Posts by jwfacts

29

next week will be my last week on here................

by Es in

jw
friends

for a couple of weeks heheheh sorry i couldnt resist.. we are moving into a house hooray i cant wait.

we have outgrown this two bedroom apartment, now we are moving into a 3 bedroom, two bathroom ,large yard, big kitchen house.. and then two weeks after that we go to fiji.. i will miss you all heaps and will say goodbye next week.. .

es

jwfacts

you tease,

every time i read a heading like that I think oh no and clicik on it to have a look.

15

Baptisim/Disfellowshipping & Age

by Krystal in

i apologize if i am re-posting a topic that was already discussed, but i have a question:.

i was baptised when i was 14 and disfellowshipped at 17... major life changing decisions all made before i was 18. .

has anyone ever tried to have their baptisim/disfellowshipping annulled based on the fact that they were too young to enter into such a contract?

jwfacts

I have discussed this with the legal department at the Aust bethel. The lawyer felt I was attempting to make a legal issue of something spiritual and that my contract was with jehovah, not the organisation (WHATEVER! It is the organisation not Jehovah that subsequently disfellowships you). His comment was that annulment is obviously just done for convenience.

The annulment is not looked at by the legal department, it is considered by the Service department, unless of course legal action is suggested or taken. However, I still believe it is a legal contract. My annulment letter addresses the issues of Illegal coercion of a minor by the use of misinformation - I then discussed lies that occur in the watchtower at the time of my baptism. Even as an adult it may be able to prove coersion by misinformation as done in the latest Blood tort, though I dont know where that stands legally if there are no damages etc.

Interesting to see if any lawyers can advise

21

Disfellowshipped Numbers ?

by Clam in

.

do the wts release statistics for those disfellowshipped from the organisation.. i understood that they published the numbers of newly baptised and those attending the memorial, but what about the other side of the balance sheet?

i'm assuming they don't for pr reasons.

jwfacts

Welcome to all the newbies, like candyseaching and aquittal, it is great to see some many coming here.

Like blondie said, if you dont report for 6 months you are inactive, if you miss one month you are irregular. However the figure i used were just the gross totals in the report from one service year to the next, so doesnt really follow the definition. The figures supplied by the WTS is just based on how many reports they receive each month. It probably includes many reports from people that dont witness but dont want to get in trouble, like i did for several years. Likewise some people go to meetings but dont report.

I do think though that the report is interesting to watch as the number of 6 million is statistically large enough to have relevance to at least show constant patterns. Off the top of my head in 2004 (or it may have been 2003) there were 27 countries with 0 or negative growth. In 2005 it had grown to about 80. That shows a very negative trend for the organisation.

The 85000 that got d/f includes a large proportion of fornicators. However I imagine the other 90000 that have stopped reporting includes a large number of apostates, faders, those that have trouble with their faith etc.

Aquittal - In my congregation there were once 28 regular pioneers, most raised as JWs. A lot of them hated witnessing, so would turn up for field service, go out for an hour then claim to be going on calls, but really just went home.

If you stick around JWD for a while you will get a lot of relief. Within six months of leaving I am the happiest and calmest I can remember being in my life. For the first time i feel like life has meaning.

15

Baptisim/Disfellowshipping & Age

by Krystal in

i apologize if i am re-posting a topic that was already discussed, but i have a question:.

i was baptised when i was 14 and disfellowshipped at 17... major life changing decisions all made before i was 18. .

has anyone ever tried to have their baptisim/disfellowshipping annulled based on the fact that they were too young to enter into such a contract?

jwfacts

I have sent you a PM.

I sent in an annulment letter to the Service committee saying that at 16 I was a minor and so the contract was not valid. They said there may be some validity to that, but rejected it on the basis that when i was 18 I signed another contract with them as a pioneer.

They do annul baptisms, but in your case my not look at it due to you already being disfellowshipped.

42

I'm new here and have lots of questions

by jaada in

hello, i am new to this board, i am not a jehovahs witness however i studied with them for years, i went out into service a couple of times, but i havent done anything in 4 years.

i am so confused.

i always have been scared of the last days thing, but i could never accept the fact that while i was in the meetings, my husband and parents were all at home and the witnesses would tell me that unless they changed and started coming to the meetings that they would be killed!

jwfacts

Welcome,

You are right when you say it does not make sense that every non witness will be destroyed, that opened your eyes enough to escape.

The only thing that distinguishes the JWs is their total allegiance to the Watchtower Society. Once you prove that the Org is not directed by Holy Spirit and was not chosen by Jesus in 1919 you will no longer have to consider if any of their doctrines are correct or not.

It does not matter if it is the last days and is not worth worrying about. What matters is that you love God and neighbour. If you do then if the last days arrive you can be confident God will be with you. The reason the bible says no one would know the day or hour is so that people would continue to 'keep on the watch', not be serving for a date.

42

I'm new here and have lots of questions

by jaada in

hello, i am new to this board, i am not a jehovahs witness however i studied with them for years, i went out into service a couple of times, but i havent done anything in 4 years.

i am so confused.

i always have been scared of the last days thing, but i could never accept the fact that while i was in the meetings, my husband and parents were all at home and the witnesses would tell me that unless they changed and started coming to the meetings that they would be killed!

jwfacts

Welcome,

You are right when you say it does not make sense that every non witness will be destroyed, that opened your eyes enough to escape.

The only thing that distinguishes the JWs is their total allegiance to the Watchtower Society. Once you prove that the Org is not directed by Holy Spirit and was not chosen by Jesus in 1919 you will no longer have to consider if any of their doctrines are correct or not.

It does not matter if it is the last days and is not worth worrying about. What matters is that you love God and neighbour. If you do then if the last days arrive you can be confident God will be with you. The reason the bible says no one would know the day or hour is so that people would continue to 'keep on the watch', not be serving for a date.

21

Disfellowshipped Numbers ?

by Clam in

.

do the wts release statistics for those disfellowshipped from the organisation.. i understood that they published the numbers of newly baptised and those attending the memorial, but what about the other side of the balance sheet?

i'm assuming they don't for pr reasons.

jwfacts

Watchtower January 1 1986 p. 13, January 1 1987 p.13 both gave statistics of around 40,000 d/f per year when there was only 3 million jws. That is 1.3%, so Clam you are about right when you say one per hall per year.

With 6 million there would probably be 80000 d/f per year.

Since the difference between baptisms and the net increase was 175,000 people it means there are an additional 95,000 that have either died or become inactive.

78

My D/f appeal meeting went amazingly, but the still want to d/f me

by jwfacts in

sorry how long this is but i found the meeting very exciting.

the short version is i said directly that i do not believe in the wts, feel being d/f is unfair on my jw family so asked them to just leave me alone.

it didn't work.

jwfacts

Hi Willyoman

It was really quite simple what they had done. A brother accused me of being the owner of jwfacts.com so they probably typed jwfacts into google. Hundreds of results come up, many referring to JWD. They then read the posts looking for personal information that I have written and pasted it all together.

The most damning evidence was from an internet registry site. When I registered my site i had to put in my details such as postal address. It then realised they can be found on the internet and so changed them to a fake postal address. Somehow they had my original details, so it must be cached on a search engine or site somewhere.

If you do not want to be found remember the internet is totally visible to people. So do not put up too many personal descriptions etc. If you say you are from a particular location you can always claim it could be one of many people, but they had found details I had posted at different times about my history in the org, my wife, my cafe, my education, my parents, my city of residence etc. It was all circumstantial though until it came to my postal address.

I you want to be anonymous do not include too many specific details about your history on the internet. Someone else mentioned that it may be good to have different names for different sites that you attend as well.

78

My D/f appeal meeting went amazingly, but the still want to d/f me

by jwfacts in

sorry how long this is but i found the meeting very exciting.

the short version is i said directly that i do not believe in the wts, feel being d/f is unfair on my jw family so asked them to just leave me alone.

it didn't work.

jwfacts

Thanks everyone for the incredible support. I can not believe over 1000 people read this within a day, it shows that what a great brotherhood this is. I have had more messages and PMs in the last day than JW visitors when i was an active JW and in hospital for a week.

GUMBY, sorry that it took so long to get back to you, i am generally fast asleep down the bottom of the world here while you are all having fun up there. You are correct, I should not be disfellowshipped, I should be disassociated. It was this mistake that allowed me the opportunity for an appeal, and the second committee was more intent on backing up the first committee than changing it to disassociation. For this reason I have written a very pointed letter to the Service Department requesting they review it the basis of a serious error in judgement.

I believe that the elders eagerness to prove me an apostate led to them deviating from Watchtower guidelines and also acting illegally.

6

What helped you the most to beat the WTS negative influences?

by greendawn in

what was it that helped you the most to shake off the jw spell after you left and then get on in life, unhindered by their negative influences?

jwfacts

People are very important to me. It was family and friends that kept me from leaving and new friends that helped me leave. I knew the only way i could cope with leaving was to have a new circle of friends and over the last 4 years got to know some fantastic 'worldly' people. They helped me greatly with emotional support during the last 12 months when I was getting pounded by family and the congregation.