Glass Blowing - illustration only??

[DarinS]

quick question to see what others thought

last month had an illustration in the broadcast about glass blowing

 

when i was in service the following week i mentioned looking for an activity to do with my wife

saw groupon for cooking class - pottery class - dancing class and a glass blowing class

 

the 2 guys i was preaching with said i might not want to do that (glass blowing) and they mentioned it was in the recent broadcast

 

Did i miss something????

wasn't the glass blowing discussion mainly as part of the illustration

 

were we told something was inappropriate with that.....skill?

 

thanx for your thoughts for those who saw it.....

[jayrtom]

Hi Darin

 

I saw that illustration as just that... an illustration

 

Didn't the 2 brothers explained what they meant? I'm curious to know why you wouldn't want to do that!

[Dages]

I'm definitely doing glass blowing in Paradise. The bro got the thing wrong.

[DarinS]

Thanx

I was a mature elder I respect and the other a new younger one

 

I didn't pursue it at the time since we had another door.....

 

just needed a sanity check.....

 

re: glass blowing class seemed like a neat thing to do with the wife as a date

[Thesauron]

Just an illustration. It has nothing to do with the profession itself.

[Lance]

Some people disire to see rules in everything.... others try to walk by faith and principles....

Rule 1: often it takes a lifetime to gain some proficiency at it.

😳....

Edited October 4, 2018 by Lance

[jwhess]

Here is a nice reference to glass and glassblowing:

 

*** g95 11/22 p. 26 Glass—Its First Makers Lived Long, Long Ago ***

It was much later that a new method, glassblowing, would revolutionize glass production…When Jesus walked the earth, glassblowing was in its infancy. …The glassblowing innovation, …made glass products more accessible to the common peopl

 

“At a pressing machine, two men with minimum experience could produce four times as much glass as a team of three or four trained glassblowers.”

 

Many artists and designers have been attracted by the artistic potential of glass. This has brought innovative design to glass products and the creation of more artwork in glass.

 

Glass is certainly a marvel. Apart from all its domestic uses, consider some of its many other applications—in the Hubble Space Telescope, in camera lenses, in fiber-optic communication systems, and in the chemistry laboratory. Fragile maybe, but so versatile and beautiful.

 

[Tortuga]

Here is the transcript of the talk. It's clear that brother Flodin was not condemning glass blowing, it was just an illustration.

 

 

[➕👇 ꓤꓱꓷꓠꓵ🎵Tone]

I am reminded of the potter and the clay. It does not condemn pottery, but it illustrates a point. There are good uses and bad uses, but pottery was the example, as even glass blowing could have been.

Older {waiting for wiser}

[carlos]

1 hour ago, TonyWenz said:

I am reminded of the potter and the clay. It does not condemn pottery, but it illustrates a point. There are good uses and bad uses, but pottery was the example, as even glass blowing could have been.

Or Satan as the birdcatcher. Does it mean that it's wrong to catch birds? No, it's just an illustration to highlight a point.

[Qapla]

I went back and watched the glassblowing illustration again and I read the transcript to make sure I got it ...

 

There was a lead into glassblowing that showed how that skill changed the world. Then, the progression of a glassblowing shop was demonstrated to show how more than one person can have input into the finished product. It covered four aspects of glassblowing in a shop ...

• gathering
• blowing
• adding features to the blown portion
• final shaping

This was followed by a four part explanation that used the various steps of glassblowing to illustrate how this world (under Satan) can use heat and pressure to mold us.

 

It was summed up with these words:

 

Quote

In the visuals of a glassblowing shop, we observed the skill of the workers involved. And that shop obviously produces beautiful, useful glass vessels.

Satan’s glass shop is also skilled at shaping one’s thinking. But what does it produce?

Instead of a person becoming a valuable vessel that Jehovah can use, Satan is actually mass-producing worthless vessels that Jehovah cannot use.
What could you do with this misshaped creation?

 

Nothing —it is useless. 

 

Since the shop produced "beautiful, useful" vessels, I do not get where it was saying that glassblowing is a bad/wrong/useless/unfit/detestable/something to be avoided.

 

The example/illustration was not intended to shed a disparaging on the craft of glassblowing. It was only used to demonstrate how we can be molded. We can be molded by Jehovah or Satan.

 

If we allow Satan to mold us - we will be useless!

[Shawnster]

Glass blowing involves a certain amount of physical stamina and coordination.  

 

Taking such a class would be awesome.

[New World Explorer]

1 hour ago, Shawnster said:

Glass blowing involves a certain amount of physical stamina and coordination.  

 

Taking such a class would be awesome.

Few weeks ago I have visited one of the oldest glass-blowing factory in Murano - off Venice Italy

And we were told that it takes around 30 years to MASTER the skill and some even with long time passing never achieve Master level. - they remain as a apprentice. Shocking is it? It takes incredible talent and experience to move beyond basic in glass blowing trade.

 

[Tortuga]

I remember that place!

It was really interesting watching them work.

 

Did you get pictures of the sculpture in front of the shop?

Edited October 5, 2018 by Tortuga

[Cushi]

 

[ChocoBro]

16 hours ago, DarinS said:

 sanity check.....

 

Sanity check: failed

 

They did not even understand the illustration. The glassbowers also create useful vessels. The upside-down wineglass was a symbolic example for a useless vessel fit only for destruction.

 

I would not only recommend that you go ahead doing the course, while considering the safety of yourselves since it is a bit dangerous, but that you speak to the brother again to clarify that he has fully misunderstood the broadcast. If he doesn't believe that, admonish him to contact the Branch to reassure himself. He is completely in the wrong. And he is taking his own thinking and making it a law without any biblical principles as a basis. This is dangerous because it can be stumbling to some.

Edited October 5, 2018 by ChocoBro

[ChocoBro]

Another thing:

 

If we use the same reasoning with some of Paul's illustrations, we can an adverse result that is quite interesting and shows the flaw in the brothers thinking:

 

Quote

Therefore, the way I am running is not aimlessly; the way I am aiming my blows is so as not to be striking the air; 27 but I pummel my body and lead it as a slave

1 Corinthians 9:26-27

 

Quote

Put on the complete suit of armor from God so that you may be able to stand firm against the crafty acts of the Devil; [...] take up the complete suit of armor from God, so that you may be able to resist in the wicked day and, after you have accomplished everything, to stand firm.14 Stand firm, therefore, with the belt of truth fastened around your waist, wearing the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having your feet shod in readiness to declare the good news of peace. 16 Besides all of this, take up the large shield of faith, with which you will be able to extinguish all the wicked one’s burning arrows. 17 Also, accept the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, that is, God’s word
Ephesians 6

 

Quote

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Ephesians 6:12 KJV

 

A lot of Paul's analogies were based on warfare, combat, or at least competitive sports such as boxing. He describes living by Jesus and Jehovah's standards as"Fight[ing] the fine fight of the faith" according to 1 Timothy 6:12

Of course, this wrestling, this fighting, this symbolic armed warfare that he describes in no way downplays or relativates the fact that Jehovah  hates violence. It is meant purely symbolically. Every day in this system is a battle. We are symbolic warriors. But we would not go and grab a literal sword or gun to defend our faith. Jehovah's Witnesses do not partake in competitive combat sports, in fact, we are urged again and again not even to be entertained with such things. And yet, Paul uses them to explain something positive by using these analogies.

 

Just some food for thought.

 

 

[carlos]

Another example that just came to my mind: Jesus warned the apostles to beware of the yeast of the Pharisees. Does that mean Christians should not bake or eat bread?

[New World Explorer]

53 minutes ago, carlos said:

Another example that just came to my mind: Jesus warned the apostles to beware of the yeast of the Pharisees. Does that mean Christians should not bake or eat bread?

That would mean death to my Yeast-raised donuts!

This is scary topic .. LOL

[jwhess]

2 hours ago, Gregexplore said:

That would mean death to my Yeast-raised donuts!

This is scary topic .. LOL

No brewers yeast...no brew...🥃

[DarinS]

3 hours ago, jwhess said:

No brewers yeast...no brew...🥃

And no glass to put it in...

 

couldnt resist

 

thanx guys .... maybe they were poking fun at me or just missed it

 

i didn’t hear anything wrong either ...about the glass.....just Satan

 

now if I can just get the wife interested.....hummmm $40-$100 range

 

sounds more fun than dancing class

[sunshine]

As long as you don't make any upside down glasses I think you should be fine 🤣