Would you treat somebody better if they drove a Mercedes as opposed to a person who drives a Ford Pinto, you don't have to be Mr. Spock to figure out that's not logical, so why would you treat somebody differently if they get in 20 hours per month as opposed to 2 hours a month, this goes on all the time in Dub land, this is the major thing that " Stumbles" me, (my favorite dub word, that'll i'll vent about in a future post). The Dubs do this all the time and it really pisses me off, they claim that their not a judgemental group but we all know better. How can you judge somebodys worth on a slip of paper marking how many hours they go knocking on doors, that's just wrong. Anyways i just wanted to get that off my chest, thanks for listening.
This really get's my goat
by JV 7 Replies latest jw friends
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Atilla
Well, atleast the person driving the Mercedes probably worked hard and earned it unless their rich parents gave it to them. On the other hand, the person with 20 hours probably made up more than half of those hours compared to the dub who was honest and only reported 2 hours.
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Ciara
the person with 20 hours probably made up more than half of those hours
Yeah. It's pretty much already been established that most of us "embellished" our time slips. I've never seen a thread on why we all felt we had to do that, but I would guess that it was so we wouldn't be "councelled" or made to feel like second-class citizens because we weren't doing our duty.
Ciara
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Crooked Lumpy Vessel
This is something that strikes a chord with me too. When I first decided to go out in service I approached a pioneer sister I was studying with and showed her a schedule for service that I put together for every other weekend. She sat there for 20 minutes explaining to me why that was not enough. That I eat and sleep everyday and should at least go out in service once a week. She said that she observed friends in the hall who were not as spiritually minded and a direct connection was made to those who don’t put in regular service. Blah Blah Blah...I just felt sick during that entire conversation. I wished I had never said anything.
I was getting ready to call her back and say that I changed my mind and then I got a call from her husband who apologized up and down for her and said that whatever I decided was fine. But I was already so discouraged. No matter how much I did on my own terms I already knew that I was being judged by this sister as unworthy. Nothing could change that.
Of course, being the obedient low self-esteemed sister that I was, I ended up going out each week because she would come over and pick me up and intimidate me into service. I remember when I was pregnant she would still force me to do walking territory with her. She would walk real fast and by the time I caught up with her I was out of breath and she was ready to go to another door. It was miserable. The next day I started hemorrhaging. I was finally out of service and in a hospital bed, but now I had everyone under the sun in my room making sure that I did not have a blood transfusion. People I never even knew before were in my room.
Of course, being the obedient sheep I was...I refused blood. I turned to my husband and told him that if I was going to die, to just let me die. Take the baby and just let me die. Instead I just ended up being in the hospital for 5 weeks.
The pioneer sister that I studied with came and visited me each week with our study book in tow. She never just came to see me as a friend; it was always to have a bible study and to count her time.
Then one day it dawned on me. The love that we get from God is a gift and not earned through service hours. Last year I was at our weekly bible study at this same pioneer's sister house and there was a question surrounding Ancient Israel’s fasting and how they were not what God wanted. They were missing the point. Jehovah wanted his followers to show love and acts of kindness. But they would do all the rituals instead (fasting and throwing dirt on their head) I raised my hand and said, "the same is true today. We can go to all our meetings, pioneer and read the bible all day long. But if we don’t show love to our brothers and sisters than our service would mean absolutely nothing." I saw her look at me with disdain. :)
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tazmaniac
You could be an awesome witness with all kinds of door to door skills and yet if you only went out 5 hours a month you would never be asked to do a demo for the service meeting. But you could be Johnny Droll. Son of Brother Ever so Droll and you aux pioneer but you are terrible at the doors....yet you get asked to do demo's every week.
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truthseeker1
The only good thing I can think about is service hours are easy to fake, driving a mercedes isn't. Sure you could slap the hood star on a pinto, but who will know the difference. Now writing a 20 on a slip of paper is pretty darned easy. Just say you do a lot of hrs at work or something...
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cyber-sista
It always bothered me that sister or brother so in so could put in pioneer hours and getting many pats on the back bu tstill be a judgmental uncaring moron where as another bro or sis could be always there and helping those in need ( bringing food to the sick and taking the elderly to the doc or helping someone move or with their children etc) but get no recognition at all. Something was always wrong with this picture for me. I remember a sister being in major stress because she was caring for her dying mother, but not able to put in service hours for a while. I told her she was doing a good and honorable work caring for her mother, but she said she wished she could record that as service hours. Human worth reduced to number on a slip of paper--very sad--very sad.
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bebu
JV, there is no Biblical support for that kind of teaching or thinking, so I'm glad you noticed the discrepancy! Looks like it helped get you outta there.
Crooked, you make me recall Psalm 119:99:
"I have more insight than all my
teachers , for I meditate on your statutes."
bebu