I think whomever said it was an issue of seeing whether you are willing to just "follow the rules", no matter how pointless they seem, had it just about right. According to my dad, the PO of his congregation, it was just a rule the society had, and if you couldn't submit to that rule, you'd never be an elder. I remember him specifically saying it about a particular brother who had been in our congregation and then moved to a neighbouring congregation; he had a beard for as long as I could remember, and had been appointed a ministerial servant but never an elder. Dad said that no one with a beard would ever become an elder.
starfish422
JoinedPosts by starfish422
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43
Beards, can someone explain?
by Satans little helper incan someone give me a sensible explaination as to why the jw's have banned beards?
i was df'd in '90 just as this was becoming a big deal and at the time i thought it was completely rediculous what with jesus probably having a beard.
it was one of the many things that led me to seeing that the gb make arbitrary rules and that the organisation has more to do with control than religion.
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Holly Cole: Beautiful Jazz
by RAYZORBLADE inever heard of her?
anyways, she may not be top 40, but she's a well respected and well known jazz singer.. originally from halifax, nova scotia.
she moved to toronto, probably about the same time i did, thankfully she was not a jw, and she persued her musical career in canada's largest city.. http://www.hollycole.com.
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starfish422
I love Holly Cole, Ray. :) My favourite song is Neon Blue; it's a few years old but sooo smooooooooooth.
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What love is...out of the Mouths of babes
by proandcon injust thought this was worth passing along...comments from young children...so simple yet so profound...best wishes to all.... what love is.
a group of professional people posed this question to.
a group of 4 to 8 year-olds, "what does love mean?".
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starfish422
Oh gosh. Emails don't usually make me cry but this one did. Thanks for that.
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If you left JW's, somebody persuaded you -- you couldn't decide on your own
by Gopher inhave you ever heard this from a jw relative or friend?
it seems that jw's believe that, unless you're really evil -- you're weak.
so weak, that you need others to help you decide whether or not to stay with the jw's.. my jw dad (a congregation elder) said i sounded "just like my sister" who had da'd herself years earlier.
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starfish422
Yup! My mother has commented to my non-JW grandmother *many* times that I would never have left if I hadn't met my future husband. SIGH. Whatever she needs to tell herself.
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The Society has given up on "holiday witnessing"
by dothemath in.
up until a few years ago......every dec. km had a part encouraging everyone to go in the ministry on the holidays.......christmas day, etc.. no one ever got too excited about it in our cong.
.........it was pretty much a joke to everyone even when commenting on it during the meeting part.. that no longer seems to be the case..........haven't seen any parts like this for a few years now......i guess they've given up completely.. the meeting part usually included some "fine experiences"......but i have heard exactly the opposite from some who actually tried it one time.. have any of you ever went in service on christmas day?
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starfish422
Omgosh, even my parents didn't make me do that!! EEK! I can't *imagine*.
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I found the culprit that messed up my computer
by Mulan inyesterday i posted that my computer was all messed up and that simon had helped me to eliminate the problem.. well, now i know what the culprit was.
you know those cute little smileys many of us have downloaded and are using to add to our posts?
the program that detects problems in your computer, eliminated that one.
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starfish422
Spybot is a good one, and Ad-Aware is another good one. Good rule of thumb, don't download any toolbars!! Anything that seems helpful...they're not doing it to help YOU out, believe me. They're loaded with adware and spyware.
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The Elders Are Getting Opinions About Minimus
by minimus inmy mother told me that her bookstudy overseer asked his group this question---"why do you think a mature brother in the truth would just suddenly leave and stop coming to meetings?
any ideas?
" the group gave different opinions and finally he gave what he thought could be the reasons.
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starfish422
I couldn't agree more with what seattleniceguy said.
I think it's deplorable that this sort of thing would come up at the book study of all places!! Aren't the elders supposed to discourage speculation about why members may have left?? And this dickhead is
usingabusing his authority as bookstudy conductor to *encourage open speculation* about that very subject, in a public forum? In front of your mom, to whom the elders should be giving support (their own brand of 'support', anyways)?Not only are they encouraging speculation, I agree with whomever said that they are trying to instill fear in the masses to "examine their own spirituality" so that they, too, are not overcome by whatever it was that led astray poor Brother Minimus and his family.
ACK. The whole situation is unconscionable.
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Thinking of the kids at Christmas
by Angharad inour two kids were so excited this morning going to school.
this afternoon was the christmas party.
so they were all set with party clothes in a bag to change into and their assigned food/drink they had to bring.
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starfish422
My sadness about Christmas isn't so much for myself, it's for a lack of understanding of how my parents could stand to do this to us. If I had to tell my son that we couldn't celebrate Christmas, it would literally break my heart. I don't know how my mom and dad justified telling my oldest brother, who was five when they stopped celebrating, that they simply weren't going to have Christmas any longer.
I'm also astounded that they didn't seem to have any compassion at all for me, a small child, where it concerned my disappointment at not being able to celebrate Christmas. As though I, at 3 or 4 or even 9 or 10 years old, should feel joy at being "separate from the world" and should gladly keep myself away from the Christmas celebrations at school and so on. It was as if they honestly didn't understand why, when they gave me the reasons we didn't celebrate, I didn't jump up and sing Hallelujah or something.
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My Wife Was Confronted By Her Friends Last Night
by minimus in2 of my wife's jw friends had dinner with her last night and pleaded to know what was going on.
were we taking a "break"?
was there anything said that hurt us?
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starfish422
Good for your wife for keeping her cool and speaking honestly to her friends!! I sincerely hope there are no negative consequences from it.
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starfish422
I still have an unconscious avoidance of the word "lucky", substituting "fortunate" more often than not.