Posts by Bonnie

20

US publisher report for last year - "official" numbers from Society letter

by sir82 in

jw
friends

didn't see this posted anywhere, my apologies if this is a repeat..... in a letter to all congregations dated 12/9/09, the society wrote out some highlights of the previous service year.

the letter is to be read to the congregation "at the first service meeting after its receipt".. here are the numbers they report (all numbers are for us only):.

-- average publishers - 1,096,502. this is about a 4% increase (3.5% if you don't round) over the prior year's average of 1,059,253.. -- that "4% increase" in average publishers is the largest since 1992.

Bonnie_Clyde

5 or 6 years ago, they added a provision for very old or very sick publishers that 15 minutes is enough to be counted as a publisher. But that doesn't apply to everyone, just those approved by the service committee. In my expereince, there are very very few who get approved that way, far less than 1 per congregation.

Actually, I was approved--not because I was "very old or sick" but because my time was taken up with caring for my very old and sick parents. I didn't ask for the approval, but when the elders came to visit, they gave me the OK. I didn't take them up on it.

24

Working for a JW, what a horrible experience...

by HappyGuy in

jw
friends

one of the things that made me start doubting the wtbts and jws was the way jws treat their jw employees.. i worked for jws several times.

the experience was always the same.. 1. pay was less than the going market rate for the same work at "worldly" companies.. 2. there were no benefits of any kind, no paid holidays, no sick time, no overtime, no insurance.. 3. whenever possible the jw forced the jw employees to pay their own company related expenses like gas, pager, company uniform, etc.. 4. any attempt to discuss the poor working conditions was always responded to with "but you get to make all the meetings and you get to go to the assemblies and you get to work for brothers.

" and, if you said "i would go to meetings regardless of who i worked for" and pushed back on that answer then they started in on your "loyalty" and you were unspritual if you questioned a "brother" and were not "loyal" to your employer.. 5. any attempt to find another job was met with harassment, being told you could not give the jw employer as a reference, being threatened with lawsuits, etc.. 6. the jw employers themselves were lazy and would not do the things they expected of their jw employees.. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------.

Bonnie_Clyde

My current manager is a JW, but I'm not sure if he knows my background. But he's a nice enough guy that if he did know, he wouldn't make it an issue. He knows that I'm a valuable worker. I work solely on commission, and the more I make, the more he makes. It wouldn't make sense for him to rock the boat.

24

Working for a JW, what a horrible experience...

by HappyGuy in

jw
friends

one of the things that made me start doubting the wtbts and jws was the way jws treat their jw employees.. i worked for jws several times.

the experience was always the same.. 1. pay was less than the going market rate for the same work at "worldly" companies.. 2. there were no benefits of any kind, no paid holidays, no sick time, no overtime, no insurance.. 3. whenever possible the jw forced the jw employees to pay their own company related expenses like gas, pager, company uniform, etc.. 4. any attempt to discuss the poor working conditions was always responded to with "but you get to make all the meetings and you get to go to the assemblies and you get to work for brothers.

" and, if you said "i would go to meetings regardless of who i worked for" and pushed back on that answer then they started in on your "loyalty" and you were unspritual if you questioned a "brother" and were not "loyal" to your employer.. 5. any attempt to find another job was met with harassment, being told you could not give the jw employer as a reference, being threatened with lawsuits, etc.. 6. the jw employers themselves were lazy and would not do the things they expected of their jw employees.. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------.

Bonnie_Clyde

My current manager is a JW, but I'm not sure if he knows my background. But he's a nice enough guy that if he did know, he wouldn't make it an issue. He knows that I'm a valuable worker. I work solely on commission, and the more I make, the more he makes. It wouldn't make sense for him to rock the boat.

24

Working for a JW, what a horrible experience...

by HappyGuy in

jw
friends

one of the things that made me start doubting the wtbts and jws was the way jws treat their jw employees.. i worked for jws several times.

the experience was always the same.. 1. pay was less than the going market rate for the same work at "worldly" companies.. 2. there were no benefits of any kind, no paid holidays, no sick time, no overtime, no insurance.. 3. whenever possible the jw forced the jw employees to pay their own company related expenses like gas, pager, company uniform, etc.. 4. any attempt to discuss the poor working conditions was always responded to with "but you get to make all the meetings and you get to go to the assemblies and you get to work for brothers.

" and, if you said "i would go to meetings regardless of who i worked for" and pushed back on that answer then they started in on your "loyalty" and you were unspritual if you questioned a "brother" and were not "loyal" to your employer.. 5. any attempt to find another job was met with harassment, being told you could not give the jw employer as a reference, being threatened with lawsuits, etc.. 6. the jw employers themselves were lazy and would not do the things they expected of their jw employees.. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------.

Bonnie_Clyde

My current manager is a JW, but I'm not sure if he knows my background. But he's a nice enough guy that if he did know, he wouldn't make it an issue. He knows that I'm a valuable worker. I work solely on commission, and the more I make, the more he makes. It wouldn't make sense for him to rock the boat.

27

Why are baby showers acceptable and not birthdays

by insearchoftruth in

my wife is going to a jw baby shower today............

Bonnie_Clyde

My daughter-in-law gave a very nice baby shower for her cousin's wife. The next day at the meeting the elder husband of one of the attendees counselled her about the games. He read something from the WT which my daughter-in-law couldn't remember because she was in so much shock. I was at the shower, and there was absolutely nothing wrong with any of the games, even though they weren't Bible games. For one of the games, they passed around little bags with a different baby item in each bag and they ladies had to write down what they thought was in the bag. One of the items was a breast pad--was that bad? Another game had something to do with crossing the leg. Somebody made the remark that the mother should have kept her legs crossed.

One good thing came out of this. Daughter-in-law stopped going to meetings.

25

Nobody from her church visited her - Jan 2010 WT study experience

by truthseeker in

i find paragraph 20 quite interesting in the jan 2010 study article.

http://download.jw.org/files/media_magazines/w_f-st_e_20100115.pdf.

"prove to be a real follower of christ".

Bonnie_Clyde

I do feel the need to balance these posts with a positive experience.

Even though some "friends" that I would have expected would attend my mom's funeral didn't (she was a 50+ years faithful JW)...when my wife developed cancer and was getting treatments at a clinic hundreds of miles from home, not only did she get visits from a local congregation who learned of her condition...but me, the healthly one living alone at home, also received visits from my cong that included hot meals

I agree only to a point. When I had surgery for cancer 15 years ago, a sister in the congregation organized several meals delivered to my home and my JW cousin drove several hundred miles to help me out a few days. What I've observed, not only personally, but with others in the congregation and neighboring congregations is that there is sometimes an initial flurry of concern - then it dies out very quickly. Also, it seems to be quite rare that there is any concern from the elders themselves--it's usually comes from maybe one or two individuals in the congregation on their own initiative--maybe..... Anyone in a long-term situation - like my mother (over 6 years) - is easily forgotten, especially when it looks like there is no hope of their ever becoming a useful member of the congregation again.

I think many JW's would like to do more charitable work in their heart, but they are always being guilted into more and more field service - putting any works of charity on the back burner. I remember one sister that said she would like to come and visit my mother, but she couldn't because she "had to auxilliary pioneer next month."

14

"New Order", "New World Order" systematically removed from WTS

by EndofMysteries in

has anyone else caught on to this?

i remember as a kid, 80's, it was called the "new system", then late 80's, early 90's, changed to new world order.

it's interesting that governments, conspiracy theories, news, etc, are all calling the one world government, the new world order.

Bonnie_Clyde

The term "new world" was the term used when I first became a witness - 1950's. There was a study article somewhere later that explained why it was more appropriate to use "new system" or "new order." Years later "new world" again came back into vogue.

25

Nobody from her church visited her - Jan 2010 WT study experience

by truthseeker in

i find paragraph 20 quite interesting in the jan 2010 study article.

http://download.jw.org/files/media_magazines/w_f-st_e_20100115.pdf.

"prove to be a real follower of christ".

Bonnie_Clyde

I forgot to add, I was counselled by the elders because I was spending too much time with my parents and too little time going out to help those people in the neighborhood who "had no hope." I should have told them that my parents sat at home "hoping" that some people in the congregation would just stop by to say "hello."

25

Nobody from her church visited her - Jan 2010 WT study experience

by truthseeker in

i find paragraph 20 quite interesting in the jan 2010 study article.

http://download.jw.org/files/media_magazines/w_f-st_e_20100115.pdf.

"prove to be a real follower of christ".

Bonnie_Clyde

I have some contact with about 3 different churches in this area and found that each one has a committee made up of volunteers, mostly women, who visit the homebound, make sure they have food and are getting to the doctor, read the bible to them, take tapes of the sermons, clean their homes, give moral support. make hospital visits, visit those in nursing homes.

I remember when my mother after a lengthy illness finally had to go into a hospice facility. I mentioned that I felt bad that my father and I couldn't be there more. One of the workers (knowing we were witnesses) asked about a ladies' auxilliary. I innocently asked where I could find such a group, and she said, "Well, most churches have them." I didn't know what to say, my dad muttered something about how we have elders. I about choked.... The elders had done almost zero for the previous seven years of her illness.

During those seven years she had very very few visitors. In fact there were several instances where car groups would work their neighborhood, but didn't bother to stop in to see my parents. I will say--this was the catalyst that got me into investigating my religion. My parents were well-respected members of the congregation when they were healthy enough to be of service, but when they desperately needed some moral and some physical support, they got practically none.

22

Yesterday's WT

by WalkTall in

jw
friends

the whole wt yesterday, which was supposed to be about love, actually centered on how we should react to 'persecutors'.

it was horrible to hear the audience comments...calling 'worldly people' everything from 'they are unkind and mean' to them being 'hateful and unneighborly'.

i sat there and thought about how this 'us vs. them' mentality is the very thing that is contributing to the divisive and separatist world we live in.

Bonnie_Clyde

Is that WT online anywhere?

Bonnie_Clyde

Posts by Bonnie_Clyde