Posts by Weana

17

Letters to the Body of Elders (BOE) - Change in Letterhead

by Oubliette in

within the last few hours, two separate posters, watchtower87 and pixel, independently posted news of a april 22nd, 2014 letter to the boe regarding a change in how elders are to be appointed and deleted:.

boe - pdf - confidential 2014-04-22 adjustment in process for appointing elders and minisletter to boe: adjustment in process for appointing elders and ministerial servantswhat i found very interesting is the letterhead and the signature.

they are both from "the governing body of jehovah's witnesses" and not from "the christian congregation of jehovah's witnesses.".

Weana

Wasn't a similar letterhead used a few years ago when they skipped, I mean, merged book study?

18

Attn faders/lurkers re donations

by Skinnedsheep in

when you get your anonymous survey pledge an exorbitant amount.

the elders will make the resolution based on the fake pledge and it will create conflict between the branch and the cong....when the donations don't come in the branch be like "pay the man".

the local body will have to have several local needs parts which will highlight the branches focus on money.

Weana

you charge the society for "money grubbing",

and you yourself recommend to act with lies and deception?

I don't see your point.

18

The Memorial campaign: What question from a householder would have made you think?

by Faithful Witness in

i know that soon, the jws in our area will be out in full force, on their hit and run campaign with invitations to the memorial.

.

did you ever encounter a householder during this campaign, that made you stop and think about what you were doing?

Weana

That question would have made me think:

"At memorial, why do you pass just one cup of vine? According to Luke 22,17-20, Jesus passed two cups of vine to his disciples, and only the second cup meant the new covenant."

It would have made me think, because maybe I would have realized earlier, that because of not reading Bible textes carefully enough I did not questioning JWs' traditions.

137

3 years of study, Just found out!

by impala63rag in

jw
friends

hello friends, .

i would like some advice from those that are inpartial, and are familiar with the teachings of jw.

i studied with a wonderful jw couple weekly for 3 years.

Weana

Hi Impala63rag.

You wrote: "We never studied from the WT or Awake. Stictly from the Bible. Which I love! ... My relationship with God and an understanding of the Bible has grown stronger than it ever has."

Why have you been studying the Bible with them? Did you want to strengthen your relationship with God? Did you want to grow in understanding the Bible? Then be glad, that you have been studying! And maybe you want to continue to study.

Not all what you read in internet about JWs is true. But, indeed, most Christians feel, that some important teachings of JWs are not based just on the Bible, but on human reasoning, and on obedience to a small group of so-called anointed Christians - the Governing Body.

I do feel, the important question is: Why have your Bible teachers not confronted you up to now with such teachings?

- Are you sure, that they willingly withheld information, as you wrote? If you feel so, it has no sense to continue the study; and it may even have no sense to discuss with JWs your reasons for stopping the study.

- But maybe, those JWs had another reason for not confronting you with such teachings: It could be, that they really enjoy the possibility to study with you just based on the Bible. It could be, that they do not want to "willingly withhold information", but that they enjoy studying the Bible with you, not based on Watch Tower Society's literature. It could help them to strengthen their relationship with God and to grow in understanding the Bible, themselves! They usually have no possibility to study "just" the Bible with other JWs. All their congregation studies, and usually private family studies too, are based on Watch Tower Society's publications. You wrote, that you "have developed such a wonderful friendship over the years." So why not to continue the study with them? It seems you do have a forceful personality and the ability to think descretely; so I would say that you are not in any danger if you continue your Bible study - intentionally not with the goal to become a JW. And such a rather independent Bible study might even help your JW friends (?), in the long run.

45

Inaccurate hours recorded

by snare&racket in

jw
friends

ignoring the fact that all but the super jw's had a random stab at hours done in the ministry, with all the different activities the society said counted as ministry hours, just how accurate is there annual report?.

what activities do you know of that were allowed to be counted as ministry time?

here are some i knew of.... .

Weana

Hi snare&racket;

It seems you are completely ill-informed concerning WTS's rules for reporting.

Neither Quick Builds, nor Some Bethel Activity, nor Visiting elderly, sick JW's, nor Activity for RBC / HLC were ever allowed to be reported as field service hours.

If Regular Pioneers or Special Pioneers are invited to do some work for quick builds or for Bethel, their field service hours goal may be reduced. But that time is not counted as "field service time". Those pioneers are just allowed to remain in pioneer status although the could not report so much field service hours as usually necessary for pioneers.

16

New World Translation 2013 on EBay

by startingover in

jw
friends

there are several of the new bibles on ebay, but here you can buy the whole box of 32. i don't know if this link will show the original listing, you may have to click on that to see the description.

i wonder where these came from, the description seems a bit strange.. http://www.ebay.com/itm/case-of-32-2013-new-world-translation-of-the-holy-scriptures-watchtower-bible-/261362288068?pt=lh_defaultdomain_0&hash=item3cda6805c4&nma=true&si=cb4ceo6bt8tstei2ousxlhx8hva%253d&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557.

Weana

I'm just speculating:

What if there was an accident with a freight forwarder's truck, and a pallet of boxes with bibles was damaged?

Maybe, in such a case, WTS as sender of the goods receives some compensation from the freight forwarder or from accident perpetrator or his insurance company; and the goods on a damaged pallet (some boxes in the middle of the pallet may not be damaged at all) may be for disposal?

19

[w14 02/15] The "Photodrama of Creation" centenary article

by ZionsWatchTower in

a recent article in the watchtower, february 15, 2014 addresses the centenary of the photo-drama of creation.

then comment it on this 'remarkable work', but it will never be displayed by the watchtower again .... _______________________________.

the 1890s introduced silent motion pictures to the public.

Weana

@fastJehu: it was not explained correct to you.

Of course, not all 4 parts were shown together to the same persons on the same day. Who could sit 4partsx2hours=8 hours a day in theatre or cinema?

If you wanted to see all 4 parts, you had to attend the show on 4 different days.

@prologos:

Monday: town 1-20: part 1

Tuesday: town 1-20: part 2; Town 21-40: part 1

Wednesday: town 1-20: part 3; town 21-40: part 2; town 41-60: part 1

Thursday: town 1-20: part 4; town 21-40: part 3; town 41-60: part 2; town 61-80: part 1

Friday: town 21-40: part 4; town 41-60: part 3; town 61-80: part 2; town 81-100: part 1,

and so on.

14

Leaving a church in Germany?

by Nika Bee in

jw
friends

i have a technical/bureaucratical question for anyone in germany who has experience with this.. the background is, i got baptised as a jw as a teenager in germany, then moved to the us, where i daed.. from my research on the internet, i seem to understand, that when you get baptised in germany, they inform the appropriate authority depending on the state you live in, in bavaria this would be the "standesamt".

is that correct?

or does one have to do this by oneself?

Weana

It seems, you did not understand my previous posting, so I will try it again:

The "Standesamt" does not know to which religion you belong. The "Standesamt" is responsible just for people living in Germany. As you have been living in the United States, the Standesamt has no idea to which religion you might belong at the moment.

Moreover, even if you would be living in Germany, the "Standesamt" cannot tell you, to which religion you are belonging. The Bethel does not provide "Standesamt" with a list of JWs. Legally, membership in a church is your personal decision, not the Standesamt's decision. Standesamt is just responsible to guarantee that a church respects the decision of its member to leave the church.

So I does not make any sense for you to send a letter to "Standesamt":

- you left Germany already, and are therefore no member of "JWs in Germany"

- you DAed in USA, so you are not a member of JWs in the USA or in any other country

- you cannot delete your church membership ex post facto from historical documents at Standesamt (if any such documents would exist; I strongly doubt it).

14

Leaving a church in Germany?

by Nika Bee in

jw
friends

i have a technical/bureaucratical question for anyone in germany who has experience with this.. the background is, i got baptised as a jw as a teenager in germany, then moved to the us, where i daed.. from my research on the internet, i seem to understand, that when you get baptised in germany, they inform the appropriate authority depending on the state you live in, in bavaria this would be the "standesamt".

is that correct?

or does one have to do this by oneself?

Weana

Hi NikaBee,

here you find the constitution of JW Germany:

http://www.jehovaszeugen.de/uploads/media/Statut_.pdf

According to Statut §15(1), you left "JWs in Germany" already when you went abroad and associated with a JW' congregation in the US! Of course, from WTS point of view, you were still a member of JWs, but you were not a member of the legal entity "JWs in Germany" anymore. So it is not necessary for you to contact any state authority.

Just some additional background info, if anyone is interested in:

Germany (as well as some other European states) wants to ensure that anyone can end church membership at any time. But some churches (e.g. Roman Catholic Church!) do not allow termination of membership according to their church laws. Therefore, the state names a worldly authority ("Standesamt") to be responsible to receive someones declaration of leaving a church. And the state obligates the churches to accept such termination of membership (e.g., Roman Catholic Church has no right to receive church tax from anyone for the time after he left the church at Standesamt).

But, contrary to Roman Catholic Church, "JWs in Germany" (as JWs all over the world) do accept that any member can end membership himself

- by sending an accordant written declaration to local body of elders, or to Bethel (Statut §15(2)),

- or even by just verbally declaring to leave JWs, if there are at least two witnesses for such a declaration (Statut §15(4)).

These are the common ways for disassociating from JWs.

Additionally, according to state law, there exists the possibility to disassociate from JWs be going to state authority ("Standesamt"). But this is very rarely used among JWs, as it is more complicated than the possibilities for disassociation provided by JWs. At Standesamt, you even have to pay some fees (I think, about 40 USD) to state authority. But, of course, if any JW who wants to quit doesn't want to send a disassociation letter to local body of elders or to Bethel at all (as he feels that sending such a letter to elders would be equal to accept authority of elders?), he might prefer to go to "Standesamt" and to declare there that he disassociates from JWs. "Standesamt" would inform Bethel from such a declaration, Bethel would inform the local congregation, and the result is the same (disassociation; announcement in congregation as usual: "... is no longer one of JWs")

6

Simple life at bethel

by KSFernando in

today watchtower study encourage simple life for pionears.

i am live in a asian country.

the bethel provide luxury facilities for their bethel family.

Weana

Standard of bethel facilities and accomodaton is quite on the same level all over the world. That means, in developed countries, bethel life is really a very simple life in comparison with wordly life; whereas, in developing countries, Bethelites live on higher standard than average people in that country.

I think, the idea of GB is, that Bethelites should live on the same level worldwide as they are doing the same work for the same international organization.

The monthly reimbursement is not the same all over the world. But, again: for Bethelites in developed country, reimbursement may be on the level of pocket money that a young worldly teenager would receive from his parents; whereas, in low developed countries, reimbursement may even exceed the local salary of an unskilled worldly full-time worker.