Another Unrealistic Experience I'm Calling BullShit On....

[Jack Ryan]

This week's WT-study:

The Watchtower - April 2018 - "Young People, Are You Focused on Spiritual Goals?"

18 No one remains young for long. Young people quickly progress to adulthood. Sad to say, as adults, many then regret having followed the wrong goals when they were young or, just as frustrating, having had no goals at all. But youths who today keep focused on theocratic goals will well into adulthood be deeply satisfied with the choices they made. This is the case with Mirjana, who as a teenager was very talented at sports. She was asked to take part in the Winter Olympic Games but chose instead to take up the full-time ministry. Over 30 years later, Mirjana is still in full-time service, together with her husband. She explains: “Fame, honor, power, and riches are transitory and lowly goals in life. Serving God and trying to contribute in some small way to helping people spiritually are truly noble and lasting goals.”

The Winter Olympics? The f***ing Winter Olympics.

So you're telling me this lady was one of the best athletes in her nation, good enough to go to the Olympic f***ing Games, a level of skill which already requires incredible dedication to reach. Which she passed on to go be a regular pioneer instead.

And this was back in the 80s since it's been over 30 years. Well sister, you passed on a rare, once in a lifetime opportunity to do something only a handful of people get a chance to, something which apparently you had already been training to do, in order to do something you could have started the next fucking year.

But I mean the end was probably so close, wasn't it? I'm sure you'll get extra Paradise for banging on people's doors to annoy them at 9:40am instead of the 15-ish months you'd have spent training doing a thing you apparently love to compete at Lake Placid or wherever.

The f***ing Olympics, bullshit.

[Jack Ryan]

The amount of dedication, hard work and time it would take to even qualify for the Olympics would have already taken her away from “the more important things”

[Jack Ryan]

How do they explain Serena & Venus Williams, Prince, all the Wayans brothers, Selena, and model Coco Rocha? All famous and/or rich. ?

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

.... and my favorite, Mickey Spillane.

Agenda driven examples of ANYTHING are only generalizations, that may .. OR MAY NOT apply.

Infinite experiences....

.... Infinite results.

Often as we get older ... not having been able to make the cut as a helicopter or commercial airline pilot causes us to remember that our goal was always to be a shoe salesman.

[Evacuated]

3 hours ago, Jack Ryan said:

The amount of dedication, hard work and time it would take to even qualify for the Olympics would have already taken her away from “the more important things”

Probaly best not to judge this achievement by personal lack of talent.

3 hours ago, Jack Ryan said:

The Winter Olympics? The ******* Winter Olympics.

I'm not quoting the expletives.  Use of these appears  to either express contempt for convention, which still considers this particular choice of wording as an unacceptable expression in normal speech, or it serves as an expression of frustration at a situation which exceeds  personal boundaries of acceptance along with  an exhaustion of resource to understand or even combat the issue that is faced. Probably is all of that. 

Well, I have some sympathy here, it's never good to see someone at the end of their tether, but "twisted knicker syndrome" is all I can offer by way of commiseration.

2 hours ago, Jack Ryan said:

How do they explain Serena & Venus Williams, Prince, all the Wayans brothers, Selena, and model Coco Rocha? All famous and/or rich.

• Serena and Venus Williams?  What's to explain? They are not Jehovah's Witnesses are they? 
• Prince? What's to explain? What is the relevant comparison to the euphamistic Mirjana?
• Wayans Brothers? Damon, I'm not sure but what is the point? Keneen and Shawn, are they Jehovah's Witnesses? I don't really know what the rest of the family do.
• Selena? Is this the singer that was murdered by a criminal employee, Selena Quintanilla-Pérez. What did she do? Not a Jehovah's Witnesses was she?
• Coca Rocha? Now she is interesting. What has she done wrong? She is famous and rich I agree. Wait a minute, is that what's wrong with her? Surely we  are not looking at jealousy here? Maybe a desire  to be famous and rich but someone getting in the way could root some people's criticism here?

 

[JW Insider]

2 hours ago, Jack Ryan said:

She explains: “Fame, honor, power, and riches are transitory and lowly goals in life. Serving God and trying to contribute in some small way to helping people spiritually are truly noble and lasting goals.”

Jack. I think you are trying to say that experience is bogus because it doesn't make complete sense to you. And it appears like a contradiction when we consider those famous persons who have been associated either as Witnesses or those who may have identified as JWs due to the influence of their Witness parents or family members.

I understand the cynicism about some of the experiences. I have previously shared my own discomfort when I watched  a committee of brothers enhance the experiences of Witnesses who provided experiences for the special Bethel "Family Night" gatherings. It smacked of dishonesty to me, but there was always a grain of truth in what they were enhancing, and they were usually quite careful with the wording so that it was not technically or legally an untruth. But for "Family Night" I watched the committee edit the person's own story and his own recollections with facts not in evidence just to make it sound better, and it was clearly to enhance the reputation of the WTS, and to change something just slightly so that it would not detract from that same reputation. At Bethel, I had also learned how the resume of Fred Franz' educational background had been enhanced in ways that were never corrected until the Proclaimers book came out.

But I don't know that this story in particular is enhanced. I see some potential problems, and a wise person will not simply believe everything he hears. I think the story might be perfectly true. "She was asked to take part in the Winter Olympics . . ." There is nothing unbelievable about this. Many very talented people have been on their way toward stardom and have given it up for religion or ideology or rethinking what it would mean to their life. But notice that no one is claiming that this person was invited to participate as an athlete to represent her country. It may have been that a coach wanted her there to watch. Perhaps, she showed promise as a skier, and it was a parent who asked her to go on to another few years of training to be able to take part in the Winter Olympics. This could be construed to create the statement that she was asked to take part.

Or perhaps she had already trained, and was ready, and was considered a viable competitor, but was also completing her studies with the Witnesses and was preparing for baptism. A single statement from the person studying with her might have made her change her mind. The statement in the WT above may be perfectly legitimate and not enhanced at all. I'm sure you see this as a possibility, too, even if you disagree with the decision she made.

There are non-JW experiences like this too. I remember hearing about a professional basketball player named Robinson, I think, whose mother told him he had to graduate a four-year college even though he had been asked to sign on professionally right after high school. He was offered a multi-million dollar contract, and had to give it up, and who knows what change of direction his life might have taken during that four years. He could have lost his contract, he probably cut four years of his earning potential away, but he did it for his mother, or for his agreement with her particular ideology about life and priorities. Others look at this and say B*S* because he could have played for 4 years, made millions and then gone to college if the basketball "gig" didn't work out, right? But younger people often don't know how to handle fame and money, and there are countless bodies of evidence, sometimes dead bodies, in support of this fact.

On the other hand, what is the overall point of the experience? It's the same point that should be pointed out to any who wish for fame when there are other more important things that could bring potentially more satisfaction. There is also the drive for fame and money that many young people are not realistic about. They could end up spinning their wheels for a lifetime in pursuit of something that was not really attainable. Or even if it was attainable, it may be much more transitory than they realized.

One of my daughter's good friends from high school was  a young model who was asked to work on a soap opera. She did this for two years, and did commercials, and photo layouts for fashion, and was on a billboard for years in the NY diamond district. But it only lasted for about 5 years. Although she can be proud of her work, she is today ... get this @James Thomas Rook Jr. . . .a shoe salesperson. Literally. She works in London selling Louboutin shoes, making good money, and she seems happy. Only her parents and siblings still push for her to try to get back into acting and modelling as if it were some pinnacle of achievement. (On a side note, my wife and I are in Paris right now, with my daughter, and we expect to see this same friend of hers next weekend.)

What about being the ability to be both satisfied and happy with something different than fame or money? Something that is better for oneself and others in both the short run and the long run?

[TrueTomHarley]

 

5 hours ago, Jack Ryan said:

The Winter Olympics? The fucking Winter Olympics....Well sister, you passed on a rare, once in a lifetime opportunity to do something only a handful of people get a chance to,...The fucking Olympics, bullshit.

Actually, had she passed on the Summer Olympics, the verbiage you favor would be close to appropriate. Wasn't it a couple hundred of those young girls who were molested by the team doctor, now serving several lifetimes in prison?

Imagine, the sister passing on such a priviledge. What in the world is wrong with her, Jack?

[DefenderOTT]

This would suggest, higher education was not needed to work with what was available back in the day. Since humanity has changed? Then, higher education is needed for all the technological advancements that weren’t around.

Its moves with the sign of the times. However, if someone desires spiritual growth, who can decide how someone should follow Christ as a poor man, that needed nothing but the generosity of others, and he gave the same advice to his apostles, that followed his teachings to the very end in the same fashion, even though some were successful.

Therefore, where is it said, that life is a guarantee for someone’s success. If there is? Where is it, so everyone can sign up.

https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2014/08/07/335285098/rich-kid-poor-kid-for-30-years-baltimore-study-tracked-who-gets-ahead

[Space Merchant]

The fact you ignore God's Law in regards to the use of foul language pretty much says it all, as if the comedian post was enough days ago. Other than that, I do not see why the the fuzz about doing more for God, not all the time higher education gets you where you want to go and even if it did, a ball and chain will be strapped to you until a 6 foot grave is dug for you and to Sheol you go, and the rat race cycle continues for this dream that cannot be reached unless you kick people while they are done and make your wife appear as a trophy to show off to your friends.

The only thing you need is a trade which you can learn in several months to 4-5 years and you are good, to become a slave to the society of the world you will not last long, but the mainstream adapts to what is being punished out.

 

Other than that, there is hypocrisy, for if someone else of another faith chooses to do missionary work rather than go to School, we treat such ones as saints, what is different with them compared to this faith? The same could be said about those being persecuted and thrown into jail, you praise one, but to the other you wish for him or her to die and or suffer in jail because of their faith.

[Anna]

Jack Ryan is getting a little carried away, perhaps he needs to go for a jog or take up some kind of sports...?

[sami]

35 minutes ago, Nicole said:

No need to repeat, ... wow they edited only that part... and see the whole post repeats the same bad words that were left... No, I leave this thread. I cannot lower myself. I have moral, values and can not dialogue or participate of this vulgarity. Authority and respect have to be gained. And then they complain when are not being respected. 

Sadly in this life you get what you give...

 

 

On 7/8/2018 at 3:30 PM, Jack Ryan said:

This week's WT-study:

The Watchtower - April 2018 - "Young People, Are You Focused on Spiritual Goals?"

18 No one remains young for long. Young people quickly progress to adulthood. Sad to say, as adults, many then regret having followed the wrong goals when they were young or, just as frustrating, having had no goals at all. But youths who today keep focused on theocratic goals will well into adulthood be deeply satisfied with the choices they made. This is the case with Mirjana, who as a teenager was very talented at sports. She was asked to take part in the Winter Olympic Games but chose instead to take up the full-time ministry. Over 30 years later, Mirjana is still in full-time service, together with her husband. She explains: “Fame, honor, power, and riches are transitory and lowly goals in life. Serving God and trying to contribute in some small way to helping people spiritually are truly noble and lasting goals.”

The Winter Olympics? The f***ing Winter Olympics.

So you're telling me this lady was one of the best athletes in her nation, good enough to go to the Olympic fucking Games, a level of skill which already requires incredible dedication to reach. Which she passed on to go be a regular pioneer instead.

And this was back in the 80s since it's been over 30 years. Well sister, you passed on a rare, once in a lifetime opportunity to do something only a handful of people get a chance to, something which apparently you had already been training to do, in order to do something you could have started the next fucking year.

But I mean the end was probably so close, wasn't it? I'm sure you'll get extra Paradise for banging on people's doors to annoy them at 9:40am instead of the 15-ish months you'd have spent training doing a thing you apparently love to compete at Lake Placid or wherever.

The f***ing Olympics, bullshit.

Why put off till tomorrow what can be done today? Life, in this system, is transient so why use it to glorify yourself or country when these things are temporary. Her priorities changed when she began to study the Bible. She chose the best life ever, the life with everlasting benefits. 

It is difficult for someone self-absorbed to ever get the sense of that concept ( service to God and service to others). A force of life and attitude richly blessed and satisfying.

[Matthew9969]

I imagine they would say someone found gods true organization by flushing a toilet.