Posts by thedepressedsoul

15

Not willing to meet with Elders? DF?

by thedepressedsoul in

if a person says that they are not willing to meet with the elders or does not meet with them, will that get them df'ed?

there is a rumor about a person who has left the truth (went inactive) about being imoral.

they do not have the 2 person witness so they can't take actions because of this.

thedepressedsoul

From the book, "There must be either two witnesses or a confession of wrongdoing"

15

Not willing to meet with Elders? DF?

by thedepressedsoul in

if a person says that they are not willing to meet with the elders or does not meet with them, will that get them df'ed?

there is a rumor about a person who has left the truth (went inactive) about being imoral.

they do not have the 2 person witness so they can't take actions because of this.

thedepressedsoul

If a person says that they are not willing to meet with the elders or does not meet with them, will that get them DF'ed?

There is a rumor about a person who has left the truth (went inactive) about being imoral. They do not have the 2 person witness so they can't take actions because of this. However, the person will not meet with the elders so they can see if it's true or not. Can they df someone for that alone?

My thoughts were you needed 2 witnesses or a confession. If a person never meets, they never get that confession or are able to make a ruling. Anyones thoughts?

26

Luke 12:45 - Does that mean the F&D can go "bad"?

by thedepressedsoul in

the more i read the gospels the more i get the feeling that jesus warns about organized religion or those that overbear on your faith telling you completely how to worship god.

let's say luke chapter 12 is talking about the f&s.

does vs 45 on mean that the f&s can turn bad so to speak?

thedepressedsoul

The more I read the gospels the more I get the feeling that Jesus warns about organized religion or those that overbear on your faith telling you completely how to worship god.

Let's say Luke chapter 12 is talking about the F&S. Does vs 45 on mean that the F&S can turn bad so to speak? When it talks about beating its servants could that mean requiring money, being overbearing on their faith etc...?

Scripture I always wondered about since they base the F&S off of that scripture, they can't just ignore part 45 since it shows that they can tech be doing wrong and pay for it when Jesus comes.

Thoughts?

143

Letter to BOE: Adjustment in process for appointing elders and ministerial servants

by pixel in

hello, you read it here first!.

governing body of jehovah's witnesses.

to all congregations.

thedepressedsoul

I said in a post a while ago that power would be taken from the local elders over time. People thought I was nuts!

This is just the 1st step. There are too many power hungry Elders and too many problems with them to not remove their power.

I bet close to 80% of people who leave the org leave because of a way an elder treated them or what an elder did to them. Most people I talk to have a very bad taste towards certain elders and they eventually leave because of it. Trust me, you are going to see more and more power taken away from Elders. It'll be interesting to see what elders resist giving up the power.

37

The genius of the new donation arrangement

by thedepressedsoul in

ive given this new arrangement a lot of detailed thought and how greatly it benefits the wt and how much it puts a strain on each congregation.. first, let me explain how the old arrangement worked.. you had 3 donation boxes in each kingdom hall.

one for worldwide work, one for kingdom hall construction and one for congregation contributions.. the congregation contribution box accounted for about 60-75% of all donations.

the world wide work box probably accounted for 20-30% and the kingdom hall construction for about 5% of the contributions.

thedepressedsoul

I’ve given this new arrangement a lot of detailed thought and how greatly it benefits the WT and how much it puts a “strain” on each congregation.

First, let me explain how the old arrangement worked.

You had 3 donation boxes in each Kingdom Hall. One for Worldwide Work, one for Kingdom Hall Construction and one for Congregation Contributions.

The Congregation Contribution box accounted for about 60-75% of all donations. The World Wide Work box probably accounted for 20-30% and the Kingdom Hall Construction for about 5% of the contributions. Do you see where the problem for the WT is? The largest portion of the contribution does not go to the WT but for the Congregations benefit. The big fat piece of meat goes to the congregation, while the WT is getting two of the smaller contributions.

Now, the Congregation Contribution box goes towards paying hall expenses, TOA (Traveling overseer arrangement) KHAA (Kingdom hall construction worldwide), loan payment (If the hall has one) and FOD (Funds on Deposit). TOA is usually around $70-$100 per month depending on the publisher count and the KKA is around $40-$70 per month, again depending on the publisher count. This comes out of the Congregation Contributions though and not the other two boxes

Let’s look into the FOD a little further, this is a thorn in the WT side. The FOD is where the congregation sends its extra cash (The Kingdom Hall keeps a small buffer in their checking to cover all bills). The FOD is held by the WT and the Congregation puts all its extra cash it had for the month into the FOD, which the WT uses. The problem is, it’s technically not the WT money. Think of it like a savings account, they can use it but when the hall wants the money back they can withdrawal a portion or all of the money and the branch has to send it. That money is never a firm, reliable use of funds since the WT has to send the money back to the congregation when they need it.

The WT needs to do something, there is all this money from the Congregation Contribution, around 75% of the hall contribution, and they have no access to it. How can they have complete access to it without the Congregation having a say of when it needs the money back?

I give you, the new donation arrangement!

Let’s look at this new arrangement more in depth and see how it completely benefits the WT while keeping the congregation in an endless loop of sending them money.

FOD, that is now going to be kept at a pretty low balance now vs how all the money used to be stored there. The congregation will only keep a small amount there for “repairs and a buffer” while the rest of FOD balance will be forwarded to the WT and the congregation will never have control or access to that money again. The FOD will still be allowed to be used by the WT but the congregation will have access to their very small buffer for needed repairs. After May, the WT will receive a pay day from all the various FOD being sent to them for 100% control and use without ever having to pay a dime back to the congregations.

All the congregation will now be sending a huge chunk to the branch out of the Congregation Contributions, that 75% they now have access to a large portion of it without ever having to give some back to the congregation. The largest part of the Kingdom Hall donation, a big chunk of it now goes to the branch. They have a reliable, large steady income from each congregation on top of the World Wide Work, Kingdom Hall Construction, KHAA, and TOAA. They have successfully tapped into that 75% of the income that they could not have before, risk free.

Each congregation is now “strapped” to meet a certain quota each month, both for their bills and for the WT chunk. The only benefit I see that the Congregation gets is an updated hall every 10 years or so without a loan payment. That should be the case though since they are tech paying a loan payment for the rest of that halls existence.

The thing the WT was looking for was a way to tap into that 75% of income without the ties that the FOD had. It looks to me like they have achieved that goal.

7

"C.T. Russell was recently demoted to nothing more than a seeker of truth"

by thedepressedsoul in

i saw this in one of the posts from a member.. .

has something changed?

not sure i remeber hearing that c.t.

thedepressedsoul

The man had a lot of known skeltons in his closet.

I am surprised he is still refereneced as often as he is.

22

Looking for BOE letter regarding DF'd at memorial

by Dutchdelight in

last year i decided to attend the memorial.

i came in last minute and ended up sitting at the end of the row.

when the symbols were passed out they skipped me and gave to the person next to me.

thedepressedsoul

I believe the person just had a grudge against you or simply messed up.

All in attendance are supposed to pass the emblems. Who has the right to remove that entitlment from you and choose who can and cannot pass them? That'd be like someone saying you can't pray when you are DF'ed.

7

"C.T. Russell was recently demoted to nothing more than a seeker of truth"

by thedepressedsoul in

i saw this in one of the posts from a member.. .

has something changed?

not sure i remeber hearing that c.t.

thedepressedsoul

I saw this in one of the posts from a member.

Has something changed? Not sure I remeber hearing that C.T. Russell was recently demoted to nothing more than a seeker of truth.

Can anyone explain this?

28

What do you think are the future doctrine changes will be?

by thedepressedsoul in

the whole organization is going through huge and big changes.

it can be seen by names of departments, to how things function and teaches.

my questions to you is, what do you think the future changes will be, both in teaching and organizational matters?.

thedepressedsoul

Thank you for adding points to what I said. Some good points have already been brought up.

I was hoping to hear other peoples thoughts on future changes. If anyone has any please feel free to post.

28

What do you think are the future doctrine changes will be?

by thedepressedsoul in

the whole organization is going through huge and big changes.

it can be seen by names of departments, to how things function and teaches.

my questions to you is, what do you think the future changes will be, both in teaching and organizational matters?.

thedepressedsoul

The whole organization is going through huge and big changes. It can be seen by names of departments, to how things function and teaches.

My questions to you is, what do you think the future changes will be, both in teaching and organizational matters?

Here are my thoughts:

1914 - Something is going to change with that date. I think everyone knows something is fishy with this. The process to come up with that number alone leaves a lot of possible errors.

Disfellowshipping - I actually think this one is going to be lax-ed more in the future. It'll be harder for it to happen and easier to come back. How everything is going around the world, eventually this will have to change. Numbers seem to matter more and more.

Blood Issue's - There are already a ton of "loop holes" they found where a person can get fractions of blood. This will most likely see future changes. To me, if God meant no blood it should mean no blood no matter what portion of it you take.

Elders - I think power is going to actually be taken from them in the next few years. It's common knowledge everywhere that most are power hungry and out for the looks. I don't know how this will change, maybe a branch delegate coming down to handle big matter or what not. I really think we will see changes in this issue.

Less focus on the "end" - I have already witnessed this one. The end coming soon used to be 99% of the publications even the ones we studied at the Kingdom Hall. They are a lot more focused on teaching people how to preach and listening to the GB than on the “end”. They’re giving less and less attention about the "end". Minus a few occurrences here and there when using it as a scare tactic.

Just some thoughts, wonder what yours are!