mustang

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Posts by mustang

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  44

  Is The WT Society Getting Financially Desperate ? Nov.15th WT Your Take ?

  by flipper in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  as most of us know on the board - awhile back the watchtower society printed a brochure called : "charitable planning to benefit kingdom service worldwide.

  " it was written to provide info to witnesses on a variety of ways that gifts may be made to the society presently or at death.

  i have a lurking witness friend on the board who sent me the nov. 15th watchtower and it has an article entitled, " ways in which some choose to give ".

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  mustang

  What's next? a Telethon

  Mustang
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  44

  Is The WT Society Getting Financially Desperate ? Nov.15th WT Your Take ?

  by flipper in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  as most of us know on the board - awhile back the watchtower society printed a brochure called : "charitable planning to benefit kingdom service worldwide.

  " it was written to provide info to witnesses on a variety of ways that gifts may be made to the society presently or at death.

  i have a lurking witness friend on the board who sent me the nov. 15th watchtower and it has an article entitled, " ways in which some choose to give ".

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  mustang

  When He who says: 'All the gold and silver of the mountains are mine,' fails to provide necessary funds, we will understand it to be time to suspend the publication."

  I remember hearing this. That was always my philosophy: God has it all, anyway, I need what I can get more than he does.

  I was also taught by JW's to 'stand and watch your salvation'.

  The passive game is a sword that can cut both ways.

  Mustang
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  5

  Temple, Church, Hall

  by cameo-d in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  what is denoted by using all these different words for places of worship?.

  temple?

  church?

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  mustang

  But what is the significance of it being called a "Hall"?

  If you can quit putting unrelated distractions in your path, the point is that early on the Bible Students had no fixed meeting places and went from rented Hall to rented Hall. Sometimes there would be no Bible Students (to become JW's) in a town and BS-JW's from elsewhere would show up to see what interest they could gather. If anyone was serious, they would meet in private homes until enough of a following was aroused. Then some more semi-permanent arrangement could be made. These became the Kingdom Halls when they were no longer rental Halls from whatever was available.

  Mustang
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  5

  Temple, Church, Hall

  by cameo-d in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  what is denoted by using all these different words for places of worship?.

  temple?

  church?

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  mustang

  But what is the significance of it being called a "Hall"?

  You missed that wholesale: in the 1800's, early 1900's people met in HALLS to discuss things. Before Radio and TV, public meetings and newspapers were centers of information and entertainment. There were Meeting Halls, Lecture Halls, Beer Halls, Lodge Halls and that recurring one today, the Town Hall. Simple as that: BTW, I was there, you weren't. Early 50's and these old carryovers were still happening.

  I also wondered about the christmas carol "Deck the Halls".....surely this does not mean bows on the funeral parlor chairs in the KH?

  You're overreaching again. "Deck the Halls" is no relation: a Christmas Carol, nothing more.

  These funeral home chairs were plain wooden folding chairs w/ no decoration. And they weren't always used, except for "overflow" requirements, like special Sudnay Public Talks. We stamped or ordered "handbills" and plastered the town with them.

  "Halls of Montezuma": again, no relation. That's from the Marine Corp hymn. However, I happen to know a great deal about Semper Fi. That's the USMC: the USMC went to the "Halls of Montezuma" when they landed at Veracruz on the east coast of Mexico and went all the way to Mexico City in the Mexican American War. (Battle of Chapultepec Castle, Sept 1847)

  Masonic Halls and Church Fellowship Halls are more like it: those are close to the KH (Kingdom Hall) meaning.

  You can't just go through the dictionary or the I-Net and grab every occurrence of Halls. You forgot Hall's Menthalyptus and the "Shores of Tripoli".

  Mustang
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  5

  Temple, Church, Hall

  by cameo-d in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  what is denoted by using all these different words for places of worship?.

  temple?

  church?

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  3. 
• 

  mustang

  Early on, the "Bible Students" did not have fixed locations and rented "Halls" to hold lectures. I remember my father renting the local "Moose Lodge" on occasion and we carted truckloads of folding chairs from funeral homes. When JW's "settled down" to a fixed location these became "Kingdom Halls". WTS had a thing about being different, espcecially from the world; so they couldn't just have a "church" :)

  One important thing to note here (and I watched this) is that a "congo" in the formative years was very "hand-to-mouth"; it started "taking off" when a few locals who could become steady contributors were recrutied/converted/whatever.

  Mustang
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  44

  Is The WT Society Getting Financially Desperate ? Nov.15th WT Your Take ?

  by flipper in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  as most of us know on the board - awhile back the watchtower society printed a brochure called : "charitable planning to benefit kingdom service worldwide.

  " it was written to provide info to witnesses on a variety of ways that gifts may be made to the society presently or at death.

  i have a lurking witness friend on the board who sent me the nov. 15th watchtower and it has an article entitled, " ways in which some choose to give ".

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  mustang

  Don't these greedy money grabbing WT higher ups know their own rank and file members are getting bled dry by the awful economy ?

  Two thoughts in response:

  #1: Whether they know or don't, they backed the wrong horse and the wrong method to be cost effective: instead of encouraging people to become more and thereby become prosperous and able to give more; instead, they encourage people to be less, tie up their time in costly pursuit but still give more than they can afford.

  WTS MONEY GRUBBERS BACKED THE WRONG HORSE

  should be a headline.

  #2: Let's use an analogy. If you were an alcoholic and your doctor told you to quit drinking, would you instead inject alcohol straight into your veins, simply because that would not be "drinking"?

  Of course not. Likewise, your "mother", WTS, is hemorrhaging (bleeding to death) money-wise. Let's use theocraptik counsel: NO BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS!!!

  Therefore, we see, using the Watchtower, that giving a 'monetary' blood transfusion to Brooklyn would not be the proper theocratic thing to do!!!

  Mustang
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  20

  If the economy is tanking ......why is gas...

  by yknot in

  1. social
  2. current

  why is gas dropping in price?.

  it was $3.69 three weeks ago and now it is $2.85.. not complaining but it seems kinda fishy.

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  mustang

  the economy doesn't have to "tank":

  scenario 1- you are in a foreclosure situation and it's the end of the world. No, it isn't :)

  My congress-critter told us in a town meeting that over a million loans have been rearranged to keep people in their houses IF THEY CAN MAKE THE PAYMENTS THEY NOW HAVE. That was back in about March-April.

  If you have the guts/balls to stand up and yell at your banker/call your congressman, having heard about it in a timely manner, you can get that ARM rewritten.

  The bank doesn't want your property or another black mark on it's record. If you can keep on, keepin' on, like you have been, they will look the other way.

  [I've been in foreclosure and 'saved the ranch'; I've been in Bankruptcy Court (as a Creditor) and heard Judges grant "Relief from Stays". Either way, you have at least 90 days to yell. And some of those in Bankruptcy Court said that they had been contacted by the bank already. The Judge

  granted the Relief from Stay, anyway, saying that you have plenty of time and that the bank is freer to talk to you without the Stay. If you can't save yourself, having the money, you're uninformed or stupid.]

  What happens to the ARM? The banks are being forced to 'internalize' them or face failure. It becomes their problem; but they'll lose a tiny single digit percentage, instead of 100% of a deal this way. The clown that set it up in the first place may be gone and probably nobody will bother him if he isn't. It may be some fly-by-night phone sales boiler room. Lot's of those have shut down already.

  Scenario 2- Bailouts

  I'll quote what-ah from another post:

  There are many instances of the Government bailing out private/public industry at a profit:
  
  Lockheed - 1971
  New York City 1975
  1982 The "Big Three"
  1994 Mexico bail Out
  
  Keep in mind that AIG is getting a bridge loan at 11%. That's practically Hard money.
  
  700 Billion to cover potential write downs? I see profit.

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/165710/2.ashx

  If every body is careful and doesn't lose their head, I see the economy coming out of this and going strong again.

  As I understand McCain, he wants to keep on doing what's been going on. That includes de-regulation. That needs to be reversed. It seems to me that McCain is confusing DEREGULATING INSTITUTIONS with other laws that impede INDIVIDUAL FREEDOMS. The two are NOT THE SAME. Nothing could be further from the truth.

  The de-regulation OF INSTITUTIONS (especially FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS) that was the darling of the last 2 or 3 decades has led to this and the FINANCIAL INSTITUTES need a harsh dose of regulation restored to them.

  The thoughts of the other poster that mentioned the speculators involved in gas prices and moving on to greener pastures may also have a powerful bearing on this.

  It's a far cry from INTERFERING WITH INDIVIDUAL FREEDOMS to allowing INSTITUTIONS TO RUN AMUCK WITH IRRESPONSIBILITY.

  It's like the old story of the Delphian Oracle: the king goes and asks will I prevail in battle. The oracle answers: a kingdom will be won. He goes out confidently and loses; his kingdom was won by the other side.

  Fortunes are being lost; but fortunes will be made at the same time. Business as usual will be going on in a few years, but different people will be in charge.

  Mustang
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  16

  I forgot how unsupportive my dad is...

  by Nosferatu in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm searching for a new job.

  i've been searching for a new job for about 3-4 months now.

  the ones that i liked didn't hire me.

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  mustang

  I've been in Electronics for 50 years. Sad to see repair taking a hit, but I got out of that eons ago; though I dabble in it ocassionlly.

  When I worked in aerospace, one of our Engineers invented something major in HVAC; I never got the details on that. He went out and formed a small company. He came back and recruited all the techs he could: "I can train E-Techs HVAC easy, a lot easier than the other way around".

  I would say, yes and it's a good path. You will be more advanced than the other HVAC's: electronic controls are everywhere. And it's better if you know what the insides are up to than just 'black box' everything in sight.

  I know a military guy that is a HVAC specialist, but knows electronics and general mechanics: he is in demand, goes everywhere and is in lead roles.

  Your Dad reminds me of my Sig-Other: she is never in the proper lane driving and is always setting up to turn the wrong direction. If I'm not paying attention and look up to find her in the left lane, I know that we need to turn right

  So, I would say 'shine him on' and invert his his advice as a sanity check

  Mustang
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  19

  My Elder Brother's Flip-Flopping Sucking Up to Appease My Elderly Parents

  by flipper in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  where do i start ?

  a brief summation here.

  as some of you know my ex-bethel elder brother told my sister a witness who was a victim of a stroke that in august she needed to move 8 hours away to her witness daughter who could care for her better .

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  mustang

  My sister aced my brother and me out of our inheritance. It wasn't much, but now she's got so much guilt she won't face us. My brother and I have faded or slowed down to zip and she stayed active and married a sorta connected eLDER wannabe.

  Fortunately, my brother and I are both comfortable, money-wise; my sister needed the money, so I almost don't begrudge it. As far as the money is concerned, I really don't care.

  But the level of wedge-driving the ##%^&*$ church does is pathetic. That miserable substitute for real love is what bothers me.

  [PS: this was hard to cough up, like a furball the size of a grapefruit.]

  Mustang
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  17

  1,600-year-old version of Bible goes online

  by BurnTheShips in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  codex sinaiticus now available to all from home:.

  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25785089/.

  bts.

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  mustang

  I cranked the resolution up a little:

  Mustang