by truthseeker 30 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Word has got our that Mr. and Mrs. Truthseeker no longer attend meetings.
We still live in the territory of our old congregation. Instead of taking the time to call us and see how we're doing, the "friends" prefer to talk about us behind our backs, one of whom passed information to my wife's mother (who is a loyal Witness) that we do not attend meetings.
Just waiting for the ball to drop.
They may not do anything at all.......I haven't gone to the meetings for over 2 years and no one's bothered me. Although I'm expecting a visit in the next month or so given that the January 12 - 18, 2009 WT study article is entitled "Help Them Return Without Delay". Here's a couple of highlights from it:
Perhaps they can encourage a person to return to the congregation by kindly showing him that Jehovah loves His sheep and requires only things that we can do. These include studying the Scriptures, attending Christian meet ings, and preaching the good news of the Kingdom.Financial problems or increased family responsibilities may have caused them to slip into spiritual inactivity. They may feel a need for relief, but you might point out that isolation is not the answer. (Read Proverbs 18:1.) You might tactfully ask them: "Are you happier since you stopped attending meetings? Is your family life better? Is the joy of Jehovah still your stronghold?" -Neh. 8:10.6 Reflecting on such questions may help the inactive ones to see that because of their lack of association with the congregation, their spirituality and happiness have diminished. (Matt. 5:3; Heb. 10:24, 25) It may be possible to help them realize that failure to preach the good news has resulted in the loss of joy."
I love how they automatically assume that everyone who stops going to the KH must be miserable as hell. Notice how the paragraph does not allow for the idea that anyone could possibly be happier now that they don't go----it's simply written down as gospel truth that if you leave, you're unhappy.
Mary, How True
I have just been reading that article; the CO's visit covers that Sunday, I think I may go along with Sister fokyc and listen to the sickening answers they will all come out with.
AND report back to you all!
fokyc
Know the feeling.
Since I left I have had surprisingly few visits at all. When I was a regular attender (and elder if that's a factor as well), everyone used to pop in if they were just passing for a coffee. Not any more. I can't remember the last time an elder visited my home.
The thing is is that I am not anti-Witness as such. I guess I will never go back but I do feel that they would at least get a listening ear and stand a chance with me compared to those that they meet in the door to door ministry.
The problem is they are only interested in counting hours, they are not really interested in people.
When I stopped attending meetings it was two years before any visit. Then it was just to get me back to make up the numbers. So it looks like they are planning to do the same thing, numbers falling, get back those who they can.
"Perhaps they can encourage a person to return to the congregation by kindly showing him that Jehovah loves His sheep and requires only things that we can do. These include studying the Scriptures, attending Christian meetings, and preaching the good news of the Kingdom."
Is this the same "love" in which they made my wife make me leave the family because I was a "spiritual danger" to them. Then after two "shepherding" visits never did anything else to help. Meeting and Ministry their magical answer to all problems.
"Financial problems or increased family responsibilities may have caused them to slip into spiritual inactivity. They may feel a need for relief, but you might point out that isolation is not the answer. (Read Proverbs 18:1.) You might tactfully ask them: "Are you happier since you stopped attending meetings? Is your family life better? Is the joy of Jehovah still your stronghold?" -Neh. 8:10."
"Isolation not the answer" but they are they ones who isolate people. Stop talking to them, don't acknowledge them, don't visit.
" Reflecting on such questions may help the inactive ones to see that because of their lack of association with the congregation, their spirituality and happiness have diminished. (Matt. 5:3; Heb. 10:24, 25) It may be possible to help them realize that failure to preach the good news has resulted in the loss of joy."
Lack of associataion, spirituality and happiness diminished!! No way! I have become a "real" Christian . Met people who would fall over themselves to help others, whether or not they were Christian. The church I attend has programs, that helps others more in one year than all the years in the JW congregation I was in did. If this church is not "preaching the good news" then why have we just moved into a bigger church because of the growth.
As Mary says why do they automatically assume anyone who leaves is unhappy and miserable. The only thing that makes me unhappy is that I still have family who are still JWs.
I am quite happy to be left in blessed peace.
If they keep calling to try and help you come back to the fold they are interfering and refuse to mind their own business.
If they don't call they are mean and selfish and unloving.
I hold neither view. I don't care. as Garybuss says, at a stroke 99% of the people you don't want in your life are gone.
HB
Truthseeker, my husband and I are at the same place, just waiting for the other shoe to drop. They too, are gossiping behind our backs. We still have a few friends that keep us informed. This is just a guess, but I think that our absence at the memorial 09 is what will make them really go after us, although there is nothing to find (forgot about CoC under my bed).
"They are the most loving people on the planet. The shepherds will leave the 99 to find the 1 lost sheep. It's a spiritual paradise. Jehovah is personally interested in you."
I once quit attending meetings for 18 months. I received three phone calls, two from sisters, one message from my Book Study conductor.
They are too busy earning everlasting life to worry about "folks who know better than to stop attending meetings". They cannot count time if they visit you.
Remember boys and girls: Cults shoot their wounded.
Bank on it.
No meetings for almost 8 years. We talk to the jws we run into without much trouble, no encouragement to come back though. Haven't been to a "memorial" for 8 years because we decided no meetings meant no meetings. I didn't want to become one of those people who only came for the memorial for the last 30 years.
Blondie
Haven't been to a "memorial" for 8 years because we decided no meetings meant no meetings. I didn't want to become one of those people who only came for the memorial for the last 30 years.
Same here, Blondie. When I walked out of the KH three years ago, (almost to the day), that was it. When Memorial came and went, it felt a bit strange to miss the first one, after going for some 25 years. It was at that moment, when I realized I did not want to go to the Memorial because I was happy for the first time in my life. I then ordered CoC, and that confirmed what I already knew.
j
