Fact you won't read in the WT magazine:
If you go to college and earn a degree prior to Bethel, you'll be treated MUCH better than those who only pioneered.
Jehovah's Witnesses & Higher Education
by minimus 23 Replies latest jw friends
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minimus
COs are there to keep elder bodies in line....in line with what Mother is REALLY saying.
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Lunatic Faith
LIke some have mentioned, it's not a hard line everywhere. There is an elder in my cong whose daughter is attending college. She graduated early from High School and I think she is still under 18 but I see her at the community college all the time and she's not just taking vocational classes. Here, kids under 18 can attend college for a third the price.
But in that same cong they discouraged a girl from accepting a full scholarship at an Ivy league University back east. Around here, if a kid can attend college and stay under the watchful eye of their parents and cong, its okay. This elders daughter, though, is living a bit of a double life (i.e. sneaking out at night, hanging with boys, swearing, etc.). The cong still thinks she is the perfect little pioneer sister, so I am intrigued to see what happens.
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No Room For George
The way it was relayed to us at the KM School for Elders, is that if an appointed brother's child living at home started attending college, his qualifications were to be reviewed by the elder body. If the kid still lived at home, and was still attending meetings and going in field service, all the while attending school, the elder or ministerial servant position would be ok. On the other hand, if the kid was away from home at school, but still supported by his/her family, that brother more than likely would be removed. It would even fall under the category of not presiding over his household in a fine manner if my memory serves me correct. If the elder body didn't review the brother's qualifications, as the chairman at our elder school put it, "we'd all be culpable." Those were his exact words, he made it a point not to mince anything he said in this regard, and he paused for emphasis to ensure we caught his drift.
Something thats been eating at me since thinking about the WT's anti-education policy doctrine is how the WT isn't unlike other Christian denominations when it comes to preaching that life is a precious gift from God. The WT condemns other denominations for supporting war, and individuals for being pro-choice when it comes to abortion. At the same time the WT can't see their own hypocritcal nature when it comes to life being precious considering their anti-blood transfusion policy doctrine, and their anti-education policy doctrine. The reason I include their education policy as being inconsiderate of the gift God gave us, is because they do everything in their power to limit what an individual does with his/her life. Now the WT will say thats not true as we dedicate our lives to God and His Chosen Organization, however I have to ask the question, what are they accomplishing today through that organization? How does it glorify God if its not accomplishing anything more than its own self serving interests?
I recently attended the special one day circuit assembly, and a handful of people were baptized, with all minus one being young people still living under their parent's roof. I imagine all of the young ones who got dipped were born-ins. Now these same young ones will grow into adulthood, and will continue to attend meetings, go out in field service, and all the other time consuming repetative formalities that are part of being an active Jehovah's Witness. None of these activities bring glory to God, and for a young person or anybody for that matter, to disregard their God given talents and gifts, in order to beck at the whim of a publishing company falsely representing itself as God's channel of communication on the earth today, is to bring dishonor to the gift that God gave to us.
Think about this, we've all known people who had talents and gifts, only to squander their potential by succumbing to drug or alcohol abuse. There's not much difference between that scenario, or squandering your gifts and talents because a publishing company tells you that to explore your potential and educate yourself is selfish whereas serving as a Regular Pioneer on behalf of a publishing company brings glory to God. Look at it this way............
Regular Pioneer has a hand in how many converts= 0
Average Publisher has a hand in how many converts= 0
Married JW Couple has a hand in how many converts= anywhere from 1-5 on average.
So field service is largely busybody work and isn't glorifying God, especially considering most JWs would never go out again if turning in field service slips were eliminated tonight. Meetings with half assed talks and poorly prepared demonstrations don't bring honor to God. The second song during the special day assembly had to been one of the most depressing songs I've ever heard in my entire life. It make The Cure's music seem happy in comparison. So it goes without saying, poorly scored music doesn't bring honor to God. Could go on and on, by why bother, you know the deal.
They want you to avoid a college education that would indicate you value and take your life seriously, so that you can dishonor God by doing wasting your life in repetitious unproductive formalities on behalf of a publishing company accomplishing nothing. Not to mention, JWs by and large make up the WT's audience. JWs are the only ones reading the WT's literature. Crazy!!
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TheClarinetist
That is a good point, though, LF. After all... an Ivy League University is just a name (Well... Actually it's a football league, but that's a different discussion altogether). She can get an amazing education closer to home... Staying away from the evils of *shudder* coed dorms. Who knows what kind of trouble a full grown adult will get into when they aren't carefully watched 24/7 by their parents and congregation. Thank Jehovah™ that there's a perfectly good college down the street.
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minimus
NRFG, great insight.
Like I said, the elder bodies are supposed to act the way Mother "suggests".
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oompa
where is the wt material that says elders and minis must be removed or are not allowed to be servants if their kid goes to college?...
thanks....oompa
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EntirelyPossible
I just did a consent decree for my divorce from my JW wife in a few months and a clause I put in was that any monies we split were for the kids post k12 education and, should they not go to college, the monies revert to me. Also, chld support will stop at 18 if they don't go to college AND complete their degree, if they do that it will continue to 22. Also, she can't home school them without my consent. I tied her finances to the kids education. Let's see how that works out for her.
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Room 215
Ther's nothing really wrong with deciding against college ... IF one has marketable, specialized skills in high demand, and enjoys the manual labor, creativity and problem-solving that go along with them. The whole point is that, except for working illegally or in a criminal enterprise, what one does for a living has nothing whatsover to do with his/her spiritual relationship with God.
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bobld
Isn't it ironic 3rd world countries are senting their children to western countries to get a higher education because they see the value of higher education to escape the proverty of those countries.Yet the GB/FDS tries to get their slaves educated in the languages of these foreingors so they can convert these educated one's to be their D-D slaves.
Also it has been mentioned by the Faithful slave that even if someone get's a degree,he/she won't necessary get a well paying job and if one does get a good job and makes a lot of money and a good retirement loot he lives and dies so what good did it do him.Do you see the double talk,both sides of their mouth,fork tongue.They are full of IT.
B