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The Bad Guys sponsor various {Web} sites of their own, from which they make known their views. (They are obviously entitled to do so.) Certain individuals from among their number participate actively in Usenet news groups and Internet Relay Chat (IRC) debates, looking for opportunities to slam our Bible-based beliefs, and to make personal attacks on individual Witnesses.
Some collect and distribute the names and email addresses of Witnesses, and encourage others to send us invitations to visit their Web sites or to participate in spiritually degrading discussions. Often they send us unsolicited anti-Truth writings or hate mail. Many Witnesses have learned that the best way to dispatch such mail is by using mail filters and the delete key in their mail reading program.
The spiritual flatulence of what the Bad Guys publish is so obvious that even unbelievers who get wind of it sometimes recommend they just shut up, disappear, and go get a real life, advice which they consistently ignore. Author Kurt Vonnegut would probably call these goobers granfaloons, a word he created to describe a group of people who believe that shared participation in some cause means they share a ``soul bond'', when in fact it's an empty designation and they are not kindred spirits at all.
A good example of an issue requiring balance is what Paul said at 1 Timothy 4:8. A younger brother might emphasize the part of the verse that assures us that ``bodily training is beneficial'', and so will go all out for sports. Another person, perhaps an older sober-minded brother will focus on the second part that says such ``training is beneficial for a little'', and will use it to counsel the younger brother, saying that the Bible indicates here that such activity is worth very little, i.e., nothing at all from the counselor's point of view, so he shouldn't waste his time with it. A balanced person realizes that Paul said both things in the same sentence, and will encourage the younger brother to enjoy whatever benefit he finds in physical training, but not to let his spirituality suffer from being put in a lesser position.
NOTE: In submitting to baptism one does not merely express empathy for a religious abstraction. He becomes an active Witness of Jehovah. Before being led off for immersion, candidates are asked two questions which they answer publicly. The first is whether they have dedicated themselves to Jehovah. The second is: ``Do you understand that your dedication and baptism identifies you as one of Jehovah's Witnesses in association with his organization?'' Ones replying affirmatively confirm that they have confidently identified the faithful and discreet slave Jesus {prophesied} about in Matthew 24:45-47, and are now willing to subject themselves to the direction and authority of Jehovah's earthly organization, in the spirit of Zechariah 8:23.
One reviewer opines that the oft heard behoove is preeminently {somnitudinal}. <<In view of these things, brothers and sisters, it behooves us to ...>> That word is enough to put a colicky baby to sleep. Though it is heard in speech, it appears only 20 times in my online literature, the latest in 1989, but quoting an 1882 Watch Tower, and the next most recent in a May 1985 Watchtower.[35]
[36] A {smiley face} with a pointy beard and professorial glasses.
NOTE: There is a growing consensus among brothers that: beards are now commonplace in the world, including among businessmen and professionals; beards are currently viewed negatively by virtually no one, as they once were; there is nothing whatever scripturally objectionable or unnatural about wearing a well-groomed beard, if the prejudice of others in the Truth is excluded from consideration. Despite these conclusions, almost no brothers in the USA have had the courage to grow one, knowing that doing so inevitably leads to controversy and ostracism for the grower. In contrast, in some parts of Europe beards are not uncommon on brothers, including servants.[37]
NOTE: Sometimes two young people who have been {raised in the Truth} become romantically involved, but only one of them is baptized. When this happens, the baptized person becomes a likely subject of {counsel} for courting one who is not a believer, even though the unbaptized person may be widely thought of as a Witness. (1Co 7:39) My feeling on this has always been that if a person is not yet mature enough to have decided whether he will serve God, then how can he possibly be considered ready for Christian marriage? Some unbaptized individuals then feel pressured, possibly even by the believing objects of their affections, to rush into baptism when they are not ready for it, regarding it as a technicality, an obstacle blocking them from marriage. Far too many bad marriages have been formed on this basis.
STORY: A brother in Ireland wrote to say that people in his area go to extraordinary lengths to attend an event where a member of the {Governing Body} will be present, as though they expect to see someone with wings and a halo. On one occasion a series of three conventions was arranged at a small facility where the anticipated numbers of attendees were finely calculated. When word leaked out that a brother from the GB would be at the second one, brothers all over Ireland started working out reasons why they had to attend the second convention. The result was that the first and third conventions were well under capacity, but at the second people were standing. Of course all the brother did was read the same manuscript talks given at the other conventions.
[39] Have you ever looked up and read the wrong scripture but made it fit anyhow? The fact that this is often not difficult to do demonstrates that this game is not too far-fetched.
NOTE: Games are competitive by nature, and some persons who are more reserved or {easygoing} may feel self-conscious about being required to participate. (Gal 5:26) Hosts proposing to play Bible games at gatherings should always be alert so as to avoid imposing anything embarrassing upon their guests. (Compare {singing}, {dancing}.)
This claim is unreasonable. Consider an example: I don't know Spanish, but I know what a sombrero is,[40] I know that mañana means tomorrow, and I know dozens of other Spanish words and expressions, and believe I know them accurately. Similarly, Bible students learn over the course of time to understand a great many original language Bible words, and the concepts behind them, e.g., sheohl and nephesh and kosmos. We have every reason to believe that we understand them clearly enough to convey the Bible's teaching about them to others.
[45] Others always say ``December 25th'' rather than ``Christmas''.
[46] As if he didn't think of it the moment he woke up.
STORY: I used to work in a small office in midtown Manhattan where every few days someone would look for an excuse to have a little party. My colleagues knew that whenever the occasion was someone's birthday I would not participate in eating a piece of cake or whatever was being dished out. One day when they failed to think of a good reason to have a party, they declared it an unbirthday and sent someone out to buy an ice cream cake. They couldn't understand why I still declined to participate. I never told anyone that on this particular day it just happened to be my ... ummm, ... errr, ...
STORY: I once met a person at a mall who said to me as I went by ``I've been born again. Tell me, do you know Jesus?'' I replied ``I'm on a first name basis with his father!''
(See the article BROTHER in the Insight book, volume 1.)
NOTE: Sometimes virtually anyone attending the meetings at the Kingdom Hall is addressed as Brother, whether baptized or not. The ``Question Box'' in [km 3/80] says that in calling on new unbaptized persons at meetings, conductors should not use Brother or Sister, but might instead use the first and last names together or preface the last name with the more formal Mr., Mrs., or Miss. Notice {Ms.} was not recommended. It is considered appropriate to use Brother or Sister with one who is approaching dedication and considers himself a Witness, and it is often acceptable to address children by their first names. Even though there has been no change in this suggestion, some persons presiding over meetings find it nearly impossible to bring themselves to use any form of address from the platform other than Brother or Sister regardless of to whom it is being applied.
STORY: A reader wrote to point out that things were not always so. He recalls that his family traveled across the country to the 1958 assembly in New York City with a Society-provided bumper sticker that advertised the convention. Some friends told of receiving quick assistance on the road from other brothers when their cars broke down because of their bumper stickers. The writer's memory is confirmed by a similar experience related in [w76 3/15 171].
STORY: When I went out for exercise today I ran through a park where a large church picnic was taking place. On the cars in the parking lot I counted three ``Jesus is Lord'' bumper stickers, three {Jesus fish}, and one bumper sticker that proclaims that cowboys perform sexually better than other persons.
STORY: One interesting variation of this activity was carried on for many years by a pioneer brother in New York, who had a virtual concession stand inside the Port Authority terminal at the George Washington Bridge. He worked it every weekday morning from very early through rush hour. The daily commuters all got to know him, and many stopped regularly for the latest magazines. Some would bring him fruit and vegetables from their gardens and other goodies in exchange for the magazines. The brother rarely went from door-to-door or conducted Bible studies, but he placed several hundred magazines a month working at the terminal. (Compare 1Co 12:5.)
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Last modified: Wed May 6 12:28:14 MST 1998
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