David Normand

During our last CO's visit one of our dear sisters was concerned about how much time to count for the morning's activities. Since she was working with the CO she put the question to him, "How much time should we count for this morning?". Then she launched into when they started in the territory, when they went on break, when they started back to the Kingdom Hall etc. (Unbeknownst to the CO the sister had been having discussions with other publishers for many months on how to count time and she wanted everybody to adopt her opinion) Well, apparently the CO has been down this road before and did not take the bait. He simply said, "Well, I know how much time I will record. What you do is between you and Jehovah." Pretty much ended the discussion and I have not heard of any further discussions from anybody in the hall about how to record time once the story circulated. Point: how much time you put down is between you and Jehovah. If you feel you are justified in not following the Society's guidelines then this is between you and Jehovah. While serving as an elder in a congregation some years back one of the elders in charge of a book-study group insisted that one of the brothers who turned in his time could not possibly have preached for as much time as he reported. He complained to other elders about it and he even questioned the brother three times about it. Each time the brother affirmed that his reported time was accurate. Several years later while serving at another congregation the CO was asked about verifying publisher time. His response was, "We are elders in the congregation not policemen. What the publisher reports is between them and Jehovah. It is not our place to question or impute bad motives to the publisher," Cheers,

As long as they paid for the properties they can do what they want. No credit, just cash.

I too had four children. You do what you need to do for your children. Yes, it takes time, but it is time well spent. You are not limited to 4 hours a month just like any other study. If you regularly study on say Friday evening then some months you will have 5 studies some months 4. Just be regular at it. Also, as an elder told me many years ago, the Society could just as well said you cannot count any family study time. After all, most people don't have children so all their bible studies are with truly interested not captive family members. Be glad you have the time to study with all of them and make the best of what you have. To soon the time will be when they don't have time for you and will have their own families. Cheers,

I was surprised at that as well.

To each his own. We share our meeting space with a Spanish group so we frequently come into contact with brothers and sisters with different background than "typical American". My wife and have noticed over the years that sisters at the Spanish hall tend to wear more makeup than sisters at the English language meetings. Not all mind you, but some. They actually blend in with the Latin American culture in our area. Maybe not our cup of tea, but as long as it does not distract from their effectiveness in the field ministry then it is fine. Recall earlier there was an article about brothers and facial hair. The bottom line is how are they perceived in the field ministry. And, that really is the standard by which we judge dress and grooming.

I thought the earliest record of God's personal name Jehovah (YHWH) was found at Genesis 2:4?

According to google translate German is Lesbische Liebe According to google translate Spanish is lesbianismo I don't know where he got his information. I just checked both the German study edition and Spanish study edition and he is incorrect. In Spanish they used " relación lesbiana cuando. In German they used einer lesbischen Beziehung Easy thing to check. Takes just a few minutes. Not sure if this is the real issue that Jay was trying to highlight.

It's a choice. I have never known friends who were that steadfast about not speaking with a disfellowshipped family member, but some who take the admonition to speak with disfellowshipped family about family business to the extreme. To the point of using the disfellowshipped person (who was out living on their own) as a babysitter for their younger children. Like all things one needs to be balanced. For my part we allowed our two daughters to stay at home for the simple reason we believed that kicking them out would have resulted in far more harm. My choice. Consequently I have not served in a congregation for about 10 years; but, my daughters are not living on the street subject to all the dangers and problems of that environment and know that they have a safe place to stay. They are family and that is exactly what I told the elders.

What is your point about this? Wong desires are wrong desires. Realizing what Jehovah requires may change that over time, but until then a person will have to decide what they want most: to serve Jehovah or be a slave to things that he hates.

Jay, you apparently do not understand the reason for disfellowshipping (shunning) It is never for the actions you mentioned. It is always for the unrepentant attitude of the individual. Also, by shunning the individual they may decide to repent and come back to Jehovah's organization. Also, by disfellowshipping the individual it helps to keep the congregation clean by keeping that person's attitude to spread to others in the congregation. Also, perhaps you are not familiar with interviews on the stage. They could have been applauding the act of her shunning her sister as you suggested, but more likely they were applauding her act of getting up in front of the audience and relaying her experience. After all, when she finished speaking the speaker said thank you for sharing that with us, he did not say thank you for shunning your sister as you would have us believe. Also, this is only part of the interview. We don't know if there were any follow up questions to her nor do we know what the subject was for the interview in the first place. Yes, I am sure that most probably agreed with her actions, but you make it seem that the ONLY reason they applauded was because of her actions with regard her sister. I think you miss the point and do her and the audience a disservice when you denigrate both her actions and the audience in such a way. Lastly, what is the date (EDIT 11/09/2017) It is not November (or September european format) BTW, why is this heartbreaking? Did you speak with the sister to see how she is dealing with being shunned. We don't really know when the video was shot. Could have been this year, could have been a decade ago. The girl being shunned could have come back to Jehovah since then, or not. Either way, little Melody is following the directions given by the congregation shepherds and as such is doing what Jehovah wants her to. Both her and her sister can benefit by doing that.

Okay, that could be correct. In North Carolina they allow you to affirm rather than swear on the Bible for those individuals who for some reason object. But, that should not have anything to do with the pledge of allegiance to the country. I have watched numerous shows on TV where courtroom scenes were depicted and cannot recall any of them where a pledge of allegiance was required or even asked.

Why would the pledge of allegiance be part of a jury trial?

Sad, but not unexpected. Government is more interested in its image instead of having to accept humanitarian aid from somebody else.

Thank you. I never really thought of it that way.

That is amazing. That really is absurd. Just a shadow of things to come.

Such a different way of doing things. When I travel for my company I rarely carry cash always relying upon credit cards or ATM machines. I can imagine the shock of not having these conveniences. It takes a lot to be a missionary, it takes a lot more to be successful at it.

So, are they going to further build a case against all bible translations that have the same phrase in them? Surprised that the ROC has not caught on to that.

I gave a public talk on a small Kingdom Hall in Oklahoma many years ago. The friends were great. Did not even need the sound system it was so small. But, not as small as this.

Typical bureaucracy. They tell you, you need to register. You submit the documents. The deny them, but fail to tell you exactly why in enough detail that you can either make adjustments or make a defense. Then they charge you with not being registered. Just another ploy by the Orthodox church to outlaw any group that preaches the truth and offends their sensibilities.

Harbinger of things to come? Probably. Only Jehovah knows where all this will lead and how it will play out. For our part we need to keep praying to Jehovah for his guidance and for his Kingdom to rule over the earth which is the only real solution to all problems.

Interesting. Related to the plight of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia? Who knows. But it does highlight the effects of locust and how devastating they can be. Often times when people think of a plague of locust they think of the Israelis and the ten plagues on Egypt, not really cognizant of the locust plague and how they are still around and can be quite devastating.

How sad. It took the judges 20 minutes to decide the fate of 175,000 Russian citizens and freedom of worship. A picture of things to come? Only Jehovah knows for sure. Putin has already signed into law that the Russian supreme court does not have to consider the ECHR if in their opinion, it is not in Russia's best interest. We could go through the motions, but nothing would probably change.

This is not true. Apparently somebody was sleeping at the latest regional convention when they specifically stated that there is nothing wrong with going to a medical professional for mental problems. They explicitly stated that some people have physical problems due to imperfection and seeding medical help is appropriate.

Notice what the people in Noah's day were doing: eating, drinking, marrying, planting, harvesting. Just ordinary everyday occurrences. What condemned them was they were so busy doing these things they failed to take note of God's warning and as such were swept up in the judgment. Same will be at the end of this system.

Polls really don't mean anything. Pollsters can slant the results based upon how the question is phrased and what demographic group is asked. Considering that the majority of religious people in Russia attend the Russian Orthodox church is no surprise that a majority of those polled support the ministry of justice application of the extremist laws against Jehovah's Witnesses. The real question for those Russian citizens is, "Do you support the constitutions right of freedom of religion?" That is something that hopefully their courts will eventually get around to tackling. But, regardless, Jehovah will take care of matters in his due time and in his own way.