and surgery has treated 50,000 patients and trained nearly 100 physicians, both military and civilian from the u.s. and internationally.

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  lrkr

  Although I like what Englewood does- but their shameless advertising of bloodless surgery has 2 problems:

  1. They are specifically using JW theology to drive JW's to their hospital (not that I have anything against targeted marketing- lets just not pretend that their emphasis on "bloodless" is anything more or less than a targeted marketing campaign.) Any half decent hospital uses and has access to the technologies they use. They are just trying to "brand" themselves in a market saturated with very good hospitals.
  2. Many witnesses and others look at Englewood as "proof" that modern medicine doesnt need blood transfusions- and that blood transfusion is a product of a unsophisticated past. WRONG. Blood transfusions save lives. A couple of years ago, the Governor of NJ got in a terrible car accident and they transfused something like 19 units of blood into him while they frantically searched for all of the damaged veins and arteries. He survived and walked out of the hospital some weeks later (was defeated by a Republican in November- but Whaddayagonnado?!)
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  69

  Jehovah's Witnesses and Calvinistic Predestination

  by AllTimeJeff in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this 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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  lrkr

  I also thought a little about the Calvinist influence on JW's. It seems to me that the concept of the "elect" has strongly influenced JW thought. JW's acknowledge that you can sin, fall, turn your back on God (like all of us terrible apostates)- so there really cannot be real "predestination" - but they still carry that notion that they were selected, elected, out of all the religions on the planet to be the one voice of God. That seems to me to be Calvinistic. This sense that the JW's are priviledged above all others to have the true and only understanding of the Bible- even calling their way of belief- "the truth". The anointed (144,000) are ordained by God- selected, to be kings and priests- no merit system whatsoever- you are just chosen- no one knows why or how- just by Gods divine will you are somehow the only ones.

  Seems different from Catholicism or other protestant denominations idea that all men receive "grace" from God. That all are his children and deserving of mercy.

  Just a few theological thoughts- no disrespect meant xjw4evr.

  My personal beliefs are better expressed by this quote: We are all atheists about most of the gods that societies have ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further. – Richard Dawkins