Melinda Mills

I am trying to find out what was really said about animals, but it seems I will have to wait, if it is really on the programme. So far what was hinted at or rumoured according to Witness does not sound plausible.   But  I know many people, especially women, seem to love animals better than people.  God made man/people in his image, not animals. People will live forever, if they are loyal to Jehovah and pass the final test (which would entail true love for Jehovah) but animals were never promised everlasting life, and Jesus did not die for them. Animals are captivating and truly beautiful but humans are really lovable, that's why Jesus was fond of them even before he came to earth.   (Proverbs 8: 31)  The other angels find them to be lovable and interesting too, they are intrigued by the things men are doing connected to God's will.
(1 Peter 1:12) 12 It was revealed to them that they were ministering, not to themselves, but to you, regarding what has now been announced to you by those who declared the good news to you with holy spirit sent from heaven. Into these very things, angels are desiring to peer.
But Jesus wants us to imitate him and practise the real love that Anna is talking about.  Principled, unselfish love, Agape.  
Sentiment can cause people (even high officials) to make wrong decisions. All the other forms of love are basically selfish, even of they are enjoyable like Eros, but Agape is the force that puts everything back onto the right track. Agape is first, then other forms fall into place.
 

Year after year after year I send in my suggestion for the Convention theme. Year after year after year it is ignored!
“The righteous one takes care of his domestic animals.” Proverbs 12:10
One glorious year it will happen.
 

I am trying to find out what was really said about animals, but it seems I will have to wait, if it is really on the programme. So far what was hinted at or rumoured according to Witness does not sound plausible.   But  I know many people, especially women, seem to love animals better than people.  God made man/people in his image, not animals. People will live forever, if they are loyal to Jehovah and pass the final test (which would entail true love for Jehovah) but animals were never promised everlasting life, and Jesus did not die for them. Animals are captivating and truly beautiful but humans are really lovable, that's why Jesus was fond of them even before he came to earth.   (Proverbs 8: 31)  The other angels find them to be lovable and interesting too, they are intrigued by the things men are doing connected to God's will.
(1 Peter 1:12) 12 It was revealed to them that they were ministering, not to themselves, but to you, regarding what has now been announced to you by those who declared the good news to you with holy spirit sent from heaven. Into these very things, angels are desiring to peer.
But Jesus wants us to imitate him and practise the real love that Anna is talking about.  Principled, unselfish love, Agape.  
Sentiment can cause people (even high officials) to make wrong decisions. All the other forms of love are basically selfish, even of they are enjoyable like Eros, but Agape is the force that puts everything back onto the right track. Agape is first, then other forms fall into place.
 

Of course there is nothing wrong with that kind of sentimental love. Since I came to America I  have noticed people are more apt at showing this kind of emotion, as opposed to the stiff upper lipped Brits. I had never seen brothers cry while giving a talk on the platform until I came here (usa).  There is a lot of sentimental love at assemblies for sure as well. People are dewy eyed during the videos, songs, and when saying good bye to the brothers and sisters they've met. Honestly John, you are poking holes where you don't need to as it is a non issue. JW's for the most part are an emotional bunch, that is why there is no need to give talks on how to show "sentimental" love!
However, the love we all need to learn is the principled kind. This is the love spoken about in Corinthians 13, and this is the love that is the theme of the convention. "Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous. It does not brag, does not get puffed up, does not behave indecently, does not look for its own interests, does not become provoked. It does not keep account of the injury.  It does not rejoice over unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth. Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous. It does not brag, does not get puffed up bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails.
Notice it says it never fails. Well romantic love can fail, so can sentimental love. You do not still "love" your ex wives do you, I didn't think so. Hovever, would you help one of them if they were in dire need and you were able to? That is principled love, AGAPE, the love described in Corinthians that doesn't always come easy to everyone and needs to be worked on. Hence the convention on that theme. If the whole world practiced that kind of love, there would be peace on earth. 

Wow! It's been years since anyone expected Biblical men of old to appear at a convention.

I had no problem with it. How you carry on.

Talking about songs, the oddest thing happened at our convention. on the last day, the afternoon, just before we get ready to sing "Give me Courage", the brother announces that we should pay attention because the music was slightly changed. ??? My excitement dwindled as I and others had diligently practiced the song since its release on the website last year. Anyway, everyone sang their hearts out, and I must say sounded pretty good, except in the last chorus. For some unexplained reason the music WAS different, however no one was deterred and sang as they had learned it. As a consequence it sounded absolutely awful. Terribly out of tune. Like cats and dogs howling. I stopped singing and just shook my head. When I got home I checked the recorded version of the convention we have for my mother in law who is house bound, and there was no such problem there. It sounds like it was just our convention....?

Next week DV I will know, and will tell you.   
Maybe this time your children will learn something that will show them the need to visit more often and to process information so they practice godly devotion more fully which includes checking on your parents. (mentioned somewhere in 1 Timothy.) Work in progress.

Forgot to use this scripture in my first post.
Reason we go to meetings and conventions and assemblies (apparently these two are not synonyms)
(Hebrews 10:24, 25) And let us consider one another so as to incite to love and fine works, 25 not forsaking our meeting together, as some have the custom, but encouraging one another, and all the more so as you see the day drawing near.
Plain and simple.
 

Seems chicken was introduced centuries later - not at the time of these festivals.  Some Jews kept pigs to sell to others, others probably also kept chickens but it was not in their diet until maybe the Roman times. Eggs were mentioned by Jesus as a gift to one's children.

Well, James.... I learned that yes, Manasseh did actually repent and was forgiven by Jehovah. (i.e. there is hope for the rest of us!) How do I know? I saw him with my own eyes.
Usually, after living a number of years, we may take stock of ourselves and realize the things that we did not want to believe about ourselves were actually true. We repent and begin to consider how can we make amends. We mellow.
How many people are aware of these very personal things that you have revealed about yourself? A lot? A few? I know these were very hurtful things for you. Thank you for letting us know these things. I am glad that your current mate is "the love of your life and your best friend. May you both live for an eternity together in perfection in Jehovah's new world!

other than those things that TTH enumerated about you...I think you're OK
 

Years ago an introductory convention talk featured Matthew 13:52
“...every public instructor who is taught about the Kingdom of the heavens is like a man, the master of the house, who brings out of his treasure store things both new and old.”
It wouldn’t all be new. It would be also plenty of the old. 
At seventy years of age, most of it will be old. It will be reminders and exhortations, encouragement and the relating of experiences. It will be new ways of looking at old things—the gem turned so that it is examined through a new facet. Since you are so very much out of harmony with the ones putting on the program, you will kick back at most of it. I mean, you are not exactly easy to satisfy.
 

Kids cost an arm and a leg to raise. Two of them will disable you for life.
Okay. I’ll approach it in that spirit.
I think you defeat yourself looking at it this way. The Bible is a finite book. You have been reading it for 70 years. Just what do you expect to learn that is new?
There are three assembly events in modern times. There were three assembly events, connected with the festivals, in ancient times. What did they learn then that was new? Why did they go?

Almost exactly the same. It was recently song 17 in the 2009 Songbook, when the words were changed again (to what they are now). That was to simplify singing with a new rule that every syllable had to have its own note, just to avoid "slurring" a syllable over two or more notes. But musically, it's still very similar to the original version. (Written by a German brother during or very shortly after the WWII persecution there, where he served time in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in 1942.)
https://www.ushmm.org/exhibition/music/detail.php?content=witness
 

Forgot to use this scripture in my first post.
Reason we go to meetings and conventions and assemblies (apparently these two are not synonyms)
(Hebrews 10:24, 25) And let us consider one another so as to incite to love and fine works, 25 not forsaking our meeting together, as some have the custom, but encouraging one another, and all the more so as you see the day drawing near.
Plain and simple.
 

Hope you are not getting paid to take the notes.

Next week DV I will know, and will tell you.   
Maybe this time your children will learn something that will show them the need to visit more often and to process information so they practice godly devotion more fully which includes checking on your parents. (mentioned somewhere in 1 Timothy.) Work in progress.

Law of diminishing returns is also a fundamental principle in Economics, not only Engineering.  And you talking money already.
But remember you go to meeting every week and you don't  necessarily learn anything new, it costs clothes, gas, tyres, road tax, etc.  The Convention is just a bigger meeting.  You don't complain for regular meeting, so why complain for a more exciting, bigger meeting, even if you are eating ordinary spiritual food served in prettier plates or settings.   Where did you meet your wife?  Put yourself in the place of those who are new to the spiritual food, are now meeting other Witnesses/Christians or are even looking for mates, all these are normal things Jesus mentioned in Matthew 24.  But he said some would take no note of the spiritual things until they are swept away. 
So what can you/I do to show more  appreciation for what may begin to look ordinary?  Form a longing for the ordinary food (milk) - it is necessary to grow from infancy to maturity both literally and spiritually; it will help you to grow to salvation.  You know a year in advance and you prepare with anticipation. When it comes you show appreciation.  I already have three sets of clothes put out and a bag packed. My convention is next week. I got my lapel card today.
(1 Peter 2:2) "As newborn infants, form a longing for the unadulterated milk of the word, so that by means of it you may grow to salvation,"
Even if we really knew everything that we need to know, we are all works in progress, we need to work on what we know.  There is always room for improvement in putting on the complete suit of armour and the new personality; in setting spiritual goals.
(Ephesians 4:23, 24) And you should continue to be made new in your dominant mental attitude, 24 and should put on the new personality that was created according to God’s will in true righteousness and loyalty.
Always remember that the Israelites complained about the manna, then God send the bird with lots of flesh and while they were still eating they were punished.  (Someone can enlarge on the reasons why he gave them meat and then punished them.)
(Numbers 11:31-34) 31 Then a wind from Jehovah sprang up and began driving quail from the sea and causing them to fall around the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and a day’s journey on the other side, all around the camp, and they were about two cubits deep on the ground. 32 So all that day and all night and all the next day, the people stayed up and gathered the quail. No one gathered less than ten hoʹmers, and they kept spreading them all around the camp for themselves. 33 But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it could be chewed, Jehovah’s anger blazed against the people, and Jehovah began striking the people with a very great slaughter. 34 So they gave that place the name Kibʹroth-hat·taʹa·vah, because there they buried the people who showed selfish craving. 
Let's appreciate the spiritual manna.  Fancy a dish prepared by God himself and people were complaining about it!
If we were starving and someone gave us plain rice and water,  it would help us to survive, though it might not satisfy us completely. While we are excited about new information, we still need the milk of the word as it would help us to live to salvation. It would help us renew our goals, remind us of what we already know,  and keep us on the path to salvation as the apostle Peter said. We need manna and milk to live, grow and mature.  People would be there who are at different stages of Christian development; some still need milk, some would be there who need solid food, some would be there who need the deeper things of God to satisfy them, but we all need spiritual food.   "Happy are those conscious of their spiritual need". Matt 5:3.
 
If and when we get into the Kingdom of God, we will be learning about love forever, as there will always be Jehovah, Jesus, and people to love.  Love (Agape) never fails. (1 Cor 13:8)
 

.... that's why REAL men  never set their Phasers to STUN !
( ... puts a wrinkled age-appropriate paper bag with eye holes over head and hyperventilates, to get back on topic ...)

I realized it didn't quite fit your cadence, and I tried to erase my comment in time, but you were too quick. Now I wish I could put back my post with the bad guess, so that your comment would make more sense.

James, we slightly off topic you know. Back to your topic now you have a bigger audience.

Hard to get anything past me... I type with TWO fingers!
It would go faster if I removed the finger-tip rubber chicken heads.

Remember the song in the old pink shirt cardboard songbook,  that I used to call the "Let's drag the stones to the Pyramid" song?  I forget the name ...
 Bum dee dee BUM de de,  BUM BUM BUM dum bum.
BUM de de BUM de de bum dum dum dum DUM.
Bum de de, Bum de de DUM,  DUM ....
... etc.
I miss that song ....
 

Always happy to learn things like this about people. Without details, I can imagine anything from from music lessons to a professional recital hall.
I think I mentioned once that I played a harmonica at the District Assemblies (aka Summer Conventions), not an instrument one would normally associate with the assembly orchestra. (In fact, we currently associate no instruments with assembly orchestras.) We also don't have choirs anymore. My parents met each other in the volunteer portion of a convention choir. In the early 1950's there was always a core choir assigned from past volunteers, and then they would often invite more volunteers, if they wished, to join them in a section up close to the actual orchestra/choir.
Hey! Maybe we should create a section for posting "Kingdom Songs," or other songs.