even elders can be part of the new jw lite brigade these days.
they don’t need to go on door to door anymore and there is no requirement for anything really.. taking meeting parts is all dead easy you could turn up on the day with zero preparation because it’s all in the meeting workbook.. quarterly elders meetings are just old men having a good old natter just like old men do down the pub.. congregations could be likened to pubs or bars these days just without the drinks, those come at other times.. no need for territory maps, these almost went away with covid letter writing now they are extremely slow getting finished as those who still go door to door only do ten mins.. you could even voice your questions these days about things the gb say and then just say “we can’t be dogmatic we just don’t know”.
i predict they will say this about 1914 soon..
this jw lite thing is nothing new. When i was in it--in the 60s--the majority of men attending did so to appease their rabid lunatic jesus freak wives. These guys just sat through meetings--never commenting--just asleep with their eyelids open. Never went out on field service--just never got involved. Nice enough to chat to--about anything except the religion. Many smoked.
Then there were the nisan kids--seen just once a year to get their membership card renewed.
the magazine that they are studying in the congregation this month has an article at the back about how pornography in a marriage could damage the relationship.. there's one piece of advice that sounds rather scary, the wt suggests that the couple should "consider asking an elder with whom you are both comfortable to sit in and guide your discussions for a time.".
how many of you would want an elder present in your home while you and your partner discussed your personal sexual cravings and the type of porn videos being watched?.
after being brought up a jw, going to mts, bethel, pioneer school multiple times, serving in foreign assignments and having been an elder for decades my conclusion is that i am now pima, physically in mentally agnostic.. agnostic means you think it can’t be proven either way creation or evolution.
i do tend to lean towards evolution but creation at the very start because you can’t get life from dead matter.
but i’m open to the possibility of chance theory at the origin of it all.
i'm sure the world is flat--so i wont go to near the edge in case i fall off. But i also have faith that an angel would catch me if i do.
after being brought up a jw, going to mts, bethel, pioneer school multiple times, serving in foreign assignments and having been an elder for decades my conclusion is that i am now pima, physically in mentally agnostic.. agnostic means you think it can’t be proven either way creation or evolution.
i do tend to lean towards evolution but creation at the very start because you can’t get life from dead matter.
but i’m open to the possibility of chance theory at the origin of it all.
ex bethelite etc
you keep mentioning HOPE: hope in/of what exactly? are you afraid of the future ?
https://youtu.be/xcgyp-h60xk?si=tvojbxouldf9jxwp.
governing body member samuel herd gives a symposium talk: love for jehovah in modern times at the 2023 annual meeting of jehovah's witnesses.
at the 11 minute mark of the symposium, we meet (100 year old) brother david buettell and his ( 98 year old wife) phylis.
this "symposium" thing
here in the UK nobody i knew had any idea what it meant--so it became the thing for the public talk to be divided up between several speakers.
I'm sure the other UK members here will have heard this old one from back then---speaker #3 had fallen asleep when his turn came--so wife gives him an elbow in his ribs--he jerks awake--jumps up and delivers a closing prayer.
this is going to break the hearts of a lot of uber-jw's!
reddit has now removed the video link of samuel herd telling jw's they will no longer have to report time or placements - just tick a box which says "active.".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akdshyx79rm&t=13s.
if all the congregations were 100% on zoom--no need for any KHs. Food for thought eh watchtower ?
what the jw sect has become and is slowly becoming is far more near what i thought could be a good religion based on the bible.. no more counting hours and no more blindly following direction now they admit they are not inspired.. i would like to design a new sect inside the jws.
it has to be kept secret because the elders would not like it.. this new sect involves giving a tick every month or so saying you are still kindof active talking about the bible.. going to meetings occasionally and attending on zoom sometimes.
very rarely go to ministry groups but don’t ever do first call, just say you are doing street work and have a nice walk somewhere maybe the shops or the park.
Yes of course especially if you think the Bible is an interesting book that has at least some value
it does ! My driveway slopes downwards--a bible would make a good chock to stop my car rolling away.
what the jw sect has become and is slowly becoming is far more near what i thought could be a good religion based on the bible.. no more counting hours and no more blindly following direction now they admit they are not inspired.. i would like to design a new sect inside the jws.
it has to be kept secret because the elders would not like it.. this new sect involves giving a tick every month or so saying you are still kindof active talking about the bible.. going to meetings occasionally and attending on zoom sometimes.
very rarely go to ministry groups but don’t ever do first call, just say you are doing street work and have a nice walk somewhere maybe the shops or the park.
is it ok for atheists to be members of this new shadow jw religion ?
there has already been much discussion about how the watchtower society has declared in australia that going door to door is part of a personal ministry.
this seems to be a lame attempt to avoid liability considering that they require time reports and have formal meetings for field service at the kingdom hall.. this is a bit of a dilemma.
reporting time and formal meetings for field service are important methods of control, however it's not clear if the organization is willing or able to handle the potential liability that may come from this.. imagine what would happen if they lost these methods of control.
i foresee this will mean a huge expansion in the numbers reporting:
Brothers--the results are breathtaking--over 7 million publishers ticked the box to say they were actively witnessing--last year there were none !
ya' know....as i listen to the great music of my youth from the 60s & 70s ... i've reached the inescapable conclusion that the "food at the proper time" came from simon & garfunkel, the grateful dead, jimi hendrix, led zeppelin, pete seeger, bob dylan, hot tuna, steve winwood and hundreds of other incredible musical philosophers!!!
i can honestly say that my life has been enriched.. i am barreling toward 70 years on this planet and i still get goose bumps listening to the music & lyrics that perfectly capture life's eternal truths.
at that time in my life i had "one foot in the world" spent a lot of time listening to that classic music with "worldly" friends who were there for me when i finally walked out of the fog of dubdom in the late 1990's.
just for you--
