Beggar for the Spirit

Hi Lee, As of now it seems to be a personal conscience decision. Most NFL, NBA, soccer jerseys for any team have a player's name on the back. So some brothers/sisters may buy a jersey just showing support of their favorite team and the jersey may have a player's name on the back. Now if a brother/sister feels uncomfortable having a player's name on the back, they can order a jersey with no name or have their own name put on the back. But if a brother/sister has a jersey, it does not automatically mean that they worship or idolize the team. And if a brother/sister has a jersey with a player's name on the back, it does not automatically mean that they worship or idolize this player. Now if a brother/sister has MANY types of pictures, posters, jerseys, etc, of 1 specific player, they may need to meditate on this and consider if they are "idolizing" that player? However, we can all be a little excessive about things. So even if a brother/sister has many "fan" items of a specific player, while they need to be cautious, this still does not mean they "idolize" the player and are guilty of a serious sin. Remember the famous tennis player Boris Becker ? For some Witnesses who enjoyed tennis in past decades when Becker was playing, he may have been their favorite player. Maybe some brothers/sisters even had some "fan" items of Becker, like a shirt, a racket, etc, with Becker's name on it. But was that a form of "idolizing" a player"? Here is more of what "idolizing" a player may look like.

Hi Eryk, Thanks for this new plugin! I tried your example. I downloaded the 2026 Program but in PDF But the output was in another language and had mistakes in formatting. Maybe PDF does not work so well since it has pictures?

Hi David, Nice topic about Jehovah's "Fungi" creation And your title made me think of the following: We have several hot topics currently about the recent adjustment concerning "blood" and conscience. I dont want to start another discussion about this, but I just wanted to share a simple thought. I hope you like this. Often when we think of Jehovah's marvelous creations, we tend to think of the large -- the blue whale, Jupiter, Milky Way Galaxy, etc. But as you nicely expressed in your post, there are also very tiny, incredible "fractions" of Creation. While this sacred fluid inside all of us is vital for life and Jehovah taught us that this precious red fluid represents life, we must also appreciate and value the special designed "fractions" that composes blood. We could easily get so caught up in debating issues concerning blood, the 4 components, the small "fractions", transfusions, medical procedures, etc, etc, etc, that we might forget to meditate on the incredible design and value that each component and every tiny fraction serves to make our bodies perform as super efficient -- organic machines! This post was made to support this good topic about the marvelous "fractions" of Jehovah's creation found all over the universe, on Earth, and deep inside our human body! Just looking at these images above makes me think of David's words (Psalm 139:14)  I praise you because in an awe-inspiring way I am wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful... Your eyes even saw me as an embryo; All its parts (including all tiny fractions) were written in your book

Hi Everyone, This past week I sent several small gifts to other states here in the U.S for my friends. 1 package was fairly small, about the size of a mini tablet but did not weigh much at all. However the post office charged me around $9 which surprised me! I was expecting to be charged maybe $3-4 Another package I sent was in a flat but larger soft package. The package had only 2 medium T-shirts that were very light in weight. But the post office charged me around $16 I was very disappointed. But I paid the amount so that my friends could receive the gifts. But are these prices normal for shipping items? I have little experience in recent years mailing packages. If prices are this high for shipping where you live, have you find ways to reduce the costs? I would appreciate any advice, thanks! I just was not expecting to pay this much for shipping small items.

Hi Tim, Your nice story made me think of this illustration. I hope this connects to what you have been thinking about concerning this dear older brother ENTROPY In physics, scientists came to learn there is a very profound but negative law about the universe they termed "Entropy". I say it is a "negative law" from the human perspective. Because every human dislikes that everything in the universe is fading, weakening, deteriorating, as time passes. YET all the sterling qualities that Jehovah has so unselfishly given to us -- like faithfulness, loyalty, love, etc -- are the only these things in the universe that improve with time! So is it possible that Jehovah designed the entire universe with entropy so that His human creation could observe the universe and gain great wisdom if they could come to the accurate conclusion that... "Since everything in the universe fades, weakens, deteriorates, with time, these material things must not be very important. So therefore the things that only improve with time --- MUST BE THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS IN THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE --- faithfulness, loyalty, love!!"

OUTSTANDING!!! The hundreds or actually thousands of specific sentences/paragraphs/quotes I have copied from WOL over many years in my research --- now ALL have the citation at the top of the quote transformed into a direct link back to the article on WOL thanks to your update to the in(REF)ens plugin! If I had to go back and add a direct link to WOL for every sentence, article, quote I have in my notes, it might take years! But the moment you updated in(REF)ens, you saved me years of work. Great job Eryk!

"Happy is the man who is always on guard" How similar are those words to Jesus' command to... “Keep on the watch and pray continually, so that you may not enter into temptation.” MT 26:41 The FDS gave a couple of great suggestions: "Even during periods when you feel strong, continue to avoid situations that can lead to temptation" "...we guard ourselves from sin by keeping far away from the circumstances that lead to it. This might include avoiding certain situations or activities that are not off-limits for Christians in general but that are known to lead us into temptation." Matt. 5:29, 30. Here are some examples I was thinking of when we might "feel strong" spiritually:

This is a really good idea! Because anytime we hit the little copy button for a paragraph on WOL and then paste it on Obsidian or any word document, the citation is always like this: *** w26 March p. 5 par. 10 *** So if you implement this citation format, that means in Obsidian --- ALL of our already copied sentences or paragraphs from WOL (and I have hundreds) will suddenly have a direct link!! That would be so very helpful

Yes it worked now!! Thanks This is a really good plugin you designed. Much appreciated

Thanks Eryk for deigning this! Can you give us some simple instructions for in(REF)ens to show how this plugin will automatically find references to our publications? For example, I already have many notes that have a copy of a paragraph from an article and it has the citation, like this: But after I installed in(REF)ens I then attempted to see how this plugin would find the reference, but I could not see how to do it?? Thanks for your help

Hi Brother Lewis, There have been many brothers/sisters who have deeply desired to Regular Pioneer like you. However for those who have no choice but to work full-time, then it takes much wisdom and modesty to know whether or not pioneering is possible. Jehovah is glad if we can serve full-time. But Jehovah is also glad if we cannot serve full-time but do what we can within our circumstances. However, Jehovah does not want us to serve him without modesty, being exhausted, too tired and with no joy. So if we try to pioneer full-time, but we have a full-time job, plus we have other important family responsibilities, would it be modest to pioneer? Would we have enough time and energy to do personal study, prepare well for all meetings, care for other responsibilities, etc? However, some who may have the circumstances and energy to work full-time and pioneer full-time can do what @Dages suggested above --- going out in the ministry in the evenings after work and on weekends. Here is another suggestion you could consider: Some who want to regular pioneer but need to work full time have tried this: Accepted the full-time job Applied to Auxiliary Pioneer to see if they could easily meet the hour requirements If it was easy to meet the Auxiliary requirements after many months, then apply to Regular Pioneer!!!

Good suggestion, thanks Richard!

So he wasn't positive for Covid after all?

Hi Everyone, Could use your help. Apparently many brothers/sisters got sick after a recent International Convention here in the U.S. I have a friend who is now very sick also. He said he has been sick the past few days and he has a terrible cough that won't go away. And that his lungs feel like they are on fire or at other times it feels like knives are in his chest! Could this be more than just a cold or flu? Could this be a strain of Covid? Has anyone heard about similar symptoms? Any advice, suggestions, to help this brother? Any advice/help is appreciated Thanks

Jeremy @computerwiz mentioned, Dr. Strange "... gets his powers from one of the infinity stones (at least that's what was explained to me). " Does anyone know if the "Infinity Stones" originate from some kind of "god" or gods? Or do the these stones involve any kind of sorcery, spiritism, etc?