Counting Time Question

by robhic 6 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  robhic

  I am a non-JW and have a JW girlfriend (strange as this situation can be). Since the end of 2002 she has essentially been confined to her house and mostly to her bed due to illness. She has attended 2 memorials and maybe 2-3 meetings in the last 2 years but nothing further. No conventions, gatherings, etc.

  She made a comment that she and another home-bound JW were talking about submitting time slips while on a phone-link to listen to a meeting (their only source of meeting attendance). They both admitted they were lax in submitting time slips. OK, here's where the question(s) begin.

  1) Just how much time can be counted by someone who rarely, if ever, leaves her home? Does phone-witnessing and other random contact with non-JWs count? Does talking to me count? Her family (all non-JW)? Does just periodically blurting out some WTS-inspired rhetoric count as witnessing? This all seems so tacky.

  2) Can other witnesses who visit her (baptized since 2000) count their time visiting her? Is that allowed since she is a baptized member in more-or-less good standing? I ask this because she gets periodic visits from some of her congregation (elders included!!!). Most times they are in service in her neighborhood and park their cars in her driveways and stop to use the bathroom, get a drink, etc. While attending to their needs they visit. Sounds superficial but not wholly unrealistic or unexpected to me from what I have gathered here and elsewhere over time reading different posts.

  I was mainly curious if a home-bound person could really count much time and just how little time is allowable for an ill person? Could her laxness in submitting the slips be triggering shepherding calls of one type or another (disguised as "visits")? I hate to think the worst and/or be so negative but the seemingly nice and caring actions when compared to some of the horror stories recounted on the internet make me sceptical.

  Any input and opinions are appreciated. Thanks for your time.

  Robert
• 

  gitasatsangha

  1) She can count all the time she wants and call it informal or phone witnesseing. No one will double check.

  2) If she's baptized, no one is supposed to be counting time on her. But it hardly matters. No one will double check. God will still hand out the Merit Bonus at the end of this Pay Period.
• 

  robhic

  1) She can count all the time she wants and call it informal or phone witnesseing. No one will double check.

  2) If she's baptized, no one is supposed to be counting time on her. But it hardly matters. No one will double check. God will still hand out the Merit Bonus at the end of this Pay Period.

  Wow, so it looks like anything goes. How can something that seems to have such importance and be stressed so much be addressed so off-handedly? If counting time is so important why isn't it handled a bit more effectively?

  Thanks for the input.

  Robert
• 

  simplesally

  The elders and pioneers who visit with her usually bring an unbaptized publisher or progressive bible study with them to visit her, that way they can continue counting their time. Bring your bible study to meeting then stop by Sister Homebound's house on the way home.
• 

  wannaexit

  If she is sick and confined to her home the minimum she can count is 15 minutes.
• 

  ohiocowboy

  Wow, so it looks like anything goes. How can something that seems to have such importance and be stressed so much be addressed so off-handedly? If counting time is so important why isn't it handled a bit more effectively?

  Answer is that the more time that is submitted on the slips, the better the WTBTS looks. If you will notice, the Org. Thrives on Numbers. The higher the numbers, the better they look, so they turn a blind eye to the fact that publishers either exaggerate their hours, or do not count them correctly.
• 

  mineralogist

  Most times they are in service in her neighborhood and park their cars in her driveways and stop to use the bathroom, get a drink, etc.

  So they have a stop-by and i guess would not subtract the time of visit from their field-service. Same as with coffee break or similar.