so i have a friend in a congregation in new jersey who recently called me to tell me that he got a divorce.
nothing surprising there at first but it is the fact of when it happened.
his wife began pioneering april 1, and after about three weeks she came to him and told him that about 4 years she had engaged in loose conduct (fondling the penis and the guy kissing her breasts) during a time that she was inactive.
The elders will be pulverised by the branch office when they hear about this
I agree. This doesnt sound right, I know the JWs suck but they do have certain rules they have to abide by and I do not recall this ever being done. The branch will ream these elders for ruining a marriage. I am sure this guy has a plan on the side to marry someone else because he isn't satisfied with her for some reason. Any of his relatives on the body of elders?
we have co visit this week.
its official, after months and months of college bashing including but not limited to the wonderful jeremiah book the co's are hitting it hard with their talks now.
same as the jeremiah book, higher education sucks and worldy people suck.
We have CO Visit this week. Its official, after months and months of college bashing including but not limited to the wonderful Jeremiah book the CO's are hitting it hard with their talks now. Same as the Jeremiah book, higher education sucks and worldy people suck. He outright said that higher education was a waste of youth...a youth that could be spent putting "kingdumb interests first" He also gave some statistic mysteriously out of nowhere that said "in lands where higher education is promoted even among christians (jw's) meeting attendance is down"
So these 2 areas are what the F&DS i.e. GB are noticing:
1. More JWs are attending college's or universities
2. More JWs are starting to develop worldy friendships
Both things are a danger to their stranglehold on the masses
my dad is currently attending a week long elders school.
dad is in his 70's and not in great health at the moment so this is adding to my anger that he is having to leave the house at 7am and doesn't return until 6pm and then has to lock himself away to study further in preparation for the next day.. he has also been told he is not to discuss anything about the school with other elders until they have all attended.
what are they learning about that isnt' already out there for all to read anyway.. they can't be learning more bible stuff as the bible is there to be read by the general public so i can only assume that its all top secret stuff that the rest of the congregation can't know about.
Well unlike some here who went to elder schools in the 70's-80's the more very recent week long schools focus on the spirituality of the elders themselves (their words not mine).
I am sure back in the day they focused more on the actual roles of elders being that the arrangement as we know it today just started. Add to that the "Apostate" witch hunts of the 80's. By the time I started to serve in the 1990's it must have been toned down. The regular 2 1/2 day Km schools still focus on the Flock book and how to handle wrong doing, etc. but this passed 1 week long one was different. I mean it was still a waste of time, just not as bad at least to me.
my dad is currently attending a week long elders school.
dad is in his 70's and not in great health at the moment so this is adding to my anger that he is having to leave the house at 7am and doesn't return until 6pm and then has to lock himself away to study further in preparation for the next day.. he has also been told he is not to discuss anything about the school with other elders until they have all attended.
what are they learning about that isnt' already out there for all to read anyway.. they can't be learning more bible stuff as the bible is there to be read by the general public so i can only assume that its all top secret stuff that the rest of the congregation can't know about.
The one I went to last year did not go too deep into roles of each elder, judicial procedures, etc. It was different, dare I say it, more bible educative....
how is he different to a normal elder?
is he ranked higher than a normal elder?
what does he actually do?.
Done away with circa late 90's? ?
my dad is currently attending a week long elders school.
dad is in his 70's and not in great health at the moment so this is adding to my anger that he is having to leave the house at 7am and doesn't return until 6pm and then has to lock himself away to study further in preparation for the next day.. he has also been told he is not to discuss anything about the school with other elders until they have all attended.
what are they learning about that isnt' already out there for all to read anyway.. they can't be learning more bible stuff as the bible is there to be read by the general public so i can only assume that its all top secret stuff that the rest of the congregation can't know about.
Went last year. To be completely honest it wasnt a total waste of time. I know that sounds wierd but the main instructor was good at applying bible principles and he really wasn't doing a Watchtower comercial the whole time. Maybe he's a closet apostate...who knows.
That being said, the other instructor, was a total company man. Boring, do more, preach more, follow the slave, and then take care of your family. Oh and if you dont take care of your family we will delete you and you will be a leper in your congregation.
many of us were members of the theocratic ministry school for many years.
some say it helped them with public speaking, and maybe it did for some.. but, when you look back at the quality of student it turned out, was it really any good ?.
most elders are crap public speakers, most r&f bros are crap at reading aloud, most jw's are crap at selling their religion at the door, most jw's have scant real knowledge of the bible.. there are reasons for this, quite often the tms overeer hasn't a clue how to teach a person to progress.
no
when people say "armageddon may come, but not in my lifetime", that is a "satanic inspired error".. how do you overcome it?.
why, looking a it that way, adam's rebellion was less than a week ago!
jesus was here on earth just the day before yesterday!
I learned how to sleep with my eyelids still open. Very difficult but can be done if you completely tune out and look straight ahead.
i know i rarely if ever read the magazines that i used to promote and place with householders (besides the watchtower study).
hypocritical no?.
Most speed read and underline the 6th grade reading level, spoon fed answers for the study edition either on Saturday evening or Sunday morning depending on what time their meeting is.
Even when I believed I did not read all of the articles.
i was wondering if there were any other ex-bethelites on here.
i personally regularly went for temporary work at brooklyn then was assigned to the farm for a year and a half.
it was... one of the most bizaare experiences of my life.. so i wrote it all down (finally, after some 15 years) so i won't bore anyone on here with the details of the story - because bethel doesn't show up until chapter 15... and for you straight folks, it gets a bit gay in two places... but nothing gross.
BackSeat
Seniority was based on total years spent in some type of full time service. Pioneering, Bethel Service, Missionary, Circuit Work, etc.
