i want to send a disassociation letter to the elders at my old congregation.
how do i address it and what wording do i use?
i know it's not something i have to do, it's symbolic for me.
You are free to say what you want. The long wordy letter will just be searched through for "I disassociate." So be short and get one or two zingers in there.
If you must try to make a point, here is a great link that includes some "sample letters" and some thoughts on disassociating. http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/blog/disassociation-letters.php
february 26, 2017 to all bodies of elders re: witnessing in public places.
and.
february 25, 2017 to all congregations re: magnetic boards and posters for public witnessing.
Let me get some things straight.
They are in their own personal public ministry, not one sponsored in any way by Watchtower.
They are to know, on their own, about what kind of liability they have in doing so.
If they block a public way to any degree (and they do), they are on their own for doing so.
I will say, however, that any court would recognize that the cart or table is a set-up prescribed by their mother corporation and that members, whether on their own personal ministry or not, are required to get out there and do this by their mother corporation.
https://www.jw.org/en/publications/books/convention-program-2017/friday/.
why would our beloved gb member be on the top picture of the program?.
any ideas?.
The art to the right seems like it is the exodus. So maybe this is subliminal for saying that Tony Morris is part of the current exodus from whatever JW's used to be- on to wandering in the desert for the next 40 years.
remember the jw command only a few years ago "fully accomplish your ministry"?
looks like these young jw's didnt get the memo.. whats interesting is, just a few meters away were some street preachers handing out flyers and shouting about jesus.
i cant stand them either but at least you couldnt say they were skiving on the job.. bet they're still counting this as time as well.. .
The main things to the members- get some time, get a good parking space, get a place to sit, have coffee & lunch.
I imagine they laugh at the street preachers and think about how much of a nuisance they are- without thinking about their own past or their own door-to-door nuisances.
i grew up a jw kid until the age of twelve.
since then i have lived a worldly life.
i have enjoyed alot of my life experiences, but i now feel like i am lost.
As Smiddy pointed out on page 1, you left at 12. You don't know the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. You only know that they say they are right and everyone else is wrong, they teach living forever in paradise.
I can tell you that anyone can start a journey of spiritual learning. Each person's journey will be different. I will tell you a little about mine if it helps.
I first started learning that the religion I believed (Jehovah's Witnesses) was loaded with contradictions and changes and failures of predictions. jwfacts . com was a big help. Reading books such as COMBATTING CULT MIND CONTROL and CRISIS OF CONSCIENCE was my biggest help.
Next, I assumed that "Christendom" was probably correct. But I continued learning before just accepting that. I examined the Bible, their main tool. One great book that helped me was THE BIBLE UNEARTHED by Finkelstein and Silberman. Also, there were two video series, one from Nova and one from BBC, both called THE BIBLE's BURIED SECRETS. There was much much more, but all must find their own path.
After being positive that Christianity was not the way, I briefly looked at Buddhism. The greatest thing about Buddhism is that you can accept any or all of it, you can reject as much as you want and still benefit from the wisdom and guidance remaining. But that wasn't satisfying enough. As a former JW, I had to know "the truth" from the lies. So finally, I started learning what science has to say. I read about the origins of the planet, life, the universe, the big bang, etc. Also, while I was learning about beliefs outside of Christianity, I was meditating on thoughts that were critical of God. Would a "loving" god allow a tsunami that wiped out tens of thousands of children? ....or an earthquake that killed and injured tens of thousands of children?
Anyway, I think you can see where I went. My point is not to just return to the religion of your youth. I did that in a time of trouble and went back to Jehovah's Witnesses. I wasted precious time and stayed in a depression for a long time. I could have gotten the professional counseling that I needed and started my proper journey of spiritual learning much sooner.
Best to you.
been thinking about this lately after almost 14 years out of the jw cult myself.
when you think of the language used within the jehovah's witness organization in such a closed society environment in how the wt society promotes almost absolute " trust " in the elders , the governing body, and trust even in the " friends " in the congregation themselves- is it any wonder that unscrupulous child molesters can enter any congregation pretending to be " spiritual " and take advantage of unsuspecting children or the parents ?
think about it : an individual is judged as a " spiritual " person within the jw organization based on what wt functions or duties they are good at performing.
Even today after all this trouble, they would think nothing of allowing their male or female child to be isolated with a "brother in good standing" especially a pioneer, ministerial servant, or elder. At the same time, they would never do this with a barely known outsider. Much of this is because they continue to deny any problem in their ranks and to hush up such talk anywhere that the problem actually does exist.
This is because they perpetuate the idea that all of their people that perform the regular recruiting and Kingdom Hall assignments are spiritual and good and trusted.
It would be a simple matter to say "NEVER EVER leave your children (minors under 18) with people outside of their family. They should never go into the ministry without an adult from their family. And Watchtower does not approve of any activity where they are potentially isolated with any adults." [And of course, trusting/not trusting family members is another discussion, but at least this is a first step toward eliminating hunting grounds for predators.]
But I don't see them ever doing that. Can you imagine actually forbidding teens under 18 to "pioneer" without their parents? I mean, an even simpler answer would be to forbid the minors from even doing any recruiting work but could you imagine such a decision?
Despite their changes in rules about such a problem, they still stick to a basic idea- Call Watchtower first and foremost. Elders assume this is because they will get guidance from men in the best way to aid their abused minors. But it also has become common knowledge, even to those same elders, that they call Watchtower so that lawyers can figure out what is legally necessary and what will most minimally trouble the congregation.
Even when a predator is found, he can deny charges. He can appear to be repentant. And despite changes, local elders still go on a "witch-hunt" often to blame the victim for participation in sexual acts.
knocked on a door on a saturday morning.
a window opened on the floor above me.
a grizzled old man stuck his head out and said, " we're all heathens here!
Never happened, but I have always wondered when someone would come to their door with a gun in their hand and say "We good, don't come back."
i need advisei need advise about lingo of jw community.a publisher is required to report time spent in preaching, and field service.in japan.
we say something like“ put time in report card’how do you say in english language?.
Please feel free to say more. Why do you want to know more about the language and lingo?
People here will help.
new letter today (please visit avoidjw.org for a copy of the official letter and yes, i also noticed they got the date wrong!).
february 28, 2017. to all bodies of elders.
re: visiting disfellowshipped or disassociated individuals.
As an inactive one, I am not officially bothered by them. It's been several years. I imagine it's normal to excuse themselves from bothering most of the time anyway- "OTWO is not receptive, doesn't technically live within the borders of the territory, is probably just going to slam the door on us, knows where we are if he wants to talk, YADDA YADDA."
And it's a good thing for me. I don't want to bother with them.
But yeah, I can see that this was causing some elders to learn from the dark side.
silence (movie review)_________.
unless you are a catholic, ex-catholic, an evangelical christian, or a total apostate to your former religion or church--this film is not for you!_____.
martin scorsese has wrought a filmwhich no 2 eyes will see in the same way.. on the surface, it is about the clash (the push back against christianity and priests by buddhists and officials particularly in nagasaki) resulting from catholic evangelism inside japan.
I wondered if I would like such a movie or not. Your review helps me. I will give it a try.
