Who are the "Inactive"? (page 2)

dropoffyourkeylee

I have not reported time in years but still attend a few times a month for family reasons. I am not df or da. Does this mean they won't talk to me when I go to the hall?

I told my spouse before we decided to fade that we can not complain when we get shunned. We wanted our "friends" to leave us alone. We wanted to start a new non JW life. It still is disturbing that not one of my female friends or relatives have not tried to even contact me. Does it hurt? To me, it is just disturbing. I mean, this is supposed to be your very life at stake (that is what was drilled into our heads all of our lives) and they have not even tried to call. But that is what we wanted. Right?

If you watch the shunning video that they will be showing at the RC. It's all about how much the daughter hurt THEM. It's all about THEM and that will NEVER change.

freddo

@dropofyourkeylee

Ah that tiny group who are inactive but go for family. If you go for family then you probably have relationships you feel are worth salvaging. If you don't rock the boat with what you say or do you will probably be allowed to carry on unhindered.

Bit like the Borg in Star Trek - if you aren't perceived as a threat you get to walk among them with a few mates without being attacked! (until it suits them of course.)

Darkknight757

@ joe134cd

It is frustrating to be sure when nobody lifts a finger to see if you're ok but remember: these people are super busy doing mundane things and are trained to only look for "spiritually strong" association.

It's a tough pill to swallow at first and the feelings of betrayal run deep but know that you once had many friends and you will again. (Unconditional friends😊)

DATA-DOG

Old Hippie nailed it. Being "inactive" is defined as not turning in field service time for a certain period of time. That time period is decided upon by the Corporation. The lunacy of this arrangement is a topic all on its own.

Personally, I have not turned in time for the last 3 months. Prior to that, I was not in field circus for an entire year. Then, when I went back out once or twice, it was sooo horrible, so soul-crushing and boring, that I've made up time ever since. I just text a number to an Elder, ship-shape..

I skipped my first "Special Day" in my whole life, no one said a thing, except my mom, who tried to guilt me into making it up. The convention center was 5 hours away, I'll let you figure out what happened.

I miss tons of mid-week meetings, I have not participated in the TMS for about 3 years, and I never will. I simple made sure that I was either "sick", had an "issue" from previous surgeries, or got stuck at work. I decided to never participate again when the council point for my Bible reading was "accurate reading." LOL!!!!!

The meetings are so boring and infantile, that a "student" of 35 years is not allowed to make their own outline, bringing out interesting points from the LIBLE, but is reduced to proving that they can read. I actually laughed out loud when I read the slip, and threw it in the trash can.

Anyway, so far I haven't been shunned, JWs are being as nice as they can be. They all have busy lives, and they are on the WTBTS treadmill of death, so I don't expect, or want them injecting themselves into my affairs.

Think about this: It takes a 24/7 flow of propaganda to make JWs obey to the extent that we currently see. This is because they aren't evil, but the WTBTS is. Dubs just want to be human. They like to dance, drink, go to movies, git dey freak on, and so forth. So, as long as you don't bash the GB expose everything that's wrong on your FB page, you're probably not going to be shunned.

That being said, TOMO 3, has said from stage that "inactive" ones will "go the same way" as opposers. It's seems that "Mother" wants a harsher stance, but perhaps the sheeple are a little slow on the uptake?

All the more reason to go full-on cult, reduce numbers to a managable level, and never print again. They can have their 3 or 4 million core zealots, ruling them from Warwick, just get the fuck out of my life.

DD

sir82

you can only be inactive if you have been baptized, right?

Actually, no, if you were an "unbaptized publisher" but later stopped going out in field serve-us, you'd be counted as "inactive" also.

But I suspect the compulsion to shun would not be so strong as it would be for someone baptized. They might still hold onto hope that you'd be baptized some day and so the shunning dial would only be turned up to 4 or 5 out of 10.

Heaven

My Dad is inactive. He has a brain disease called frontotemporal lobe dementia. He will never be active again

under the radar

Heaven, I'm very sorry to hear about your dad. That's a horrible disease.

konceptual99

I think you have to be a little pragmatic the link between inactive and shunning.

As has been pointed out "inactive" is a procedural term related to field service. If you don't turn in a report for 6 consecutive months you are inactive. In itself, it has nothing to do with meeting attendance. You can never go to a meeting but be active just by turning in a report each month.

As has also been pointed out, if this is also linked to not being present at the meetings and other aspects of Witness life then the longer this carries on then the less notice the elders will take. That is not to say they will take no notice if it becomes apparent you are engaging in activities like sexual activity outside of marriage, celebration of Christmas, birthdays ans so on. The less association you have and the longer you have been away from the meetings then the more chance there is they will park a matter until such time as you make some kind of return to the congregation.

In reality there is a mental association about being inactive and irregular or non meeting attendance and given they typically go hand in hand then that's not surprising. Therefore the combination of no FS and meeting activity is often what Witness will mean when they consider someone "inactive".

To be frank, if you have stopped going in FS and stopped meeting attendance then I don't think it is reasonable to conclude that lack of contact from people in the congregation or awkward moments out and about where people avoid you is deliberate shunning. In their mind, you have taken yourself away and people don't know what to say and how to say it. They don't know your reasons. Of course, rumour and gossip abound. People may be making assumptions but in terms of people making a positive decision to shun you then not everyone has the time and inclination to give it active thought - they could just be embarrassed at what to do and say when they spy you down the aisle in the supermarket after not seeing you for six months at the meetings. Stupid I know, but remember where you were before you woke up.

In my experience of observing "affirmative action shunning" of inactive and non-attending ones to date, it would tend to be either by over zealous ones who have heard some rumour about the actions or attitude of an inactive person or by family. Some families and individuals are super self righteous and avoid contact with a family member no longer attending meetings regardless of the lifestyle of the person.

More likely there will be active shunning when the person is doing something like living with someone else. To date I have noted this as most likely when self righteous family members take it on themselves to avoid contact.

The current talk doing the rounds at the RC about shunning inactive ones known to be engaging in wrongdoing repeats older WT policy. The reason it sounds new is because the WTS has not said anything much about it for a while. I suspect as well there is a fear that it's only a relative minor that are shunning inactive wrongdoers and they are seeing more people take a fading strategy thereby helping family members avoid the issues associated with DF/DA.

So for the purposes of the talk, the definition of inactive is used in the broad rather than procedural sense and reminds the faithful that those who have slipped away and doing what they want can't avoid the net of shunning. How many sheeples actually consider this when thinking of whom they might need to shun now and don't now end up actively shunning those who have simply got on with their lives outside of the org is a completely different matter.

problemaddict 2

My statis is inactive.....but the people I care about know i dont intend on returning. Some even kind of know why.

I feel like the best way to explain it is a quarantine. Its a quarantine and they are doing it with loaded language.

Who are the "Inactive"?