Blondie - yes I'm new to the board, but I lurked awhile. I haven't been at a meeting forever, but when I use to go, I use to make the same type of "notes" on the side of my mag. Personal study. Kept me on track. I don't do it anymore, but I love to read the same type of commentaries. Sometimes I pick up an Awake or Watchtower - the last Awake (Oct?) can't remember the exact date, but one of the articles was dealing with Mobile Phones (cell????). One of the illustrations was of a 17 yr old girl who started using her phone inappropriately by talking everyday to a boy in the same congregation. Fortunately, her parents found out and involved the elders. They put a stop to this before it progressed (gotta keep him single for bethel!). I was between laughter & sickened by the control of this poor young girl. Everyone knows that a more appropriate use of her phone with the boy should have been for phone sex and not discussing her problems.
Comments You Will Not Hear at the 10-27 WT Study
by blondie 19 Replies latest watchtower bible
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blondie
Yes, Tash, it always makes me vomit to see the skewed application the WTS makes with something as simple as a cellphone. I can see why young people use them to stave off the boredom during the meetings by sending each other messages. I avoid the Awakes since I don't go in field service any more. It is hard enough to stomach the WTs.
Most of the young people I know can hold them own with the hypocritical adults at the KH. I just worry that their rebellion might hurt themselves.
It's good to keep a critical and discerning eye when reading any material.
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jgnat
Thank you, blondie. I also really enjoy your posts. My own personal commentaries on last week's material:
Effective Use of Questions - I have found there is no substitute for genuine interest in people. I have to be sincerely interested in the person - who they are, what they care about - to have any kind of meaningful discussion. Since JW's are not allowed to associate informally with worldly people, they are stuck checking out the lawn ornaments to get some idea what the householder might be interested in. That kind of approach just makes them look foolish or glib.
Keep it Simple - Am I glad they finally figured that out! Perhaps the publishers of the Watchtower will start applying the basic principles of plain language. Right now their choice of words seem to go more along the lines of, "When attempting to sound particularly impressive, use the thesaurus to locate a multisyllabic alternative. This is easier than doing research, without the risk of locating information contrary to your desired result."
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blondie
Yes, jgnat, they have some right ideas (usually copied from some "worldly" book) but they won't be applied. The demonstrations for the field service on the service meeting are scripted on the last page of the KM (Kingdom Manifesto). The ones doing them have about as much life and personality as a clam. It is so scary. If I were a householder and someone came to my door like that, I would wonder where the holy spirit was in their life.
I remember a story a long time about about a householder who said there were several types of JWs that came to her door:
The power salesman/woman who did all the talking and kept pushing a publication into your hand
The nervous, timid one that stammered a few words, then said Watchtower and Awake 10 cents
Then there were the show love ones who really cared, who listened and asked thought-provoking questions.
She lamented that the show love ones didn't come much any more.
The JW's everlasting life is intertwined with going out in the ministry but it is not necessary to be effective. No JW needs to bring anyone else in, just go out in the ministry, in order to be worthy of everlasting life. The lives of those they call on are not their responsibility as long as they make a show of going in the ministry. If these don't listen, their blood is on their heads. Yes, the "show love"JWs are fast disappearing.
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Dutchie
Great study Blondie.
Thank you.
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blondie
Thanks, Dutchie.
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petespal2002
But why are the "Show love" JW's disappearing? Where along the line did doctrine change so that all one has to do is go out? Why would the GB put out WT articles like this if they didn't intend the membership to shape-up in it's effectiveness? Surely they would just encourage them to go out. The suggestions on the back of the Kingdom Ministry are stilted, but the assumption is made that people are intelligent enough to put them in their own words so they sound natural. Perhaps an unwise assumption! Personally I don't think the "show love" types are vanishing, rather the "I'm too thick/lazy/unintersted enough to make an effort" types are coming to the fore.
Loved episode of The Simpsons where Marge desperately wants someone to come and ring her new doorbell, sees two JW's heading her way, then they don't ring, saying to each other, "I wonder if our unsolicited visits annoy the householders."
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blondie
Hey petespal2000,
The suggestions on the back of the Kingdom Ministry are stilted, but the assumption is made that people are intelligent enough to put them in their own words so they sound natural
Well, they have an opportunity when they have the demonstrations of them during the announcements part of the service meeting. But the demos are even worse, due to lack of preparation and rehearsal, perfunctory responses from the householders rather than what really gets said, and always, always in these demos the householder takes the literature.
JWs are told preaching means their individual salvation. If people don't listen because they don't try to be effective, no problem, just wipe the dust from your feet.
After 50 years as a JW and many congregations, I can tell you that if field service were not mandatory, very few would go out. If the hope of everlasting life was not irrevocably welded to the preaching, 90 percent would stay home and only informal witness occasionally.
There is a wide gulf between what the WTS prints in its publications and says from the platform, and what people really do at the KH. In my current congregation (and many others), the elders organize car groups to do return visits (not door to door) on people who are never home on Saturday mornings. Nobody shows up for evening witnessing, heavens you might find someone home. The elders do not work with anyone in the congregation, do not help train new ones in the field service, and 2 weekends out of 4 don't even go out. They are invisible rather than visibly seen in the lead.
So Petespal2002, I'm sure there is a congregation or two out there that are different but the prevailing mood is "get my time in and let's have fun."
Blondie (ex-regular pioneer extraordinaire)
Edited by - Blondie on 31 October 2002 15:57:1
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jgnat
The apparent "lack of love" by rank and file JW's can be explained using a simple business concept. Inappropriate performance measures leads to dysfunctional behavior. I copied this from a business article,
SUBJECTIVE PERFORMANCE MEASURES IN OPTIMAL INCENTIVE CONTRACTS
George Baker Harvard Business School June, 1992
Business history is littered with firms that got what they paid for.
At the H.J. Heinz Company, for example, division managers received bonuses only if earnings increased from the prior year. The managers delivered consistent earnings growth by manipulating the timing of shipments to customers and by prepaying for services not yet received [Post and Goodpaster, 1981].
At Dun & Bradstreet, salespeople earned no commission unless the customer bought a larger subscription to the firms credit-report services than in the previous year. In 1989, the company faced millions of dollars in lawsuits following charges that its salespeople deceived customers into buying larger subscriptions by fraudulently overstating their historical usage [Roberts, 1989].
In 1992, Sears abolished the commission plan in its auto-repair shops, which paid mechanics based on the profits from repairs authorized by customers. Mechanics misled customers into authorizing unnecessary repairs, leading California officials to prepare to close Sears auto-repair business statewide [Patterson, 1992].
Based on this concept, the reason we are seeing fewer "loving" JW's is that they are not rewarded for it. Reward in WT society is entirely based on the all-important time card. Additionally, if a JW breaks his routine to help a neigbour, take grandma to a medical appointment or junior to a community baseball game, he risks being perceived as spiritually "weak".
Edited by - jgnat on 31 October 2002 18:21:54
Edited by - jgnat on 31 October 2002 18:24:6
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blondie
jgnat, interesting research. I have been reading Russell's sermons and I am amazed to see that the works = reward concept imbedded in the WTS philosophy already. I go to the circuit assembly tomorrow. I am going to be watching for that "love" that is supposed to prevail.
Blondie