Posts by hijosdelawatch

No, never. In fact I only have had 2 or 3 shepherding visits and I baptised a lot of years ago. Very few in the congregation had meetings with the elders. A lot of people faded there because the elders simply didn't pay attention.

When I believed in all the JW stuff I was very sad about it. How could those in charge of spiritual protection be so negligent and unloving?

Now I see as an advantage. At least I haven't so much pressure.

375

The Governing Body intends to announce significant changes in academic literature (DOCTRINES) - Brazil

by Dogpatch in

jw
friends

dear randall.

good morning!.

here is the daniel of brazil (former bethel).. this week at the forum of former jehovah's witnesses had an interesting news!

hijosdelawatch

If we observe the pattern of their past changes we can conclude that:

1. They write it in paragraph 13 or 14 in a Watchtower study where 95% is old stuff. Just a couple of senteces but with a big impact in the doctrines.

2. Then, they wait for response from witnesses. If they don't protest, they assume it as a their new doctrine.

That happened with the overlapping generation succesfully.

I think possible changes could be about doctrines (the case for the generation is a lost one, it's not credible having new annointed, etc.). Maybe the overlapping issue is just transient, a step to leave behind the importance of 1914. I don't think they will deny that but they will "forgot" in their past literature until all those who lived when it was in the foreground had died or are very old.

Other possibility is "simplification". The midweek meeting is becoming the new "bible study", and the number of the audience at least where I live is falling. Possibly one-day meeting during the week. There's also no meaning for the "public talk" since few new ones are attending. One elder told me about the possibility of having just one public talk a month. So, you'd have time to have the Watchtower Study, some Ministry School and Bible Study.

I know it's very unpredictable but before the Bible Study was ended, there was a sentiment in the congregations that this meeting would end in the future.

But whatever it happens, I don't think there will be any announcement at the next Elder's school.

49

Is Today's Jehovah's Witness Religion The Same As It Was When You Were A Member?

by minimus in

jw
friends

in my day, you were proud to be a jw!

you knew you'd get "persecution" and it was all good.

when you abstained from blood, you read the ingredients of a candy bar!

hijosdelawatch

The trend I can see in Watchtower-land is that almost no one speaks about Armageddon out of stage. In fact, I can't see brothers speaking about spiritual things but sports and other things. The only spiritual things, if you can call it spiritual, they speak about are gossip and gossip.

Some say they are there "only for Jehovah, not for men", a sign they aren't comfortable in the borg.

I think the root of some of this problems, apart from stupid doctrines, is what you mentioned: the lack of events where witnesses can gather. There's no a spirit of unity in most of them. I'm thinking for example in the congregation I grew up in a big city where brothers were working Mon thru Fri, no one at meetings for field service, except for 10-20 on Saturdays. They only meet with other Witnesses at meetings. That congregation had 130 publishers, in a big city, and some of them even didn't know the names of all the names of other publishers.

I know it's a very extreme example, but I know a couple of congos like that. They divided the congregation and then there was a lack of brothers for doing the 'mikes', literature or territories depts. as there were a lot of brothers and sisters not being regular to meetings or not wanting to be available.

21

When was the last time you had someone appointed in your cong?

by Splash in

for my cong, apart from those moving in, we last had an elder appointed 16 years ago.. we last had some ms's appointed about 3 years ago.. our boe are getting old, 3 in their 80's, 1 in his 70's and three in their 60's.. they all work hard, but when their time comes, they deteriorate quickly.. splash.

hijosdelawatch

I think the problem in some congregations is the idea the Elders and MS have about themselves. They think about them as an exclusive group of chosen ones between the congregation, the ones with power and they don't want to share it.

I've seen a regular pioneer in their 20s not being appointed as MS because some weird reason (once was costume, other times was another thing was said...). Nobody could undertand that. His number 3 talks were better than any talk from the Elders.

Finally, he got burnt and became inactive.

In other congregation (when I grew up) we were like 5-6 guys in their teens. We sat at meetings but we never received any attention from the Elders. We wanted to help but didn't get an aswer. Finally, as it's normal, all of them became inactive seeing that they were going to the meetings but nobody cared about their spiritual progress. I was the only one staying but finally moved to another congregation because of that. A couple of months ago, the Elders of that congo called me to know if I wanted to come back. This is what I did (but with the middle finger).

51

District Convention Points Saturday 21-07-2012 New Light? Governing Body Is Our Mother?

by Bubblegum Apotheosis in

i have been trying to wrap my head around the talk that introduced the slave as our mother?

the brothers at bethel are worried that we are not treating our spiritual mother with respect.

jehovah is our father, the faithful slave (the governing body) is our spiritual mammy.

hijosdelawatch

As Blondie has said, it's not new.

In fact, my nickname is related to our mother WTBTS and all its legal corporations including the IBSA, of course.

108

Are black people more emotional than white people

by barry in

jw
friends

i see in churches in the states standing up in church dancing, clapping their hands and being quite emotional even in a church.

things which that wouldnt be acceptable in australia.. the link below also shows black sda ministers dressed in clergy style dress which is quite unusual for ministers here in australia.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yynbdm0unsw&feature=g-all&context=g2e791f1faaaaaaaamaas .

could any of my american friends inform me i showed it to my father who is a lay preacher and he was mistified as to what tradition this dress comes from but seems to be concentrated to th eblack community also?.

hijosdelawatch

I was born in a European country where 99% were white, born in the country. So when I was growing up there was no inmigrant at schools, hospitals or even in the neighborhood. Now, it's just the opposite.

I've lived in both situations and I have to say that there exits REAL cultural differences. Not racial. I mean if a white person grows up in an African culture, he would see African culture as normal.

In fact, I can see differences between middle-class Spanish congregations and foreign language congregations. Even in Spanish congregations, everyone can see a big difference between Spanish-born brothers and South American brothers. It's very interesting to see that children of these inmigrants born here, start thinking in a similar way Spanish do because they grow up in a very different society their parents did.

Some Spanish brothers told me the Africans were very 'fundamentalists' in their religious views. And the Africans say the Spanish brothers have a lack of faith. There exists differences because our backgrounds are not the same.

I know you Americans see the European point of view weird, but just 20 years it was impossible to find someone foreign in the streets with the exception of Britain and possibly France.

11

Why don't they adapt to other cultures? (an American religion?)

by hijosdelawatch in

jw
friends

i guess the majority of you haven't noticed that being an american, canadian, british, australia... (being involved in the anglosaxon culture) but there are situations in other cultures that make jws seem a bit bizarre.. since the watchtower is quite rigid and bureaucratic, it's reluctant to adapt to different cultures.

so sometimes even the brothers feel very uncomfortable adopting all this "watchtower culture" and even not knowing what to do in some situations.. for example, here in spain women keep their maiden names.

but for some reason, it's the watchtower culture to adopt a particular system.

hijosdelawatch

Cagefighter says:

Los hermanos y hermanas in Espana.... Just keep sending the org your peso or whatever they use in Spain. We will tighten the noose, uhh.. I mean the light will get brighter in the near future... Armageddon, is tommorrow so no time for questions. Back to work, look busy. ;)

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We use €uros and yes, the WTBTS likes them exactly the same way they love dollars, yens or pounds.

There are some cases here... don't know if someone has posted before but in the Spanish board there are ex-bethelites who are doing a good job. In fact they won a case in the courts against the WTBTS over social security when some of them were fired from Bethel.

11

Why don't they adapt to other cultures? (an American religion?)

by hijosdelawatch in

jw
friends

i guess the majority of you haven't noticed that being an american, canadian, british, australia... (being involved in the anglosaxon culture) but there are situations in other cultures that make jws seem a bit bizarre.. since the watchtower is quite rigid and bureaucratic, it's reluctant to adapt to different cultures.

so sometimes even the brothers feel very uncomfortable adopting all this "watchtower culture" and even not knowing what to do in some situations.. for example, here in spain women keep their maiden names.

but for some reason, it's the watchtower culture to adopt a particular system.

hijosdelawatch

I guess the majority of you haven't noticed that being an American, Canadian, British, Australia... (being involved in the Anglosaxon culture) but there are situations in other cultures that make JWs seem a bit bizarre.

Since the Watchtower is quite rigid and bureaucratic, it's reluctant to adapt to different cultures. So sometimes even the brothers feel very uncomfortable adopting all this "Watchtower culture" and even not knowing what to do in some situations.

For example, here in Spain women keep their maiden names. But for some reason, it's the Watchtower culture to adopt a particular system. For example, if the sister Elena Rios marries Daniel Perez, she will be called "Elena de Perez", when her name in the ID card is still "Elena Rios".

There's also a lot of confusion about non-religious traditions with no American equivalent. For example, I've known brothers that really liked bullfighting and it was approved by their elders while in other congregations it was dissaproved. Obviously, there was nothing written in the magazines about that.

We also have traditions like the "Feria of Abril" in the south that are not religious but where you can dance and drink until the next day. Some elders dissaproved that but as we haven't nothing written about that it has become a tradition for the Witnesses to go there even from other parts of the country to enjoy this party. Even is more bizarre when it sounds songs about (Catholic) virgins and sisters don't stop dancing. But as always, there's nothing written.

Have you experienced things like that?