Is it inappropriate for a Christian to participate in Black Friday?
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By Tianna Mercier
I am hoping that Single and Available as a sub group doesn't mean you have to be that, to post in Socialize!! I am traveling across the country with my husband and was hoping to find some friends from Lancaster, PA congregations that would like to go out in service and then Quilt shopping afterward. I will be in the area around Sunday 5/22 to Monday 5/23. Let me know! Thanks!!
Tianna Mercier
gotomgo.org
facebook.com/benefitforabike
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By Guest Nicole
What should I gift a new born of Jehovah's Witnesses?
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By Jack Ryan
Another view on the 'thanksgiving' threads being posted here today....
Unthanksgiving Day
The National Day of Mourning
A Thanksgiving bonfire at dawn: celebrating Native American resistance on Alcatraz
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By Guest Nicole
"Throughout the world harvest has always been the occasion for many queer customs which all have their origin in the animistic belief in the corn [grain]-spirit or corn [grain]-mother. This personification of the crops has left its impress upon the harvest customs of modern Europe. .... Throughout the world, as Sir J. G. Frazer shows, the semi-worship of the last sheaf is or has been the great feature of the harvest-home. Among harvest customs none is more interesting than harvest cries; the Devonshire reapers go through a ceremony which in its main features is a counterpart of pagan worship." - pp. 231-232, Encyclopedia Britannica, volume 11, 14th edition.
Note what the publication Holidays Around the World, by Joseph Gaer says about Thanksgiving:
"Thanksgiving for the annual harvest is one of the oldest holidays known to mankind ... 'The Romans celebrated their Thanksgiving early in October. The holiday was dedicated to the goddess of harvest, Ceres, and the holiday was called Cerelia. 'The Christians took over the Roman holiday and it became well established in England, where some of the Roman customs and rituals for this day were observed ... "
"The Pilgrims, who in 1621 observed our initial Thanksgiving holiday, were not a people especially enthusiastic about the celebration of festivals. In fact these austere and religious settlers of America would have been dismayed had they known of the long and popular history of harvest festivals, of which their Thanksgiving was only the latest. .... The harvest festival, with its attendant rites, seems to have spread out from ... Egypt and Syria and Mesopotamia. The first or the last sheaf of wheat was offered to the `Great Mother' ... Astarte [equivalent to Ishtar and Eastre] was the Earth Mother of the ancient Semites; to the Phrygians she was Semele; under the name of Demeter she was worshiped by the Greeks at the famous Eleusinian Mysteries..." - pp. 271-272, Celebrations - The Complete Book of American Holidays, Robert J. Myers, Doubleday & Co., 1972
God has always demanded that our worship to him, no matter how small, must be pure and untainted. God Himself said:
"And God proceeded to speak all these words, saying...You must not have any other gods against my face. Because I Jehovah your God am a God exacting EXCLUSIVE DEVOTION." (Ex. 20:1-5)
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By The Librarian
Dear Librarian,
Are Jehovah’s Witnesses allowed to celebrate Thanksgiving?
- Julie, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
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By Guest
“Black Friday: because only in America people trample each other for sales exactly one day after being thankful for what they already have.”
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By James Thomas Rook Jr.
Today is November 18, 2017.
In about five days or so many in the United States will celebrate a National Day of Thanksgiving, and many of Jehovah's Witnesses will not.
WHY?
Below is the complete text of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln's Thanksgiving day proclamation.
Please read it carefully, and tell me ... What's wrong with THIS?
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Washington, D.C.
October 3, 1863
By the President of the United States of America.
A Proclamation.
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the Eighty-eighth.
By the President: Abraham Lincoln
William H. Seward,
Secretary of State
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I cannot find anything wrong with this ... nothing at all.
Do you see something that a sane, rational person should be seeing that I do NOT see?
.
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By Bible Speaks
King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba - Amazed at His Wisdom. Knowledge and Wisdom! - A Gift from Jehovah! ~
(Sol′o·mon) [from a root meaning “peace”]
(1 Kings 10:1-25) . . .Now the queen of She′ba was hearing the report about Sol′o·mon in connection with the name of Jehovah. So she came to test him with perplexing questions. 2 Finally she arrived at Jerusalem with a very impressive train, camels carrying balsam oil and very much gold and precious stones; and she came on in to Sol′o·mon and began to speak to him all that happened to be close to her heart.
3 Sol′o·mon, in turn, went on to tell her all her matters. There proved to be no matter hidden from the king that he did not tell her. 4 When the queen of She′ba got to see all the wisdom of Sol′o·mon and the house that he had built, 5 and the food of his table and the sitting of his servants and the table service of his waiters and their attire and his drinks and his burnt sacrifices that he regularly offered up at the house of Jehovah, then there proved to be no more spirit in her. 6 So she said to the king: “True has the word proved to be that I heard in my own land about your matters and about your wisdom.
7 And I did not put faith in the words until I had come that my own eyes might see; and, look! I had not been told the half. You have surpassed in wisdom and prosperity the things heard to which I listened. 8 Happy are your men; happy are these servants of yours who are standing before you constantly, listening to your wisdom! 9 May Jehovah your God come to be blessed, who has taken delight in you by putting you upon the throne of Israel; because Jehovah loves Israel to time indefinite, so that he appointed you as king to render judicial decision and righteousness.” 10 Then she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold and a very great deal of balsam oil and precious stones. There never came anymore the like of that balsam oil for quantity such as the queen of She′ba gave to King Sol′o·mon.
11 And Hi′ram’s fleet of ships that carried gold from O′phir also brought from O′phir timbers of algum trees in very great amount and precious stones. 12 And the king proceeded to make out of the timbers of the algum trees supports for the house of Jehovah and for the house of the king, and also harps and stringed instruments for the singers. Timbers of algum trees like this have not come in nor have they been seen down to this day. 13 And King Sol′o·mon himself gave the queen of She′ba all her delight for which she asked, apart from what he gave her according to the openhandedness of King Sol′o·mon. After that she turned about and went to her own land, she together with her servants.
14 And the weight of the gold that came to Sol′o·mon in one year amounted up to six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold, 15 apart from the men of travel and the profit from the traders and all the kings of the Arabs and the governors of the land. 16 And King Sol′o·mon went on to make two hundred large shields of alloyed gold (six hundred [shekels] of gold he proceeded to lay upon each large shield), 17 and three hundred bucklers of alloyed gold (three mi′nas of gold he proceeded to lay upon each buckler). Then the king put them in the House of the Forest of Leb′a·non. 18 Further, the king made a great ivory throne and overlaid it with refined gold.
19 There were six steps to the throne, and the throne had a round canopy behind it, and there were armrests on this side and on that side by the place of sitting, and two lions were standing beside the armrests. 20 And there were twelve lions standing there upon the six steps, on this side and on that side. No other kingdom had any made just like it. 21 And all the drinking vessels of King Sol′o·mon were of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Leb′a·non were of pure gold. There was nothing of silver; it was considered in the days of Sol′o·mon as nothing at all.
22 For the king had a fleet of ships of Tar′shish on the sea along with Hi′ram’s fleet of ships. Once every three years the fleet of ships of Tar′shish would come carrying gold and silver, ivory, and apes and peacocks. 23 So King Sol′o·mon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth. 24 And all the people of the earth were seeking the face of Sol′o·mon to hear his wisdom that God had put in his heart. 25 And they were bringing each his gift, articles of silver and articles of gold and garments and armor and balsam oil, horses and mules, as a yearly matter of course."
wol.jw.org
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By Guest Nicole
I make a lot of the gifts I give, and often they’re small. So when I found this punch board that lets you make scrapbook paper DIY gift boxes, I knew I would use it a lot! Not only does it work great for small gifts, it’s also perfect for making up favor boxes for your party or DIY wedding. I’m going to show you today how quickly you can punch and fold a gift box, and give you an idea for how to dress it up to make it wedding-worthy, or to make that gift to your friend extra-special.
Supplies needed to make your own rustic DIY gift boxes:
We R Memory Keepers Gift Box Punch Board
2.5 inch Wide Burlap Ribbon (About 12 inches)
Hemp or Jute Twine (About 30 inches)
Scrapbook Paper – one sheet for each box (I used white 8×8 sheets for this project, but you can use any size between 6×6 and 12×12)
Floral Accents (Optional. I used Petaloo Chantilly adhesive blossoms, but you can use anything to match your color theme!)
The supplies for these DIY gift boxes go a long way, which makes them a great choice for making up several for your wedding or party. The box size I made is 3.25 inches x 3.25 inches x 1.75 inches, but the punch gives instructions for making short, tall, or square boxes using any size paper 6×6 inches to 12×12 inches. Choosing a different size will mean you need more or less burlap and twine, but you can plan on these supplies making about 30 boxes – and less than 40 cents each, before you add the embellishment that matches your theme. The idea I’ll be showing you today comes out to $1 each.
The great part, too, is how quickly they make up. Especially if you get a few friends together, punching and assembling, you can make up these DIY gift boxes in just a couple of minutes! In fact – I’m sharing a video how the punch board works, so that you can see how quickly they come together.
You can see how in just a few minutes, you can make up something shabby chic, elegant, or colorful – and customize them any way that suits your party theme!
http://blog.consumercrafts.com/paper-crafts/rustic-diy-gift-boxes/
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By Bible Speaks
“Look! Sons are an inheritance from Jehovah; the fruitage
of the belly is a reward.” (Psalm 127:3.)
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By The Librarian
JW Gifts for a Pioneer School
Anyone know what the typical Pioneer School Gifts were back in 1960? Just curious.
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