Posts by clearpoison

113

WTBTS Elder & Ministerial Servant Problems

by JW GoneBad in

i attended a recent ministerial servant k m school on the east coast and the main school instructor mentioned among other things (part entitled: 'objective of the km school course') that the total number of ministerial servants is seriously less than it should be.

in times past the ratio of m ss to elders was much more than it is today.. in the u.s. apparently the total number of elders is 88,500+ as opposed to m ss 65,000. the numbers show & numbers don't lie: the society is running out of spiritual men.

the instructor stated that this is a new downward trend that has (in so many words) the society worried.. the next speaker (part entitled: 'why we must be spiritual men') added that in his years as a traveling servant the pool of m ss has always been much, much larger than it is today.

clearpoison

DagothUr wrote:

The CO came in 2009 and one of his speeches, directly inspired by the Filthful and Decrepid Slave, had one central idea: field service should be mainly directed towards recruiting men. There was even a demonstration in which a pair of dubs had to pick from one man and one woman who passed on the sidewalk near them. The instructions were to speak to the man first, then to the woman. And the final encouragment was to never miss the oportunity to preach to men while in field service and leave women on the second place. I heard it with my own ears!

No wonder because this was one of the articles in KM at some point, maybe couple of years ago.

Thank you JW GoneBad for sharing this thing that is not available in written format.

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27

What was the worst part of the conventions for YOU?

by mochamint22 in

i thought it'd be fun to talk about what part of the conventions just made you cringe or be annoyed with.

i can remember a couple things:.

i remember after the tms when they put the list in the back on the announcement board, there were people that would get up while the last song was being sung to write down the info.

clearpoison

Oh the bus, there was a very spiritual sister who always started the singing thing. It never happened before she moved to our congregation, so it really was she only who wanted this, but others followed for some reason (the backstabbing discussions afterwards were funny to follow, she kind of got weirdo status just for this). The funny thing with that was that I remember at least three occasions when bus tyre was punctured slightly after she started singing high and hard. Was it a sign, maybe, so we had to switch to other congregations already filled bus. The good part was that the song did not continue there.

Then we had those ending prayers, which continued at least five minutes. You were already with other foot kind of going out and this brother kept going on and going on, making sure that he told the same things again and again from three different angles.

The Drama, same feelings as mentioned earlier. I really had hard time watching those, I felt ashamed for them for the acting and sometimes for the story. So I sat mostly face down just listening. Other feature I could not stand to watch was those small demos where youngsters were sorting out their problems, first with worldly pals and then with parents, with predictable results. The language used was, ummm, not contemporary.

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21

What Did You Avoid In Order To Be A Good JW?

by minimus in

jw
friends

we were always told how the demons .

we avoided 2 door cars because it was (obviously) not a good service car.. there are plenty of things that you might think of to add to the list of no-nos for jehovah's witnesses.

any others?

clearpoison

Avoiding

Holiday wishes obviously, the Bless You/Gesundheit thing, swearing (still avoid), raising glasses (until there was some flurry explanation), betraying my partner (should avoid anyway, but the decision was stronger), smoking (which I still avoid, gratefully), decorating for holidays and fully participating. That's more or less exclusive list.

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26

what is the wt's stance on dubs visiting historic churches?

by moomanchu in

i drives me crazy when jw's go on tours of historic churches, the vatican, or mosques .

they go in the church take pics, and oooo and ahhhhh over the buildings.. why the f_ _ _k are they expressing awe and wonder at what they believe to be satan's world headquarters .. don't they know jehovah is soon about to destroy all these architectural wonders.. jw relative has just come back from visiting the vatican.. stupid cult aaahhh !!.

.

clearpoison

I was never thinking there would be something wrong about visiting churches. I just didn't bought the candles as usual tourists. On the other hand I could very well buy cards or guidebooks about those places, without thinking where the money was going, me and my hardened heart.

Regarding the concept of paying to Great Babylon, it's little mixed feelings. I live in a country where majority of hospitals are state or community owned, but how would a concious JW act in US where many hospitals are owned by different churches. On the other hand in some places here graveyards are church property, they need to allow non-members being buried there, but you pay for the grave space to the church anyway. So in one way or another you are sending your money to Great Babylon.

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93

BOE LTR Dec 26, 2010 "Increased Activity April 2011"....Transcript....

by yknot in

in an effort to increase the praise and honor to jehovah and jesus christ at the time of the memorial, the governing body has arranged for a special period of increased activity during april 2011.

you will be pleased to learn that during april 2011, publishers who wish to serve as auxiliary pioneers may indicate on the application whether they will be working toward a 30-hour or 50-hour requirement for the month.

this is a special arrangement for the month of april 2011 only.

clearpoison

Yes, away are those days when it was advertised that it's only two hours per day, can you imagine just two hours each day in service to run aux-pioneering. Now, even just for one special month, it will be reduced to just one hour a day. It's easy to fill by talking to your co-workers in each coffee break, same in school with your fellow students, or by skipping your daily one-hour surfing on this site and going out for casual witnessing with your dog.

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25

Another Bad Witness - Elder School on Christmas Day?

by LostGeneration in

jw
friends

had a brief conversation with by jw father a few days ago, unfortunately still an uber witness and as a cboe he has nothing else in his life.. he brought out that he was getting ready for the elders school.

not sure if he was bragging or wanted sympathy for having to go.

lol.. i didn't press him on the details, though i wanted to ask if they would be covering all 7 chapters in the new manual on how to df people.

clearpoison

For some this might even be a relief. There is valid non-discussable reason to be away from family. It could even save some domestic beating. Holiday times staring eachother for too long can be stressful.

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41

Got "THE letter" ....how to proceed?

by 2pink in

jw
friends

my husband and i faded/mysteriously disappeared from meetings over a year ago.

we've had a few visits from elders (where we said very little but thanked them for their time), the last one being when we had some nice jack o lanterns sitting on our porch.

on saturday, we got letters cordially inviting us to our beheading, i mean, our judicial committee meeting.

clearpoison

Just wondering what religion is the Halloween related to? Is it still existing religion? Is there religious content related to Halloween in similar way than to wedding rings for example?

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22

While in, did you ever rationalize questionable behavior, entertainment, even sin as justifide?

by miseryloveselders in

jw
friends

i'm not the biggest fan of depeche mode, but a couple of their albums were actually ok. there's one track by them i've always loved called, "strangelove" from their music for the masses album, and the lyrics remind me of my own thought process at times.

the lead vocalist sings at one point, "i give in, to sin, because you have to make this life livable.

looking back on it, i feel that i needed to watch that fight.

clearpoison

First of all DM forever. Me feelings about this are well described in their relatively new song nothing's impossible

Just give me a reason, some kind of sign
I'll need a miracle to help me this time
I heard what you said, and I feel the same
I know in my heart that I'll have to change

My years long struggle with myself gave my insight that if you really, really want to keep with JW religion there is no middleway. You either accept their moral codec or you create your own. Here is difference though, do my giving in to sin mean that I break against god's codec or against organisation's codec. My god given conscience have not given me bad feelings about many things that are considered suspicious by my dear friends in congregation. I think this should have happened if I had loyalty for the organisation and it's rules as such.

In a way it's a simple thing but at the same time very difficult. Can you really be part of it, if you do not want to go by their book, follow the rules associated with membership. On the other hand, if your conscience allows you to happily follow the membership rules, why wouldn't you be part of it. This is very personal decision indeed.

I know in my heart that I'll have to change
Even the stars look brighter tonight
Nothing's impossible

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