Melinda Mills

The 2006 Watchtower Library CD does not have the ability to update. It was not part of the program code.

This is the scripture I think the Librarian referenced.
(Mark 9:38-42) 38 John said to him: “Teacher, we saw someone expelling demons by using your name, and we tried to prevent him, because he was not following us.” 39 But Jesus said: “Do not try to prevent him, for there is no one who will do a powerful work on the basis of my name who will quickly be able to say anything bad about me. 40 For whoever is not against us is for us. 41 And whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, I tell you truly, he will by no means lose his reward. 42 But whoever stumbles one of these little ones who have faith, it would be better for him if a millstone that is turned by a donkey were put around his neck and he were pitched into the sea.
 

No, it's not there of course. We would not do that. Here is the article:
https://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/watchtower-study-april-2018/publications-personal-websites/
I may get sued for this!
Actually I shouldn't because by posting this link I am directing people to our website. So all is good
" Therefore, as the Terms of Use indicates, you may e-mail someone an electronic copy of a publication or share a link to material found on jw.org."

So, with regret Ann, you have demonstrated the reason for the Society's warning: "If the spiritual food passes through other channels, there is no guarantee that it has not been altered or contaminated." (I will resist posting the other two words).
Is it time for the forum to close? That's a decision for those who run it. But for any genuine Jehovah's Witnesses, it is time to say.... goodbye! 
In the short time I have been active here, I have gained a most useful insight into the thinking of a wide range of people, both favourably and unfavourably disposed. I have picked up a wealth of information on a whole range of topics I probably would not have been able to discuss anywhere else. I like to think I may have been able to contribute a little with 1096 upvotes of one type or another.
I have noted of late a more determined "anti" GB presence here, and I include the tendency of some to rather patronisingly treat them with disrespect. I suppose an inevitable price that is paid to have a tolerant, freedom of speech policy, but a sad reality of any freedom is that abuse by a few brings restriction for many!
So, to those of you with whom the interchange has been pleasant,
¡Te veo en el otro lado, espero!
And to those of you who felt otherwise, thanks for the time.
You may look for me, but this time I really have for good! 
 

Read about it on Internet a few years ago.  She never told them who the father was.  Maybe she did not know.

It has a kind of tragic fascination about it. Amazing to think that it happened about 80 years ago! And that Lina is still alive.
She suffered from a condition known as "precocious puberty" 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precocious_puberty
Although the youngest documented case, she is by no means alone: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_youngest_birth_mothers
Inerestingly, I spent a number years witnessing in an area with a high Afro-Carribean population. Many older people would cite a prophecy to say we were in the "last days" because the Bible said that then there would be "children having children". No-one could give a Bible verse for this, and of course I have never seen such a phrase in the Scripture. Usually I would respond with 2 Tim.3:3 where the "critical times" are charcterised by men  "having no natural affection"  as this would often be an element in the occurence of "children having children". But I have never found out where the idea orginated.

A Bethelite friend took my husband and I to his Sunday meeting, which happened to be the congregation that Brother Benson attended. He was just another wonderful brother, sharing in encouraging others. May Jehovah be praised. Jehovah is the impartial God. Talent, wealth, poverty, health, none of these are how Jehovah calls us. People from every walk of life may become his dedicated servants.

Learning a new language used to be a major component of Gilead assignments. Just a few years ago, this was determined to be a big waste of time because there are places with need in countries where the missionaries already came from. No language to learn, no ex-pat papers, no visas, no suspicion that JWs promote only Western values, etc.

How Do You React to Warnings That Come From God Himself ?
The Bible vividly described long in advance the events that mark the last days. In connection with that, it urges us to consider “the days of Noah.” “In those days before the flood,” people were busy with the customary activities of life, though they were no doubt concerned about the prevalence of violence. As for the warning that God gave through his servant Noah, “they took no note until the flood came and swept them all away.” (Matthew 24:37-39) Would you have heeded the warning? Do you do so now?
What if you had lived in Sodom, near the Dead Sea, in the days of the man Lot, a nephew of Abraham? The countryside was like a paradise. The city was prosperous. The people were carefree. In the days of Lot, “they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building.” The society in which they lived was also grossly immoral. Would you have taken to heart the warning when Lot spoke out against bad practices? Would you have listened when he told you that God had determined to bring the city of Sodom to ruin? Or would you have treated it as a joke, as did Lot’s prospective sons-in-law? Might you possibly have begun to flee but then turned back, as did Lot’s wife? Though others did not take the warning seriously, on the day that Lot came out of Sodom, “it rained fire and sulphur from heaven and destroyed them all.”—Luke 17:28, 29.
The majority in our day take no note. But these examples have been preserved in God’s Word as a warning to us, to encourage us to  KEEP ON THE WATCH !
( a good  example...)

*** Bible Citations ***
Rev 22:17 And the spirit and the bride keep on saying, “Come!” and let anyone hearing say, “Come!” and let anyone thirsting come; let anyone who wishes take life’s water free.
 

*** Bible Citations ***
Rev 22:17 And the spirit and the bride keep on saying, “Come!” and let anyone hearing say, “Come!” and let anyone thirsting come; let anyone who wishes take life’s water free.
 

To be fair, there has been a Jehovah's Witness group that had been recorded giving supplies and water to people and some guy uploaded a video of this during the whole Texas Hurricane thing. Opposition eventually came to this video and did whatever it took to vote down, dislike and eventually get the video removed/or user made it private because the hate in the comment section was off the charts, an hour later a video popped up from another user claiming JWs didn't do anything at all. I know this because I am that One Storm Trooper that hangs around the block a couple times, if you catch my drift lol.
Since I watched the video before it got removed, not only did the JWs help their own, but they did indeed help others, the same could be said for Mexico and Florida and Puerto Rico. Not everyone Christian can prove works by opening a shelter, school, etc. The only thing that matters is the good YOU can do as an individual Christian and promote the teachings of Jesus Christ about his Father and the Kingdom that is to come.
I was told by someone in a place I use to work at, he was a non-religious guy who respects Christianity (only a few denominations), he had said to me that if Jesus was alive today, he would do the good that he can do with the little he has, and one of the main important things that matters most is getting the gospel of the good news across by any means necessary, and that is what counts. But building those things would be a plus, but it isn't necessary to get the message out.

That is good to change your teaching when you realise it is wrong. (Although we are a little quicker off the mark in this).
e.g. Take this notion that unbaptised children who die go somewhere on the fringes of "hell" called "Limbo" to receive [whatever] for their unredeemed, inherited ("Original") sin.
"It may therefore be correctly affirmed, that such infants as quit the body without being baptized will be involved in the mildest condemnation of all." Augustine (4th Century)  "St. Augustine and the African Fathers believed that unbaptized infants share in the common positive misery of the damned," Catholic Encyclopedia (21st Century) Catholic Encyclopedia entry on "Limbo": (21st Century) "the permanent place or state of those unbaptized children and others who, dying without grievous personal sin, are excluded from the beatific vision on account of original sin alone (the "limbus infantium" or "puerorum")" In a long-awaited document, “The Hope of Salvation for Infants who Die Without Being Baptized”, the Church’s International Theological Commission said "limbo" reflected an “unduly restrictive view of salvation”. The document states (in contrast to the view of Augustine and the Catholic Encyclopedia): "Our conclusion is that the many factors that we have considered above give serious theological and liturgical grounds for hope that unbaptised infants who die will be saved and enjoy the Beatific Vision."  (20th Century) There is a bit of incoherence in the chronological sequencing of these changes, but ...hey ho...I suppose it's a bit like turning a supertanker.
PS. Jehovah's Witnesses haven't changed their views on this whole paticular piece of nonsense by the way. They still hold to the view expressed at Ecc 9:5 "For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing at all". (11th Century BCE!)

Seems you do not know much about freedom of speech and association. Check USA precedents.
They thought Jesus was criminal and immoral too. Read  the scripture below.
(Matthew 11:18, 19) . . .’ 19 The Son of man did come eating and drinking, but people say, ‘Look! A man who is a glutton and is given to drinking wine, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ All the same, wisdom is proved righteous by its works.”
JWs can't please everyone in Satan's world, they are just trying to please God and his Son.
It was prophesied that he would be put to death as a criminal and it happened. He said his disciples would not be greater than he was. They would be viewed in a similar way. See below.
(Isaiah 53:9)  9 And he was given a burial place with the wicked, And with the rich in his death, Although he had done no wrong And there was no deception in his mouth.
(Isaiah 53:12) 12 For that reason I will assign him a portion among the many, And he will apportion the spoil with the mighty, Because he poured out his life even to death And was counted among the transgressors; He carried the sin of many people, And he interceded for the transgressors.
A slave is not greater than his master.
 

You heard wrong.
You heard wrong.

This should always be acknowledged. We don't do it. They do.
If it were done in addition to, not instead of, the work Christ primarily assigns his followers, it would put them head and shoulders above anyone else. (assuming good moral standards elsewhere)
The illustration I like is of the couple who hires a babysitter to care for the children. When they return, they find the children neglected and the babysitter has painted the ceiling. Even though the ceiling did need painting, they are not happy.
The reason Jehovah's Witnesses do not rebuild the whole city is that they are mostly volunteers using vacation time, which is not unlimited. The answer is for all other groups to be similarly mobilized.
Yes. Would that each Catholic was involved in the noble works you speak of.

That's interesting. Where did you hear that? Do you have the reference?
Yes indeed. Revelation 22:18-19.
I wonder if the Catholic Church has noted that text as well?

There is some sort of contradiction in this phrase...can't quite put my finger on it????
Anyway, it's good to remember that not all Catholics followed their leaders over the years. Many good folk in the Catholic Church have tried to live as Christians despite their actions. 

Bit overstated. It only really matters what Jehovah thinks we are, does it not?"
1Sam.16:7: "For the way man sees is not the way God sees, because mere man sees what appears to the eyes, but Jehovah sees into the heart.” 

Obviously, all those who become eligible for Christian baptism, which is an act of faith, must have had knowledge of that requirement imparted to them at some point by someone, as no one is born understanding the need for Christian baptism. Rom.10:17 makes that clear surely:
"So faith follows the thing heard. In turn, what is heard is through the word about Christ."
As for how crucial a study conductor is to one's eventual eligibility for baptism?????
I know more than one that was baptised without going through a bible study program with a conductor in any consistent manner. I had 3 different study conductors, and with one, I actually took the study myself on a number of occasions,  as the person frequently hadn't prepared. I know one person who just got up and said yes to the questions at the assembly about 44 years ago, without having had a study conductor, and has happily served Jehovah ever since. So, in some cases perhaps, a study conductor served as a hindrance rather than a help toward baptism eligibility.
And of course there are those who have had excellent study conductors, gone through a consistent program of study with a couple or more books, got baptised and who were very soon disfellowshipped or drifted away. Were they eligible for baptism? Who knows?
Eligibility for baptism is described fairly clearly in the book of Acts: 
“Repent, and let each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the free gift of the holy spirit." Acts 2:38
“Repent, therefore, and turn around so as to get your sins blotted out, so that seasons of refreshing may come from Jehovah himself" Acts 3:19
The baptisms seem to have followed some kind of of instruction by someone in the know, although the time-scale differs. For example, a discourse and evidence of holy spirit was enough for some who had already quite a scriptural knowledge and way of life in the earliest days of the congregation. Acts 2:27-38;41.  Later, after Phillip spoke at some length instructing the Ethiopian eunuch, he was obviously eligible for baptism because, "when they came to a body of water, and the eunuch said: “Look! Here is water; what prevents me from getting baptized?” Acts 9:36. It seems nothing because "With that he [the eunuch] commanded the chariot to halt, and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he [Philip] baptized him." Acts 9:38.
Apollos later needed assistance to understand matters more fully because "when Pris·cilʹla and Aqʹui·la heard him, they took him into their company and explained the way of God more accurately to him."  Acts18:26. Presumably, a suitable baptism followed for Apollos, because a little later, after Paul's instructing some Ephesian disciples of a similar understanding to Apollos, "they got baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus." Acts 19:5.
So it would appear that eligibility for baptism depends on the individual repenting, turning around and (in harmony with the spirit of texts such as Matt.16:24, Rom.12:1, 1Pet.3:21) dedicating or setting themselves aside for a sacred purpose.
A suitably qualified study conductor may well be of great assistance in that process.

 

@Jay Witness asked:   Can you pray if you're:
[1.]not yet a Jehovah's Witness but you want to be?
[2.]Will Jehovah God listen? 
[3.]Is it respectful?
 
[1]. Yes!
[2.] Yes!
[3.] Yes!

Matthew 23:8  But you, do not you be called Rabbi, for one is your Teacher, and all of you are brothers. 9 Moreover, do not call anyone your father on earth, for one is your Father, the heavenly One. 10 Neither be called leaders, for your Leader is one, the Christ. 
(see Rev 3:14  and comment above)
 

Ps 65:2:  O Hearer of prayer, even to you people of all flesh will come.
Before Cornelius' baptism
(Acts 10:1, 2) Now there was a man in Caes·a·reʹa named Cornelius, an army officer in what was called the Italian unit. 2 He was a devout man who feared God together with all his household, and he made many gifts of mercy to the people and made supplication to God continually.
(Acts 10:30, 31) Then Cornelius said: “Four days ago counting from this hour, I was praying in my house at the ninth hour; just then a man in bright clothing stood in front of me 31 and said: ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been favorably heard, and your gifts of mercy have been remembered before God.
Prayers heard before his baptism.
At this point he and family baptized.
(Acts 10:47, 48) “Can anyone deny water to prevent these from being baptized who have received the holy spirit just as we have?” 48 With that he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they requested him to stay for some days.
 

Well, they had a go, but didn't succeed. Isaiah 40:8, 1Pet.1:25. So we're happy with what we got!

I know some who don't, but it is not a rule. I for one would never miss the Sistine chapel! 
While out on the ministry in England, as teenagers, we would sometimes stop and go inside a church and look for God's name in the big Bible by the pulpit. We would leave it open at Psalms 83.