Jexter

It's probably also worth putting mental health in the mix here. Many reactions we see in others that we can't easily understand could be down to their suffering depression, anxiety of some form, fear or even a personality disorder. It doesn't necessarily justify unchristian behaviour, but it can explain unusual reactions.

Probably the more important question to ask is 'have they dedicated themselves to Jehovah, and understand the significance of what that means?' The time between being approved as an UBP and baptism is to demonstrate that they understand the significance of the step they are taking, and that their lifestyle clearly demonstrates that.

We organised an 'Amazing Race' for our cong - 11 car groups started from a set point (at 5 minute intervals) and had a series of clues and activities that lasted a bit over 2 hours and took them on a 50 km (30 mile) journey... and had a congregation BBQ at the end point. Was a lot of fun!

One thing to look at with these tests is the percentage inclination toward a specific trait. For instance, if someone is 70% inclined toward introversion, they are very much set in that trait and unlikely to show a different result depending on the day. However, if they are only 5% inclined toward Perceiving, then the answers they have given to the P/J questions have been mixed, and the are only slightly tilted in favour of the P. That would mean that if they did the test again (or another similar test) and answered one or two of those questions differently (because they felt differently on the day) then the result may come out different. So as an example - the first time I did the test my results were - Introverted: 74%, Intuitive: 39%, Feeling: 5%, Judging: 20% I've done the same test or other tests probably 10 times since. 8/10 times I get INFJ, which means that's a pretty solid pattern. But on a couple of occasions, because the Thinking/Feeling and to a lesser degree Judging/Perceiving percentages are not so pronounced, I get a slightly different result. And interestingly, when I read the description of the different profile, I see parts of myself in that too. So what does it all mean? Well, these tests break down 6 billion people into 16 basic personality profiles (which is hilarious when you think about it). But that doesn't mean that everyone is equally inclined to all the traits within the profile. It just gives an indication of how our personality is inclined - what our innate tendencies are. For ones who are getting different results every time they do the test, it's probably an indication of a good balance between one side of a trait and another. Neither is dominant. See http://www.16personalities.com/articles/strength-of-individual-traits and http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JungType.htm Anyway, its all interesting and can teach us a bit about how we are 'wired', which can be very helpful. But like all social science, its based on human wisdom, and as such is not exact.

As long as you apply Luke 14:28-30 at the same time... there is sometimes the tendency to 'just go pioneering' and not think of the wider or medium-term consequences. Job 42:2 applies to Jehovah - not us. And Jehovah doesn't micromanage affairs so we can pioneer if we haven't put the effort in to calculate the expense. For what it is worth, cleaning is often the simplest work to find if you don't have a trade or semi-professional skill you can utilise in a part time fashion. I've done shop and house window, office, general, builders final and carpet cleaning at different times.

Welcome to Queensland - beautiful one day, cyclonic the next!

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-16/iranian-man-haron-monis-named-as-man-behind-sydney-siege/5969246 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-16/sydney-siege-gunman-two-hostages-dead/5969162

I'm an INFJ... and so close to the profile, it's scary!

http://tv.jw.org/#video/VODProgramsEvents/pub-jwbam_E_201410_1_VIDEO

I agree too... there are a couple of words there worth adopting. Verschlimmbessern is something I'm well acquainted with!

The KMs in the public forum also demonstrate publicly the efforts we go to to preach the good news... anyone doubting that our work is fulfilling Matthew 24:14 by design can now see it for themselves...

Yes, the media will only tell the portion of the story that makes the headline... truth is often irrelevant. Need to hear all sides to the story before judging, and we definitely can't do that off the back of a newspaper article!

I won't be surprised if we get more 'electronic version only' publications as time goes on.

You always got the sense of his extreme intensity... he was always 'on the edge'. I suppose it's the same with so many brilliant individuals. The 'public face' is shown when he is 'up', but there'd have to be down times. That intensity can't last 24/7. I wonder if there is a lesson in that for all of us...