The zeal has gone out of the preaching work , their is no more urgency to the work.

by smiddy 27 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  LostGeneration

  If you look at it from a business perspective, they are doing what they have to as an employee of the WTS.

  Spend time in serve-us now, get payment of everlasting life later.

  The WTS is the one at fault for the marketing plan, they have piss poor products, the mags and related literature. They use Rutherford era methods in a a modern society that dismisses almost anyone that comes to their door.

  When is the last time you bought something from a door to door salesman, besides a kid selling something for fundraising? Ever?

  Brings to mind that scripture about being peddlers of God's word, even when I was "in" I thought to myself "how are we not violating this command when we go door to door selling literature?"
• 

  BU2B

  Good points. In my congo, we have the largest territory in the circuit, doing it maybe once a year. Most of the time is spent driving around the territory, from call to call that isnt there, then taking break in a sit-down restaurant. After that its another call or two then home.

  Most Saturdays it goes something like this

  9:30- Mtg for service

  10:00-Someone in the car calls a return visit to get all of our time started

  10:15- arrive at territory

  11:00- Break time (lasts 40-50 min) keep time ging by leaving trct with the waitress

  12:00 2 more calls

  12:30- Back to the KH and home.

  Some are more zealous but most are satisfied with doing the above every other week.
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  blondie

  There has not been the "zeal" jws showed between 1966 and 1975 when the end was anticipated. That generation transmitted their disappointment and lack of zeal to their children (the jws that stayed). The WTS has to find a new date; too late to promote 2014 but 2034 is still open, 120 years pre-flood/Armageddon.

  (Genesis 6:3) 3 After that Jehovah said: “My spirit shall not act toward man indefinitely in that he is also flesh. Accordingly his days shall amount to a hundred and twenty years.”
• 

  Pete Zahut

  Looking back, we as publishers felt an urgency but if there was ever truly an urgency, the Watchtower Society would have used the television and or the radio and made publicaly distributed videos and could have gotten the word out within a matter of weeks. They had the capability to do that. Everyone knew that and felt the futility of their efforts to get the supposed warning message out there at a snails pace. Hence all the depression and anxiety in the organization. The door to door work is more for the Witnesses themselves than it is for the householder. Give them a unpleasant task to bond over and rally around that feeds their need to feel like virtuous martyrs. Keep them scared and busy, keep supplying them with and endless supply of inexpensively made books and magazines month after month. 7 million JW's with bookbags and closets full of unused back issues, and the occasional househlder who took them now and then adds up to a lot of money and more will be on the way next month. Remember the subscription campaigns? Why on earth would a non Witness want a years subscription to the Watchtower which is often full of termanology or topics only a JW could relate to. Nowadays I'd say the real money is made from the contributions, the estates of elderly JW's who have passed, assemblies and the selling of old Kingdom Halls that were built with free labor and have gone up in value and are paid for and replacing them with new ones that have money owing on them. On some level I think the individual JW knows this and it shows in their demenor but as is the case in a lot of organized religion, so long as you make them feel safe and feel as if they have all the big picture answers in life, they'll be only too willing to buy into it.
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  JWdaughter

  Isnt there some theory that it doesn't matter if it has any effectiveness at all-we were showing our love for Jehovah by being out there doing what we were commanded (by the WTS, but oh well!), so its all good, even if we are bad about it, even if we never open our mouths-we are going door to door and damn it, that's what we must do to prove our love.
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  blondie

  Once the WTS said it was imporant (60 years ago). At least in word. I can remember a brother who never made not a homes because they would be found they next time the territory was worked; or it was God's will that they weren't home; or that it wasn't necessary to prepare because "God made it grow."

  *** w65 3/1 Impart God’s Progressive Revelation to Mankind ***

  Yes, return visits are important. Our obligation to impart God’s progressive revelation to others is not fully discharged merely by placing Bible literature with them; nor even by making a few return visits. Only by regularly studying the Bible with others can we hope to impart God’s progressive revelation to them. Be dependable in conducting such studies, arranging for a substitute when unable to conduct the study on any one night. We must take these studies seriously if we want those with whom we study to take them seriously. Only then can we expect God’s blessing upon our efforts, resulting not only in saving ourselves as well as others but, above all, in sharing in the vindication of Jehovah’s name.
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  wasblind

  The last time Jehovah's Witnesses were in my nieghborhood

  they were stuck on the dance craze from the 1950's called " The Stroll "
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  eyeuse2badub

  No urgency by the GB either. They are building 'bigger storehouses' for themselves. 4-6 year construction project in upper New York. Instead of "gathering ourselves together and all the more so as the day draws near" JW's wil now be meeting less and less. Only 2 meetings per week and the assemblies are now only 1 day. Nope the 'day must not be drawing near' as we've heard for about 100 years now. lol

  Just saying!

  eyeuse2badub
• 

  A.proclaimer

  i go to a foreign language congregation so we take the car and drive around to cetrain addresses around the city or go to stores and knock on doors looking for people who speak that language. Anyway, going out in field service there is really chill, too chill. There's not a big rush or urgency in finding people. Like when I went to FS recently, all we did was go to a store full beauty prodcuts cause a sister wanted to buy something, and them went to the market to buy food and and something to drink. While at the market, the elder in charge of the car group made a brief "reminder" that we were "looking" for people who looked like they spoke the language. In reality, none of us were and he was telling us how good the food was. Then we sat in the car and talked until it was time to go. Easy way to count your time though it's pretty much cheating. We only found one person working at the store but all they did was give him the magazine to read, nothing else. in my past congregation, we did door to door but hardley anyone opened. And I noticed that the brothers there loved to talk so they would stop in one place out on the street and just talk for a while before moving on sometimes.
• 

  Apognophos

  Like when I went to FS recently, all we did was go to a store full beauty prodcuts cause a sister wanted to buy something, and them went to the market to buy food and and something to drink.

  Haha, that's great. It's not just foreign language service either. Recently I had come out of the grocery store, and was putting my groceries in the car, when I bumped into a sister I know. She was pushing a cart full of stuff, but was well-dressed. She informed me that she was out in service. I eyed her cart. "Oh... okay."

  Edit: Actually, the reason some of the JWs are moving over to foreign languages is precisely because they're so bored, and need the change in order to give them more zeal.