this is a true story.
it's about a sister named henriette venema.
she was a very loyal jw.
I remember a sister who had a stroke in our congregation, they cleared the hall right there and then. Brother's outside instructed people to go as most seamed lost an unable to understand that the congregation meeting could not go on.
I also remember a brother who fell back, but in his case, they brought him behind and the meeting went on.
Thanks for your story TimeBandit
i really fail to see how much actual "witnessing" is occurring with the trolley carts.publishers, usually pioneers, just stand or sit there not engaging anyone and count their time.. the only thing i notice that it's accomplishing is brand exposure for jw.0rg so the public is exposed to the logo and literature/poster card headlines.. take for example this "evening" witnessing by a pioneer elder while on summer holiday/vacation.. .
is this not a wth kinda moment when you consider the years of slaving, knocking on doors, business territory and bible studies we had to keep performing so we weren't branded a "weak" publisher?.
Any higher resolution of that pic?
this site is such a great and valuable resource and simon is to be commended for running it for so long.
when i first came i was in such a bad state and really needed support and friendship.
so many posters commented on my threads and showed genuine care some are real life friends, some are facebook friends, some i talk to on the phone and some are forum friends.. i have just realised though that everyone online is not your friend.
Hey Kate,
In order to be friends, I believe you need to meet people in real life, invite them over for supper and do some things together. For me, at least, at this time, it is impossible to do with anyone on this forum for the simple reason that I try to remain anonymous.
What I do find here and that I cherish, is support with ideas and comments that come from all types of angles on a subject that is very specific.
When i speak about my the JWs with my friends, most have no idea what to say; they don't understand the JW mentality. As for my friends who are still in, I can't talk about that subject at all!
I get this here. Here, I am reassured that I am not alone. Here, I have people sharing my joy and frustration. I have "colleagues" I would say. But to use the word friends? I can count my friends on one hand. I don't have many.
concise thoughts from the wtbts.
par.2) however, there are numerous situations for which the bible provides no specific command.. par.3) in the absence of specific laws, how can we know what choices will please jehovah?.
par.16) many matters could be decided one way or another, and jehovah would still be pleased.. .
There is no such thing as a personal decision. Especially when you have privileges in the congregation. Sure, they produce articles telling people not to judge and then, they produce other articles where anyone with privileges should do everything they can not to even drop a feather on the conscience of others. Though the actual solution lies somewhere in the middle, what happens in the congregations tend to lean of the far left where even the color of you tie matters. In the real world, there is very little space for personal decision.
The reason behind this is simple, there is no real consequences for gossiping. However, if someone with privileges hurts the conscience of others, he may lose his privileges. End result: Gossip country. Just to give an example, we used to say that the highway of information in a congregation was the pioneers, not the Internet.
april 17, 2016 to selected bodies of elders in the united states branch territory re: arrangements for electronic donations to local congregations.
(attachment 1) 2016 04-18-e scong--arrangements for electronic donations to local congregations.
(attachment 2) credit card donation arrangement instructions.
Yesterday, I went to a funeral held in a church. For the first time, I gave a donation: their building and personnel were at our disposition. Buildings need maintenance, people need food and I’m not a free loader.
While I did this, my JW mother in law complained: "Pfff... JW don't charge a thing... Catholics beg even at funerals. Shame on them." I didn't have the right one-liner to rebuke her, so I simply kept silent.
Still, I was thinking of this: Over the years, I attended at least 15 Catholic funerals where I never gave a penny. Never felt forced to do so; it’s just a method of collecting funds. Not my personal favorite, but still, no one is forced to give anything. On the other hand, JWs take recurrent payments on credit cards and are instructed to vote on a minimum donation. They focus so much on the "collection plate" that they forget all the talks, articles and admonitions to make regular payments, to give loans and set up wills in their favor. If they reply: Yeah, but no one is forced to, they still can give cash in the donation boxes. Than the same can be said of the Catholics. You may refuse to give in the "collection plate" and then, walk to the back and give donations in a donation box!
on a road trip with my jw dad and stopped at the rest stop.
this jw lady walked up to me with a craptower.
big mistake.
To be honest with you, I could not imagine doing this in front of my father (also still a JW) and even brag to him about it. He would feel humiliated and that would be the last thing I would want.
I try to keep a good level of respect between us. For instance, I don't even bring up JW stuff to my kids as they are to young to understand things like that... they see black and white and would end up thinking less of their grand parents. I don't want that.
On the other hand, if I was alone, where I am unknown, I would dream about something like you did. Some day, over the rainbow... :)
a sister that i knew has passed away recently.
we weren't friends, but back in the days, she, and her family, were among the people i would always talk to at the hall and assemblies.
she was the type of sister that was kind and probably had more love to share than most people i know.
UPDATE: So I went to the funeral home and meet many friendly faces. All was nice and well I have to say. In fact I felt so welcomed by everyone there that I ended up going to the Kingdom Hall. Well, there, I saw a whole lot more people... some I hadn't even seen in 20 years! And then, after 50 solid handshakes, hugs and kisses, I realized just how much all of that love is shallow and empty. They all asked the same questions, barely listening to the answers. All that matters was basically giving a worm welcome and ... move on.
Than the talk. I actually went to the Kingdom Hall hoping I would learn a few things about the deceased. Honestly, I have heard other JW talks where the brothers would tell stories and show pictures, etc. But no. Not that talk. You see, this time around, the brother followed the new outline, where he would go back and forth about spiritual matters and say something about the deceased. The drawback of this is that he ended up repeating the same things a few times. And also, say things like: "Sister x believed this, or that". So, in all, I'd say that we had about a full minute worth of information about the deceased.
This was even more insulting in light of the fact that ever versed he referred to and every examples he used... just about every witnesses in the hall know it by heart. Why? Because they go over that stuff at least twice a week. This means that the large majority learned NOTHING from that talk. How can you be encouraged when you learn nothing. Nothing at all. If at least you are shown a different angle to something you know...perhaps. But that was not the case here.
I ended up regretting going to the hall as everyone I saw there were largely phonies and I learned nothing at all.
Well, I still have to admit that I did have some level of pleasure. Some people there knew I was inactive and I'd take delight in saying that my family and I were happy and doing well. There was one elder in particular who tried to making me feel bad about being inactive and I dodged his questions right and left, never addressing the issue at all.
Anyways... I just hope I won't have to go back to often... only time will tell.
a sister that i knew has passed away recently.
we weren't friends, but back in the days, she, and her family, were among the people i would always talk to at the hall and assemblies.
she was the type of sister that was kind and probably had more love to share than most people i know.
Witnesses? A bunch... at least 50! They would all be there to support my Dad, a very active member of their community. Since I am "inactive" it would make it all ok.
a sister that i knew has passed away recently.
we weren't friends, but back in the days, she, and her family, were among the people i would always talk to at the hall and assemblies.
she was the type of sister that was kind and probably had more love to share than most people i know.
You know what Daryl, if she is exposed somewhere, I will go to that, and it will be enough. Otherwise, I will go to the funeral. However, in my area, it seems like JWs don't get exposed or buried. Its directly to the incinerator and into the box. Not that the society has any opinion on the matter... its just the way most people do it around here (Quebec, Canada).
the anti gay video that watchtower recently produced has now had over 1,000,000 views.
of those who selected to like or dislike the video, over 92% disliked it.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnk52bu92oe.
I believe that the most important thing we can show our kids is the ability to talk about anything, any topic, as long as it is kept in the bounds of respect. Thus, to tell them not to talk about religion at school, to me, is telling them that there are ideas out there that they should not be able to reject, analyze, discuss or accept.
Sophia: God hates gays.
Other girl: Why?
Sophia: Well, its written in the bible.
Other girl: Yeah, that says God hates gays but doesn't explain why. So, why?
Sophia: Cause they can't make babies?
Other girl: Does it make sense to sentence them to death for it?
The idea here is that little JW are thought how to defend ideas that don't make sense. I believe every kid of all background and religion should also learn how to defend their beliefs what ever they are. It is through the exchange of these believes that they will make up their minds. Otherwise, you end up with parents who never asked themselves "why".
