Thanks again Blondie for all your hard work.
studier
Blondie's Comments You Will Not Hear at the 06-22-08 WT Study (MARRIAGE)
by blondie 22 Replies latest jw friends
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studier
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BluesBrother
A good study to miss this week, nothing but put-you-down "counsel"...
Blondie gave a link to "The Pew Forum" with statistics about divorce I checked the site and found this other comment
Jehovah's Witnesses have the lowest retention rate of any religious tradition. Only 37% of all those who say they were raised as Jehovah's Witnesses still identify themselves as Jehovah's Witnesses.
http://religions.pewforum.org/reports {towards the bottom of the article)
Maybe that explains the current fever to hit them on the head with "good advice" - but I got news for you Brooklyn - It aint workin' !
P S.
Q 13. Why do some Christian couples decide to refrain from having children?
A] Because they are misled by the 'tower, thats why. Some friends of mine, in my age group some thirty years ago or more, believed that we were so close to the end that they postponed parenthood to the New World. Women suppressed their normal desires, "for Jehovah" - in reality for the ends of the WTS . Now in later life they have no family to visit them, no grand kids to bounce on the knee, - No one to call them "Grandad or Gran...Do not believe all that bull about "Spritual sons and daughters", unless you are very lucky the congo does not want to know...
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blondie
Hi boyzone, that's true about forgetting. But that is why they put in the disclaimer about God not forgetting them. I was always told that even if the rank and file failed that I could be confident that God would not. With a little luck there will one or two people in the congregation that will actually be "Christian." But I will say that those who are "prominent" usually have some rear kissers that will help them for the closer connection to the GB and heavy Bethelites.
Hey gopher, the WTS is finding that troubled marriages is increasing every year and leads to the elimination of many elders and MS. Young marriages are also causing many of the rank and file to leave, be eliminated, or eventually after several years, still end. I am amazed at the revolving door in marriages at the KH today. I just learned that one elder had an affair with a sister in the congregation; broke up 2 marriages, and this was his second. This must be a first to combine the GT and "tribulation in the flesh" in the same paragraph; I can't find any other reference on the CD.
Hello, nameless_one, the WTS uses pressure to control its members. Partly it is to remind the elders to enforce the WTS policies. If they can, elders circumvent the policies that affect themselves and their families.
Hi searcher, good point, less jw children, less jws. That is where the bulk of new jws comes from, at least in the US.
Sorry to hear about your split, David. Continue cherishing your children.
Hey, snowbird, I would think that for many jws it goes in one ear and out the other. But I know that for older single female jws, it is a sad topic considering how few prospects they have. They grow older and the chance of a family and children gets to the point that some marry jw men who have no redeeming factors.
Hello, jgnat. Good points about how the GB (the anointed in fact) have a selfish point of view. Thanks for the compliment; marriage is a challenge but love and respect does get us past the difficult times. That is true about jw children not coming back as they did in the past. It used to be said that when they had children they would come back because of the specter of Armageddon. It was considered murdering ones children because their future depending on the parents status in the WT organization.
Hi WTWizard, some give up marriage for a time to get "privileges." Until the mid 1950's, any Bethelite who married had to leave, But around that time Knorr married and unless he wanted to leave, he had to change the rules. There are more married people at Bethel now but they have to jump through hoops and kiss a few rears to stay.
*** w04 7/1 p. 26 A Satisfying Life Despite Heartaches ***
Since the 1920’s, Bethelites who desired to marry had been required to leave Bethel and serve Kingdom interests elsewhere. But in the early 1950’s, a few couples who had served at Bethel for some time were allowed to marry and stay. So when Nathan H. Knorr, who at the time was taking the lead in the worldwide Kingdom work, showed an interest in me, I thought, ‘Now, here is someone who will stay!’
Hi still_in_74
Hello lrkr, it is too bad to some jws allow the WTS to call the shots in their family. They give them too much power over their lives. Unfortunately, the confuse the WTS with God. I always used to say to the elders that I had to do what I could see God said in the Bible, and that only he had the power of life over death, not them. That used to cork them, but as a woman I had few "privileges" they could talk away.
Hey, Rules, I did stay single until I was in my late 30's and then married disregarding WTS rules. My husband said that trouble marriages made up most of the "problems" the elders had to handle. So many elders had problem marriages themselves, so the rank and file did not take their "advice" very seriously.
Hi, MinisterAmos, so you feel the WTS "thinks" when they write this stuff?
Hi again, Gopher, what the WTS fails to acknowledge is that most jws who are having marriage problems, are older, married, but disatisfied with their husband or wife. I have heard of 3 marriages that hit the skids, all the people were over 40.
Yes, OTWO, it is hard for the rank and file to grasp "new" light. I know of jws that still talk about the 1914 generation.
As to young jw women, marriage is a base of power and status, through the husband and they know that. While sex is an issue, I don't think it is the same as with men. Young jw women know that unless they are married to a potential MS or elder, they will be have the low status of a single woman. Unless they have a father or brother with status.
Hey, tread, don't let that paragraph fool you. Look around at the meetings and conventions and see how many jw women are alone and struggling with the kids while hubby is off doing his spiritual chores. The WTS has said many times that women were created to take care of the kids.
Hi OTWO
Para 6. ...You can avoid much heartache if you wait until you are physically, mentally, and spiritually ready for marriage before you start a romantic relationship with a Christian of the opposite sex.
So what is the magic age? A jw has been baptized as young as 6; why wait for marriage; isn't baptism more serious than marriage? Is a 6 year old "physically, mentally, and spiritually ready" for baptism? Why can a 6 year old get baptized but be considered too young to date?
This is actually a point I made for years. I could never understand why marriage was more important than baptism.
Well, FFM, for them the WTS reminds them not to marry non-jws. But then Moses married a nonbeliever, right?
Thats for encouragement, studier.
Hi, Bluesbrother, I know several couples too that thought the end was coming in 1975, 1984, 1994, and then it was too late to have children. Then the husband died, and they were told they could not be married to their husband in the new system. I know one who is hoping the end comes before they died so they can still have children in the "new system." She just found out she has cancer, with less than a year to live.
Love Blondie