Posts by StarTrekAngel

443

Zone Visit: An Announcement That Will "Test Your Faith"

by breakfast of champions in

this is the scuttlebutt in one of the "bethel congregations" by us.. no details as to exactly what this "faith-testing" announcement might be.. anyone else hear any of this pre-zone visit hype?.

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StarTrekAngel

unfortunately I won't be able to skip the "ZONE VISIT!" (I hear those words in my head as I type them, with some horror-movie type of music in the background). I am supposed to help setup the video feed. An announcement was also made last night to remind everyone that no one should be using the Wifi that day. I hardly thing anyone understood what is that they needed to do with their wifi.

443

Zone Visit: An Announcement That Will "Test Your Faith"

by breakfast of champions in

this is the scuttlebutt in one of the "bethel congregations" by us.. no details as to exactly what this "faith-testing" announcement might be.. anyone else hear any of this pre-zone visit hype?.

.

StarTrekAngel

Yeap... I can see some making that mistake and maxing out their credit cards. One of my relatives could be one of them, thanksfully she does not have a credit card, only debit. She does have, though, this self imposed "pledge" that she has not been able to comply with. I mean she has the money, but for one reason or another keeps on forgetting to proceed. She has meant to make the whole donation at once and this just makes it easier for her to finally do it.

Makes me wonder if people will confuse this donation arrangement with the same they do at the local hall. If no arrangement is ever made to make electronic donations to the local hall, then this might well be a tricky move. See, if people do begin to experience the convenience of electronic donation, they may forget, or have less to donate locally. This would make the KH local account to begin drying. Then the elders would come hounding the cong because they are not making ends meet. This way, if you make an electronic, recurring donation, plus you are reminded to the commitment you made locally, its a double whammy.

Just some food for thought there. I myself have stop donating. My last donation was somewhere around the time I realized how much more unexplainable expensive the assemblies were getting. When we started having assemblies in our own assembly hall rather then renting. This was somewhat unconcious... when the new construction arrangement was made and after seeing how overpriced our Hall renovation was.. I said, enough!

443

Zone Visit: An Announcement That Will "Test Your Faith"

by breakfast of champions in

this is the scuttlebutt in one of the "bethel congregations" by us.. no details as to exactly what this "faith-testing" announcement might be.. anyone else hear any of this pre-zone visit hype?.

.

StarTrekAngel

It was announced last night in our meeting. Two new methods to make electronic donations...

1- You can donate electronically by means of your bank account's billpay service. You can send a payment to "watchtower". You can also request a donor ID by sending an email with a specific subject message and receive further instructions

2- You can create an account in JW.ORG and make donations with debit/credit cards.

I guess the end is so close that you can now get yourself into debt to support the org. After all, is not likely you would have to pay it back.

443

Zone Visit: An Announcement That Will "Test Your Faith"

by breakfast of champions in

this is the scuttlebutt in one of the "bethel congregations" by us.. no details as to exactly what this "faith-testing" announcement might be.. anyone else hear any of this pre-zone visit hype?.

.

StarTrekAngel

Many interesting theories here. I am not sure any announcement would be made, based on the same things many mentioned. This is just for the US, not other countries. However, some things could apply to the US only. Just to propose a few...

- The US territory for preaching has been coverered meaningfuly. We would now concentrate on informal preaching only where necessary. Book stands and the sort can remain but our main focus would shift to support those brothers that are preaching on the other lands. Brothers that can consider moving there would be appreciated, if not, your financial support for such brothers would be appreciated (if not more than the earlier). Donate to the world wide work.

This goes in line with the new "language app" and the new donation arrangement. Those who were speculating the big announcement was related to credit card donations weren't that far off. Except that it was announced last night in a regular meeting.

I have also made mention, in other threads, of the apostate article that came in the July 2014 WT. To me that has hints all over the magazine. Even the picture that comes with it. It shows Timothy arguing over scripture with one of "apostate attitude", in front of the congregation. When was the last time you saw that? Does the WTBTS overlooks this kind of detail? I don't think so. Something prompted them to put this picture and approve its publication. In any other case an apostate is always shown as an enemy to be avoided, even for friendly conversation. My speculation is that apostates or rather those with different views will be more tolerated, so far they don't go about causing a revolt. Individual personalities at the congregational level would differ, but all and all, you would not be able to blame the GB if an elder DFs and asks you to shun a family member. While I would think that such stance, if it even sounds fisseable, would be announced to the whole worldwide congregation rather than a zone, the WTBTS is notorious for having double standards, isn't it?

13

New JW assembly/meeting that has prerecorded message? Lasts half a day

by HillCountry in

jw
friends

sorry about the confused nature of the topic but my mom (who still goes to the kh meetings) said that there will be an "assembly" on sunday where there will be a prerecorded message or talk of some sort and that it will only be half a day and won't need to bring lunch.

anyone else have heard of these or gone to one?.

i know they are changing a lot of things.

StarTrekAngel

If it spoke of actual assemblies, our assemblies were recorded and the highlights were played at the hall after all the assemblies were done. See, the slave seems to have concluded to be a discrete thing to, rather than having an assembly on our shiny new assembly hall, have everyone go to Houston. Everyone except for those pesky undocumented brothers who can not cross the inmigration checkpoints nort of the border becase they don't have documents to live and work in the US. They had to stay home and spirirtually starve. Then the slave saw some food was left over and decided to gather the "puppies" in the KH and show them how much the other domectics ate while they starved at home. I am sure they were reminded of the pledge they made to help pay for the local assembly hall that remained empty all summer long.

47

preface question:

by mohrb in

order of operations is important, so, i'll ask a question before i make assumptions and start "fixing things.".

obviously, the site heavily encourages the viewpoint of former j-dubs and others who have disagreements with the political posturing of the wbts.

i get that, and see your points.

StarTrekAngel

Thanks for considering some of my comments. Many of us here are not discarding Jehovah and his promises. In my case, I was fine in the organization while my study habits were sloppy. When I decided to give it my full attention, I woke myself up. I still believe in Jehovah and I still believe that I will be saved. I just don't think that the organization is the way to salvation (you will most likely agree with this statement) but I don't think that you have seen the organization for what is full extent. Yes, any witness will agree with the fact that the org is not the way to salvation, yet if you leave, they won't think you will be saved anyway. Can you reconcile those two ideas?

My wife thinks very much like you. I tell her that I don't think she understand God or religion for that matter. I am in good standing and I still attend meetings. Anyone who speaks in defense of the org will tell you the same things you are saying. I am not saying you are not sincere or lying. I am just saying that everyone has this same opinion, but our experiences are filled with the complete opposite. Yes, some things are up to concious... they just don't tell you who's concious they are referring to.

If they know they don't have the absolute truth, why shun those who disagree or leave? Why are we breaking apart families for the sake of some "good intended iliterate" who thinks a prayer will make him the Einstein of bible understanding? For the sake of congregational unity? What if the dissenting brother was right? Where do we use his input to grow an polish our understanding of bible truth? Is congregational unity for important than truth? I don't think so. I have no problem kicking out a brother who continues to inflict on gross sin, like abusing a child... but even then it seems like the two witness rule weights more than all of the above.

I think that most of the sincere and logical gripe that you will find here is about an imperfect organization that demands the obedicence that can only be due to a perfect one, which does not exist. I don't think I would have a problem belonging to an organization that pushes to progressively understand the bible, while considering everyone's opinion and making sure families stay together in faith, not conditional obedience.

To show you I am not really ranting against you, I would tell you that I wish every other JW, not only thought the same way you do, but actually acted upon it.

36

David Splane Destroys the Very Foundation of 1914- Corp. Meeting New Light

by scotoma in

jw
friends

at the corporate meeting david splane discusses the use and misuse of types/antitypes.. the main qualifier of a type is that an account must be represented in the scriptures as a. type of some future event.. he quoted schroeder who said if an account isnt explained in the scriptures as a type than you.

shouldnt use the event as a type.. splane summed up his talk by saying if the bible is silent - we must be silent.. but they go right on celebrating the 100 years from 1914 which was determined by improperly.

going beyond anything written in the bible about nebuchadnezzars tree dream.. the bible specifically refers to the immense tree as representing nebuchadnezzar.. daniel explained it and that should be the end of the matter.. .

StarTrekAngel

how is it that they can keep this 1914 thing all the way to 2034?

10

Anthony Morris' family?

by StarTrekAngel in

just simple quesiton.

in one video i saw, anthony morris iii makes the comment "i come from a wealthy family, you all know that".

does anyone know who this family is?

StarTrekAngel

Thanks for everyone's comment. But does anyone know if his family has any ties with big business and which one? Without trying to bias anyone, the name Phillip-Morris comes to mind, but that is just me. I don't know if they are related. Has there been any research done on this??

47

preface question:

by mohrb in

order of operations is important, so, i'll ask a question before i make assumptions and start "fixing things.".

obviously, the site heavily encourages the viewpoint of former j-dubs and others who have disagreements with the political posturing of the wbts.

i get that, and see your points.

StarTrekAngel

Also, lets not forget the publications where it was written that "brothers who question the counsel of elders and the org are exercizing independent thinking, which equals pride"

47

preface question:

by mohrb in

order of operations is important, so, i'll ask a question before i make assumptions and start "fixing things.".

obviously, the site heavily encourages the viewpoint of former j-dubs and others who have disagreements with the political posturing of the wbts.

i get that, and see your points.

StarTrekAngel

Well, yes, but... most letters that are published are those that already have an answer that they would like to drive home. That would not be honest. Why are the letters questioning the UN association not published? Why are there no apologies for the publications made regarding the pre-1975 enviroment? Is there a need for someone to point them out?

I attended the international convention of 2014 in Houston (spanish). An example of a "doubter" was presented. A pioneer from Argentina was interviewed regarding the new light. it went something like this...

Speaker - Here we have a brother that has seen Jehovah's hand in providing new light.. Brother, tell us about your questions.

Brother - I have always had a pondering questions in my mind. How could it be possible that the 144.000 were part of the slave class and how could they possibly be of any help if they are so far from the GB. Well, the new light on the GB brings about the answer to this question. The GB IS the faithful and discrete slave. This makes much more sense now.

Speaker - Thank you brother. Your example shows how Jehovah always answers our questions.

True Story.

I guess what we need to see is an example where a number of letters written to Brooklyn has brought about change and much more specially, were the organization has admitted that the input from the brothers was instrumental in bringing about change.