the wt study for this week is all about disfellowshipping.
in an early paragraph it said "think how heartbroken jehovah must have been when members of his own angelic family turned their back on him!".
however when you think about it, when this happened according to the wt teaching, jehovah still engaged with satan in the heavens (book of job) and had conversations with him about what was going on in the earth.. so why do the wt org practice shunning when jehovah god obviously didn't?.
They always talk about the one who leaves the “truth “ and his home and family... all too often it is the other way around. A person leaves the .Org. and is shunned by those he loves.
Also they call it “Leaving Jehovah “ but many do not lose faith in god, just the Watchtower.
new information added to the "shepherd the flock elder's book" .
they have updated their policy on viewing child pornography.. from a congregation standpoint it is not viewed as child sex abuse and is something that should not be automatically handled by a judicial committee.
it states that a person viewing child pornography should be strongly counseled.
The 2021 “shepherding The Flock” book chapter 13
”The deliberate viewing of pornography is a sin. (Matt. 5:28, 29) It can result in an addiction to sex, perverted desires, and seri- ous marital problems. (Prov. 6:27; lvs pp. 121-123 pars. 9-12) How- ever, not all cases require handling by a judicial committee.—See 12:1-2; w12 3/15 pp. 30-31; w06 7/15 p. 31.
3. An entrenched practice of viewing, perhaps over a considerable period of time, abhorrent forms of pornography would be consid- ered gross uncleanness with greediness and needs to be handled judicially “
[Edit .. Aborrent forms included child porn .. ] Blues.
this magazine says it all!.
and many of the older jws believed at one point in their life that they would make it through the great tribulation and into the 1000 year reign of christ without dying.
which is why so many jws stayed in so long.. is the main reason why jws ignore all the child abuse, the end of door to door service, and the closing of kingdom hall for almost two years----because they still believe they will not die?.
Yes to both questions... of course we believed that .... it was our faith and the WT promised it. We were special, the unique generation that would not have to die.
Today though the oldies are resigned to death and resurrection, but the end result will be the same.
I haven’t discussed it with any young dubs but I suppose they still expect to live on through to the New World
i have a daughter of a old witness friend that i knew since she was born.
she obviously has mental problems like her mom did so i just go with it .
she is a sweet kid but was recently hooked on pain pills bad.
“Move on and don't feel bad for leaving them to the life they choose.”
I have to agree with that, if it is getting you down.
Actually dubs run the full range of “sensibility “ from the reasonable to the totally crazy . I am lucky that my nearest is reasonable and caring ( and openly critical of the GB , in private)
You have my sympathy my friend but don’t let other people’s problems become your own…
is bible prophecy now starting to come true regarding a prelude to the great tribulation?.
full disclosure: i still don't believe in the bible's claims about the existence of the supernatural, even of jehovah god (i'm an atheist and a scientific/philosophical naturalist), but i am asking this question because recent events are starting to seem (to me) to fit well the description of some prophecies in the bible.
consider the following.. several hours ago (on 11-26-2021) as i was about to enter a local fred meyer store of my city (in suburb or small city in the metro area of a large city) a person i know told me that a moment earlier a person left the store in a hurry with a cart load up with unpaid merchandise (i think i was told it was groceries but i don't remember that for sure).
Sometimes I can watch the news and Can’t help thinking, “ this world is on the brink” ……But I recognise that I have been conditioned to think that way by an upbringing within the WTS.
From what I gather , men have always thought that their own time period “must be the one” because of the things happening. Certainly, the more that you learn of the past and our social history, the more you learn just how hard it was to live then .They had different problems,often, but equally difficult or worse.
Scientists predict terrible things sometimes, but mankind has always been useless at foretelling the future, so I curb my fears and hope for the best.
for any lurkers who don't believe the watchtower taught that the world would end in 1975... rare jehovah's witnesses 1968 interview "armageddon and 1975" london watchtower rep speaks to bbc.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=npmt-ml-m-g. --------.
but where will this system of things be by that time?
Well, I never heard of that interview or seen this thread before, things can pass you by.
I do remember Phil Reece at the London Bethel. Up until now I always liked his manner, a typically plain speaking Australian.
He does not mince words though....
“Q) Does this mean the rest will die
A ) Yes..........”
He must have passed away now along with all those old enough to take the lead in promoting that wrong idea . They were exciting, happy days for dubs.
Now they have a long slog ahead to their eventual death before “waking up in the New World “. At least, that’s how the older ones see it.
a friend says the wt gives a substantial sum to retiring cos. he says one bought land and built near him, a desirable rural area.
i think it must have been saved green handshake money or inherited.. btw this man also thinks the gb are the smartest men alive..
I don’t think they last that long so as to retire, not these days anyway. In times past I knew some old ones, Ted Wright, Ken Wildig , Bill Newman etc.
Nowadays they seem to be young Pioneers and after a few years they come off the work, either the wife gets pregnant or ill health.... or something.
I never heard of a generous payout for them . I don’t think it exists.
Around here it would raise eyebrows and get a frown....
Actually, back in the distant past we had a dear old sister in our group . She was a regular at the Tuesday book Study. Dear old N..... she was sweet natured but definitely “sixpence short of. Shilling “
At Christmas time she would always say as she went to leave “ Compliments of the Season Everybody “ ( that’s a rather old fashioned way of saying Merry Christmas)..
We all thought it funny.. I did not have the heart to counsel the old girl who clearly did not quite get it....
They were happy days at Tuesday groups...
who is more powerful out of the co and the body of elders?
i remembered a time i was a reg.
pioneer and my service overseer in my congo was asking one of the regular pioneers during the meeting with the co. how powerful is the co to the body of elders and how powerful is the body of elders to the co?
It is rare, but it can happen because the C/O has authority,”executive authority “ I once heard it called by an instructor at a big elders meeting.
The old time C.Os were more inclined to “kick ass” and revel in telling the elders to buck up. The young lads ( they do look young to me) they send round these days don’t want any trouble. Mind you the last couple of years they only drop in on Zoom.
it seems to be unclear if things like public or private reproofs and details around those events being recorded and traveling with you.
it seems like the details are largely part of whatever judicial paperwork there is and not necessarily attached to your publisher card permanently.
i changed congregations a few years ago and it appears the letter the body wrote only covered the most recent issue and said nothing of a reproof that had happened a few years prior.
In my day as secretary the record card just contained mundane stuff like name address d of birth, and baptism date and whether you were anointed or other sheep. Every month it would be updated with reported hours and placements .
Records of Judicial proceedings were separate and kept in sealed envelopes with your name on it . If you moved The Sec would write a letter of introduction (I tried to be nice) . Anything they needed to know might be conveyed in a phone call to the new cong.
I have seen a guidance to keep such letters brief and factual,due to fear of a data subject request but I don’t know if that is followed
