Posts by Arthur Others

29

Watchtower Annulled My Baptism

by RICHT in

contrary to popular belief you can have your baptism annulled as i did by my local elders after my judicial hearing.. the watchtower of 1964 page 126 first paragraph clearly states that anyone that was committing a gross sin before, during and after their baptism is void.

in order to get right with the lord you would need to be re-baptised.

err no thanks, i'm not a believer!!!!.

Arthur Others

I came close to having my baptism nullified by clerical error. When I moved congregations, the elderly secretary called me and went over my card details. At some point he said, "so you've been an unbaptized publisher since..", and I stopped him and said, "No, no I'm baptized! I was baptized on X date at this location". So he fixed it on the card before sending it off to the new congregation. I think back about that day and think, man I should have said, "yep, I'm not baptized! Send the card away!".

I wonder if the edits he made are in pen or pencil. Does anyone know if I can ask to see what my card says? Maybe I can claim he made the error.

23

Clearly, they're hunting down irregular publishers

by ILoveTTATT2 in

jw
friends

look at this graph:.

it has the % difference between the peak number of publishers and the average number of publishers for that year.

this number can only be positive.. what the graph tells us is that there is a clear trend towards hunting down inactive and/or irregular publishers.

Arthur Others

There was a family of 12 that moved from one city to our congo in a different city. Those 12 publishers would be counted in each city in the Peak publishers for that year.

Wow, I didn't realize that's how they worked it. If you consider how many people move congregations, because of issues with brothers and sisters in their congregation, those peak numbers add up big time!

When I became an irregular publisher, as a prelude to my fade, the congregation secretary phoned for my report religiously every month . As soon as the six month deadline was up and I became officially inactive, he gave up.

My scenario is laughable. The Elder contacts me every three months and asks for my time. I text him my made-up time for the past three months and I don't hear from him again until three months later. It's crazy that I'm still active because of that! Occasionally he'll send a mass text that CO is coming but that's it. No shepard call, no encouragement, just a text every three months. So easy and ridiculous.

does a bro who is giving the public talk count the time as preaching--after all--there are bound to be some unbaptised ones in the audience ?

Even the sound technicians at the assemblies and conventions count their time when working sound. I know because one of the guys who works the sound department setup for the big conventions told me point blank, when I joked about it. They said that they do. Not sure if that was common knowledge or not.

53

My Dad wants to study with me

by BlackWolf in

jw
friends

so my parents continue to pester me about getting baptized.

the other day my dad told me that i was old enough to make a decision, and was wondering why i wasn't ready (assembly is in a few weeks) so i told him calmly that i have many doubts and if i were to get baptized it has to be 100 percent my idea.

he was a little annoyed by this, and now wants to study the "is there a creator that cares about you" book (which is complete bs) with me.

Arthur Others

Don't get baptized. That would be my advice. Like others here have said, if you study with your father who has anger issues it's just going to get worse. This is about him pushing a "time limit" on when you're going to get baptized. I think it depends on the type of Elders you have in your hall, but if you feel comfortable with them, tell them you feel pressured to get baptized and you don't feel ready. They may talk to your dad and he'll feel embarrassed and back off. Your dad forcing you to get baptized is going to kick start the baptism questions, but if you tell the Elders beforehand you're not ready, they won't even ask you the baptism questions no matter what your parents say.

14

The definition of a false prophet

by HereIgo in

the last time i spoke to my mother, who is a devout jw, she threatened me with typical jw scare tactics telling me how oh so close the end is and how me and my 2 young daughters will be slaughtered by god himself in armageddon.

knowing that this is just a scare tactic, i respectfully listened, then replied that the jw's have wrongfully predicted the end of the world three times and were incorrect, 1914, 1925, 1975. i asked doesn't that make them false prophets?

her response; " no, because the brothers are imperfect and jehovah knew their heart was in a sincere place.

Arthur Others

Deuteronomy 18:20-22: "“‘If any prophet presumptuously speaks a word in my name that I did not command him to speak or speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must die. However, you may say in your heart: “How will we know that Jehovah has not spoken the word?” When the prophet speaks in the name of Jehovah and the word is not fulfilled or does not come true, then Jehovah did not speak that word. The prophet spoke it presumptuously. You should not fear him.’"
Nothing there about a sincere heart...

Thank you for sharing this! I haven't marked this down before now.

22

Are witnesses even trying anymore?

by megaboy in

havent had an encounter with a witness in a while, almost 10 years, though at this point i could run circles around them in the scriptures, this encounter was very strange.

was eating with my son at a coffee shop, guy comes up using it as an opening.

i'm use to this because people find my son beautiful so i was open to him.

Arthur Others

Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending any of them, but is it possible he just wasn't interested in flexing his ego? I remember being in a number of situations out in service where I geniunely wanted to spread more information about love for each other, etc. and the other person was just interested in the "I know more scripture than you" argument. I would just smile and say thanks for the time and move on. But turns out the organization I was going out in service for, wasn't on the same wave length as I was when it came to practicing unconditional love for each other. I learned the hard way.

Like I said, not defending the guy. You were there in person so you know more about his vibe than any of us. I will agree though that there are many who are not trying very hard. I think that's why there's a push for more MS and Elders, at least in my area. One Elder from an old hall made it very clear to me, that if I came back to my old hall I'd be fast tracked to becoming an MS because they needed a lot of help in the congregation. I said no thanks because I'm not interested in shaving my facial hair. I was being sarcastic when I said it of course, but it was truthful.

28

Fading or Disassociating

by Saethydd in

hello, i'm new here.. i'm a college student who has been raised in the "truth" for my entire life.

i was baptized at 10 years old, and looking back now i know i didn't fully grasp everything involved, for one thing i don't even recall ever going to jehovah in a special prayer to dedicate myself to him, but anyway that's the past and my focus is really on the present.

i'm currently pursuing an associates degree, but i find myself desiring to pursue a bachelors in my chosen field so that i may have a somewhat more secure future.

Arthur Others

I'm still in for the social aspect of being able to talk to my JW co-workers. There are too many for me to just disassociate and it not affect my work or personal life. Co-workers are much different than family, but I understand your thoughts of wanting to get reinstated so you can talk to your family and keep it on better terms. From what I've read here form others, it seems like the route to take so that things can be on good terms. It makes sense to me as well, but it's really what you feel. You said it yourself, that the least amount of pain for you would be to act as if you're coming around. If that's truly less pain for you, I'd say that's the way to go.

Just a side thought regarding your Associates degree and you debating if you should get your Bachelors: I would highly recommend getting your Bachelors if you're at a young age and you're able to do it financially. It will come in handy later in life if you ever want to work for the government, or even many other opportunities.

30

Is it morally wrong to put Watchtower behind?

by Darkknight757 in

with our latest and final run in with the elders, the wife and i had a very long talk about what's next in our life.

do we try to help others see the light as it were concerning watchtower or do we just let it go and move on with our life?

we have made it perfectly clear that we will never go back to watchtower and we are finally happy.

Arthur Others

Do we try to help others see the light as it were concerning Watchtower OR do we just let it go and move on with our life?

I think this is a decision for each person, but I do have an experience of wanting help from someone I knew, and they weren't in the position to help me. There was this woman that I was good friends with, and after a few years she was DF'd. Seeing how our JW friends treated her and how others treated her was one of the things that woke me up. So a few months after her being DF'd she reached out to me over text message and it was a small quick conversation. More time passed and I really needed to talk to someone about leaving the JW organization, so I reached out to her to meet up in person, since I didn't want to put anything in text message. She still has family that are JW's and I wasn't sure if she would tell them I was having doubts. She said she'll get back to me, but I never heard from her after that. As far as I know she's still DF'd. I don't blame her for not helping at all. I can understand where she was coming from, but doing it on your own can be tough, which is why I'm thankful for the stories and advice that people share on this site.

17

The Story of My Sister - Lurkers: Is this logical?

by Funchback in

my sister got baptized at 17 or 18 years old in 1983. she was ripe for the jw picking as she was shy, quiet, naive and with low self-esteem even though she was tall and beautiful and she attended one of the best high schools in philadelphia.. she wasn't outgoing and she only went out on a couple of dates prior to her baptism.

she worked at a day care center.

she loved children and animals.

Arthur Others

Now, here's the twist: Very soon after her wedding vowels, we were attending a Thursday night meeting (Theocratic Ministry School back then). Right before the closing prayer, they made an announcement: Leslie XXXXXXX has been disassociated....
No warning. No heads up. Just a cold announcement of disassociation.
I asked an elder, 'Why? Did she disassociate herself?'. He told me, "She was disassociated by her actions".

Man, what a sad story. Sorry to hear that happened to you and your sister. I'm a firm believer that it is not an organization of love. Getting to know a lot JW's from around the world and being around large and small groups of them time and time again, I have seen more pride and gossip than love. Over and over in my struggle to stay strong in the organization when I've felt weak, I have reached out to other brothers and sisters, or made it known that I could use the encouragement, and let me tell you the ones that did reach out were only interested in getting "my story" so they could gossip to other brothers and sisters about my spiritual progress. Out of the many there are very little that I would say have shown me true care, but even they use words about the governing body and end of days, that make me uncomfortable. The moment I think, "Man this person really does have love", they say something about a non-JW or even a fellow JW that makes me go back to, "darn it, that's not love"!

27

Angry and scared

by BlackWolf in

jw
friends

i feel like everything that comes out of my mothers mouth is something negative and cringe worthy.

all she seems to talk about with me is how terrible and demonic our disfellowshipped relatives are, how horrible the world and holidays are, or how she is so much better and "holier than thou".

it really makes me sick sometimes.

Arthur Others

I wasn't raised in, but what I can say is that I really wish I didn't get baptized. Not particularly because of any spiritual reason, but because of the social aspects of shunning. It's horrible for me to have to say "I wish I didn't get baptized because if I decide to research and talk openly about questions, I will get shunned". Just saying that out loud is mind blowing, when you consider how much love you're supposed to feel regarding a decision of dedication.

Stay strong, don't be pressured into it. Read and research as much as possible. I find strength in that.

19

When 2 JWs have the same call...

by schnell in

jw
friends

as i was driving past a certain gas station today, i recalled that the family who own it are called on by a friend of mine, and in a territory where it's hard to find interest.

it reminded me of an incident months back when this friend, brother d, discovered that another friend, brother b, was calling on that family too.

hey, gotta make your time.. those two went at it.

Arthur Others

I've heard stories of sisters in minivans while doing RV's, pull up on other groups of JW's in their territories and get into arguments about it. Also heard of arguments that come up on train witnessing regarding territory.

Not long after I got baptized, I had a study with a long time friend of mine. He was genuinely interested in the Bible and I didn't bring up that I was a JW, he came out and asked me questions, and if I would share literature with him, etc. So I said of course and would study with him. I remember being excited about it and telling this sister about it, and the first thing she said was not, "That's great!, hope he learns as much possible" or "That's really good you should bring him around". It was "make sure you tell him to go to the hall near his house, so the brothers there get to study with him". I was completely shocked that was her response. I thought, no way is this guy going to some place by his house to meet some random people to study the bible. The only reason he feels comfortable with me is because he's known me for over a decade and he's looking for info. Geez! Way to ruin an exciting thing for me early on, because of territory.