Pork Chop

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Posts by Pork Chop

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  104

  "The Apostates Are Infiltrating The Congregations Now"

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  at the circuit assembly, my mother mentioned to me that the society is warning of a new danger.

  there are witnesses that are on the internet reading apostate things but are still members of the congregation.

  they are slowly being infiltrated by the 'apostates' and are still amongst us.

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  Pork Chop

  All the Halls around here are pretty full, most of them have four congregations meeting and they're building new Halls. There's a lot of wishful thinking going on here I think.
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  17

  When good elders do bad things...

  by True North in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  recently i had occasion to speak with an elder i hadn't seen in a while.

  (although i've been out for twenty years now, my wife and some of my children are still locked within the org's tender embrace, which led to my happening to encounter him and our resultant conversation.

  ) he's someone i consider a really good guy at heart, truly caring and sincerely working at being a good shepherd as he sees it.

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  Pork Chop

  I know several elders or ex-elders that have regreted actions they've taken, some of them said they would never do such a thing again. Typically this involved something like acting on an alternative service issue or a hasty action, and sometimes it was dealing with someone that was just nuts. Frankly most elders are rarely called on to deal with things like apostasy, in several decades in the congregations I'm familiar with I know of exactly two cases so that's probably not an issue that most elders face. Also, in my experience most elders leave people alone and make no effort to track them down when they decide to leave. I know a lot of people here will disagree with my comments but that's my experience. Most elders are not evil or Nazis or any of that other rubbish, they just try to do the best they can within the limits of their understanding. And I said most, not all.
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  36

  Not Everyone Is Welcomed At The Kingdom Hall

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i knew of a couple that left their mates so that they could be with one another.

  the elders promptly disfellowshipped them.

  the couple made it known immediately, that they were going to apply for reinstatement as soon as possible.

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  Pork Chop

  Yeah, I knor a case where a family was banned, sort of. I don't know that they ever made an attempt to return after they were told not to come back. These people were filthy, I mean eye watering, toss your breakfast filthy. The whole congregation turned out to clean their place and them top to bottom, sparkling clean, scented like a spring breeze. Really kind direction was given on how to remain in that condition, a veritable cornucopia of materials was given to them to help them stay cleaned up. Two months later the pigs were trying to stay up wind of this bunch. The whole congregation turned out, etc. etc. the whole deal again. Two months later it was gag a maggot time again. The body of elders met them at the door on Sunday morning and told them they weren't welcome until they cleaned up. They didn't, and didn't come back. In addition to being filthy, these people didn't really have any redeeming characteristics, I mean they were spit on your floor nasty.

  I'm with the Elders on this one.
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  28

  Being publicly reproved

  by Strawberryfieldsforever in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  years ago my husband and i were publicly reproved.

  we had gone out with some "worldly friends" from work and went dancing and had a few drinks too many.

  well someone must have been around to see us and told the elders.

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  Pork Chop

  Reproof is only supposed to be for something you can be disfellowshipped for, that's what the books says.Sounds like some of these guys really don't have a clue about procedure.
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  15

  How big was your book bag?

  by 2escaped lifers in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .

  all you ex-"brothers": was this just in my area (north alabama), or do any of you remember there being an unstated, but real nonetheless, pecking order amongst the brothers that correlated the size of your meeting briefcase/bookbag to your level of spirituality?.

  don't know why i was thinking about this today.... brandon

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  Pork Chop

  Fraid not, technology is not generally accepted. I used a flip chart once and I though a couple of guys were going to have a heart attack. Congregation liked it.
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  16

  Anyone else obsessed with the Democratic....

  by morrisamb in

  1. social
  2. current

  your politics is so fascinating!

  i've been watch new hampshire etc.

  non stop...i think howard dean did great coming in second and gave a wonderful speech.

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  Pork Chop

  Six I typically read your posts but I have to say that you obviously don't know what democracy is, at least not as observed in the US which is a representative republic. Frankly I'm disappointed that you're just repeating the far left Democrat mantra. Not worthy of serious discussion. Your boy Clark is still toast :)
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  19

  Abuse; congregational reactions in Norway

  by TheOldHippie in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  the swedish program was televised in norway on monday, and yesterday the congregations received a letter from the branch, responding to some of the accusations of the program.

  let that be as it is, but the letter also pointed to how the elders of norway would react to child abuse, and the reactions here do not deviate much from what you would like them to be:.

  1. if a child claims it has been abused by a member of the congregation (or someone else) and tells it to her parents (and they choose not to tell it to the elders from the start), it is their privilege to report it to the police, that is entirely up to them if they choose to do so or not.. 2. if they tell it to one of the elders, that elder - or the group of elders - has to report it to the police, it is mandatory.

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  Pork Chop

  Dude you can fold it until all the corners are square and stick it in your ear.
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  10

  Further Education

  by scotsman in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i had lunch with a jw friend who's just finished a law degree.

  she was saying that at the last circuit assembly the bethel speaker, (philip longstaffe) said that the society had not changed its stance on further education, and that college for vocational skills was all that they thought was ok. my friend's a bit of a free thinker (i'd half hoped that this lunch date was to tell me she had doubts, but no) so she doesn't give fig what they think.

  i was actually appointed as an elder the month before i started attending uni and the co had told the other elders it was no reason to prevent my appointment.. anyone else heard this at their assemblies?

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  Pork Chop

  I've heard half a dozen different slants on this from people in a "position of authority" and I've come to the conclusion that mostly you're hearing personal opinion.

  I know one brother that was assigned a district assembly part and the people that rehearsed him tried to get him to say something negative about higher education and he refused because it wasn't in the outline. They gave it up in the end.
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  55

  The Watchtower Attendance Crisis

  by metatron in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  if the average congregation has about 83 publishers in the us, then the organization may be sinking into a crisis.. take that 83 and consider that half the congregations may have less.. take away '15 minute publishers' who don't attend.

  take away completely fake publishers who rarely attend.

  take away increasingly tired publishers who 'feel sick', are depressed, or just want to stay at home and watch tv.. .

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  Pork Chop

  Right now I'm familiar with Halls in three very different areas and I can't say that I'm seeing this phenomenon in any of them. Indeed, the urban congregations are building new halls because they've got four or five congregations meeting in the old ones and it's getting too difficult to schedule. Rural and small towns are a little different but quite a few of them have two congregations meeting in the same Hall. I know of two congregations that have significantly decreased attendance and one that is very stagnant, but I know of about forty that are going in the other direction. This may be a geographical deal but the three areas are separated by several hundred miles.

  With regard to the Hispanic congregations, I can say that they tend to be considerably more authoritarian than Anglo congregations. Very paternalistic society seems to carry over into the congregations. Lots of rule making, lots of back room visits, lots of critical comments and condemnation for things the publications say are matters of conscience. I've even noticed quite public criticism of Hispanic publishers who become US citizens because of the oath.
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  45

  Liquor/Mixed Drink survey

  by dustyb in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ok, i've done the beer survey, now its the mixed drinks survey.. i personally like the 4 horseman (1/4 jack 1/4 rum 151, 1/4 everclear, and 1/4 tequila).

  it'll put you on your ass quick.

  i also like a good bull buster (yager w/ red bull).

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  Pork Chop

  Jack Black rocks

  Macallans just as it comes

  Black Bush just as it comes

  Armagnac when the glow is on