Hi Joeblow,
Welcome & I am glad you joined the board. All the best for the journey ahead!
Mattieu..........
Mattieu
JoinedPosts by Mattieu
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37
Another newbie... so to speak
by joeblow inhey... how's everyone?.
i'm a new guy here... so a bit about me.. i was raised as a jw.
my parents started studying when i was a baby, so it's all i knew growing up.
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Are you like Ivan Ilych?
by AK - Jeff inhis reaction at the knowledge that he was mortal - was yours similar when you recognized that you would die?.
on some level it seems very difficult as a human being to accept one's mortality.
though we may acknowledge it verbally, we submerge our heads in the figurative sand when it comes to realistic acceptance.
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Mattieu
Hi AK Jeff,
I enjoyed your comments on the subject, though I am a bit like Dissed, though reaching 40 and leaving the Borg was a real slap in the face in accepting the fact that I will grow old & die. It is a difficult subject, particularly as a “born in” who was never going to make it to school.
Mattieu....
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Sydney catch up this Wed/Thur night?
by Mattieu inhi, i am flying into sydney on business this wednesday & thursday, anyone want to catch up for drinks on either of those nights?
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mattieu..........
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Mattieu
Hi, I am flying into Sydney on business this Wednesday & Thursday, anyone want to catch up for drinks on either of those nights?
Mattieu.........
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44
New Here!! And finally I can post.
by Crisis of Conscience ini've been lurking for quite a while but i finally gave in to my "apostate" heart and joined!
i'm so excited!.
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Mattieu
Hi CoC,
Welcome, I can relate to so many aspects of your post, you will be suprised as to how many of us are/have struggled with the same feelings.
Mattieu....
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Who gave the longest talk ever in your lifetime?
by asilentone inkarl adams from brooklyn bethel did it for 3 hours in the 80's.
i never went to the restroom, i never got up from my seat during his very long talk.
i did enjoy his talk back then.
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Mattieu
Longest Talk - Viv Mouritz from the Australian Bethel, he has the concluding talk at every District Convention. He is a good speaker, though getting on in years now. He always departs from the talk outline and spends 15 minutes talking about how deep we are in the end of time, relates over exaggerated experiences that generate lots of oooh's and aah's from the audience. He spends the last 5 minutes of every talk using his Darth Vader voice to whip up urgency & guilt feelings that we are not doing enough for Jehovah.
We used to have a running bet on how many times he could illicit audience clapping, he used to average about 20-25 rounds of clapping every talk!
Longest Prayer - Br Franz at the Royal Melbourne Showgrounds back in 1988 or 89 where he gave a “special” talk, I sat down halfway through his final prayer.
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New Here - My First Rambling.
by SearchingForMe innewbie, born-in, 30+ yrs, still trying to decide what i believe since all my options are now open...i can say i no longer feel the need to follow men.... i've lurked here for quite a while and enjoyed the ramblings of many, so since i'm now a member here are some of my ramblings.. it makes me sad that so many people will continue to do something just because they feel they have too much time and/or energy invested to stop and make a course correction, even if they see it's leading nowhere or to an undesirable end.
it also saddens me how some people are so preprogrammed to follow what others say that they feel extremely uncomfortable changing their views, deep seated or not, even when presented with uncontrovertable evidence that their views are at best unproven, and at worst simply not possible or even plausible.. but i also realize, that just like in the sci-fi fantasy world of the matrix, some sheeple just are not mentally prepared to leave their fantasy world.
it works for them, and who am i to tell them how they should live.
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Mattieu
Hi SFM,
I enjoyed your 1st post, welcome.
Mattieu....
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Mattieu
Hi Styler1fan,
Welcome and I look forward to hearing more from you.
Mattieu...
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International Conventions = $$$$. WTBT$ in bed with South Korean government
by Mattieu ini remember the whole process of selecting a host city for australias last international convention.
the australian bethel played the nsw government against the victorian.
it was so similar to choosing an olympic city and the big boys from bethel knew how to play the game.
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Mattieu
Some people I know who went to the last International in South Africa, were slightly peed off as their accommodation package included 3 nights accommodation with a local J-dub family during the actual convention dates.
They did the math and worked out that they actually were paying for these nights with the local families! Local families volunteered to open their homes, society charges visiting brothers & sisters for utilising this aspect of brotherly love.
Dozy & Sir82, I used to reason the same when I saw these “advertorials” on host cities in the WT & Awake, how on earth could that be “food at the proper time?”
It was about that time I openly compared the Awake magazine to the Readers Digest.
Mattieu....
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Memorial talk we do not dedicate ourselves to an organisation
by Mattieu inwe do not dedicate ourselves to an organisation.
that is a direct quote from the memorial speaker during his final comments about our relationship with jesus.
my wife looked straight at me when he said that, as that has been one of my many points i have raised with her as to my angst with the wtbt$.. i was baptised before the change of dedication vows in 1985 and she after the change.. was my memorial speaker ad-libbing or was that quote in all the memorial outlines worldwide?.
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Mattieu
Thanks for those magazine quotes blondie, and TM, I went through the same thinking process.
I suppose I just found it so hypocritical to hear the speaker say that on their biggest recruitment night. If I was an RV attending the memorial and heard that and started studying the bible, made progress to the point of dedication & baptism, I would feel cheated reading the baptismal questions and then recalling the memorial speaker’s words.
Or is it just conditioning new ones to get used to all the lies.....
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International Conventions = $$$$. WTBT$ in bed with South Korean government
by Mattieu ini remember the whole process of selecting a host city for australias last international convention.
the australian bethel played the nsw government against the victorian.
it was so similar to choosing an olympic city and the big boys from bethel knew how to play the game.
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Mattieu
Hi BP, yeah you assumed correct an Aussie, living in Melbourne! And you?
BP & ldrnomo - I have been over the costing of overseas conventions arranged through the wtbt$ travel department and they were always over the top price wise.
As an exercise, I used to put together a flight/accommodation/transfers/sightseeing/meals package using similar rated lodgings. I used pricing available to the average traveller, no inside hot deals.
I always came up hundreds of dollars cheaper than the wbt$ travel department.
Now keep in mind that the society gets a huge discount as they are purchasing on behalf of at least 1000 overseas delegates. That makes them eligible for a huge bulk discount on hotel rooms and airfares and ground content. I remember the last South African international where all the Australian delegates from different states met in Singapore for the flight to SA. The society had filled every seat on that plane with JDubs (who sat in 1 st class)....
Yes, a lot of the free rooms and air travel were given to the Brooklyn heavies, but there is still a huge amount of $$ that goes back into the societies deep pockets.
It simply is big business, the revenue of which we will never see in an accounts report.......