Posts by JWTom

30

Latest move by Kingdom Hall Trust in U.K current J.W Elders BEWARE!

by Phizzy in

the latest instructions from the kingdom hall trust here in the u.k are very revealing, and current j.w elders need to beware !

i will get to that in a minute.

maybe in the usa and other countries too ?.

JWTom

Further evidence that the JW.org is dumping all liability or responsibility on the local congregations primarily the elders and ministerial servants. Not long ago I had a discussion with a brother whose daughter left the org. due to an abuse situation and primarily the reason was that the local congregation had no idea how to handle the matter - of course it was a disaster. When I suggested to the brother that few or none of the local congregation members are qualified to handle an abuse situation - he agreed. But when I suggested that JW.org should have put some structures in place to handle this many years ago - he didn't disagree - but basically reverted to the "well, the org. can do so many good things with so few people and that these things happen". Or in other words, "its all good!"

Many, many current JW's have issues with JW.org but they are simply trapped. Especially for appointed brothers...any disagreement or questioning of things will be punished severely. Most of these witnesses would like to disagree or voice their disapproval - but there is no platform to do that without being branded as an apostate.

I agree with this thread - local elders need to be very careful on this. But most don't have the courage to embrace stepping down so that they are not in this position.

77

A question about the contemporary generation teaching following a conversation with a JW apologist

by Giles Gray in

i would like to ask the ex-jws on this site to put their ‘apologists hat’ back on for a moment, so that i can go through the overlapping generation teaching in an attempt to make sense of it.

i apologise if these points have already been addressed on this site.a quick background for the reason for my request… having never confronted a jw apologist on the topic, i recently engaged with a jw regarding the official understanding of a ‘generation’ and unfortunately he didn’t have an answer to the points i was making.

i was left a little confused as to what the official jw response would/should be.so i was hoping that my thoughts below might be considered from an apologist’s perspective.the point in question relates to this section of the watchtower article below from 2008, as well as the jw.org video explanation of the overlapping generation:---:w08 2/15[box on page 25] can we calculate the length of “this generation”?the word “generation” usually refers to people of various ages whose lives overlap during a particular time period or event.

JWTom

Vidiot: Spot on. Most JWs are simply trapped and don't have a clear path to freedom that does not involve jacking up your whole life. That is the problem with being mortal beings, you many time won't live long enough for a do-over to make sense/work out.

44

Leaked WT Elder Training Video

by Vanderhoven7 in

https://youtu.be/2nacvosx8n0.

good to see the caring brothers help establish depth of guilt..

JWTom

As has been said, do not tell the body of elders anything unless you want your personal life ruined.

30

Do Jw's Dress up in meeting clothes for Zoom meetings?

by jeremiah18:5-10 in

i am just curious if anyone knows whether the "friends" still are required to wear "meeting clothes" for attending meetings through zoom?

such emphasis on dressing in a godly manner over the decades, would be interesting if some attend in pajamas or their work clothes, no makeup, etc....

JWTom

As commented in another thread, 50-75% on our Zoom meetings never turn on video and many are even commenting with no video - problem solved. Everyone that has video on is dressed up including many brothers with suit coats on.

4

I wonder how many jw's will be doing this

by newsheep in

https://www.thrillist.com/news/nation/coors-light-clone-machine-zoom-video-calls.

JWTom

Our Zoom meetings easily have 50-75% with no video. New thing is people that are commenting with no video on now.

37

Weekly Meeting Importance Being Reduced - Your Thoughts?

by JWTom in

jw
friends

i am pimo, but now have 40+ years of being a jw as i was raised in a 3rd generation family of witnesses and continue to fake my way through things - fading as i can.. for the vast majority of my time as a jw, the meetings were the central focus for all jws to get teaching, association, information and so on.

nothing was more important than being at the meetings!

over the last 20 years starting with the elimination of the weekly book study in homes and continuing down to today - my opinion is that the value/purpose of the weekly meetings continues to be diluted or minimized.

JWTom

Interest comments all. Thanks for the great thoughts.

BluesBrother: Can you send me a DM?

37

Weekly Meeting Importance Being Reduced - Your Thoughts?

by JWTom in

jw
friends

i am pimo, but now have 40+ years of being a jw as i was raised in a 3rd generation family of witnesses and continue to fake my way through things - fading as i can.. for the vast majority of my time as a jw, the meetings were the central focus for all jws to get teaching, association, information and so on.

nothing was more important than being at the meetings!

over the last 20 years starting with the elimination of the weekly book study in homes and continuing down to today - my opinion is that the value/purpose of the weekly meetings continues to be diluted or minimized.

JWTom

Another thought, that has also been discussed recently in the light of Zoom Meetings during the pandemic.

What will it take to make the transition away from meetings? Again, for 20+ years the meetings have been specifically made less important by the org. As Millie210 mentions, what you hear is that the meetings are very important - hard to rationalize the distinctly different messages/realities.

To me it would seem like organizational suicide to stop the meetings....

29

Have you ever known elders who were more into being and elder than really being a believer?

by phoenixrising in

i have known many elders who were much more into the idea of being an elder and getting all the old ladies to tell them what wonderful talks they give and the power then really being a believer.

i had one elder tell me that when he became an elder he was on top dog on top of the heap.

i knew some who were really all about the religion and following the cult.

JWTom

cofty

They look out for the congregation by caring about individuals in need of encouragement or practical help. They try to lead by example and encourage others to exercise their own conscience. Elders of this type often end up burned out and disillusioned - as do their long-suffering families.

Many of these are still in the org. but are no longer appointed men. Having realized that doing what you described well is simply going to leave them ground up in the gears of the org. I would put myself in that category and as I commented above - there are simply too many others that could care less about helping people in a practical way.

4

Elders complaining

by asp59 in

have you heard many elders complaining about selling out of kh and having a online religion?

i mean many elders have put years of visiting meetings and sitting there to have it all taken away now.

reaching that position of elder for nothing .

JWTom

I have only heard elders saying they are happy for the break they are getting during the coronavirus pandemic. Sad to say that it took this for them to get a break. You may want to check out the thread on meetings being reduced in importance, similar topic.

https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5979273201451008/weekly-meeting-importance-being-reduced-your-thoughts

37

Weekly Meeting Importance Being Reduced - Your Thoughts?

by JWTom in

jw
friends

i am pimo, but now have 40+ years of being a jw as i was raised in a 3rd generation family of witnesses and continue to fake my way through things - fading as i can.. for the vast majority of my time as a jw, the meetings were the central focus for all jws to get teaching, association, information and so on.

nothing was more important than being at the meetings!

over the last 20 years starting with the elimination of the weekly book study in homes and continuing down to today - my opinion is that the value/purpose of the weekly meetings continues to be diluted or minimized.

JWTom

Great comments. As some have suggested my life is a spaghetti bowl related to being a JW all my life. Even though I am fading my life is still largely entrenched within the pasta bowl.

A PIMI elder friend who is very astute and gives attention to policy/direction made the comment about all of the online content being created and why there is so much being produced, how could you possibly consume all of it, etc. The PIMIs realize that the meetings are a thing of the past but can't bring themselves to realize what has happened.