Recognized by Baptism or Service Report?

Josh

I have been wondering for a while now:are JW's recognized as such by their public baptism or by
the service report they turn in every month?
When I was studying,I was constantly told that to become a jehovah's witness,one had to make a
public declaration by getting baptized.2 1/2 yrs after I was baptized,I was stripped of all my privileges
because I wasn't getting 10 hours per month(my average was 5hrs).This was done to all the brothers in letter
form,to make it look professional,like we were suppose this was divine direction from Jehovah.Although
I was still going out in service(6 hrs now-a 20%increase),I was still considered an unexemplary brother
because my report was still under that magic number of 10.No saying prayers,reading at the book study
or doing demonstrations;basically we were segregated because of lack of service.Needless to say,I
have since become inactive.
Now I am still baptized,not df'd,yet when you look at the annual reports,the only ones counted as J-W's
are the ones who turn in a service report.All inactive J-W's are not counted in the statistics!This could explain why the
attendance numbers appear high,but publisher numbers are declining.
Also,at our recent circuit assembly,we were told that there is no such thing as a non-practising J-W.
What this means is that if you're not turning in a monthly report,you are really not a J-W!!But an 8yrs
old,unbaptized kid who stands at the door with mom and turns in a report because he's an unbaptized
publisher will be part of the stats,even though he's not baptized!Go figure!
So I'm wondering,am I the first one to figure this out?I'd appreciate any input here,I believe the TRUTH
about this has to be known.

Josh

JT

josh ask

What this means is that if you're not turning in a monthly report,you are really not a J-W!!But an 8yrs
old,unbaptized kid who stands at the door with mom and turns in a report because he's an unbaptized
publisher will be part of the stats,even though he's not baptized!Go figure!
So I'm wondering,am I the first one to figure this out?

#############

You are correct on the 8yr old he is counted and you are not

i had a 82yr sick "anointed" sister call one day in tears -she hit 6months of no time and was so hurt that she would be considered inactive and may not be included in the yearly report i knew at that point that the time arrangement was bad

james

esther

Hi Josh, welcome to the board. You asked

I have been wondering for a while now:are JW's recognized as such by their public baptism or by the service report they turn in every month?

A CO once said that you can't be a witness if you are not actually witnessing. This has been the case for a long time, as far as I know.
I didn't know that there was a specified amount of time you were supposed to spend in FS, unless you were pioneering, though. I wonder how the GB came to that figure. It is not scriptural, anyway, and neither is reporting time in FS.
Maybe the publisher numbers are declining because more people are realising that the GB does not have divine direction.
esther

SixofNine

i had a 82yr sick "anointed" sister call one day in tears -she hit 6months of no time and was so hurt that she would be considered inactive and may not be included in the yearly report i knew at that point that the time arrangement was bad
james

geez JT, not much of a company man. You should have cajoled her into getting her lazy, unproductive, "sick-yeah right", ass out of bed for one hour, to be tagged onto that 6th month. I mean come on! One hour in 6 months? Does she love Jehovah or not? Does she want to be a Queen and priestess, or not?

I don't know, JT, I think you have set up a pattern of co-dependance with this woman. She'll be calling you from her death bed, willing to cry, but not willing to lift her oxygen mask and preach to a nurse!

Kids these days.

Had Enough

Hello Josh and fellow Canuck:

Welcome to our board.

You made an interesting comment about required hours.

What I could never reconcile was that the GB would say that hours really didn't matter if you were putting in all you could (remember the widow's mite?). If you put in a couple hours a month and that was all you could do according to your circumstances, then God was happy with that and no one should question you...yet in the same breath, the elders, under the direction of the CO and from the GB, turn around and restrict privileges from those not meeting the quota of hours, which always seemed to be this magical number of 10.

Yes, as JT says, the arrangement is bad.

Just another thing that, when I was an active JW, crossed my mind, but never dwelt on it because there was no answer.

As esther says:

Maybe the publisher numbers are declining because more people are realising that the GB does not have divine direction

I hope this is a contributing factor in the decline...it maybe shows the more of the r&f are starting to 'think'!

Had Enough

expatbrit

I'm sure that in the magazines it has been stated several times that one requirement to be called a JW is that a person must be reporting field service time.

Can someone with a working CD perhaps look this up and post it? Thanks in advance.

Also, Josh seemed to be treated extremely harshly. My understanding was that if you had below the cong. average (usually about 10 hours), you were not considered to be reaching out and would not be recommended for promotion.

Other er, privileges, such as reading at the BS, mic running, etc. were available to any brother "in good standing", i.e. any male reporting time regularly.

Sound like you encountered a serious control freak, Josh.

Expatbrit

Moxy

i agree with ex. this sounds like a local decision - cong or circuit level - maybe due to a large number of low-hour brothers that was perceived as a local problem

as to the attendance numbers, an inactive attendee will push up the attendance % true, but only if they are actually 'inactive' ie no report in 6mo. if there are some months, or even one month reported in the last 6mo, thats 'irregular' and they are counted into the denominator number of publishers, and are therefore generally pulling the numbers down.

there are other wacky things that come out of the numbers, like the cong hour avg dropping because there are too many auxillary pioneers. sometimes the elders are a bit relieved when a struggling AP drops off the AP list, since they will boost the cong avg.

mox

teejay

Well, I'll be doggone. I've never heard of this in my nearly 40 years
of JW association. I guess I was always active. So, if I'm reading
this right, instead of 6 million JWs worldwide, there may be an
additional 1 or 2 or 8 million JWs who are baptized but inactive and
not counted in the report. And of the 6 million who ARE counted,
thousands (millions?) may be unbaptized? Live and learn, live and learn.

Six? Funny, man, funny! My laugh of the day, Bro. Laugh of the
day.

So, if you're inactive, and you aren't counted (considered) a JW,
how can they disfellowship you? It's like with some jobs or
business agreements where the continued professional relationship
is renewed, or not, annually. If there's no renewal, the parties go
their separate ways and the business relationship ends with each
one free to do whatever. Interesting.

tj

crittersitter

apparently those hours in "preaching" are vital to ones worship, if you are not counting time, then chances are you won't "count" in the eyes of GOD. you'll end up on the "hit-list" at the big A...
my mom would literally get out of her death bed to put in time..a few hours around the assisted living home would send her back to her bed for days, if not weeks.
then to top it off, at her "memorial" at the kh, the elder said that "if jehovah chose too, and was happy with her (works) , then He may or may not recreate her DNA"...
i had to endure that horse-pucky watching my active jw sisters in hysterics( so much for the faith in this ressurection) and be shunned by most of the jw's there.....
so...there is my 2 cents on reporting field service.....
itll never be enough for the GB.....
one should be pushing awakes with your last dying breath..HA
critter.....still ticked off class

CornerStone

Hello Josh,

I think the field service arrangement is JUST THE WAY the GB wants it to be. Consider the line of thinking the avarage JW is conditioned to believe:

Put in the national avarage of REQUIRED hours in field service or be
stripped of all responsibilities and privilages, be considered
"weak" and be avoided by fellow JW's, endure shame and guilt at the
hands of UNCHRISTIAN fellow JW's, and endure this treatment for the
rest of your natural life until Jesus arrives, (invisiably), to KILL
you and feed your pancreas to the vultures!

Of course, this line of thinking can go for ANY requirement that the
aristocratic GB decides to shove down the R&R's throat.

Make all the meetings and answer at all the meetings or be
stripped of all responsibilities and privilages, be considered
"weak" and be avoided by fellow JW's, endure shame and guilt at the
hands of UNCHRISTIAN fellow JW's, and endure this treatment for the
rest of your natural life until Jesus arrives, (invisiably), to KILL
you and feed your pancreas to the vultures!

Confess publicly that we (the GB) are the only "mouthpiece" of God,
(like in the Spanish Inquisition), or be considered
"weak" and be avoided by fellow JW's, endure shame and guilt at the
hands of UNCHRISTIAN fellow JW's, and endure this treatment for the
rest of your natural life until Jesus arrives, (invisiably), to KILL
you and feed your pancreas to the vultures!

No, I think that with this type of high control the GB has on millions of people, they would have no real reason to change it. You must remember that the GB and org for that matter are delusional. They acctually BELIEVE that they are "masters of the universe" and to try to "reason" with them is almost futile. In their delusional state, ANY unChristian treatment is par for the course because they simply cannot comprehend kindness, truthfulness, mercy, and love as Jesus taught.

CornerStone

Recognized by Baptism or Service Report?

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