Posts by MrMonroe

21

Pangs of Conscience - June 2011 KM

by dozy in

jw
friends

there is an article in the latest kingdom ministry about counting time spent in the ministry.

one comment surprised me - it says that counting time wrongly can lead to "pangs of conscience".

a bit of an ott expression , i can't help thinking.. the only pangs the local pioneers are concerned about here are hunger pangs as they head to dunkin donuts for a 40 minute "break".

MrMonroe

Very rarely is anything new written in their literature. And so it is with this. See OKM 10/74,

"When some question arises, ask yourself: Has this time been spent in the preaching activity? Or has it been spent doing something else that is not actually part of that work? Report all the time you conscientiously feel was used in the preaching work. The amount you report in comparison with others is not important. (Gal. 6:4) The important thing is that the love in your heart has moved you to share your faith with others. (Luke 6:45) What we report should give us joy and not pangs of conscience."

74

New Member - Dan Edmund - Introducing Myself - Preaching in the Philippines

by Dan Edmund in

jw
friends

hi to all the brothers and sisters and friends who are using this site.

this is just to introduce myself.

my name is dan edmund, and am a fellow witness from australia.

MrMonroe

I don't mind Dan being here. I, too, am now having a lot of single Filipino girls smiling at me on this page. (If someone cares to start a thread about breast enlargement that may not be a bad thing ...)

It's good to see this guy's response. He didn't run away in fear, he seemed to treat us with respect. Dan, it would be good to scan some of the threads in this forum. Your frank comments would probably be appreciated.

56

Happifying? Real WT quote, or are we joking -

by james_woods in

maybe i just missed it, (the story of the word) - but i am seeing this word "happifying" in a lot of threads.. can it possibly be that the wt actually printed this??

?.

MrMonroe

District conventions, of course, are opportunities for us to find happyifying experiences, be spiritually upbuilt and most of all to find the material there so encouraging. At post-DC debriefing meetings a month or so afterwards, it was always good to be the first to put your hand up to say you were so encouraged. Walking out the door, thinking about the unmade beds and piles of breakfast dishes awaiting us at home because we had to race to the convention and save our seats in the morning, we would smile and say how encouraging and upbuilding the whole thing was.

We just hoped no one asked us what the highlight was.

I remember some dickhead elder giving a talk from the platform -- complete with props!! -- about the benefit of spiritual binoculars that allowed us to see the dangers far ahead.

10

Memorial nibbler asked to leave

by MrMonroe in

seen this?.

blogger is a partner of an ex-bethelite who attends a memorial after a decade out, takes a nibble and is asked to leave.

photographic evidence provided.. partner, meanwhile (non-jw, smoker, unmarried) is warmly welcomed.. .

MrMonroe

Seen this?

Blogger is a partner of an ex-Bethelite who attends a Memorial after a decade out, takes a nibble and is asked to leave. Photographic evidence provided.

Partner, meanwhile (non-JW, smoker, unmarried) is warmly welcomed.

51

Alert: Witch hunt begins Watchtower 15 july 2011

by Gorbatchov in

jw
friends

reading the posts about the 2011-7-15 watchtower about mentally retarded apostates i foresee the following scenario:.

1. congregational elders trying to get grip on non regular publishers and inactive witnesses.. 2. the good ones read in the watchtower that apostates are to find in the local congregation.

3. inactives like me (i hate this name, but i use their language), and liberal witness like me, will be hunted, .

MrMonroe

Nothing will change. After my wife and I stopped going to the meetings in early 2008, a friend in another city assured us that the November 15, 2008 articles on "helping those who stray from the flock" would prompt members of our congo to call us and ask after our welfare and urge us to return to the meetings.

I doubted that, and in fact nothing happened. Although it was a very strident call for JWs to act when they see people fading and drifting, the drones just sit there, mark their Watchtowers, put their hands up for an answer, then wander off home and take off their jackets and ties and get on with their sorry lives.

Nothing in the Watchtowers makes any impact on the drones. To them, this particular magazine article is just more background noise, banging out the same old message.

20

'necessary family business'...just what is it?

by Aussie Oz in

(prompted in part by the post on the latest wt reinforcing shunning).. say a child has occasional, not regular, contact with a d/f parent.

the child later gets married, is inviting the parent seen as ''necessary family business''?.

if a wedding is not, then what is?.

MrMonroe

Pirata nails it. The definition is left intentionally loose so that it can be interpreted by the local BOE. If they want to crucify you they have carte blanche.

41

Has your anger turned to pity?

by journey-on in

jw
friends

getting through the tough steps toward real freedom from the wts involves a lot of work for some.

many, start out angry that their authentic lives were hampered by a high-control group of men posing as god's organization.

we feel robbed of something we can't quite put our finger on sometimes.

MrMonroe

I feel a mix of anger and pity. At school when I pick my kids up I see Witnesses I used to mix with, and I often think about the "friends" who studied with me and introduced me to this organisation. And I feel a measure of pity and sorrow for them that they're still trapped, as I was for more than 20 years.

But then I figure, I had the brains to analyse and inspect my religion. I found the resources to do so. They just haven't. As the famous Walter Salter letter said, " 'A man who cannot think is an idiot, a man who won't think is a fool, and a man who is afraid to think is a coward.' I absolutely refuse to have any person do my thinking for me."

They can all choose to live their lives in submission to a group of old men who sit around a mahogany table in Brooklyn, or they can take control of their own lives. It's their choice.

Yet they continue to regard me with pity and contempt because I "slacked off" or "lost faith" or become "seduced by the world" or want to "enjoy the temporary pleasure of sin" or whatever lie they believe. Idiots.

65

Watchtower -

by jwfacts in

MrMonroe

23

Yet another July 15th 2011 WT thread...use caution--deconstruction at work

by sd-7 in

i figured i'd start off by just examining the language used in the july 15th, 2011 watchtower, page 15-16, paragraphs 4-7.. apostates are like:.

1. ravenous wolves.

9. their own ideas.

MrMonroe

Well considered. Many thanks, sd7. That's brilliant. Don Cameron in his Captives of a Concept book similarly compared the them-and-us language which provided a stark contrast between the terms describing the organization and those they perceived as its enemies. Reading it in a list as you (and he) have done underlines the point so well.

65

Watchtower -

by jwfacts in