MrMonroe

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Posts by MrMonroe

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  44

  WT Society Appoints Elders/MS Based on " Functions " Performed - not ....

  by flipper in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ........... holy spirit or any " fruitages of the spirit " like love, kindness, mildness, meekness , etc.

  shown by men considered for elder or ms positions.

  qualities or true positive character traits are not that important to the wt society in appointments of these men in jw congregations.. no, the real " qualifications " that a jw man needs to exhibit is being able to report 10 hours a month in knocking on people's doors offering wt and awake magazines !

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  MrMonroe

  Without trying to sound like a blowhard, I used to put a lot of thought into my talks and answers, in a way I thought would help people think about their faith. I tried to make talks interesting, and used to get frequent favorable comments about them afterwards. Until I started seriously slacking, I used to put a lot of effort into preparing for FS and RVs in order to try to teach people about what I then believed was Bible truth about the impending Armageddon.

  Though I'd been an MS in previous congregations, the congo in which I ended up spending the last 13 years of my JW life never did appoint me as an MS. Reason: I didn't get enough hours. I usually got 8 or 9 a month, until a smartarse young elder told me if that was the best I could do, I might as well not bother. It was advice I eventually accepted.

  One elder, who was keen to see me appointed, once told me: "We need to get you a Bible study so we can boost your hours." I'd thought "hours" in that context referred to the lead you were setting in the FS groups, but if I was spending another 10 hours a month in someone's home doing a Bible study, no one would have ever seen me "setting the lead" anyway.

  I'd say Flipper's statement is correct. It was all about hours.
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  28

  Australia : a JW woman dies after refusing blood

  by yalbmert99 in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2011/11/11/276021_todays-news.html.

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  MrMonroe

  Absolutely ridiculous. Years ago "Abstain from blood" meant , um, don't take any blood. Now they're slipping in a few loopholes. In order to please their God, poorly-educated rank and file members are now expected to become experts on haemoglobins and platelets to decide whether this constitutes "taking blood" or that doesn't. It really is a tragedy for the millions trapped inside this religion, their lives dictated by the whims of the Governing Body.

  Why would the GB not have the guts to stand up say, "We were wrong"?

  What evidence is there that God is directing their decisions on haemoglobins?

  Maybe God will direct them to pick up their copy of the Hobart Mercury, read the coroner's recommendation and say, "Well, brothers, I suppose we could give it a try ..."
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  28

  Australia : a JW woman dies after refusing blood

  by yalbmert99 in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2011/11/11/276021_todays-news.html.

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  MrMonroe

  The saddest part of the story:

  Mr Chandler said no criticism should be made of Mrs Allen, or her husband, for their choice of religious faith.

  "However, as baptised Jehovah's Witnesses they were obligated by their religion to abide by its doctrine that forbids the ingestion of blood or blood products."

  It is the right of anyone to make a conscientious decision about their form of medical treatment. If they choose to die, that's their right. But Jehovah's Witnesses don't have a choice. They are compelled to obey a directive from a bunch of old men in New York who ignore medical facts and persist with a perverted interpretation of one Bible passage. They are the one single religion in the world who insist their interpretation is correct.
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  42

  Is the "Watchtower Study" = Question and answer a form of brainwashing??

  by Witness 007 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  on sundays study we were always told to keep answers brief and from the paragraph as some brothers would add "other meterial" to their comments.

  the "correct" answer is right there in the paragraph.

  read question --------find answer in paragraph------underline/highlight------read related {not] scripture-----raise hand---give answer from paragraph as though it's your own thought.

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  MrMonroe

  "Brainwashing" is probably a pop-culture phrase that means little in a scientific context. But the WT study method is a form of learning by rote, using what Ray Franz described as a "catechistical" type of teaching. (See In Search of Christian Freedom, p. 420). It is certainly a form of indoctrination when meeting attendees are asked questions but permitted to provide only certain, pre-supplied answers. Anyone straying from the tight boundaries will be spoken to afterwards.

  Witnesses praise their organisation because of its "unity" of thinking, but ignore how this is achieved. It is a uniformity imposed on them by an autocratic leadership that is intolerant of dissent or diversity, and reinforced through very strong peer pressure.
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  82

  What really ended the book study in private homes?

  by Alfred in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  it's been over 3 years since the book study in private homes was discontinued and some jws are still scratching their heads over it.

  although a letter was read to all congregations explaining that "book study night" would now be "family worship night", there was still much speculation among jws as to the real reason behind this decision (the great tribulation was about to start, jehovah was simplifying the lives of jws, to lessen the burden of poor jws who had no money for gas, etc.)...

  but as we all know, decisions like these from the gb invariably have some ulterior motive behind it... and discussion boards such as this one usually finds a way to dig up the truth for all to see... but after reading several threads on this subject, i'm really not sure we've uncovered all the facts yet.... so i have to ask... what do you believe really ended the book study in private homes?

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  MrMonroe

  Although the Book Study "arrangement" (aaarrrgh! Those words!) finished a few months after I quit meetings entirely, it still greatly surprised me. It was the meeting I was most likely to attend, though overall in our congregation it was the meeting that was least supported.

  It reminds me of the old Cold War-era obsession with "Kremlin-watching", in which diplomats and news media used to interpret the statements and actions of the USSR: the Russians would do something and offer an explanation, but the experts knew the real reason was something else, so their job was to figure out the true purpose of a decision made in Moscow. Likewise the WTBTS: as a member you came to know that their explanations for decisions usually shielded the real reason. It was standard practice in congregations for people to speculate (quietly) on the real motivation. It was no real surprise when it turned out that the organisation had sided with Jimmy Swaggart's evangelical holy-roller group in a court battle over taxation around the time they stopped selling their books and magazines in 1990. Yet they never, ever, ever came out and said so in their magazines. That's quite a condemnation of an organisation that is supposedly open and Christian and in which everyone ie equal.

  The choices offered in the opening post are intriguing. It struck me at the time that after so many years of poor attendance, the meetings were simply abandoned as an admission that they were flogging a dead horse and that elders were putting in extra effort for no real gain. But it is so out of character for the WTS to simply give up. I don't know any other arrangement they have that they've just abandoned because of lack of interest; I mean, what next, scrap field service?

  They would know that very few people would actually have a Family Worship Night, so effectively they are just handing back free time to the brothers, which carries an enormous risk that without repeated indoctrination, more will just drift away.

  Maybe the real answer comes down to the adage that given the choice between a conspiracy and a cock-up, such intrigues are almost always a cock-up. In their Bethel Bubble the GB really thought people would embrace Family Worship Night.
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  11

  Steven Unthank's case is back in court on Tuesday

  by Mickey mouse in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://www.jwnews.net/.

  will anyone be there?.

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  MrMonroe

  Judging by that Topix thread and some of the comments being aired on this forum, some people are getting rather too excitable.
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  60

  why JWs doesn't celebrate birthday?

  by vientotz in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i'm so curious, why they're not celebrating their birthdays?

  is it just because jesus don't celebrate it and it's not written in the bible that they celebrated the birthday of jesus?

  or is it written in the bible not to celebrate birthday?

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  MrMonroe

  That's right. The Watchtower suggests it's implied that birthdays are bad, since both birthday celebrations in the Bible had a beheading occur, and both were birthdays of pagan people.

  Someone somewhere made the point that using the same logic, Jehovah's Witnesses would never keep dogs. There is not one positive mention of dogs in the Bible; every mention is negative and pejorative.
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  3

  Read This Book: Crisis of Allegiance

  by headisspinning in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  we already read crisis of conscience which was incredible, but if you are canadian, you need to read crisis of allegiance.

  my husband knows a lot of the players and if you're an ex-canadian elder you probably will too.

  he is just riveted and i can't wait to read it next!.

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  MrMonroe

  Yes, and also the book contained in this thread. Certainly worth tracking down.
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  156

  Victoria, Australia: Report on Oct. 11th hearing involving Steven Unthank

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  victoria, australia: report on oct. 11th hearing involving steven unthank.

  (this report is from an anonymous xjw who attended the hearing.

  i had no plans to turn up to the court hearing as an observer, as in my experience, it can take several hearings and a number of months before any court case gets rolling.

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  MrMonroe

  Snare&racket, the trial has not begun yet. I seriously doubt there would have been any recording taken of comments at a mentions hearing. Therefore, no transcript.
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  6

  transcripts of the WWC case...can we get? MAYBE

  by Aussie Oz in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  found this tonight...anyone here close to the action that thinks its worth a go?.

  http://www.magistratescourt.vic.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/justlib/magistrates+court/home/practice+and+procedure/.

  q:how do i obtain a copy of the audio recording for a case that was heard?a:all proceedings of the magistrates court are recorded.

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  MrMonroe

  Many of these points have been previously addressed. The case is criminal, not civil. I doubt whether anything would have been taped to date because they are only mentions, an administrative process. Unthank has no lawyer: he has been the prosecutor so far. The WT law firm, Vincent Toole Solicitors, is headed by Vin Toole, who lives and works at Bethel. It is most unikely he would cooperate with any outside request.