LoneWanderer

Jehovah has not promised that some of us will not die in a traumatic way during this system of things, but he will make sure that his people as a whole will not be wiped off. This could have happened in that particular locale in Germany, had the murderer been able to continue with his Satanic plan. Would a hate crime committed to an even greater level have brought Jehovah’s name to a disrepute? I see that as a possibility.

Was this article from The Guardian linked here yet? https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/10/hamburg-shooting-police-jehovahs-witness-germany While it mentions the police visiting the murderer’s home, it also gives a little bit of a timeline of how things progressed. Chilling to just think with all the ammunition how the murderer might have gone on killing the whole congregation if the police hadn’t happened to come there at the right time (Jehovah?), and he went to a Kingdom Hall that had only one meeting that night, not another one that might have had multiple congregations meeting. 😭

Not having windows seems to be far more typical for Kingdom Halls in the US, perhaps UK, too. Our Hall doesn’t have any windows. In Northern Europe I can’t remember that I would have been to a single Hall with no windows whatsoever, and even then most windows (at least typically) are quite large in size.

Whereas in the beginning the murderer is seen shooting through the window, four seconds in someone manages to close the metal (?) blinds typical to buildings in Central Europe, or the murderer’s bullets hit the lighting/electricity gets cut off 😓

If the reports are true that the murderer had disassociated himself, I wonder if any part of the investigation will dive into the material he was reading on the Internet, or the people he was spending time with. Even with mental or emotional illnesses, he must have built up the hatred somewhere. No wonder Apostle John wrote that “the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and is walking in the darkness, and he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” (1 John 2:9-11) 😞

Trying to get up to go to work right now; woke up abruptly several times during the night. Every time my first conscious thought was about the incident in Hamburg 😭 Jehovah, don't be slow concerning your promise!

I don’t see how keeping everyone informed would contribute to creating panic. After all, congregations worldwide have received information how to handle lobby attendant duties, but in this case the perpetrator might have known about the timing of the meetings, and come in as the meeting was ending/people were exiting the building. These articles were published after the incident in Finland when a terrorist killed a sister engaging in public witnessing in 2017: https://www.jw.org/en/news/jw/region/finland/jehovahs-witnesses-offer-comfort-after-attack-turku/ https://www.jw.org/en/news/releases/by-region/finland/jehovahs-witnesses-resume-preaching-turku/

I am sure the brothers will post a news flash report, if not a banner notification on top of jw.org and JW Library, then at least a piece in the Newsroom, when there is more (accurate) information available 😞

Coverage on the Guardian’s website (https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2023/mar/10/hamburg-shooting-attack-church-deaths-germany?filterKeyEvents=false&page=with:block-640a64118f08fe006b95da5d#maincontent) has a following quote: Depending on when exactly this happened, this event may have helped keeping the death toll lower 😢

Would appear that the German-language congregation of Hamburg-Winterhude was scheduled for a Thursday meeting that started at 7 PM ☹️

I quickly realised why I need to avoid Twitter, especially in this case where feelings are deeply involved, for my mental health… Twitter already full of people offering opinions not knowing anything, leaving racist comments about Muslims being the culprits, leaving political comments how this is not supposed to happen in Europe (stricter gun laws than in the US), posting videos claiming to be from the shooting (actually being from somewhere else), apostates and other ridiculers with their low blows making fun of the dead etc. etc. 😞

Jehovah, Jehovah, give comfort to brothers and sisters affected, give calmness of to us shocked by this news, and do bring an end to Satan’s wicked system ☹️

Err, sorry... Didn't see there was a topic already. Please disregard.

... The cover series of this new magazine (https://www.jw.org/en/library/magazines/watchtower-no1-2023/) felt like a warm hug from Jehovah, an assurance that he understands even if no other humans do. I cried just listening to the account of Julian (the name that people constantly mistakenly call me 🤦🏼‍♂️) ❤️‍🩹

Condos only, small houses start at 600k in bad areas, and usually go for 800k-900k in better areas

On West Coast, though, a small condo, not to mention a house, remains unattainable for low/middle income earners. The extremely high interest rates used to cool off the market would have (in our situation) meant a $500-700/mo increase in payments. What was a 1bd for approx. 400k pre-pandemic, is now listed at 500k. Very disheartening. Especially when one would technically need a 20% downpayment to avoid paying property mortgage insurance. Can’t wait for the time when we will “build houses and live in them […]”, enjoy our work to the full, and will not have to be toiling for nothing. (Isa. 65:21, 22) 😓

The interview with him (https://www.jw.org/en/library/videos/#en/mediaitems/SeriesTruthTransforms/pub-jwbvs_201612_1_VIDEO) was used as a basis for an item at a midweek meeting five years ago (I thought it was like a year ago! ) : https://www.jw.org/en/library/jw-meeting-workbook/october-2017-mwb/meeting-schedule-oct23-29/live-to-praise-jehovah/

Panamanian former reggaetón artist Edgardo Armando Franco who went by the pseudonym “El General” (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_General). As you might recall, his story was featured on JW Broadcasting (?) some years ago. Another common denominator is here that he gave up his music career in order to serve Jehovah with a clean conscience.

IMHO losing the right in Norway to wed couples is a sad consequence of a highly unjust decision by biased officials. Sure, Witness couples can still go to a local city hall with two witnesses, and pay, what USD 100-200 in Oslo (https://www.oslo.kommune.no/radhuset/vielse-i-oslo-radhus/#toc-4), and have their marriage officiated. But I am sure many like me, who are privileged to have been wed at a Kingdom Hall, have especially fond memories of their special day. Yes, you can always go to the Kingdom Hall for a wedding talk after the legal part, but personally I’m big on this “everything under the same roof” approach 😉

Hmm? Our Kingdom Hall doors are nowadays locked also before the meeting, and well-meaning sisters welcoming others have been instructed to let the lobby attendant (who should be an appointed brother whenever possible) handle opening the door.

That's the assumption I am making, too, considering that according to jw.org Meeting Search there was supposed to be a meeting starting at the Hall at 9:30 AM, and the police mentions an emergency call being made around 9 AM. Mine was just a general notion how I appreciate efforts to keep us safe in this crazy world 😢

While this attack seems to be have been aimed at a selected individual, I am very grateful for the instructions from the Governing Body to keep us all safe in the Kingdom Hall by keeping the doors locked.

If someone doesn't have access to Twitter. This is apparently why it was mentioned as being a domestic dispute: