Posts by dropoffyourkeylee

12

Letter of Disassociation to Former Religions / Baptism Questions ?

by HereIam60 in

this was prompted by some comments in another thread, but since it was somewhat "off" the original topic, i'm posting/asking seperately.... i was born in 1960, and baptized as a infant in a catholic church.

obviously i have no personal memory of this, and only know, because i was told, and we had a family photo of my parents holding me before the baptismal font while the priest prepared to do the sprinkling.

i was taken probably no more than 3 times to the catholic church in my early childhood and had no clue as to what was going on.. from the ages of 10 to 12 i attended a methodist sunday school, rarely the actual church service, but sang with the class in an annual christmas presentation in the church.. in the 1980s, studying with jehovah's witnesses, and considering baptism, i was told i had to write a letter to any religious group i had previously been involved with, stating i no longer wished any contact, wanted to be removed from their membership lists and witnessing as to why...(separation from satan's world, false religion, babylon etc.).

dropoffyourkeylee

I believe the WT originally introduced this for legal reasons. The WT has a history of having difficulty exactly how to define a member of the religion. It dates back to 1917 when Rutherford et.al. were on trial for discouraging the draft/selective service, which was illegal under the Espionage Act. They were issuing affidavits to brothers saying they were members of a pacifist faith, but didn't have any way to substantiate they were members. No record of baptism/consecration, no record of preaching, no ministerial training, nothing besides anecdotal statements that they attended meetings. Those affidavits were damning and were a big part of what landed Rutherford in jail. Before and during WW2 the WT had very little success in keeping the brothers out of jail over the draft issue.

Post WW2 they took a different tack, 'all JWs are ministers', introduced the pioneer status, hour requirements of preaching, baptism questions, baptism and preaching records kept, etc and they began to have comparatively more success in getting the brothers the 4-D classificaton. Part of the strategy was having a record that the brother was a JW and definitely not a member of another faith; hence the letter to officially break off from the previous religion.

My thoughts, anyway, others may disagree

5

I need this stuff ...

by vienne in

i'm trying to gather research material for a chapter in uncle b's third volume of separate identity.

here's the list.

i hope someone here can help.. a. s. herr: a letter to major whittle from the berean bible class of tiffin, ohio, 1898.. horace randle: future probation, 1901. a. b. dabney: questions answering questions, 1909. william crawford: the three great covenants of scripture, 1909. margaret russell land: the wonderful story of god’s love, 1909. e. h. sutton: after the war, 1909.

dropoffyourkeylee

Wow, those are some pretty obscure titles!

3

Not on JW.com. Hebrides Islanders finally get refreshment! JW Kingdom Hall is turned into a juice bar!

by Balaamsass2 in

plans to turn former jehovah's witness meeting hall into juice bar lodged.

the upper floor space of the former meeting hall in stornoway would be transformed into a cafe under the proposals.. plans to convert a former jehovah’s witness meeting hall to a juice bar and cafe in stornoway are among recent planning applications made to comhairle nan eilean siar.. the application would change the use of the former jehovah’s witnesses meeting hall at 30 church street into a juice bar and cafe.. the proposal would see the upper floor space of the former meeting hall being converted to designs by dbm design and engineering for the applicant, joanna morrison.

details of the proposals can be found on comhairle nan eilean siar’s online planning portal, with a deadline for comments on monday june 2.. meanwhile plans for a new house to be built at 3a horgabost, isle of harris, have been submitted to the comhairle by local resident, johnathon mackay.

dropoffyourkeylee

lol

27

Remember Hour Quotas?

by blondie in

jw
friends

hour quotas timeline.

back in the old days long before 1952.

“after staying in our ‘home’ for two days we decided that if we were going to meet our quota of 140 hours for the month.

dropoffyourkeylee

In support of Nathan N's comment, I have long maintained that the primary reason the WT required hours to be recorded was to provide proof for the young men to present to the draft board to get the 4-D. Likewise, that is the reason the 'pioneer' requirement was invented, and the reason the Ministry School was created. It was all about the draft back then. The hour requirements later morphed into more of a control mechanism, but at the inception it was the draft issue.

25

Where is Reinhard Lengtat?

by jst2laws in

jw
friends

sorry for the posting error below.. my wife is reading crisis of conscience now.

this is good news because i know i will have someone to talk to when im caught and dfd.

but in her reading she is recognizing most of the names ( we were there at bethel during the 70s as a married couple) and asked what happened to reinhard lengtat?

dropoffyourkeylee

I had a close family member at Bethel in the '70s and he spoke highly of Reinhard. Very intelligent; one of the authors of the Aid Book.

26

SDAs Campaigning in my Area

by NotFormer in

not even as active as the jws (whom i have not seen for around a year now), nevertheless i get an occasional leaflet or other publication in my letterbox that seems to be seventh day adventist in origin.. the booklet i received the other day was entitled "national sunday law".

i also had received this book years ago when i had some dealings with the sdas.. from reddit: "national sunday law involves a conspiracy theory which alleges that the united states government is on the verge of enacting a national blue law that would make sunday a day of rest and worship.

the theory depends on the idea that the pope is the antichrist and the mark of the beast is worshipped on sunday.

dropoffyourkeylee

SDA has some obscure branches (remember Waco?), one of which is likely the culprit here.

7

2020 US Religion Census

by dropoffyourkeylee in

i have just become aware of the 2020 us religion census, pdf available for free download:.

https://www.usreligioncensus.org/node/1638.

it's a lengthy read, but there's quite a lot about jws.

dropoffyourkeylee

Another interesting table from the 2020 US Religion census:

7

2020 US Religion Census

by dropoffyourkeylee in

i have just become aware of the 2020 us religion census, pdf available for free download:.

https://www.usreligioncensus.org/node/1638.

it's a lengthy read, but there's quite a lot about jws.

dropoffyourkeylee

Number of congregations by county in continental US:

2020:

compare that to 2010:

A pretty major distribution change in Florida and California over just 10 years

7

2020 US Religion Census

by dropoffyourkeylee in

i have just become aware of the 2020 us religion census, pdf available for free download:.

https://www.usreligioncensus.org/node/1638.

it's a lengthy read, but there's quite a lot about jws.

dropoffyourkeylee

An interesting user-generated map at:

https://www.usreligioncensus.org/play-with-data

Shows distribution of JWs by county in the continental US as a percent of population.

7

2020 US Religion Census

by dropoffyourkeylee in

i have just become aware of the 2020 us religion census, pdf available for free download:.

https://www.usreligioncensus.org/node/1638.

it's a lengthy read, but there's quite a lot about jws.

dropoffyourkeylee

I have just become aware of the 2020 US Religion Census, pdf available for free download:

https://www.usreligioncensus.org/node/1638

It's a lengthy read, but there's quite a lot about JWs. One quote that caught my eye in a section discussion immigration and its effect on diversification:

The Assemblies of God (1.9%), a classical Pentecostal tradition,
is among the most racially diverse religious groups in the nation.
Those affiliated are 25% Hispanic, 5% Asian, 3% Black, and 66%
White. Even more striking, the Jehovah’s Witnesses (1.9%) exhibit
high racial diversity within the American religious landscape, with
Hispanic representing 32% of their religious group, Asian Americans
6%, Black Americans 27%, and White Americans representing 36%.

I'll leave it at that, but if anyone is interested in reports like this, it's worth a look.