so just what is the latest directive on shunning?.
asking for a family member.
" In next to no time JW's will be asking if anyone has ever heard the term disfellowshipping! "
True, but they must keep up with "Jehovah's Chariot" , and use only the current "Cult Speak", the term is now "Removed" we learn, as with a number of changes in the J.W Esoteric Cult Speak over the years, the word has changed, but not the practices associated with it.
The "removed" person will still be shunned, which IS intolerant and cruel !
this is an excellent thread to read that i saw yesterday and the poster hits the nail on the head and tells it so well.
he is really knocking pimi witnesses and has a lot of well deserved criticisms about them.. he says he hopes at this point that they never wake up….
i am inclined to feel the same.
Agreed Beth, to a degree, but with some it is merely fear of the unknown that is the main reason they stay. I was in exactly the position you describe, when I walked away most of my friends, family and contacts were J.W's, I relied on them for business, also my wife had been in from birth, and I did not know if I would lose her !
But, it is so much a part of me to be a Lover of Truth that when I learned that far from being "the truth" the J.W religion is The Big Fat Lie I simply had to leave cold turkey, I could no longer be a part of that without sacrificing every shred of personal integrity, and denying who I really was !
I took my chances, of course the J.W's cut off all contact, I lost business, and my J.W family became "distant", a sort of mild shunning. My darling wife it turned out was happy to leave, she hated "Field Service" and the Meetings, apart from the socialising after.
Within a few weeks she told me she was an Atheist now too. I survived financially, made contact with my ex-JW and never J.W family, with whom I am now very close, and I made closer ties with friends I had who had never been J.W's. Those friends are wonderful, they have helped me through tough times, and their evident love is unconditional.
So PIMI's should have no fear of leaving, if they are Lovers of Truth, and have personal Integrity, but how many actually do now ?
while i'm aware of wt books being revised without noting the differences on newer editions (the truth book is a classic example of this) ... is there evidence of the writing committee revising the online versions of wt articles, as compared to the printed editions?.
if there is a previous thread on this topic, just link it ... as these is no need to reinvent the wheel.. thanks.
They also did it with revising in the Bound Volumes of the Magazines what was said in the original Edition. For many years I had a Copy of one of the original Mags, and the appropriate Bound Volume.
The change they had made was subtle to a degree, in that the ordinary "Publisher" would not have noticed, but they changed embarrassing statements in the original, for the version that they Bound , that takes EFFORT ! a new Print Run for one Magazine, to hide what they had originally said, and had sold, as "truth" to the J.W's and Public alike.
In the end I got rid of old Bound Volumes and Mags, but it confirmed to me just HOW devious those Liars are !
extreme hair styles can easily lead one into a trap of the devil also, and cause others to stumble.
for example, a young man in the united states was making fine progress in his study of the bible, and he was moved to share with an experienced witness in preaching to others about the good things he was learning from the bible.
from early youth he had let his beard grow, and since some in the business community wore beards, he felt that his wearing one in preaching to others would be acceptable generally.
Spot on Rivergang, and Knorr continued the anti-beard trend as he wished the Org. to emulate, as closely as possible , Corporate America.
Once again the Org. is way behind the times, as beards are less popular in the general Populace now than some years ago, when the Hipster beard trend was popular.
They have succeeded in fact in maintaining the status quo of the org looking to the general public like a bunch of weirdos, so many beards now that they are more like the Amish than the general populace.
extreme hair styles can easily lead one into a trap of the devil also, and cause others to stumble.
for example, a young man in the united states was making fine progress in his study of the bible, and he was moved to share with an experienced witness in preaching to others about the good things he was learning from the bible.
from early youth he had let his beard grow, and since some in the business community wore beards, he felt that his wearing one in preaching to others would be acceptable generally.
I remember that Article well, and being in the U.K that seemed so USA centric, the example of the fictitious lady, that I decided to grow a beard ! I kept it for well over a decade, all the time serving as an appointed man here, with never a comment from Elders or visiting C.O's.
I was invited to give Public Talks in nearby Congregations too.
It was different here, then, in those days, I'm not sure if the attitude changed some years later, but some Elders had beards then. And even in recent years guys with beards were appointed as Elders, long before the current relaxation of rules took place.
It always amused me, and still does, how the Org. and its members use the old "stumbling" rubbish, one wise Elder said to me he had been accused of "stumbling" someone ,wrongly, it was an excuse for the family to stay away from Meetings, but he said " I do not expect perfection from them, they cannot do so from me"..
That put that "stumbling" nonsense in perspective for me, and boy, gave me some freedom !
la norvegia non è caduta nella trappola della torre di guardia di agosto.. https://files.accessjw.org/s/sdzfgcgk4bi48jb.
Indeed the Court was NOT fooled ! They saw through the obvious obfuscation of the truth of how utterly horrible and inhumane is the J.W Disfellowship practice.
For too long the J.W org has got away with speaking out of "both sides of its mouth", presenting a seemingly mild face for Public consumption, and then imposing evil rules and practices on J.W's themselves.
As a young person, especially a teenager, who was brought up in the J.W's, usually has no friends outside of the org. that she or he is close to, the normal loving contact with family is removed, AND all support from the kid's Social network !
Such harsh isolating of an individual, who finds themselves alone in the world, rejected by all family and friends, has resulted in some young people, and some older ones, taking their own lives. The Disfellowship practice also is against internationally upheld Human Rights, however the Org. tries to dress it up. All they have done is sprayed a Dog Turd with glitter, in an effort to fool the Courts, so that they can still get $$$ from Governments.
The Court has made to right decision.
realistically, between now and 2034, what do you think watchtower will change or reform to appear more mainstream?
what business opportunities do you see watchtower getting involved in?.
my predictions are as follows: .
I agree, and in fact doubt they will abandon Sunday Meetings, but will still count as "attenders" those who join on Zoom etc. and therefore will have no way of knowing if their Mind Controlling spiel is really working on such people, many of whom wish to appear to attend, as they wish to keep the J.W's as their Social Club.
But they make many a silly move, so abandoning weekend Meetings is still not something it would not surprise me to see.
It will be fascinating to watch their desperation as numbers of actual believing J.W's wither away !
Of course the "Social" members are highly unlikely to donate, or at least not much, so Cash Flow will be an on-going problem, you only sell Kingdom Halls for so long.
realistically, between now and 2034, what do you think watchtower will change or reform to appear more mainstream?
what business opportunities do you see watchtower getting involved in?.
my predictions are as follows: .
Tonus OH said : " Having one meeting during the week and none on the weekend seems unusual to me. A one or two-hour meeting on a Sunday morning would be pretty typical for most Christians, wouldn't it? "
Unusual yes, but anachronistic, stemming from the days when people worked long hours, six days a Week, and Sunday was the only time they had to go to Church.
It may in fact be a good move, conventional Churches have a dwindling attendance at Weekends, for obvious reasons, people don't want to waste a Sunday, or Saturday.
"Unconventional" has never bothered the J.W Org. In fact, it was a selling point as far as Rutherford, and later Knorr and Franz were concerned, an identifying "marker" that the "true" religion was different.
In can easily be spun as a "Loving provision from Jehovah, leaving time for families to be together, to Study together, and to have some leisure time together, isn't our loving god wonderful brothers ?".
I put nothing past them in their efforts to retain members.
(google translation).
question to the chamber by m5s mp stefania ascari to the ministry of the interior on paedophilia among jehovah's witnesses in italy, starting from the recent case in florence, with references to the various cases that have broken out around the world.. i sense a certain creaking at the italian bethel in rome at via della bufalotta 1281, the italian branch of the watch tower bible and tract society of pennsylvania.
will this have future implications for the italian jehovah's witnesses exponential body, the christian congregation of jehovah's witnesses and for its branch committee, which represents the interests of the governing body in our country?https://aic.camera.it/aic/scheda.html?numero=4/03795&ramo=camera&leg=19.
Thanks for the Info !
The credibility of the Org. seems to be crumbling daily, and it is good that their efforts at obfuscating the various issues are no longer working, informed Politicians ,Lawyers and Judges etc. can now see that the Org. is a terrible Organisation that cares only for its own reputation and for its $$$.
As Biahi says above, they show not one bit of empathy, compassion or love, or even concern, for the Victims of their conduct.
watchtower put out some highlights for the 2024 service year:.
average publishers: 8,828,124. peak publishers: 9,043,460. a 43.2 percent increase in "those who returned to jehovah", meaning 65,816 were reinstated.
baptized: 296,267. memorial attendance: 21,119,442. missing stat: number of partakers .. womp womp.
Whatever the true membership figure, J.W's are taught to think of themselves as being the True Religion as decided by Jehovah, and yet even at 9 or 10 Million, they are still just a small religion in relation to the Big Boys, why ?
Surely Truth should appeal to many more millions around the World ?
You have to engage in a peculiar line of reasoning to dismiss the above.
It is my humble opinion that all organised religion is moribund, as Education improves in tandem with Internet Access, people no longer feel the need to have membership in a Church of any kind.
The J.W Org. is always re-inventing itself in an effort to stem the flow of those who no longer wish to be active members, but so far their attempts have not had any notable success.
They are now withering away as did the various groups SBF mentioned above, attend any K.H in the Educated World and observe the overall demographic of attenders and you will see what is happening.
