JWTom

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Posts by JWTom

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  51

  PIMO elder

  by Reservations in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i’m reservations, pimo elder.

  i’m in no position to leave the organisation, maybe some people will see that as weak or whatever, but we have to all go down our own path in life.. i would like to be able to wake people up in my congregation, how do you think best to do this?

  any ideas?.

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  JWTom

  Hey Reservations, welcome and congratulations on waking up to TTATT. Waking people up is incredibly hard and also risky if you need to stay in the organization. I am in a very similar situation to you, however I concluded some time ago that remaining an elder causes far more damage than any benefit. I say this both related to myself - the personal damage related to stress, being two-faced, etc. - and also related to the fact that it is incredibly difficult to change anything or cause internal damage to the organization by essentially being a double agent or black ops Elder.

  The biggest thing you can do to possibly wake others up (in my opinion) is to greatly reduce your activity in the organization while you remain "active" in all appearances. This may be hard to do and take a great deal of courage. However, if every PIMO Elder and MS were to step down and simply STOP VOLUNTEERING for the endless free labor requests.....then the org would quickly have an enormous and possibly catastrophic problem. I have been posting more on the Reddit ExJW forum and you might find some of the threads below educational or insightful. Best wishes on all your efforts.

  https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/pbzexb/10_steps_waking_up_to_the_truth_about_the_truth/

  https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/ofk3g5/good_elders_are_a_myth_as_are_cos_bethelites_ms/

  https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/of5p4j/young_people_ask_how_can_i_escape_jw_land_a/

  https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/o6msdk/reduce_the_power_of_jw_org_a_checklist/
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  30

  For Witnesses Who Want To Leave Fade, Disassociate or Get Disfellowshipped?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my opinion is if possible fading is the best way to go..

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  JWTom

  In my opinion, fading is the least disruptive way to exit. Slow but also does not destroy your personal life in the process. The reality is if you leave too fast you may have so much collateral damage that your life does not become manageable for years. Let's face reality.....you need to have a manageable life in general related to finances, relationships, work and so on or you can end up hating your life. Slow fade for me is the right approach.

  Depending on how strong your connections to the Borg are....other approaches may work well. Every situation is different.
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  15

  Letter asking for RV’s

  by wasser30 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  hello, my elder cousin from brazil wouldn’t believe they asked for rv’s here in the us.

  i’ve been out for 20 years and i’m soft shunned by my family.

  now my mom got sick and they are all trying to talk me into going back(no way on earth) and they keep on telling me how close armageddon is 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️ i was watching kim and mikey and they mentioned the rv’s for lodging the ramapo workers.

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  JWTom

  This letter was read a couple of months ago. I asked, but never received a definitive answer on why they were asking for these. The letter did not provide an answer either. Most speculate that it is for Ramapo....but most travel trailers are not setup for New York winters and that would be an incredibly high maintenance approach to housing people.

  Another idea is simply selling them at a large profit due to the pandemic induced demand for this type of vehicle/trailer. Also, someone suggested that possibly they are wanting these for disaster relief workers that need to be mobile....not sure if there is any truth to these or not.

  https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/4796172018384896/u-announcement-clam-w-o-march-3-donation-trailers-needed
  
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  16

  Awake is back! India used in every illustration???

  by JWTom in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  as someone else noted.

  why is the new awake a setting in india in every illustration?.

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  JWTom

  As someone else noted. Why is the new Awake a setting in India in every illustration?
  
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  53

  Did you think this was it for the Watchtower-(Covid)- Well-They are coming back with even greater ZEAL!

  by pistolpete in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so you all probably heard that the awake magazine is back, .

  https://www.jw.org/en/library/magazines/?contentlanguagefilter=en&pubfilter=g&yearfilter=.

  and one of my jw relatives said they were told by some elders that meetings and field service will resume before the end of the year.. they said this covid virus was a test, like when the romans breached jerusalem and retreated, only to come back later and sack jerusalem.

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  JWTom

  Me (PIMO) and the PIMI wife have heard nothing about anything returning to normal related to meetings, field service or assemblies. There is an update thread on Reddit about a recent CO visit where the direction was to lighten up on asking people to have their cameras on when in a Zoom meeting.....this will mean almost no one has camera on....our congregation is probably 70% no camera and actually about 80% never comment unless they have a meeting part, are reading or giving a prayer.
  
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  16

  U.S. Announcement at CLAM w/o March 3 - Donation of Trailers Needed

  by JWTom in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  at our clam meeting this past week there was a rather lengthy announcement asking for the donation of travel trailers.

  needed to be at least 22 feet long and not older than a 2005 model year.

  lots of other details were in the announcement about what was desired related condition of the trailer, etc.

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  JWTom

  I am familiar with the "You can donate anything of value to WTBTS" announcements that happen 1-2 times per year and that are published in the Watchtower/Awake? magazines periodically. This was a standalone announcement with a significant amount of detail related to the types of trailers. Could just be opportunistic since the demand for trailers is high right now - give us your late model trailer and we can sell at a significant amount due to pandemic.
  
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  31

  What Do You Want To Talk About Regarding Jehovah’s Witnesses?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  we do talk a lot about how this site doesn’t center on all things jw.

  so what would you like to discuss?.

  the floor is yours..

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  JWTom

  If anyone wants to discuss a specific issue/topic then please create a post and see what others have to say. Most of my posts get interesting comments.

  I will say....there are so many good sites with discussion elements and lively comments. A few on the top of my head such as New York Times, MarketWatch, TheHill and others. I do find it surprising the comments/posts that are here about the stock market, politics and other general interest topics. I never come here to read and discuss topics such as finance, world events or politics unless of course there is a JW slant.
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  61

  Awake Magazine - No Longer Being Printed?

  by JWTom in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  someone made reference in another post that the awake magazine had ceased publication.

  maybe i missed it since i have not been on here as much in the last 6 months.

  is this true?

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  JWTom

  Drearyweather - Thanks for the insider intel. We still have friends at bethel but I lack the interest in reaching out to them with this type of question.

  Awhile back we had a thread on here about the CLAM workbooks not being published and now they being published 9-10 months in advance at some times.....without a doubt "food at the proper time" when it takes months to develop and then is published months before anyone looks at it.

  Drearyweather - does your bethel contact have intel on the request for trailers in the US?
  
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  27

  Do local JWs want in-person meetings back in your congregation?

  by JWTom in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i realize many here think that in-person meetings will return as soon as things are safe with covid.

  but many acknowledge it will likely be 2022 or later when this happens.. surprisingly, many pimi jws in our congregation are not shy about saying they are fine with zoom meetings forever and do not want to go back to in-person meetings.

  many speculate similar thoughts that are on this site....such as a combination of in-person and zoom meetings.

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  JWTom

  I realize many here think that in-person meetings will return as soon as things are safe with Covid. But many acknowledge it will likely be 2022 or later when this happens.

  Surprisingly, many PIMI JWs in our congregation are not shy about saying they are fine with Zoom meetings forever and do not want to go back to in-person meetings. Many speculate similar thoughts that are on this site....such as a combination of in-person and Zoom meetings. Curious what other active JWs hear from those in your local area. Central U.S. here.
  
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  7

  Significant Changes Happening - Even Though Many May Not Realize

  by JWTom in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i posted this item a few weeks ago (link below) with a compilation of items that could happen as the organization unravels - even though many (including myself) may find it unlikely, improbable or simply too much of a change to believe.. https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5165806634663936/drastic-upcoming-changes-accelerated-pandemic.

  as an active pimo though, i came up with the list in the above post simply from the standpoint that very significant changes have been occurring on an ongoing basis and sometimes i think even very active witnesses do not realize it.

  a few major items that have been ongoing or were singular events listed below.

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  JWTom

  I posted this item a few weeks ago (link below) with a compilation of items that could happen as the organization unravels - even though many (including myself) may find it unlikely, improbable or simply too much of a change to believe.
  

  https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5165806634663936/drastic-upcoming-changes-accelerated-pandemic

  As an active PIMO though, I came up with the list in the above post simply from the standpoint that very significant changes have been occurring on an ongoing basis and sometimes I think even very active witnesses do not realize it. A few major items that have been ongoing or were singular events listed below. I have seen so many downsizing changes since the 1970s when I was a young boy that it seems unrealistic to not embrace other coming massive changes that have been accelerated by Covid.

  These are basically structural changes in the org....doctrinal changes would be another lengthy list that is brought here many times as well.
  

  1. Elimination of District Overseers

  2. Layoffs at Bethel (we left bethel around the time these were starting in the late 1990s - thankfully, we left on our own)

  3. Awake magazine is no more....is this true?

  4. Consolidation of Congregations and sale of Kingdom Halls - In our area, we saw the sale of five Kingdom Halls starting around the year 2000 and continuing up until now (likely more, these were just the ones we knew of). Also, many of these were simply Kingdom Halls that were eliminated - no new hall built.

  5. Reduction in the length of assemblies/conventions. Slowly becoming fewer and fewer days compared with assemblies in 1970s timeframe.

  6. Elimination of Watchtower magazine content. I am guessing most active JWs do not even realize that the public Watchtower magazine has been reduced to just a handful of pages for the whole calendar year (mentioned on another post).

  7. Elimination of the Book Study.