by Sail Away 14 Replies latest jw experiences
There is a sub message these days among some of the brighter Witnesses to take a softer approach.
It sounds like your friend is one of those who has internalized that message.
Good for him and you. I hope it makes his life a little easier in the Org and it certainly made it easier for you!
Hope your eye is doing well sailaway!
Sail Away - "...Apparently, the congregation is growing (20% increase) and has lots of children now... I just don't think this can be called growth..."
Neither do I, considering two thirds of 'em will be out within the next couple of decades.
BTW, from reading the rest of your OP, I suspect this elder friend on yours might know a thing or two about the TATT.
DesirousOfChange
I asked about his daughter and son-in-law. Apparently, they are still active in the congregation and bought a house on the beach and by Dad’s words are “enjoying life.”The best thing you did was show that you are living a happy and successful life.
Yes indeed!The greatest revenge is living a happy & successful life!
Doc, your saying came to mind on my way out of the office! So True!
I did give pause to the thought that his daughter and son-in-law might be awake but stuck in due to Dad. This elder's wife died of cancer years ago, and he still grieves for her. If he lost his daughter and son-in-law too, it would likely kill him. That said, the son-in-law was a MS and resigned within a year. I never heard why. Genuinely nice people stuck in a cult.
20% Growth? BULLSH*T!!! There is no way, NO WAY, that a Congregation would see that much growth. What really happened, was that 1 or even 2 or 3 Congregations were dissolved, their Kingdumb Hells sold, and profits sent back to "Mother Org". Then, the pauper Sheeple were commanded to come to your old Congregation. Whaa-laaa! Instant "growth" for your old Congregation. There are lies, damned lies, and statistics. JW's are the masters of manipulating the numbers and statistics in order to make themselves look good.
20% growth in a Congregation? Ha! FantasyLand.
WingCommander, I fully agree. I did ask if the local two congregations had merged, and he said no, there are still the two. Of course, they did gain a few members from another hall closing about 10 years prior, and these two congregations used to have their own KHs and are now sharing one building. They lost some members in the far reaches of the territory who were too old to travel the distance. He said more children and "growth".
I think the biggest "growth" here is that his congregation is the more loving of the two that share the KH. It is the more rural congregation and was always small. I was baptised in 1976 there, 40 publishers back then. What happens is when there is a dust up between family members (Everyone is related in some way!), some migrate over to the kinder, gentler place. The lines are pretty fluid.
Also, as I said in my OP, the smaller, rural congregation traditionally had to "invite" new families with elders, pioneers and/or servants to come and "help". It's a rough go in the area-- high cost of living and few jobs. The imported families often can't afford to move closer and grow tired of the commute. Lather, rinse, repeat.
There are a lot of factors in play, but new "growth" from the field is likely NOT one of them!
There is a sub message these days among some of the brighter Witnesses to take a softer approach.
It sounds like your friend is one of those who has internalized that message.
Good for him and you. I hope it makes his life a little easier in the Org and it certainly made it easier for you!
Hope your eye is doing well sailaway!
Sail Away - "...Apparently, the congregation is growing (20% increase) and has lots of children now... I just don't think this can be called growth..."
Neither do I, considering two thirds of 'em will be out within the next couple of decades.
BTW, from reading the rest of your OP, I suspect this elder friend on yours might know a thing or two about the TATT.
Millie and Vidiot, my wish for him is that he has a few years of peace ahead of him. He seems happy and rather well compared to when I saw him last-- over 5 years ago, relaxed and happy. I do hope he and his family are awake to TTATT. For him, I'm sure it's just a matter of it's too late to change. He is 69, and this has been his life. His daughter and son-in-law are born-ins. It is an older congregation, one of the first in the area. They are dying off-- old age, cancers and strokes. One former elder has dementia, but he was always a little nuts-- made for interesting comments at the meetings.
PS Thank you all for you kind concern about my eye. The occlusion happened just over a year ago. At first I had to go for treatment once a month. I just got moved out to every 7 weeks. I regained my peripheral vision (driving with one eye while legal, is a nightmare), and my vision corrects to 20/20, there are just holes in what I see due to tissue damage that won't regenerate. I am unable to do full-time work on the computer anymore, but that's not all bad! I'm taking a year-long teacher training in teaching Mindfulness Meditation. Researchers are working on a time-release medication that would mean only one shot a year, but that is down the road a bit. Could be worse, some go blind from this.
Sail Away
aka Diane
