The Librarian

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A brother posted a photo of a newspaper saying "Pope Benedict: Jesus wasnt born of Dec. 25" it surprised me so i search it in the internet and then i found out that it is true.

The present Pope released his newest book that also debunks Christmas myths.

FINALLY, after hundred of years on deceiving its members by following a false tradition, the Pope admits DEC. 25 was not the birth date of Christ, he also said that Christ born several years before 1 A.D, meaning to say, the creator of the Christian calendar that we use today committed a big mistake, as he claim.
Here are some news articles about it (for more, you can search it in your favorite search engine):

 

Pope Benedict XVI has a new book coming out this week in which he offers a closer look at the early life of Jesus, including his birth. The book shines a light on many Christmas myths Christians believe to be true, but in fact are not historically accurate.

Biblical fact vs. tradition
While some people may consider the Pope's book controversial as it steps on traditional Christmas toes, most of the information he shares is not new. In fact, if you take the time to do a Bible study on the birth of Jesus, the answers are there.

For instance, the Pope points out that evidence in the Gospels does not support the picture of animals and cattle around the baby Jesus in his manger; nor does it support angels singing about the birth of Christ. Luke 2:7 confirms Jesus was placed in a manger or feeding trough when he was born. Because it was a feeding trough people have assumed animals were there. And in verse 8 we are told that the shepherds in that region saw an angel, who announced to them not to be afraid and offers directions as to where to find the baby. The announcement was not sung.

"But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: Today a Savior, who is Messiah the Lord, was born for you in the city of David. This will be the sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in cloth and lying in a feeding trough.

Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: 'Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people He favors!'" (Luke 2:8-14 HCSB).

Is the Pope the next Grinch?
The Pope's purpose in writing this book is not so much to debunk Christmas, but:

"The pope was not so much aiming to debunk myths as trying to show that the Jesus depicted in the Gospels is a real historical figure, who walked on earth and talked to people like anyone else." -- Alessandro Speciale: Vatican correspondent for Religion News

December 25
A Bible study on the early church does not mention celebration of the birth of Christ. The date December 25 stirs up a bit of controversy as well as it is tied to a pagan Roman holiday that honored their god Saturn. No one knows what day Jesus was born, but the Western Church in Rome decided on December 25, while the Eastern Church picked January 6. Eventually the time frame between the two dates became known as the "12 Days of Christmas."

Back to the Bible
To know whether or not your Christmas traditions are biblical, go back to the Bible. You may be surprised by what you learn if you take time to study Christ's birth. Just take a look at the visit from the wise men. They found Mary and the child in a house...not a stable.

source: examiner.com

The 'mistake' was made by a sixth century monk known as Dionysius Exiguus or in English Dennis the Small, the 85-year-old pontiff claims in the book 'Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives', published on Wednesday.

"The calculation of the beginning of our calendar – based on the birth of Jesus – was made by Dionysius Exiguus, who made a mistake in his calculations by several years," the Pope writes in the book, which went on sale around the world with an initial print run of a million copies.

"The actual date of Jesus's birth was several years before."

The assertion that the Christian calendar is based on a false premise is not new – many historians believe that Christ was born sometime between 7BC and 2BC.

But the fact that doubts over one of the keystones of Christian tradition have been raised by the leader of the world's one billion Catholics is striking.

 

Dennis the Small, who was born in Eastern Europe, is credited with being the "inventor" of the modern calendar and the concept of the Anno Domini era.

He drew up the new system in part to distance it from the calendar in use at the time, which was based on the years since the reign of the Roman emperor Diocletian.

The emperor had persecuted Christians, so there was good reason to expunge him from the new dating system in favour of one inspired by the birth of Christ.

The monk's calendar became widely accepted in Europe after it was adopted by the Venerable Bede, the historian-monk, to date the events that he recounted in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, which he completed in AD 731.

But exactly how Dennis calculated the year of Christ's birth is not clear and the Pope's claim that he made a mistake is a view shared by many scholars.

The Bible does not specify a date for the birth of Christ. The monk instead appears to have based his calculations on vague references to Jesus's age at the start of his ministry and the fact that he was baptised in the reign of the emperor Tiberius.
Christ's birth date is not the only controversy raised by the Pope in his new book – he also said that contrary to the traditional Nativity scene, there were no oxen, donkeys or other animals at Jesus's birth.

He also weighs in on the debate over Christ's birthplace, rejecting arguments by some scholars that he was born in Nazareth rather than Bethlehem.

John Barton, Professor of the Interpretation of the Holy Scripture at Oriel College, Oxford University, said most academics agreed with the Pope that the Christian calendar was wrong and that Jesus was born several years earlier than commonly thought, probably between 6BC and 4BC.

"There is no reference to when he was born in the Bible - all we know is that he was born in the reign of Herod the Great, who died before 1AD," he told The Daily Telegraph. "It's been surmised for a very long time that Jesus was born before 1AD - no one knows for sure."

The idea that Christ was born on Dec 25 also has no basis in historical fact. "We don't even know which season he was born in. The whole idea of celebrating his birth during the darkest part of the year is probably linked to pagan traditions and the winter solstice."

source: telegraph.co.uk

Pope Benedict XVI has opened the way to an historic opportunity that might benefit much of humankind and save the rest of us from enduring another eight weeks of seasonal disorder syndrome, an affliction that starts with the first October Christmas carol and which I believe is more widespread than people want to admit.

The Pope has published the third in a trilogy of works dealing with the life of Jesus. Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives completes a project the 85-year-old Pope took up after being elected pontiff in 2005. The first two books were big sellers in Italy (and presumably among Catholics elsewhere as well). The latest volume reportedly has an initial printing of one milllion, and hit bookshelves around the world on Wednesday.

The headline issue is the Pope’s acknowledgement that Jesus wasn’t born in the year everyone thinks he was.  I’m not sure this is really news; as a certified non-pious Canadian who gets sleepy just thinking about entering a church, I thought it was generally known that historians had long ago sorted out that the dates were off by a few years. Nonetheless, it’s viewed as significant that the Pope would actually say so in print. According to the book, a monk known as Dionysius Exiguus (which translates as Dennis the Small) got the dates wrong when he set out to invent a new calendar about 1500 years ago.

“The calculation of the beginning of our calendar – based on the birth of Jesus – was made by Dionysius Exiguus, who made a mistake in his calculations by several years,” the Pope says. “The actual date of Jesus’s birth was several years before.”

The Pope maintains Jesus was born in a stable, as commonly assumed, though there might not have been donkeys, camels, oxen or other critters present. “There is no mention of animals in the Gospels,” he writes. And he insists Mary was a virgin. But it wasn’t on Dec. 25, a date that was adopted later, perhaps linked to some rituals related to the winter solstice.

Apart from whatever religious significance this may involve, it offers the Church an opportunity to isolate its annual celebration of Jesus’ birth from the overdone commercial orgy that’s known as Christmas. Pick another date — one the Vatican thinks might be more historically accurate, or at least no less inaccurate — and move the religious celebration accordingly, while leaving Dec. 25 to the crass materialists.

Not that the orgy would stop, but it would no longer inspire the tedious annual eruptions of complaint from underoccupied cranks, atheists and misguided zealots upset that trees should appear in schools, mangers should turn up on lawns and other insults to strict secularism should be induced on the unwilling. People could give one another gifts without someone complaining about it.

The prayers that are an offence to the ears of determined non-prayers could be moved to another day of the year, when they could be delivered by consenting adults outside the hearing of the temporally fixated. Dec. 25 would be just another holiday that no one could beef about (unless they just don’t like holidays), while Christmas in March (or whenever) would simply be a religious symbol marked by those who choose to, without bothering those who don’t, and free of the annoyance and excess of the annual two-month build-up.

And who knows, once it was just another long weekend, maybe some of the excess would diminish. Which I suspect would be a welcome change to a lot of people. 

source: fullcomment.nationalpost.com

It was once said by a well-meaning circuit overseer at an assembly; “You can’t be an introvert in the truth”. More accurately the statement should have been; “It’s more difficult for the introvert in the truth”. Why is that the case? Well let’s first find out a little about the Introvert.

Do you know publishers who need to spend time alone every day? Publishers who love quiet conversations about feelings or ideas. Publishers that can give good talks at congregation meetings, but seem awkward when it comes to socialising and reluctant to participate during the meetings? They may appear to growl, grunt or wince when accosted with pleasantries by publishers who are just trying to be nice? If so, then you know publishers who are Introverted.

New Look

It’s time for a new look at introversion. It may come as a surprise to you that introverts are a legitimate personality type. Introverts comprise between 10-30% of the population. The problem is that their self image is defined almost exclusively by that other 70% (or more) of extroverts who don’t understand them and think they are wrong because they are different.

This is like saying a person is wrong because they are black. Racism in the truth, unlike the world hardly exists, but the area of introversion could be called one of the last frontiers of prejudice.

And don’t think it’s a choice to be this way, it’s all in the brain, literally. Researchers have established a positive correlation between alpha waves generated in the frontal lobes of the human brain and personality traits that characterise introverts or extroverts. Introverts have more acetylcholine, a chemical that enhances “long-term memory, the ability to stay calm and alert, and perceptual learning.” They also have increased activity in the frontal lobe, which has been linked to high-level problem solving skills, long-term planning, and a facility with language.

Misconceptions

The Introvert is not simply a shy person. They are not necessarily depressed and they are not social outcasts, although it may appear this way to the extroverts who need ongoing social contact to be healthy and happy. Introversion is not a pathological condition; it is not an abnormal response to the world. It is simply a personality trait found in a smaller percentage of the total population. Introversion is not shyness or a lack of social skills. It’s temperament, hard wired in ones genetic code, and cannot be altered.

Differences

Introverts are different from extroverts and this difference is very difficult for the extrovert to understand because they do not operate in the same way. As they do not understand it, many continually try to ‘help’ the introvert become more social, more gregarious, more outgoing, and have more fun, all, of course, from the extroverts point-of-view. As an example I know of one introvert who used to love going to parties, they used to plant themselves in an unobtrusive place where they could get a good view of the room, and with drink in hand they spent the evening 'people watching’ and were more than happy in doing so. That is until the continue barrage from extroverts to get up, have a dance, enjoy yourself, became too much to cope with.

In essence the terms Introvert and it’s antonym extrovert can be summarised by the source of our energy. Extroverts get their energy from the outer world and feel drained when they are by themselves too long. Introverts get their energy from within and lose energy quickly when having to deal with a lot of people. To illustrate; extroverts are like solar cell batteries they need to be in the sun to get charged up, introverts are more like rechargeable batteries, they need to be by themselves to restore their energy, to enable them to go back out into the world of people.

Two statements sum up one of the main differences between the extrovert and the Introvert.“If you don’t know what an extrovert is thinking, you haven’t listened”. “If you don’t know what an introvert is thinking, you haven’t asked.” Introverts tend to mentally rehearse what they are thinking. When they have it all worked out in their mind, then they might tell you. It is not that they want to conceal their thoughts. It just doesn’t occur to them to say them out loud. That is why it is wise to ask. Silence does not necessarily mean consent. Never presume you know what an introvert is thinking, or you know what they want.

Participation

Participation or commenting at meetings has for decades been seen as a good sign of spiritual progress. A means of sharing an expression of our faith. A means to encourage others. That of course has not changed. What needs to change however is our perception of those who do not readily avail themselves of this avenue.

Ask the teacher of any Introvert attending school and they will say the same; “Does not participate much in class”. Does that mean that they are not a good student? Far from it, in fact in most cases they are usually better as they excel in listening and reading.

As one student put it: “Receiving a grade for class participation has always been a great source of anxiety for me, since I am rarely the person in the class who speaks the most, and sometimes I am the person who speaks the least. I watch other students who speak often and I am frustrated by the knowledge that they are being rewarded for the quantity of their participation while I am being punished.” Introverted learners tend to participate less in class, since they prefer to process ideas by thinking to themselves rather than by speaking to others. The difficulty with this style of learning is that it does not fit well with the traditional concept of participation by commenting at meetings. The fact that lack of participation is looked down upon adds to the frustration of an Introvert. When others try to encourage an introvert to comment their discomfort usually increases due to the extra pressure. One of the best compliments a publisher was given was that although they didn’t comment often at the meetings, when they did, they always said something meaningful. Unfortunately, this advantage often seem undervalued in the congregation.

In the same way that the introverted makes the effort to participate during a meeting, extroverted publishers must make the effort to refrain at times from participating just to fill the silence. Introverted publishers need space in which to comment, and if the conductor provides this space, rather than taking the first hand they see, it will encourage them to continue to make the effort to participate. Bear in mind the conductor should not use that space with any phrase along the lines of, “Who hasn’t answered yet?”, as that will add further pressure and anxiety.

As has been proved in the school classroom, participation should be encouraged rather than required. The use of participation at the meetings is a valid and important instructional technique. However, what is valuable and beneficial to some, is not necessarily so to others. Forcing highly apprehensive, ethnically and socially divergent, or skill deficient people to participate is harmful. It will increase apprehension and reduce self-esteem. Thus, at the meetings participation should be encouraged but never required from those that are quiet. Try to remember that introverts often cannot relax unless they are alone with a teacher or in a very small class, which is why introverts were more inclined to comment on a book study level (when small groups met in private homes).

The reluctance to participate has nothing to do with preparation or lack of it, in fact the opposite is most likely true. Knowing the material is likely to keep the introvert from participating as they dislike redundancy. As one introvert said, “The only thing worse than talking about something twice is thinking something I’ve already thought”. They often do not feel compelled to demonstrate all that they know, hence they may sometimes surprise those around them when they do choose to speak up.

In view of the percentages mentioned earlier you need to keep constantly in mind that most publishers are moderately to highly verbal people, and hence different than the quiet publishers within the congregation. What makes good common sense to such ones may be the worst thing they could do for someone who is quiet. So please don’t ever say, “What if everyone was like you?” (that will never be the case). One final pointer in this area, when an introvert does answer, and they will if they have something to say and feel up to it, don’t ever make a big issue of it for that will draw further attention and hence stress to that one. Therefore never say after the meeting; “I enjoyed your answer”, or “It was good to hear you answer”. If you feel you need to say something then mention something about their comment rather than about the fact that they commented.

Where to Sit

Kingdom Halls have high, moderate, and low interaction areas. The highest are near the front and centre. The lowest are along the sides and in the rear. One of the potentially most harmful things an elder (or attendant) can do is to force a quiet publisher to sit in a high-interaction area of the hall. While the publisher is not likely to talk any more in such an area than if he or she were seated elsewhere, the threat of communication will be felt much more consistently. Under such pressure it is more difficult for the publisher to concentrate on the talks being delivered, and learning will decrease. Allowing publishers to select their own seats avoids harming the quiet ones.

Ministry

Introverts are unlikely to initiate a conversation either with acquaintances or strangers. Introverts will prefer to wait until someone approaches them. This of course doesn’t happen very often in the ministry. Therein lies the problem for Introverts, they have a constant fight to bring themselves to speak to people in the ministry. A fight that subsequently leaves one drained emotionally and physically.

An introverted publisher is most likely happier when working in field service alone as they tend to not like being watched. Although happy to be out with a group in service, they would prefer to be alone on the door-step. This of course would also apply to telephone witnessing or street witnessing. They find it hard to concentrate on what they are doing as well as concentrating on someone else.

Ministry that is much easier on introverts would include aspects such as letter writing.

Socialising

Introverts can feel quite uncomfortable going to a social event where they may not know anyone. If you are hosting a party, you will be doing the Introverts a favour by introducing them to several people, being sure to indicate what they might have in common. Another good idea is to pair them up with an extrovert who will carry the conversation until the Introvert feels more comfortable. Introverts are known for being good listeners.

If you want an introvert to share their thoughts, ideas, concerns and feelings with you then you need to make it easy for them. One would need to stay with them, sit quietly and patiently hear them out. They do not like to be hurried or interrupted as they very easily forget their thoughts.

They may seem reluctant to join in as they will tend to avoid doing anything they have not mastered. They will not risk looking the fool. Their opinions are not easily swayed by others and they will rarely do anything they don’t really want to do just to impress, please, or be accepted by others. This sometimes causes others to erroneously classify them as stubborn and inflexible, as extroverts, in general, feel they can easily manipulate the introvert as they may appear quite and timid.

If the way they see the world is ignored the risk of creating a constantly contentious and hostile environment is greatly increased. Tolerance is communicated when they are accepted for who they are. While they may not appear to be especially happy, that is most often a false appearance. They are different from most people and their style often diverges from the way society in general operates.

The Last Vestige

The Written Review: The one area where the introvert could truly feel comfortable has been replaced by the extrovert friendly Oral Review.

Some Characteristics of Introverts:

- Territorial - desire private space and time

- Happy to be alone - they can be lonely in a crowd

- Become drained around large groups of people; dislike approaching others

- Need time alone to recharge

- Prefer to work on own rather than do group work

- Act cautiously in meeting people

- Are reserved, quiet and deliberate

- Concentrate well and deeply

- Become absorbed in thoughts and ideas

- Limit their interests but explore deeply

- Communicate best one-on-one

- Get agitated and irritated when without enough time to think or act.

- Do not enjoy being the centre of attention

- Do not share private thoughts with just anyone

- Form a few deep attachments

- Think carefully before speaking (practice in head before speaking)

- See reflection as very important

- Select activities carefully and thoughtfully

- Contributed

Obviously not including Walkill, Warwick, Tuxedo etc....

Yikes!

That is crazy!!! Thanks for sharing.

As much as I LOVE the modern networks and immediacy of information and telecommunications ... I miss the feeling of an old library with the Dewey decimal system and the world where we were not available 24/7

Reading books is a different feel than obtaining information on a website or even via a tablet.

What do you miss most from the "Analog age" that was years ago?

This is becoming a popular spot to take a photo in Paris. 

I think I've seen some other similar photos in recent years...

A new phenomenon among JW's?

And more...

Yikes! 

This could turn into big business.

Mendoza Argentina

All smiles 

I can only imagine all the giggling and talking this car group enjoyed that day.... 

Nice home!

They don't do anything small in Texas do they? 

JW Gifts for a Pioneer School

Anyone know what the typical Pioneer School Gifts were back in 1960? Just curious.

@JW Insider You probably know more about the inside dialogue about this progression when you were in the art department in the 70's. I think I remember quite a number of changes during that period to the logo. Did they ever say anything about the subtle change publicly?

I saw this photo today from Indonesia (at an assembly) and it made me think about our Watchtower symbol.

The old Watchtower Icon vs. the New (newer c. 1990) Watchtower icon shown above.

And the one I was most familiar with:

I notice that it is still used among us but not really promoted. JW.org has really taken center stage.

Yet I do notice that the icon has become less "warlike" over time and now the "Watchtower" at Patterson (c.1990) is more like a lookout than part of a fortified military castle.

Although it does remind me of the Watchtowers on the demilitarized zone in South Korea (DMZ) (at least the ones I have seen on TV)

Anyways... just something of interest I just thought I would pass down.

Oh.. and here is where we almost got rid of the logo completely... and just went with the outline:

I saw this book for sale on their website and would like to know if the Walton's sell any books similar to this with an anti-Presbyterian theme?

I remember the Walton's attending the Presbyterian church in Bentonville, Arkansas

Could Wal*Mart be considered a purveyor of "hate speech"?

Will JW's boycott Wal*Mart?

UPDATE: We're still working on a species ID with our science partners at the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology, but currently we're thinking the purple orb is a pleurobranch, a nudibranch relative. Both are types of sea slugs, like this one

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1951 Jehovahs Witnesses-Communists or Christians.pdf