by Iwonder17 14 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
It hit me the other day, when a JW goes to a door and says, “We are doing a volunteer work today…”
NO THEY AREN’T. They have to go in service every month as a requirement to stay in the club, if not, they become inactive or irregular.
Volunteer means that you do it when you want. If they don’t do it, they will eventually be shunned as someone who is inactive
Good point. "Unpaid" doesn't mean "volunteer". Never thought about it that way before.
I think with almost anything one volunteers for there are some sort of stipulations.
Whats bad about the organization is that they make it a stipulation to be accepted and loved by god, fellow congregation members, etc etc.
I think with almost anything one volunteers for there are some sort of stipulations.
I don't know, I volunteered to teach inner city kids to read and write after they graduated high school not knowing how to read and write. The stipulations were "show up". I've done lots of volunteer work where you basically just had to show up.
I agree with the original post. Field service is not volunteer work the WTBTS guilts you into doing it.
I agree. There's a jw woman in our building who works full time and "volunteers" 70 a month. I've often thought that it is not volunteer work, it's required for Everlasting Life in Paradise and for being in Good Standing in the congo. A coworker was impressed until I told her what the "volunteer" work was.
HappyGuy is spot on.
I volunteer a lot and the only requirement is that you show up and follow through on your commitment. If you said that you would chop vegetables for 1 hour on saturday @ 10 am and then answer phones for an hour after that...thats all they expect...even if you never come back. Just show up.
And no, preaching is not volunteer work it as Georgiegirl said its simply 'unpaid' work. I know teens that have tried to use it as their volunteer\community service school requirement and every time their schools rejected it. Of course it was considered as a source of persecution
Off to make the donuts...
It's not voluntary. You are hounded to death to go out in field circus, and then you are hounded to commit yourself to putting 50 hours a month in field circus. Then, if you don't make your time, you are in for a hounding from Brother Hounder. They will make it look like you are a total failure if you do not get all 50 hours you promised.
Then, why not just do the time? You could just do the 50 hours, but then they will start hounding you to commit. If you fluctuate just under 50 hours, they will start hounding you to commit--even if you are above and below 50. You could be doing an average of 50 hours a month, with some months of getting 55 and others 45 (and it's impossible to tell where you will be until well into the month). What they want is to force you to get in those extra 5 hours during a "short hour" month, at possibly great hardship to yourself.
Voluntary? Huh.
Preach or die, remember? Who wouldn't volunteer under those conditions? W.Once
the other problem is, and this is why the saying/comment on their part originated, that it presupposes that it is a magnanimous thing, something beneficial to the lucky one benefiting from their volunteering. Something done voluntarily is not always good and beneficial, as this act clearly shows.
