If you ever wanted to know why this Poster put it best
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In Reply to: Why do JW keep track of hrs? posted by Dawn on August 06, 1999 at 13:26:51:
Hi Dawn,
The reported hours are for the benefit of the Corporation (called "The Society" by group members). The Corporation is a large and rather wealthy book publishing business that controls the behavior and money of the group members.
It needs two things to survive, people and money. So that the Corporation could control the local Companies (name was later changed to "Congregations",sometime after it became a "religion"), the headquarters appointed a "service director" who reported directly to them, and then, as feasible, removed the Elders who had been appointed by the previously autonomous Congregation members.
In able to evaluate who was and is loyal to the group leaders there was needed a system of evaluation. That evaluation system is the reporting of sales and religious behavior to the local group leaders on the "Field Service Report" form provided by headquarters for this purpose.
Religious behavior was reduced, by the Corporation, to only involve behavior related to service where the group leaders (the Corporation) benefited, e.g. selling (placing) books written and printed by the group leaders; indoctrinating new recruits and future book sellers by reading books written and printed by the group leaders; driving cars on the way to selling books and other publications written and printed by the
group leaders; etc.
Other benevolent behaviors, such as love of neighbors and family, visiting the ill,
caring for the old or the young, and donating one's time or resources to charity is totally ignored under the group "time" method and is not tabulated or considered important to the success of the group.
The hours reported on the "Field Service Report" form only indicate one thing. Hours spent furthering the interests of the Corporation. Thus the "Field Service Report" provides an objective proof of loyalty to the group when combined by the group member's Corporation meeting attendance.
The only meetings allowed are the "official" meetings arranged, scheduled, directed, and outlined or manuscripted by the Corporation's local agents and amount to some 5 per week. Meeting attendance is monitored by the local group leaders (once again called "elders"). The group meetings are exclusively conducted from books and other publications written and printed by the Corporation.
Corporation appointments are seen by other members as proof of "family merit" and are desired by male members. Appointments are prestigious positions and status symbols as well as positions of power over other members with lower appointed leadership positions or over all with no appointments at all.
All women are considered inferior by sex alone and are automatically disqualified from all positions of group leadership no matter how intelligent, religious, or loyal to the Corporation they may be. To receive an appointment from the Corporation, Monthly "Field Service Reports" are crucial to proof of merit.
The Corporation is a huge book publishing company and run very much like any other big business. The reports gathered are used by the Corporation directors (called "the governing body") to evaluate their current and past distribution as well as recruitment strategies and tweak these strategies as needed to keep member involvement up to the desired level.
Usually "tweaking" amounts to injecting fear of the imminent Apocalypse by way of the Corporation's publications or during the weekly meetings. Semi-annual and annual sales meetings are held to further influence the members of the need to distribute more of the Corporation printed literature and make more new converts.
New converts are needed to replace the approximately 1% lost annually due to death, and another 1% lost annually due to the practice of shunning (called disfellowshipping).
Thes
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**Why do JW keep track of hrs? Kapito 16:20:46 8/06/99 (1)
***Why do JW keep track of hrs? Thes 19:19:16 8/06/99 (0)
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