ok so i sort of tie in and listen to the meetings.
the elders blocked my number lasy fall but then they let me back in???
not a clue what that was about.. so anywho these last two service parts have been on social networks.
Not a local needs part. It was the regularly scheduled part on the SM that covered that Awake article mentioned and rightfully mocked above.
The guy that did ours (just a ms) tried to put a "reasonable" spin on it. It was still stupid and even my wife looked at me and rolled her eyes a few times at some of the more outrageous comments.
http://blogs.sfweekly.com/exhibitionist/2012/02/5_hilarious_social_media_image.php.
this is actually not a former witness or anything, this is a cracked style article.
i think it's pretty funny, i think it's evidence that the wt is not going to be around forever.
Very funny! I often thought that at least 50% (probably closer to 90%) of the folks that would take the mags did so just to get rid of the person at the door and probably threw them away immediately. It really is rubbish isn't it?
i'm on page 90 right now...the info is definitely new and gives me a totally diff view as to how i used to think of faithful and discreet slave.
i was thoroughly disgusted with the way the brothers handled the oral sex and leadership problem and the insight on the scriptures book...... still have alot of questions though.
If this is not the truth then why are some of u still 'fading'? why condone untruth? Would God be happy if this isn't the truth and yet u still atempt to condone and fade?
In many cases, including my own, the price of leaving is greater than the price of staying. If I were to leave, it's highly likely that my wife would divorce me, my kids could be potentially turned against me and my entire family and much of my social circle would shun me. I have thought quite a bit about your question regarding truth and I really don't think there is a "true" religion out there today. I do understand that appearing to support something you don't believe in is hypocritical and I freely admit that. But, my keeping my wife is more important to me than what others think.
If she were to say that she wanted to quit today, I'd be gone.
I was an elder when I came to the conclusion that the WTS doesn't have the truth. I served for a few years before resigning. Now, I still attend, rarely comment (its hard because I can't worship the GB and that's where much of the discussion seems to be these days) still make an appearance in service.
My wife is aware of my thoughts and agrees with many of them. She simply sees this as the religion of her birth and a social circle. She thinks that Jehovah judges us on how we act not on our religious affiliation. I agree.
i'm on page 90 right now...the info is definitely new and gives me a totally diff view as to how i used to think of faithful and discreet slave.
i was thoroughly disgusted with the way the brothers handled the oral sex and leadership problem and the insight on the scriptures book...... still have alot of questions though.
Welcome!! I'll echo others in their advise to take things slow and make well thought out decisions. Ah, if I had only done what you're doing when I was 20..... this is a great place to vent and to learn. Look foward to hearing your contributions.
perhaps this is a common topic for newbies on the site, but i have browsed for a while and not seen this exactly answered.. as an active jw who understands the flaws in wts doctrine, but believes in the bible, how do i identify a form of worship that meets all the criterea:.
1) by this all will know you are my disciples if you have love among yourselves (john 13:35).
sure i know that not all jws do this, and that people from other religions or non-religious people do this also, but as an official doctrine jws will not kill one another in war, and in general there is a genuine effort to exercise "agape" love not widely found in the world at large.. 2) preach the good news.
yknot!!!! - So excited to see you're posting again. We've missed hearing from you.
my very dear friends brother died tragically at work a few years back-the employer's were at fault 100%.
my friend cindy, her mom lily and his wife tammy-(all witnesses-not their real names) filed a lawsuit against the company and won a judgment of $1.2 million dollars.
the check was cut and cindy and her mom haven't seen one penny of the judgment.
Sorry about the formatting. I thought I had it straight but when I posted, I see it's a mess. Anyway, that elder isn't following his own stupid rule!
my very dear friends brother died tragically at work a few years back-the employer's were at fault 100%.
my friend cindy, her mom lily and his wife tammy-(all witnesses-not their real names) filed a lawsuit against the company and won a judgment of $1.2 million dollars.
the check was cut and cindy and her mom haven't seen one penny of the judgment.
The worst they can do to her is to remove "privileges". So, if she was a pioneer, then she could get deleted but that's about it. She needs to speak with another elder or the CO.
According to the Shepherd the Flock of God book (elders manual) pages 133,134 - this is the rule:
Taking Brothers
to Court
22. At 1
Corinthians 6:1-8, the apostle Paul gave strong counsel that Christians should not take other Christians before secular courts to settle personal disputes that should be settled with
the help of the congregation elders.-w97 3/15 pp. 21-22; w8611/15 p. 20; g83 2/8 pp. 13-15; w7311/15 pp. 703-704. •
If an individual ignores God's Word on this matter, it may affect his congregation privileges.
•
There is no difference between taking an individual brother or sister to court and taking
to court a corporation whose owners are all Jehovah's Witnesses. The spirit of 1 Corinthians 6:
1-8
would be violated by relying on the secular courts to settle business disputes among corporations that are made up entirely of brothers.
23. However, there are
legal matters over which the congregation does not have authority and which may therefore be taken to a secular court for judgment without violating the principle or
the spirit of 1 Corinthians 6: 1-8. These include:
•
Getting a divorce decree, child custody and support, alimony.
C
hapter 12 hapter 12 hapter 12hapter 12
133
•
Obtaining insurance compensation. If a person suffers loss or is injured in or by an automobile
owned by
a spiritual brother, it might be necessary legally to sue the brother in order to
obtain compensation from the brother's insurer.
•
Being listed among creditors in bankruptcy procedures.
• Probating
wills.
•
Certain countersuits. For example, if a worldly creditor sues a brother, it might be necessary for
th
e brother, for his own protection, to file a countersuit even though spiritual brothers
may be included in the action.
• If
a brother takes legal action against another baptized Witness, it would not be a violation
of 1 Corinthians 6:1-8 for the one being sued to defend him self or to countersue. This
is true whether the matter was first taken before the elders or not.
the 2012 yearbook has released the publisher statistics for the 2011 service year.
a scan of the report can be found at http://www.jwfacts.com/images/2011-publisher-report.pdf and i have started updating the graphs at http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/statistics.php.
as expected, it is following on from similar trends to the last 15 years.
I think Hawaii came in at the beginning of the 2011 service year (Sept 2010). What about Alaska? I thought that branch was merged in as well but maybe that was done the year before?
The Borg has some potential legal issues in Australia and got some pretty bad press in the UK over calling those who left "mentally diseased". Nothing real big but every little bit helps.
So good to see you and your family doing well. Your story is an inspiration!!!
it's been over 3 years since the book study in private homes was discontinued and some jws are still scratching their heads over it.
although a letter was read to all congregations explaining that "book study night" would now be "family worship night", there was still much speculation among jws as to the real reason behind this decision (the great tribulation was about to start, jehovah was simplifying the lives of jws, to lessen the burden of poor jws who had no money for gas, etc.)...
but as we all know, decisions like these from the gb invariably have some ulterior motive behind it... and discussion boards such as this one usually finds a way to dig up the truth for all to see... but after reading several threads on this subject, i'm really not sure we've uncovered all the facts yet.... so i have to ask... what do you believe really ended the book study in private homes?
I think shepherd summed it up perfectly. A combination of very poor stats and not enough elders to lead the small groups. I recall after I "stepped aside", I had to conduct about everyother week because the elder assigned wouldn't show up and there was no MS assigned to the group.
I also think they may have believed that cutting down to one midweek meeting would increase the TMS/SM attendence. In the congregation I go to, I don't think the numbers have moved. At first, it did increase but after a few months, attendence reverted to the mean.
