i've noticed that there seem to be new ones starting to post daily.
i've also noticed that a thread can be created, then have a couple hundred views within seems like minutes.
i'm not sure how many registered posters may just view a topic and move on without posting, or even if non-registered viewers are even counted on the view count, but i sure hope there are many lurkers and that some will join the fold soon.. .
I don't know the statistics but I lurked for a long time before posting. Since new posters show up regularly I suspect many are lurking.
If you're afraid to post. We understand.
If you're lurking - please post. Keep whatever information you choose confidential.
It feels good to finally share in the communal feeling this board can have.
every so often it is mentioned that donations are decreasing.
i have never heard that directly from the publications or from the platform.
this is the only place where i have seen this claim.. is there anything factual to this?
For the last 5-10 years certain COs have mentioned donations being low on a congregational level.
One measure of health sometimes used is to review the amount of literature received by the congregation and the amount of money donated for the worldwide work. Doing that, many congregations have found that they don't even donate enough to cover the basic literature they are receiving much less extra or money from anyone they meet in the field ministry.
Congregations can do this analysis using the old costs of similar or same literature or they can just state that they receive the same literature as when prices were charged and compare the amount of donations. Either way congregations keep coming up short.
The problem I see is that the WTS keeps doing separate requests for money. For example, the circuit overseer car insurance fund or special money to build a local assembly hall, etc etc. The friends may respond to this specific request but the money comes from somewhere - that somewhere is usually the general worldwide work fund.
If you're still active in a congregation try asking the secretary if the congregation contributes as much as it used to for the literature that it receives. Of course, they may not like you nosing around about it. You know, Jehovah will take care of it.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=aquuntl1rtw8yezsxghq7fdd7br.
should i have linked back to one of the good discussions here?
check out some of the answers i am getting.
Leolaia's information on the cross/stake issue is excellent!
If you have any interest at all on this subject, then Leo's posts on the subject are a must read.
so i finally went back to the sunday meeting after missing it for over a month.
i've been to the tms/service meeting a couple of weeks ago by the way, but i've consistently missed the one for sunday.. i dreaded going, but i think i will go to the sunday meetings every couple of weeks for a while.
between my dad and another factor, i think it will be best to go that route for a while.
Hey R.F.
I've had one or two of those conversations as well.
Obviously they want to make sure that you are ok. They don't really want to hear that you're not ok; but they just have to ask.
They will get around of course, to asking you if you are having any spiritual problems. In their opinion you have either committed a serious sin and are dealing with a guilty conscience or you're becoming weak in the faith and need encouragement before it's too late.
Let them know for sure that you're not having any spiritual problems but you are [insert your public fading response here] and are doing the best you can.
If you want to fade you can't give them any reason to suspect apostasy or spiritual sickness that can lead to apostasy or pulling away from the organization.
When do you think you'll request to stop being a MS? Perhaps you should play the depressed;sick;whatever card when you talk with them and use that as your excuse to step aside. Tell them you need time to get over your emotional issues.
Good luck.
i would like a simple step by step explanation that refutes the disfellowshipping policy as practiced by jehovah's witnesses.. obviously, i don't agree with the policy but i have had trouble making my explanations clear and straightforward.. any help would be appreciated..
Sarah I would add the following to your thoughts:
1. Many assume that the man in 1 Cor. is the same as the man in 2 Cor.
- Some argue that Paul is referring to himself in 2 Cor.
2. The majority considered him disfellowshipped but not ALL
- Why is this so? The scriptures are silent. Evidently each individual had to make their own decision on how to treat this individual (evidently, hehehehe).
i would like a simple step by step explanation that refutes the disfellowshipping policy as practiced by jehovah's witnesses.. obviously, i don't agree with the policy but i have had trouble making my explanations clear and straightforward.. any help would be appreciated..
Thanks everybody. All of your comments proved helpful.
LiveLife - It's good to see you back; I've missed your viewpoint
i would like a simple step by step explanation that refutes the disfellowshipping policy as practiced by jehovah's witnesses.. obviously, i don't agree with the policy but i have had trouble making my explanations clear and straightforward.. any help would be appreciated..
I would like a simple step by step explanation that refutes the Disfellowshipping policy as practiced by Jehovah's Witnesses.
Obviously, I don't agree with the policy but I have had trouble making my explanations clear and straightforward.
Any help would be appreciated.
jw's often have big parties or "gatherings" to celebrate wedding anniversaries, esp.
for the big milestones (20th, 50th anniversary etc).. the process of these parties almost exactly mimic a typical birthday celebration: the couple of honour sit up the front, various people give speeches, show "honour" to the happy couple, there is a meal and drinks, usually an anniversary cake.. exactly the same as a birthday party.. so why is it ok to celebrate an anniversary of a wedding but not the annoversary of a birth??
when it's usually the "wedding" which sooner or later results in a birth??
Pope,
King Saul was in a cave using the....ummmmm....privy while David was hiding behind him and had the opportunity to kill Saul - of course, being a good boy he didn't. Saul never even knew.
As far as anniversaries and birthdays; I agree with all of you. It's an irritating and ridiculous distinction. The argument I've heard was:
marriage is a god given sanctified arrangement so it is ok to honor the arrangement and not the people.
My comeback is the same: Who gets the gifts? God or the the couple? 'nuff said
Same with baby showers. The witnesses say, as did I at one point in my life, that it's a celebration of the miracle of life - I say: Who gets the gifts? God or the baby's parents?
i don't know if any of you have considered this but is the new watchtower arrangement partly intended.
to permit the end of the awake magazine?.
it is a financially difficult thing for a religion the size of the "truth" to publish one - much less two .
I mentioned on another thread a while back that I thought the KM would be folded into the Dub-WT.
There is a KM printed for each branch. Although the WT is identical around the world, it is printed at various branch offices.
It would not be difficult to add a few pages of branch specific KM articles and announcements on a monthly basis (since that is the same frequency the KM already comes out).
For all we know the dub-version of the WT will be handed out by bookstudy conductors like the KM is now. In that case it will be as private as the existing KMs.
Conclusion:
KM and private dub-WT merge
Awake and public WT merge
Result:
Cheaper pritning costs; less non-donated for materia (the KM); continued control and keeping of some info (supposedly) from non-dub hands.
i've been studying with the jw's for a few months and i've attended a few meetings but things are feeling somewhat strange...i don't quite get the jist of things but i feel that i'm learning more of what the watchtower teachers and less of what the bible actually says.. i never open my bible.. i'm always reading the watchtower pamphlets.
i really like the people i've met in the congregation and the guy thats been doing the studies with me has been an awesome friend.. .
but i'm just having some issues.. i mean.. they translated their own bible to suit their own doctrines it seems.
Have you ever bought a used car? Had a vacuum salesperson in your home? Or perhaps some other form of sales pressure applied?
Your witness friend, who I am sure is a good good person, is applying the same kind of pressure.
We could give you specific questions, but they wouldn't change a witness' mind. If they would my wife would have left by now.
Anything that requires this much pressure and persistence must surely beg the question: Why?
There is another poster on the board that I will pm and hopefully you and he can talk. His argumentation skills are excellent and his reasoning sound.
