Posts by traveb

52

Disfellowshipped at 18

by asensier in

you can probably guess how this story goes.. i began dating a non-witness boy.

he knew i was a baptised witness and understood the consequences i faced for dating him.

we agreed to keep our relationship secret, which was easy considering our 200 mile distance.

One additional insight I can make is to tell your parents and other family members that you love them, and will always be there for them unconditionally. While this may be difficult since they are currently shunning you, this is taking the high road and showing them your character.

They may say something along the lines that it's your fault they have to shun you because you "left Jehovah", but nothing could be further from the truth. Gently remind your family that you'll always be available to them, and they are free to reach out to you anytime. Leave the ball in their court, as the saying goes.

Once they realize that you won't come crawling back to the cult on your knees, they may decide to have limited contact with you. Many ones on this board have experienced this, as the WTS has a difficult time controlling members from having relationships with DFed family members. Time will tell, but in any case I wish you the best of luck.

45

New Thought About Active J.W.'s

by The Searcher in

from my own observations & conversations with selected active j.w.

's, here are my conclusions:.

's are very rapidly falling into two distinct camps -.

traveb

Where I live here in California, the group that "oppostate" describes fits the vast majority of JWs that I know. His description is absolutely spot-on. Personally, I call them social Jehovah's Witnesses. I call them this because the majority of their family and social circle are JWs, so they go along with the program because that's all they know.

They were brought up "in the truth", yet are not as fervent or studious as their parents. They love getting dressed up for conventions, taking selfies or group shots with their friends, and then posting to Instagram. They love, love handing out tracts or babysitting a literature cart. A lot of them go to college, get degrees, and have decent jobs. They meet up for happy hours, go clubbing, and openly talk about the latest R-rated movie.

However, If you ask a social JW what the current understanding is of the Biblical generation, or how and why they believe 1914 was the end of the Gentile Times, you will just get a blank look of confusion. They also have private doubts about the whole Armageddon thing, because they know deep down that Jesus won't really come to Earth and slaughter children because their parents didn't take them to meetings on Thursday nights.

As long as the WTS doesn't make their lives too difficult or annoying, social JW's have no reason to change. Any private reservations they have can easily be quashed and glossed over.

28

Your body of elders - were they liberal, conservative or moderate?

by minimus in

jw
friends

in my first kingdom hall, the elders were ultra conservative.

our presiding overseer used to be a zone overseer.

the second hall i was in was moderate.

traveb

One thing I forgot to mention is that I've heard from many different people that the elders in Spanish congregations (at least here in California) tend to be more dogmatic and controlling then compared to English. I don't have any firsthand experience of this, but it does seem to be a reoccurring theme from the people I've talked to.

28

Your body of elders - were they liberal, conservative or moderate?

by minimus in

jw
friends

in my first kingdom hall, the elders were ultra conservative.

our presiding overseer used to be a zone overseer.

the second hall i was in was moderate.

traveb

I have to say that most of the elders I encountered were liberal to moderate. Sure, there might have been the occasional uptight a**hole, but that was definitely the exception. Of course, this was my experience in various congregations in the SF Bay Area. I've heard that California congregations tend to be more liberal. I can't imagine some of the crazy conservative policies I've heard through the grapevine would ever fly here. Publishers would either just ignore them, or move to one of the numerous neighboring congregations where they would be welcomed with open arms.

My overall impression was that these were just normal guys doing their day job, then struggling to get through all of their elder duties on top of that. I hardly ever got a pretentious attitude from them, but I was always fairly friendly and social around them, and never caused any waves, so they probably liked that. I've had more then one on occasion admit to me that they disliked being an elder, but felt a responsibility "to help the friends". Most of them loved to drink as well!

17

2 BOEs arrived!

by Atlantis in

from a source:.

2015 hotel arrangements... click the link by the blue arrow.. https://www.sendspace.com/file/qp1oxc.

.. .. 2015 january 2, boe.. https://www.sendspace.com/file/n9duoj.

traveb

Anyone know a working congregation number to type into this website? I wouldn't mind checking it out.

47

BOE 2014-07-13 Appointment and deletion of elders and ministerial servants

by WatchTower87 in

2014-07-13 appointment and deletion of elders and ministerial servantsto all bodies of elders.

the link removed by request is also available at the forms link.

the congregation secretary should arrange for this letter to be retained in the congregation permanent file of policy letters.

traveb

I don't see the PDF link, am I missing something?

What is the "Forms" link?

69

Your Experience with Resigning as an Elder

by committeechairman in

i'm considering resigning as an elder.

i'm not planning to fade or stop as one of jehovah's witnesses, just stop serving as an elder.. i have responsibility in the congregation and in circuit, district, rbc, etc.

and i'm completely exhausted.

traveb

Resigning as an MS was one of the best decisions I ever made. I had tons of responsibilities and was obviously being groomed as an elder. There was no way I would be able to handle that amount of unpaid work. When it comes down to it, that's what "privileges" are - unpaid work for a magazine publishing & real estate holding company. Once you realize all you are doing is equivalent to:

Running on a treadmill

Keeping busy with busy work

Spinning along in a hamster wheel

Then it becomes so easy to drop all that nonsense. At first, it may be difficult to stop caring about what other JWs think of you. We all know that "keeping up appearances" is the most important think for JWs. Once you get over that mindset, it is so unbelievably freeing! You can finally do what's best for you and your family, and start enjoying life again.

84

BOE Letter: New Adjustments

by pixel in

**this was predicted from some members here**.

to all congregations .

re: adjustments in organizational terminology and assembly arrangements .

traveb

They should have also made the following changes:

Circuit Overseers --> Local Sales Managers

District Overseers --> Regional Sales Managers

95

The Judicial Committee videos in english

by confusedandalone in

jw
friends

not sure if this has been posted but the jwsurvey site received the videos in english from someone.. this crap is pathetic to watch.

how to counsel someone who is suicidal... really.

http://jwsurvey.org/cedars-blog/doubts-over-organizational-solidarity-as-disturbing-video-on-handling-suicide-is-leaked.

traveb

That was extremely uncomfortable to watch. I suppose the best result from watching these videos was that it reinforced my decision to never attend a judicial committee if I'm ever called before one. Who needs to be jerked around emotionally like that?

35

2013 Publisher Statistics now available from 2014 Yearbook.

by jwfacts in

the 2014 yearbook is out, and i have scanned the publisher figures into a more readable format at 2013 service year report.

i have updated some of the graphs at http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/statistics.php and will do the rest tonight.

there are no real surprises, with very similar results as during the last couple of years.

traveb

It's interesting that during the 80's and through the mid 90's, the average amount of hours it took per baptism hovered around 3000. Then, starting in the late 90's, the average greatly increased, to almost 7000 now.