Beggar for the Spirit

There was a post where someone asked the question, “Elders at a judicial meeting have to recognize/assess whether someone is repentant. Repentance determines whether someone can remain in the congregation. But is a 2-3 hour meeting enough time for straying sheep to repent, "produce fruits that befit repentance?” Hopefully the following thoughts will add some clarification and help to answer this as well as to show another “angle” regarding elders involved with a judicial hearing. Repentance BEFORE the hearing: A brother or sister may have already started showing evidence and “works of repentance” before meeting with the judicial committee. Then when the elders in the hearing see how this person who committed a serious sin/sins has been showing evidence of being genuinely repentant, then judging becomes so much easier for imperfect elders. But the main point here to realize is that a judicial hearing is not needed for someone to develop a repentant attitude. In fact, a number of brothers/sisters who committed a serious sin felt so terrible and regretted their actions, that they had a change of mind and started repenting BEFORE they came to the hearing, So we can see that it is a misunderstanding to have the idea that 2-3hrs is not enough time for a person to repent. So then what might be the meaning behind the new adjustment? Repentance DURING the hearing: Since judges are imperfect men, there have been occasions where some elders during a judicial hearing would feel so bad that this brother/sister was not repenting, but thinking or hoping that the brother/sister would somehow repent, that some elders would ask to have additional meetings/hearings even though there was little to no evidence of this person being repentant. I remember one judicial case very vividly, a sister who all of us elders knew well since she had grown up in that congregation, was listening to everything we said, reading all the scriptures with us, answering questions, so she seemed very obedient and agreeable. YET in a nice calm way, she basically told us that she refused to change her ways! She had become firm in her desire to continue on in her course. When I realized this after several hours, tears started flowing down from my face involuntarily, I couldn’t stop them! In my mind I thought, “Of course we will help this younger sister in her 20s to repent!”. So I guess when I realized that we were not changing her mind and that we would have no choice but to disfellowship her, I had to grab a paper towel to wipe my entire face and kind of hide it! When I did this the other 2 older elders saw me and realized what was happening with me and so did the sister! (Even though I thought I was hiding well what was happening) 😢 So in the past when some elders started trying to have more meetings to almost force repentance, the GB asked the elders to try and keep the judicial hearing to just 1, and not more, and they emphasized in many schools that elders cannot force repentance on someone. In the wonderful scripture that Bro. Sanderson menitoned how the GB had been analyzing it (Revelation 2:21) where Jesus said, "I gave her time to repent", if we read further, guess what? That woman, although shown much mercy by Jesus/Jehovah giving her more “time to repent”, she did not repent! So we can see that in most cases, further meetings with an unrepentant one are not needed. But in some cases, there will be confused ones, or ones who want to repent but need much help in doing so, and therefore these one can really benefit from an additional meeting where the elders follow Jehovah’s beautiful example of “leading” ones to repentance. 💕 So I thought some or many here would appreciate hearing about the other side of being a “human judge”, showing another side of elders/judges! Showing the human side, the emotional side, that yearns for their brother or sister to repent and they will almost do anything, even spending many hours on 2 or more different hearings of many hours each, just trying their best to convince and almost force a person to repent! So this new adjustment seems to be telling elders, “The GB wants you elders to be as merciful and as compassionate as you can be within Jehovah’s ways & principles, so while Jehovah and us are not encouraging trying to force someone to be repentant by having multiple judicial hearings, we are however encouraging that if a brother/sister needs additional help or is asking for some help/time as they want to repent, and the elders see this, then meeting with such a person, giving them an additional opportunity may help certain ones to finally understand fully why they sinned and how they can repent. So not forcing, but just “leading” them to repentance like Jehovah does!” 💗

Hi Kyle, Thanks for your help. But please notice in my post that there are some videos that don’t have a “Show Transcript” option when you hit the 3 dots button. So then how does a person get a transcription of these videos? Maybe someone has found a free app or website that can transcribe the videos that YouTube does not?

More specifically, how do you copy/download a YouTube Transcript when the “3 dots” button that you hit to go to “Transcript” does not offer this? Some videos only show “Report” when hitting the 3 dots button as there is no transcript available. I have seen apps or websites that require payment, but does anyone know of a free app/ website that will transcribe Youtube videos? I appreciate your help, thanks.😊

Brother Lloyd, please keep us updated with your experiences with Vision Pro, it looks very interesting! To be honest, when I first saw this, it seemed so futuristic, hard to believe that such technology is already available. And I think this may even be more beneficial for those who have any disabilities making researching and computing much easier. Look forward to your future posts, thanks. For those who have not heard about this, below is a detailed video I had watched on it’s capabilities. (Scroll down several pictures on the website until you see the picture below, then hit “Watch the film”) Link: https://www.apple.com/apple-vision-pro/

Hi Greg, Thanks for your post. In classical physics/science, this definition your provided is very helpful. However, as I wrote in the OP, “I have come to understand that this term "spin" is just an analogy for scientists as the proton doesn't literally spin like a ball or a planet. Spin apparently means that it is just the intrinsic property of the particle which makes it behave as tiny magnets even when they are at rest. So in classical physics, if we take an electrically charged object and spin it, we get a magnetic field. But apparently a proton or electron doesn't need to physically spin to create magnetism, physicists say that this is "intrinsic" in the particle, like it's mass.” So for me this is so very interesting, actually amazing to me that what is required in “normal” physics for anything to have angular momentum or magnetism is JUST AN INTRINSIC PROPERTY inside A SUBATOMIC PARTICLE! 😯 So while outside forces and circumstances cause something to be “magnetized” in normal life/physics, it is cool how Jehovah designed these invisible particles with what might be called “self-magnetism”, not needing any outside force to make it magnetized! To illustrate, it is like how a sailboat must have an outside force, a wind, to make it go forward on the ocean. But what if someone could design a sailboat that needed no sails, no wind, but was designed with an INTRINSIC PROPERTY that makes it sail fast on its own! Wow 😯 That’s what Jehovah did with these marvelous particles!

Hello Brother Olayinka, Please consider carefully this illustration: What are some things you consider beautiful? The ocean? Mountains? Art? Who are some people you love? Your mother? Grandparents? A special Friend? The reason I asked you those questions is because if you consider the ocean beautiful and a certain piece of art beautiful, if you spend time talking with a person who hates the ocean or hates art, eventually if you spend enough time with that person, you will begin to view that art piece differently, and view the ocean differently. You will start thinking things like, “I used to think the ocean was so beautiful, but now all I see is a huge body of liquid that I cannot walk on, I cannot play soccer on, and it has way too much salt!” Spending time with people who hate can cause you be infected with an eye disease. Once you are infected with the hate and negative views, this disease causes you to see things that you once saw as having beauty as now ugly! You may love your mother or you may have a special friend who you care deeply about. But if you spend time with someone who hates this special friend you have and keeps telling you all about your friend’s flaws and all the negative things they see about your friend, eventually you will no longer see any beauty in your friend! And that is what APOSTASY is like, apostates HATE this organization, many of them have become vindictive, vengeful, and so do everything in their power to cause others to see ugliness! So they speak half-truths, telling you things that sound true, as they speak about certain true things, but then you aren’t aware of certain lies that are hidden in what they are telling. I speak from experience, not because I started reading apostate comments, but because as an elder I was involved with investigating some situations that involved certain brothers who were becoming apostates. And their thinking, their feelings, and their spiritual and moral “eyesight” had turned so ugly! I remember hearing such ones make some of the worse comments about the Bible! And these ones used to love the Bible! 😯 So please consider this my brother Olayinka, the reasons you may have started wondering why others love Jehovah’s organization and why you don’t see very much beauty in our organization that others see is because sadly, it appears you have already become infected from the apostasy you have been reading. This “infection” is changing your eyes, as you used to see more beauty about Jehovah and His organization, but now you are being told about flaws and imperfections, and so the beauty is starting too fade in your eyes. 👀 So my first suggestion? Please stop reading any websites or comments from anyone who “hates”! Then keep reading posts and comments here from many smart and wonderful brothers and sisters from all over the world who “see” great beauty in Jehovah’s Organization! And when you attend meetings, look for beauty and love that you yourself see in others, and that you see in how the organization handles various matters, and especially see how wonderful and beautiful Jehovah is! 💜 I would also encourage you to speak with 1 of your elders that you feel comfortable with about what you have been reading so that he can provide you with some assistance. When someone is infected with a disease, they need help, they need professional help from doctors. The same spiritually speaking. So what will be the result if you follow these suggestions? You will start to feel healthier spiritually and your “eyes” will begin to see more beauty! 🤩 Ask Jehovah to help you to see more beauty in Him and in His people my brother, we look forward to hearing your progress! 🌟 Here below are some scriptural thoughts that will motive you!

Hi Dan, Please share with us some of your projects, sounds very interesting 👍

In the next few days, could an unbelieving family member or neighbor ask us about Thanksgiving Day and why we don't celebrate it? Yes, this could easily happen. So I thought I would post a few interesting points from our literature about the origins and history of this day in order for us to be, “….always ready to make a defense before everyone who demands of you a reason… but doing so with a mild temper and deep respect.” (1 Peter 3:15) Where might the Thanksgiving Day idea have originated? So there were a number of pagan “harvest festivals” of which the Pilgrims may have got this idea from to create their own tradition. Did everyone agree that this was a good tradition or holiday to start? But doesn’t this Thanksgiving Day have approval from the Bible? Did not the Israelites celebrate harvest festivals? Thanksgiving Day is also a nice remembrance of the peaceful relations between the Pilgrims and Indians in early America right? How did the Puritans/Pilgrims view the native North American Indians? Thankfully Jehovah’s people offer Him thanksgiving everyday with “spirit and truth.” (John 4:24) 😃

Here are couple of points I really liked from this article, “Why does the Bible repeat itself?” I think these points are valuable as a motivator, helping us to use this highly effective teaching method more often in our talks, parts, and on Bible studies. We can ask ourselves, “How often do I teach by using repetition for emphasis as Jehovah and Jesus did? “And if I do use this teaching method, do I repeat the correct ‘key phrases’ that the FDS is emphasizing and do I repeat the correct key phrases of the inspired scriptures?”

From this FEB 2024 magazine, here is a good refresher to help us remember how many and who are now on the Governing Body:

Hi Eric, When you mentioned this, It caused me to think of this illustration: TALENT - Everyone has some kind of talent, but the value of our talent depends on... what it is used for! PLANES - There are many different types of planes, but the value of a plane depends on... what it is used for! For example: 1 small plane was used to fly over damaged rainforests in Brasil and seed bombs were dropped from it that greatly helped with reforestation! 1 big plane, the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, was used to fly over an area of Japan and also a bomb was dropped from it, a nuclear bomb. 1 person used her talent in mathematics/statistics to demonstrate that cost-effective changes like better sanitation and improved ventilation could have a profound impact on reducing mortality rates. Her efforts helped transform healthcare practices, ultimately saving countless lives! (Florence Nightingale 1820-1910) 1 person used his talent as a great orator/public speaker to motivate audiences with his speeches. His passionate and captivating delivery helped him gain support for his cause.(Adolph Hitler 1889-1945)

Hi Glenn, We don’t need to wait for the New World for such energy, why? Because for example, I take my Almond Hershey Chocolate bars and put them in the freezer, the result?

Here is something that we all have seen, but we may have not heard the word for it, “Contrails” Contrails are the long, white streaks in the sky that are left behind by an airplane, like this: Contrails (“Condensation” + “Trails”) are created when the hot water vapor emitted by a jet engine after combustion cools and condenses in the Earth's atmosphere. These thin, streaky clouds are a “by-product” of airplanes, but especially at night do these contrails that are left behind in our beautiful skies leave a negative byproduct that contributes to global warming. Everyday, like planes, people in the world travel through the lives of others, such as their family, neighbors, workmates, etc But when a person does not know Jehovah, does not imitate Him in love, in goodness, in kindness, often what they leave behind them is their negative words and actions, their “contrails”. And these can have a damaging effect on those they were just with, including ones that they claim to care about or love. They may go on about their day and feel fine, not realizing what they left behind, not realizing that their negative words/actions are still having an effect long after they left! Such “contrails” left behind cause damage, making people feel sad or hurt for hours or days, or even longer. HOWEVER… what happens when you love Jehovah and you try your best to become more like Him, putting on the “New Personality”? Then instead of being like a plane leaving behind contrails that leave a negative impact behind it, you become more like this type of plane! Aircraft Seed-Bombers When a plane “bombs” or drops seed pods into a deforested or degraded area, the result is so super positive, helping with reforestation and ecosystem restoration! This is exactly what a genuine lover of Jehovah does, he or she drops “seed bombs” as they pass through the lives of their family, neighbors and brothers/sisters. Such “seed bombs” are words and actions of goodness, kindness, and love! When you leave the Kingdom Hall where you dropped such seed bombs with your encouraging comments or your part on the meeting, or when you dropped seed bombs of love/ kindness on your family members, do you realize those seed bombs you left in your trail started a blossoming? For example, there are brothers/sisters we know that sadly have suffered at the hands of others and as result have what might be called a self-esteem “deforestation”. Or some brothers/sisters we know have a heart that to them feels like a “Wounded Woods”, which is a forest that has been harmed, ecologically damaged. In a world where so many people leave behind them “contrails” of hurt and damage, how proud our Father Jehovah must feel when He sees you dropping “seed bombs” of goodness, kindness, and love everywhere you go! So even if you never see the after-effects of your seed bombs, Jehovah sees the “blossoming” that began after you have left.💕

Sports is fun “reality TV”. I enjoy soccer, NFL, NBA, tennis. And playing sports is even better, over the years we have had some fun games with various brothers from different congregations. We have some outstanding athletes, 1 brother was even a Pro Golfer and an elder 👍

We know over the years the FDS has done their best to emphasize the importance of reporting for the encouragement of the worldwide brotherhood, as well as other beneficial reasons. So this “new change” does not mean reporting over all these past years was a bad idea. No, we needed the reporting for many, many reasons! I am sure there will be a WT article soon to help us better understand this change. But 1 possible reason I can think of may have to do with “simplifying” as we are heading into the Tribulation. All the ministry numbers were very important to monitor the worldwide progress and to analyze where needs were during these last days, but in fulfillment of MT 24:14 and as the GT approaches, then all of the different numbers involved with the reporting are no longer as vital as before. So let us appreciate the FDS and all the local elders who did a great job over many decades helping us all to see the importance and the benefits of our monthly reports. And consider how Jehovah must have appreciated each publisher over these many decades who were in agreement with His sons about the importance and value of reporting and did their best to provide as accurate a report as possible each month, whether that report had 90hrs, or 60hrs or 15 minutes, all reports were appreciated in Jehovah’s eyes. 🌟

Hello Alejandro, You will be glad to know that not all numbers in the Bible or about the Bible are symbolic. In fact, most numbers in the Bible such as how many soldiers there were in a battle or how many people were present when listening to Jesus are just numbers and have no symbolic meaning whatsoever. And the number 66 of Bible books is also not symbolic, the number of Bible books is not even in the Bible, it is just the total number of inspired books. Some might think 66 has meaning since 666 is symbolic in the book of Revelation, but these are 2 completely different numbers and they have nothing to do with each other. HOWEVER, there are some in Christendom who believe in things like “Numerology” in which they study the numbers in the Bible and give these mystical or symbolic meaning. So they may try to find meaning in every number in the Bible or about the Bible. Now Jehovah did provide the book of Revelation that we know is full of symbolic meaning, but not just numbers like 666, but many things are symbolic, including water and fire. And when Jehovah does designate a certain number as being symbolic, it is excellent and very helpful in teaching us! But depending on the context, while at times a number may be figurative, most often a number in the Bible is just a number. So we must be careful not to assign any symbolic value where there is none.

I just tried to study this subject again, I even got some AI assistance to help me, but even the AI could not explain what this “spin” or “hidden intrinsic quality” within each particle is! The AI can only use descriptive terms or labels that scientists use such as “spin” or “angular momentum”. I find it very interesting that scientists have been able to figure out how to observe sub-atomic particles that we cannot see with our own eyes and they can even somehow observe a distinguishing feature or “hidden intrinsic quality” of a particle YET they cannot tell us what this “hidden intrinsic quality” is? So scientists just call it a “spin” but particles like electrons don’t actually spin physically. Or if you ask a scientist to not use the term “spin”, he/she may tell you that they are measuring the “angular momentum” of the particle, YET there is no real angular momentum in any particle as this term/description is only a physics term describing what happens in the physical world, not in the quantum world. Or as the AI stated, “When scientists talk about "measuring spin," they are essentially referring to a mathematical property that helps us describe how particles behave in certain experimental contexts. While they use terms like "up" and "down" to discuss spin states, it's important to note that these are mathematical representations of quantum behavior, not literal orientations in physical space.” But the best description I have found so far is this, even though, again, this does not really explain what the hidden intrinsic quality is: “You can think of spin as a kind of quantum "flavor" that particles have. This flavor affects how particles interact with each other, how they respond to magnetic fields, and even how they contribute to the formation of atoms and matter. Spin is a bit like a particle's identity tag. It helps define what a particle is and how it can act in various situations” While scientists still do not have an understanding of what precisely this “flavor” or “spin” is, here may be a spiritual illustration that can be gained from this fascinating subject:

Hi Denise, Sorry about your car problem, I was wondering if maybe it is possible to get a “2nd Opinion” about your car’s engine and whether the motor truly needs to be replaced? In the medical field people will often get a 2nd or 3rd opinion, and you know what? Sometimes the initial diagnosis was NOT correct. So maybe this could be so in your case, with only 1-2 feet of water, maybe this just caused the motor to seize temporarily but the motor shouldn’t be completely ruined? I am no mechanic, but it just doesn’t make sense to me. Now if your car was completely underwater then yes I could understand such a diagnosis. So maybe you can ask any local brothers/sister if they have a reliable mechanic that they feel is trustworthy to give you a 2nd opinion? Then depending on the 2nd or 3rd opinion, you will have more insight into your motor’s condition and then you will feel better about the decision you make. I say this because you already paid off this car, which is very good. 👍 And you have already put money into it repairing other items that were old or failed. With a different used car, who knows what will need to be fixed on it in the future? At least you already know what has been fixed on your current car. And from what I have heard from various mechanics, Hondas have a good reputation, so you may have a good car, it may just need a little motor “CPR” to get it rolling again. 😃

It seems more and more companies are investing in AI and so new apps are being created more frequently. Some of these are called, “AI Chatbots” which provide personal assistance in research, writing, etc. While I wouldn’t use these for theocratic research, I like some of the assistance they can provide for other projects. But since there are limited reviews of these apps since many of these apps are new, I wanted to see if any brothers/sisters here on our forum have tried any AI apps, websites, programs besides Chat GPT and if you could share your thoughts/opinions about these? So look forward to your comments and suggestions, thanks. 😃

I was wondering if anyone has ever combined 2 different “tags” into 1 that they had created on JW Library? I have many tags, so I didn’t realize until recently that 2 different tags are similar enough that they should be combined together into 1 tag, but I am not sure how to do that? Or if it is possible? So any help/suggestions I will appreciate it, thanks 😊

Thanks for posting, I have heard good things about Mint. 👍 So besides JWlibrary, are there any other applications that will not work?

Haha, no I will not be using the dark web. 😃 But curious why you say TOR isn’t safe, it’s monitored? I know that some governments and certain hackers may “try” to monitor and they have tried some tactics to locate certain people or unencrypt certain data sent on TOR, but with little to no success unless the person makes some mistake. But I ask because from what I understand TOR is more trusted than all other browsers/networks by those who truly need the highest security/privacy/anonymity such as journalists, political activists, military, law enforcement, those living under repressive regimes, etc. If they knew that TOR was monitored to the point that their personal data/messages could be unencrypted, then why would professionals and even criminals keep using it? A review of TOR said that “the prevailing opinion among experts is that Tor remains fundamentally secure”. Any information you have would be interesting on this, thanks.

Another question for anyone having experience with Linux and various distros. I learned that on a variety of distros that focus on security that they only use the TOR browser/network, does anyone enjoy using TOR? Or is it too slow?

Oh interesting, may I ask what distros have you liked the most and why?

Hi David, Thanks I will look at the distrowatch site you recommended thanks! Do you still use Linux or no longer?