when you look back to your jw days, what actions did you do, that you would consider fanatic today?.
i remember being on my night shift (midnight to eight) and went in the field service at 9am.
i got home from work, washed changed cloths and went straight to the field service meeting, and spent all morning in the service up to noon.
No. I have never considered myself a fanatic.
Even though I brought up kids in the truth, they have told me that I was always very easy going with them. I guess this is partly the pendulum swing away from own up bring in the truth - boring family bible studies, etc.
Eventually, I came to the conclusion that there is no place in the truth for left-wing liberals like myself and packed the whole lot in.
eyeslice
ok, i just got the latest wt that has big flaming numbers 666 on the front.
i skimmed through it but naturally it's pretty vague on who they think makes up this beast that has this number.
personally, i've always felt that there will be an individual antichrist (like hiter) who tries taking over the world.
The whole wild beast/UN thing has become total vague a farce. The special talk last year was "Has Babylon's Judgement Hour Arrived?"
Not a mention about the UN being the organization to destroy Babylon the Great. I chatted to the speaker about this afterwards - I don't think he had even noticed. LOL, does nobody care about doctrine any more in the Society?
many here formerly served as elders.
what trivia/humiliation got your goat about how you were treated as an ex-elder?.
the obvious is the cermonial handing in of the elder's book - "you have been stripped of your rank and are no longer worthy of such a fine book".
Many here formerly served as elders. What trivia/humiliation got your goat about how you were treated as an ex-elder?
The obvious is the cermonial handing in of the elder's book - "you have been stripped of your rank and are no longer worthy of such a fine book"
For me it was; "you have to hand your kingdom hall keys in; only elders and ministerial servants are allowed to have them". Goodness me I had a set of keys for over 20 years as more often than not I was the last to leave after the meetings. But no - "you are not worthy".
eyeslice
i think i posted the fact that i suddenly stopped attending all the meetings, field service and all, very suddenly.
not a single meeting this year.
i guess i would describe myself now as a sort of little toe guy, a liberal christian.. of course, i have had all the elder visits asking me how i am doing etc.
I think I posted the fact that I suddenly stopped attending all the meetings, field service and all, very suddenly. Not a single meeting this year. I guess I would describe myself now as a sort of Little Toe guy, a liberal Christian.
Of course, I have had all the elder visits asking me how I am doing etc. But I have found a very easy way to make any elder (all of whom I served with as a fellow elder for years) to squirm is to start taking about Jesus as our savior. When they say "do you still believe its the truth (i.e. the Witness religion)", I simply say "I believe what the gospels say about Christ and that he is our personal savior and exemplar and that we need to become more Christ like in our attitude and behavior. Isn't that what you believe?"
Now, don't get me wrong, I have not become a born again Christian, there are many things that I do not profess to understand about Christ and God. But replying to the average witness in that manner simply throws them. They are so 'Jehovah' biased that talking about Jesus throws them. I have become convinced that the average elder has no comprehension about what the NT really teaches about Christ and salvation. There are certainly whole sections of the NT they steer clear of: John 6 (unless you eat my flesh, etc), Romans 8 (abba father), because these are no relevance to those who do not have a heavenly hope.
where do jws get off with changing the gospel to read "this means my body" ?
As I started to look at what the Bible really says, as opposed to what the Society teaches, this is one of the first anomalies I came across. Literally John wrote ?this is my body?. Likewise, the NWT translates John 17:3 as ?this means everlasting life? instead of ?this is everlasting life?.
This came as a bit of a shock to me who had been brought up to believe the NWT was a simple, accurate translation, with little or no spin on it. But the Society is master at writing things which are either misleading or vague. Watchtower
?Although some Bible translations say ?this is [Greek estin] my body,? Thayers Greek-English Lexicon ?..?
What implication are they making to the average Witness by say ?some?. To me reading that indicates that some (a few) read ?this is? but the majority read ?this means?. Actually, the complete opposite is true; the majority read ?this is?.
Check it yourself online at biblegate.com
in india, many churches r`segrated' according2 caste eg.brahmin won't worship with`untouchables' .
is that a problem in khs?
i c in saba that the statistics haven't risen 4 some years,with only about 3 publishers,any1 know anything about that niche of the woods.
hi fader,
I was in New Delhi congregation for a while. I am very guarded about revealing my true identity on this board. E-mail me if you like [email protected].
eyeslice
a favorite watchtower quote has to be psalms 110:3 "your people will offer themselves willingly on the day of your military force.
" however, the way the field service reporting system works is based on hounding the brothers and sisters to fill in their report slips.
miss a month and you are bound to get a call from your book study conductor asking you why you haven't reported.
The reason I raised this topic is that I am currently fading and the elders are after me. Many of these guys have been my friends and I know that they believe they have my best interests at heart.
Also, my wife has spoken to me about whether I believe the witness have the truth. Without giving a direct answer, I have said that I would have to question whether Christ today would choose to be one of Jehovah's Witnesses. Now whatever you belive Christ to be, mere man, saviour or God on earth, he certainly was a rebel against the establishment of his time. There is no way I can see Christ asking his disciples to write down the hours they spent going round the country preaching!
a favorite watchtower quote has to be psalms 110:3 "your people will offer themselves willingly on the day of your military force.
" however, the way the field service reporting system works is based on hounding the brothers and sisters to fill in their report slips.
miss a month and you are bound to get a call from your book study conductor asking you why you haven't reported.
calamityjane: How are they now going to know who the inactive ones are.
precisely my point! But Psalms talks about 'willingly', and Christ spoke about 'not letting your left hand know what your right hand is doing'.
eyeslice
a favorite watchtower quote has to be psalms 110:3 "your people will offer themselves willingly on the day of your military force.
" however, the way the field service reporting system works is based on hounding the brothers and sisters to fill in their report slips.
miss a month and you are bound to get a call from your book study conductor asking you why you haven't reported.
A favorite Watchtower quote has to be Psalms 110:3 " Your people will offer themselves willingly on the day of your military force." However, the way the field service reporting system works is based on hounding the brothers and sisters to fill in their report slips. Miss a month and you are bound to get a call from your book study conductor asking you why you haven't reported. The whole system is based on pressurisng people to into doing what many feel uncomfortable about, i.e. going from door to door.
But suppose suddenly field service reporting was to be anonymous. All you had to do was write down the month, check a box which said "I confirm I have been in field service for the above month", enter the total number of bible studies conducted and ,finally, enter the number of bible studies conducted out side the family (e.g. 1 bible study, 0 outside the family). Out of a congregation of 100 publishers under the existing system, what do you think the number of publishers would drop to?
My guess is 54. (a 46% drop)
I base my calculation on the estimate that out 100 publishers now, a third would stop under the new rules. That makes approx. 67. Of the 67 20% would either regularly forget, be just too lazy or be too tardy to fill in a report slip. This reduces the 67 by another 13 to give 54.
What about elders and elder's wifes what would the percentage be here? Higher or lower?
eyeslice
are you 100% sure you're doing the right thing??
?
For me it has been like a messy divorce.
You have given so much of your life to a relationship that you were at one time madly in love with but you know that things are not going to work out, so leaving is for the best.
Eyeslice
