SuzA

 " . . . you are now, looking like women with a lot of time in their hands!!"

I notice of late that you are using the term woman as an epithet when you wish to insult someone you dislike.  Why is that?  Do you think it is in keeping with the counsel we've been receiving lately on God's view of women?   

Anybody heard of poetic licence? 

Def.  "The freedom to depart from the facts of a matter or from the conventional rules of language when speaking or writing in order to create an effect."

Neither have I ever heard anyone say "I am one of the Witnesses of Jehovah".  It may not be grammatically wrong but it doesn't fit our speech patterns.  Non-Witnesses will ask us, "Are you a Jehovah's Witness?" because they use the term as a label, but most native English speakers will introduce/describe themselves as one of Jehovah's Witnesses.  Note, not "one of the Jehovah's Witnesses".  There's more to language than grammar, as I said in an earlier post.  There are patterns of speech and word order (syntax) that are picked up over time through conversation with native speakers and are more important than literal translations from whatever you are accustomed to saying in your own language.  

However, I will practice saying "soy un testigo de Jehova" for my next visit to South America.  So, thank you, Jay.

@Jay Iza If English is not your first language then it may sound strange.  What is more strange is putting the indefinite article, "a" before a personal name.  As in "a Jay's witness".  As I type this, my computer is correcting the phrase by striking out the a.  I guess the only reason it doesn't when I type "a Jehovah's Witness" is because the term is recognised as a label now.  

5 hours ago, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

I love shrimp, and eat a lot of it at the buffet.    You know, of course that the black stripe on their backs is shrimp poop?

Owls eat mice ... hair, teeth, eyeballs,  fur dirt and bacteria, and all the mouse poop inside of them ... AND OWLS CAN FLY!

1

I'm not squeamish about organic "dirt".  Our systems are designed to deal with it in reasonable amounts; in fact,  our gut flora is actually better off with the occasional innoculation of poop.  I doubt that case can be made for man-made detritus.

What are your thoughts on the effect of plastic microparticles getting into our food chain via seafood?

7 hours ago, Srecko Sostar said:

2. Hospitality to people who came to funeral

This is connected not only with mere hospitality people want to show to others, but is connected to folkloric, custom, beliefs, superstition that is in relation with death and dead. And here we have great variety of details in customs around the world. 

So far, you have not demonstrated in what way post-funeral hospitality amongst Witnesses is in any shape or form bound up in superstitious or pagan practices, or that it is a "worldly" practice.

"Worldly" weddings are also "connected to folkloric, custom, beliefs, superstition . . .   And here we have great variety of customs around the world."  We don't eschew weddings simply because some of the customs worldly people include originate in superstitious practices.  We omit what would be offensive to Jehovah.  Likewise with funerals and association thereafter.

When I was visited by two elders because of my association with an adult child who no longer was professing to be a Witness and whose life choices meant she would have been disfellowshipped if only they could contact her, I asked, "When I am old and need help will you be over here taking care of me?  Because I know my daughter will."

The subject was never brought up again.  And I'm still in good standing, but then my congregation elders have never been hardliners. 

Ever since I can remember it has been the custom here in Australia for an announcement to be made after the funeral inviting mourners back to the home of the deceased or close relative for refreshments.  It's always just been coffee/tea and small savouries such as quartered sandwiches, sausage rolls, pastries, etc., not a full-on lunch.  In the past several years, the trend has been for these refreshments to be served in the kingdom hall straight after the service.  I think it's a lovely idea, enabling mourners to pass on condolences to relatives, and mingle with brothers and sisters they may not have seen for years and reminisce over shared memories.  

Since when has hospitality been a "worldly" custom?  

@The Librarian It appears to me he was racing model (toy) cars, not full size cars.  If he was doing this internationally maybe he was combining this hobby with overseas construction trips.  

10 hours ago, The Librarian said:

It has become much more popular nowadays for women to make and share these type of pregnancy photos.

When did this trend start? 2005?

According to http://100photos.time.com/photos/annie-leibovitz-demi-moore it started in 1991 with Annie Liebovitzi's portrait of a pregnant Demi Moore.  

"Once pregnancy was a relatively private affair, even for public figures. After Leibovitz’s picture, celebrity births, naked maternity shots and paparazzi snaps of baby bumps have become industries unto themselves."

Proverbs 23:13, 14 has always puzzled me.  I can't imagine what a child would have to do to deserve being struck by a literal rod. Isn't the latest explanation that the rod here could be a symbol of authority, discipline, not necessarily requiring an actual beating?  

A CO once told our congregation of a family whose children hated coming to the meetings.  Turned out that that was the only time the children were ever disciplined and so they actually feared the meetings.  I remember my mother could quell us with a look whenever we were out because of the training we had been accustomed to at home.  

@Queen Esther “Is it true; is it kind, or is it necessary?”  

I can understand - and enjoy seeing - delegates wearing their national dress at conventions when that attire is still typical in their country, eg Africa, India.  What I have found weird is the donning of antiquated folk costumes such as lederhosen and that shown above, especially if it's not even an international assembly.  The westerners aren't turning up in pre WWI fashions.  

A few years ago at a District Assembly I was bemused to see a sister from my own congregation in Australia dressed in a sari when she doesn't have a drop of Indian blood in her.  

Since when have our conventions become a costume party?

So, yes, I'm with you Librarian.

Lovely to see such a self-sacrificing spirit but I'm puzzled as to why they wouldn't hitch their clothes up out of the water.