Joan Kennedy

No vaccine for me. I find it kinda funny that anyone who is Christian would allow their body to be misused volutarily.
The vaccine does not protect anyone, does not stop a person catching, carrying, passing on, the virus, so it proves to be just an experiment on people rather than animals. Although Billy says we are all animals anyway.  
Just a bit of clarity though. I have high blood pressure, I'm 71 years old, and my own dad died of a cerebral hemorrhage, so I think i have good reasons to say no to a vaccine. Many old folk are dying after having the vaccine here in England.. 
J & J  were found to have knowingly  allowed asbestos in their brand of talcum powder, so I certainly woud not trust them with an untested vaccine. All the covid vaccines are 'not tested' because there was never enough time allowed.

Russian authorities have detained and placed under house arrest a Jehovah’s Witness in Siberia amid a continued crackdown on the religious group, which was labeled as extremist and banned in the country in 2017.
The Investigative Committee said in a statement on February 17 that a 53-year-old resident of the town of Belovo in the Kemerovo region was placed under house arrest on suspicion of organizing a Jehovah’s Witnesses "cell."
The man, whose identity was not disclosed, refused to cooperate with investigators citing Article 51 of the Russian Constitution, the statement said, adding that the suspect had been apprehended after the homes of several alleged members of the banned group were searched in the region.
Article 51 states that no one shall be obliged to give incriminating evidence.
The announcement came a week after a court in Russia's Krasnodar region sentenced a 63-year-old Jehovah's Witness, Aleksandr Ivshin, to 7 1/2 years in prison, the harshest sentence since authorities launched the campaign against the religious group.
Read more: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-jehovahs-witnesses-arrest-jailed-persecution-religious-freedom/31107704.html

Robert Faircourt has been deaf since childhood, and American Sign Language is his primary language.
While he learned English in school, reading and understanding the Bible has always been a challenge for the 74-year-old from West Valley City, who was baptized as a Jehovah’s Witness in 1969. Over the years, he has longed for a deeper connection with teachings of the Bible.
Faircourt’s prayers were answered one year ago as the Jehovah’s Witnesses released what the church believes is the first complete Bible in American Sign Language, a text-to-video translation project that took more than 15 years to complete.
Read more: https://www.deseret.com/faith/2021/2/13/22272637/how-jehovahs-witnesses-american-sign-language-bible-app-is-touching-hearts-utah-translation-video

Six Jehovah's Witnesses jailed on "extremism"-related charges applied for early release after serving half their jail terms, but have been unsuccessful. Prison administrations opposed the applications with what Jehovah's Witnesses describe as "fabricated evidence" of violations of prison rules. Four of the prisoners were accused of smoking in the wrong place, but Jehovah's Witnesses do not smoke. Another Jehovah's Witness jailed since 2018 and a Muslim reader of Nursi's works jailed since 2017 should both become eligible to apply in summer 2021.
Six Jehovah's Witnesses jailed on "extremism"-related charges for exercising their right to freedom of religion or belief have so far failed in their applications for early release. On the fourth attempt, a court commuted the rest of Dennis Christensen's jail term to a fine, but this was overturned after prosecutors appealed and he remains in jail. Four jailed Jehovah's Witnesses from Saratov have similarly failed in their appeals for early release, while a fifth is still awaiting a hearing. Read more: https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2638

After 12 years of marriage, pregnancy was a surprise. Friends and family have helped in the midst of the pandemic.
Hadassah and Tabitha were born at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle on June 24. They arrived three weeks early, delivered by cesarean, both weighing 5 pounds, 13 ounces. Today, the Flores home in the Lowell neighborhood is filled with all the joys and coos, hungry cries and wakeful nights that not one but two babies bring.
Flores, 35, said that in sharing their story she hopes to let others know what helped them through fears of the virus, a higher-than-average-risk pregnancy and economic uncertainty.
Both she and her husband are Jehovah’s Witnesses, and members of a Spanish-speaking congregation that meets at the Kingdom Hall on Everett’s Madison Street. Before coronavirus restrictions, they met every Sunday and Wednesday. Together, they also shared their faith through door-to-door visits, going out weekly.
All that had stopped by late February 2020, after the governing body of Jehovah’s Witnesses closed assembly halls and halted in-contact preaching. “We quickly understood this was very serious,” she wrote. And by the time she was 6 months pregnant, she had also stopped in-person visits with friends and family.
Hector Flores, now back on the job with a window and door company, was furloughed for three months starting last March. And Marisol, who had worked cleaning apartments in Seattle, was no longer able to do that. Savings they had for their growing family dwindled.
With money tight and their spiritual routine interrupted, they turned even more to faith.
Soon, they were joining weekly meetings of their congregation online via Zoom. Rather than going door to door, they preached biblical messages through letter writing and by phone.
“Although our situation seemed dire, I was happy to have my husband at home keeping me company and helping me with the many, many things I could no longer do,” she said. “I was happy to see our friends from the Kingdom Hall online and felt their support.”
Reading and sharing Scripture “made me feel uplifted and courageous,” said Flores, whose family came to the United States from Mexico when she was 6.
In these worrisome times, she believes others may find comfort where she finds it, in the Bible — especially the Book of James, 4:8. It says, “Draw close to God, and he will draw close to you.”
Read full article: https://www.heraldnet.com/news/faith-overcame-fear-for-these-grateful-new-parents-of-twins/

Christian Solidarity Worldwide has been informed that 70 Christians from evangelical and orthodox backgrounds were recently released from three prisons in Eritrea.
On 1 February, 21 female and 43 male prisoners were released from Mai Serwa and Adi Abeito prisons, close to the capital city, Asmara. The prisoners had been held without charge or trial for periods of between two and 12 years.
On 27 January, six female prisoners who were detained in September 2020 in Dekemhare, south-east of Asmara, were also released. The women were arrested after worshipping in public as they were walking down a street, an event which was caught on camera and circulated via social media.
While the releases have been warmly welcomed, there is also speculation that they mark the latest effort by the Eritrean regime to distract international attention from the country's active role in the ongoing war in Ethiopia's Tigray region, where Eritrean troops have been accused of violence which may amount to crimes against humanity, war crimes and possibly genocide.
On 4 December 2020, the government released 24 Jehovah's Witnesses, including the high-profile conscientious objectors Paulos Eyasu, Isaac Mogos and Negede Teklemariam, who had been held for 26 years, and whose cases were highlighted by the former UN Special Rapporteur on Eritrea in her final statement to the UN Third Committee in New York in October 2020.
Read more: https://www.indcatholicnews.com/news/41486

Seeing that a lot of peeps here are from around the world, just wanna know how you guys are holding up? I was always on lurk mode because I am busy, so I was bored today.
For me I am busy with virtual classes now, which are dreadful. The brothers and sisters are doing fine, as well as family. Some of our friends and the people we preach too are doing good.
With the vaccines out there is a lot of fear in the black and latino communities, even outside of it. 2 of my professors are against it, but like all others, they say it is personal choice.
Anyways.... How about you guys?
The pandemic is taking a toll on some peeps directly and indirectly. 
To my Latinos and Latinas
Viendo que mucha gente aquí es de todo el mundo, ¿solo quieren saber cómo les está yendo?  Siempre estuve al acecho porque estoy ocupado, así que hoy estaba aburrido.
Para mí ahora estoy ocupado con clases virtuales, que son espantosas.  Los hermanos y hermanas están bien, al igual que la familia.  Algunos de nuestros amigos y las personas a las que predicamos también lo están haciendo bien.
Con las Covid-19 vaccine, hay mucho miedo en las comunidades black y Latin communities, fuera de ellas.  2 de mis profesores están en contra, pero como todos los demás, dicen que es una elección personal.
 De todos modos .... ¿Qué hay de ustedes?

The release of 28 Witnesses follows the freeing of 20 Pentecostal and evangelical Christians who had been imprisoned for their faith.
NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) — In Eritrea, members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses group who had been serving long prison sentences were set free on Friday (Dec. 4), a surprising development for the east African country, where freedom of religion or belief is severely suppressed.
The denomination announced that two women and 26 men had been freed after spending between five and 26 years each in prison. The group, as well as another 24 Witnesses who are still in prison, had been incarcerated for their faith.
“Several of those jailed are male Witnesses who are conscientious objectors to military service. However, the majority — including women and the elderly — are imprisoned for their religious activity or for undisclosed reasons,” said the denomination in a statement.
Jehovah’s Witnesses activities are banned or restricted in several countries, including China, Russia, Singapore and many Muslim-majority countries. In the case of Eritrea, the constitution guarantees the right to the freedom of religion or belief — a possible reason why the jailed Witnesses have never been formally charged or sentenced — but this freedom has never been granted in practice.
Read more: https://religionnews.com/2020/12/10/jehovahs-witnesses-released-in-eritrea-a-rare-move-toward-religious-toleration/

I like the acknowledgment that neachers may find it hard neaching the nen nimes nable.

If you do not teach your children values, it does not mean that they grow up free and unencumbered and, when of age, select their own values from the rich cornucopia of life. 
No. All it means is that someone else will teach them

It doesn't hurt to take a hard look at yourself from time to time, and this should help get you started.

During a visit to the mental asylum, a visitor asked the director what the criterion was that defined whether or not a patient should be institutionalized.

"Well," said the Director, "we fill up a bathtub, then we offer a teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to the patient and ask him or her to empty the bathtub."

"Oh, I understand," said the visitor. "A normal person would use the bucket because it's bigger than the spoon or the teacup."

"No," said the Director, "A normal person would pull the plug. Do you want a room with or without a view?"

I just attended a memorial service for my uncle yesterday. At least 800 persons tried to attend through Zoom. My uncle was part of a large extended family. About 400 stayed for the comments afterward, and they lasted for more than 2.5 more hours, making the entire memorial about 3.5 hours long. There were attendees from all over the world, including Dubai and China, but mostly Californian and South Carolina. Based on statistical averages there is probably a fair chance that at least one of the other 16,700 members of this forum was also on that same Zoom call, assuming most of those members are JWs.
The brother who gave the talk continued to "host" the whole time. My aunt and a cousin allowed for anyone to speak who wanted to say something. Dozens of persons had examples to share of his sense of humor, funny incidents that happened in field service, and a lot of nice things to say about his sincerity and kindness when it came to shepherding. He had been a circuit overseer and substitute circuit overseer for a good part of his life.
This second portion of course is mostly a new Zoom thing for us, where the personal experiences are offered, and even children sometimes speak about their grandpa and great-grandpa. But I saw so much love coming through, and no one seemed to want the experience to stop.
It's only the second of such memorial services I have attended like this, but I have heard of another one a month ago.
Just looking for comments, I guess, on whether others have experienced this. I think it's a very good thing, and I was glad that some non-Witness relatives could share this experience.

This proclamation is aging well from a 2020 perspective:
 

Thought for the day:
Jehovah is God's name.  It was originally in the Bible in over 7,000 places but has been removed by various bodies due to superstition etc.  Micah 4:5 For all the people will walk, each in the name of it's god, But we will walk in the name of Jehovah our God forever and ever.

Here are the scriptures for the next book "Pure Worship of Jehovah" we study at the book study for our "Life and Ministry". TB
Pure Worship of Jehovah scriptures.pdf Pure Worship of Jehovah scriptures.doc

A group of 50 religion scholars from around the world is calling on President Vladimir Putin and his administration to end the persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia.
The scholars' statement, released Thursday, follows the Center for Studies on New Religions’ one-day conference, “Jehovah’s Witnesses and Their Opponents: Russia, the West, and Beyond,” held online from Vilnius, Lithuania, in early September.
“As institutions and individuals concerned with religious freedom, we have followed the events in Russia with increasing alarm,” the CESNUR statement reads.
Among those events is a reported armed raid of 110 homes of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia’s Voronezh region in July that the scholars call the “largest number of coordinated raids on Jehovah’s Witnesses in modern Russia” and an “escalation” in the persecution of Witnesses in the country.
More than 170 Jehovah’s Witnesses have reportedly been imprisoned or put in pre-trial detention in Russia since 2017 for practicing their faith.
https://www.sightmagazine.com.au/news/17366-scholars-call-out-putin-and-the-escalation-of-persecution-against-jehovah-s-witnesses-in-russia
https://www.cesnur.org/2020/jehovahs-witnesses-statement.htm

"We expect the daily death rate in the United States, because of seasonality and declining vigilance of the public, to reach nearly 3000 a day in December," the institute, which bills itself as an independent research centre, said in an update of its periodic forecasts.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/us-coronavirus-deaths-projected-to-more-than-double-to-410-000-by-year-s-end-20200905-p55smq.html
The maximum number of new cases recorded in one day in the US was 78k. Yesterday we had 52k new cases. That's 2/3 of the record!

But was it started deliberately and is it being used to lower population levels earthwide ?  It is 'cleaner' than a war. 
Are the protests earthwide being started by the rich and powerful deliberately to spread the virus amongst the 'lower classes' and reduce the population ?  Is it man's inhumanity to man, or is it pure accident ? 
 

And the more times this virus is transmitted, the more opportunities it has to mutate into virus that is deadlier for young people. Like the 1918/1919 flu.
It’s gonna be an even deadlier 2021.

Why did you have to post it.  Just read Romans chapter 13 and see that Christians are supposed to cooperate with the Government where they live.  They are not uncooperative or ungovernable, they are spectacles to angels and men - in other words good examples.
 

Jon and Lily Adams have lost track of the numbers of letters they've posted.
“It's a lot,” Mrs. Adams offered with a laugh.
She and her husband settle in to write letter after letter at their home in Maumee on Fridays and Saturdays, the days they dedicate to ministry through their kingdom hall. Before the onset of the pandemic, they were joining members of their congregation in fanning out across the neighborhood; these days, they're sharing largely the same message in a more socially distant medium.
“Usually I start off by explaining that I'm not able to come and speak with them in person because of everything that's going on with the pandemic, but I still wanted to share something with them,” Mr. Adams said of the individualized letters he's been writing.
Read more: https://www.toledoblade.com/news/religion/2020/07/19/jehovah-s-witnesses-turn-to-letters-in-lieu-of-face-to-face-interactions/stories/20200719017
 

Thanks for sharing!

All I know is that it would be much more useful if the users would stick to a theme.... and open new threads for replies that fork off the original themes.
I could spend days forking these endless conversations... sigh