Posts by FFGhost

44

Miniimizing 'Punishment' - marrying a non-JW

by doasthouwilt in

i’d like to marry my best friend of 30+ years, turned ‘secret’ girlfriend of 1 ½ years who is a jehovah’s witness, born into it, baptized and an active ‘pioneer’.

our marriage would happen prior to letting any of her jw friends and cohorts know that we are together.

once married she may simply come forward and ‘admit’ or we may wait until it’s found out – one way or the other, the reason for this marriage is not customary – i am hoping that by doing so she can avoid being ‘marked’ or possibly ‘disfellowshipped’ once our relationship is no longer a secret and due to our already being married at that point, there can be no notion from society elders about her ending the relationship.

FFGhost

what sort of ‘punishment’ she may expect once our marriage is public to all and input on what society elders can and cannot do over willful marriage of a baptized JW to an ardent disbeliever.

Nothing overt - no announcement that she is disfellowshipped (excommunicated) or anything like that.

BUT

She will be completely and utterly marginalized socially, particularly if you don't show any inclination to start "studying" with JWs (with the goal of converting you).

It will be "bad enough" once folks find out she married an "unbeliever", but once they find out that you also have no intention of ever being a JW, she will be "informally shunned". She will be viewed as "bad association" and never ever ever EVER get any social interaction with any JW outside of the Kingdom Hall. No invitations to anything, if you guys invite anyone (well nearly anyone) over to your place they will refuse.

I don't know how important it is for her to remain a JW, but it will be a very unpleasant experience for her if it still means anything to her. She will feel disfellowshipped although technically not.

Please think carefully about what you are doing, and talk to her about what to expect. Show her this thread. Do as you see best, just know that upon marrying you she will never again, or not for many decades, ever "fit in" with JWs socially.

34

Memorial invite

by JoenB75 in

now they start inviting to their "commemorate the death of jesus" event.

it always makes me a bit sad.

i don’t think i could endure to watch it myself today.

FFGhost

The calling closed in 1935 except for replacements for the unfaithful partakers since then.

Old light!

Seriously, they changed this about 8-10 years ago. Now it's a case of "who are we to judge if someone says they are anointed"?

There's still an informal pressure to not partake, and anyone who does partake is generally given a rolled-eye and a smirk behind their back, but the official teaching is now that Jehovah "may" still be calling new anointed.

21

Was 536 the Worst year in history

by pistolpete in

jws believe that today, the time we live in is the worst time ever in history.

i know cause i just had a jw tell me yesterday this was the case.

he pointed to covid, the russian-ukraine war, the high gas prices and the food shortage happening.

FFGhost

Every time someone talks about how things are "worse than ever" now, I invite them to take a peek at dental instruments in use up to about 100 years ago.

And then remind them about how there was no novocaine.

And then ask them, if they would get dental problems, which era would they prefer to live in?

Yes, I know it's slightly silly, but it somehow "personalizes" the question of "are things now really now worse than ever before?"

20

7 Letters Requested--Cost Of Living Survey!

by Atlantis in

jw
friends

cost of living survey worksheet--(assembly hall servants & construction servants).

cost of living survey worksheet--missionaries.

cost of living survey worksheet--special pioneers.

FFGhost

They send these out every year.

In a previous congregation we had special pioneers, and they had to fill them out.

The WTS wanted to see if the SPs could still survive on $Pittance / month, or if they needed to update the amount to $Pittance.25 / month.

34

Memorial invite

by JoenB75 in

now they start inviting to their "commemorate the death of jesus" event.

it always makes me a bit sad.

i don’t think i could endure to watch it myself today.

FFGhost

Or have the halls opened already?

The GB have mandated that in-person meetings resume April 1, wherever not limited by pandemic legal restrictions.

This year the Memorial falls on April 15, "Special" talk on April 10.

JWs everywhere are scrambling to get their KHs ready in time. Some might actually be ready by April 1.

20

Administering a Blood Transfusion When Directed by a Superior- Jehovah's Witness Policy

by Ron.W. in

administering a blood transfusion when directed by a superior - jehovah's witness policy effective june 15th, 2018. while the hospital liasion committee elders were instructed that they may inform doctors and nurses of this decision, this letter was not allowed to be distributed to anyone outside of hlc members.. as a result of the concealment of this letter, and by virtue of the fact that this information was only to be shared verbally with jehovah's witness medical professionals and others, confusion erupted across the united states and in other branch offices of jehovah's witnesses.

countless letters were received at watchtower headquarters in new york from concerned jw nurses, paramedics, and others who were instructed verbally on this new policy, but which contradicted existing written policy that had been in effect for many decades.. in addition to letters from witness medical professionals, circuit overseers in the field wrote to the us branch and hospital information desk in new york about the problems caused by this unreleased policy.

for example, south carolina circuit overseer brandon roberts reported to headquarters that "the majority of the nurses in our circuit were not aware of this updated policy.

FFGhost

If they put a policy in writing, lawyers can use it against them.
If they keep it verbal, there's plausible deniability.

Yes, but also, elders have it forcibly beaten into their heads at every.....friggen....elders....school...

If it's not in the written directions, you can't DF someone over it. "Do not go beyond the things written" extends (they literally say this) to the written directions of the GB.

They haven't yet figured out how to the thread the needle of protecting themselves from lawsuits while simultaneously punishing those who would break this edict.

20

Administering a Blood Transfusion When Directed by a Superior- Jehovah's Witness Policy

by Ron.W. in

administering a blood transfusion when directed by a superior - jehovah's witness policy effective june 15th, 2018. while the hospital liasion committee elders were instructed that they may inform doctors and nurses of this decision, this letter was not allowed to be distributed to anyone outside of hlc members.. as a result of the concealment of this letter, and by virtue of the fact that this information was only to be shared verbally with jehovah's witness medical professionals and others, confusion erupted across the united states and in other branch offices of jehovah's witnesses.

countless letters were received at watchtower headquarters in new york from concerned jw nurses, paramedics, and others who were instructed verbally on this new policy, but which contradicted existing written policy that had been in effect for many decades.. in addition to letters from witness medical professionals, circuit overseers in the field wrote to the us branch and hospital information desk in new york about the problems caused by this unreleased policy.

for example, south carolina circuit overseer brandon roberts reported to headquarters that "the majority of the nurses in our circuit were not aware of this updated policy.

FFGhost

Not sure what the difference is in their mind after I do the initial administration. They are still part of the treatment

Exactly!

This is what you get when you have

-- Folks who know nothing about how the medical world works, issuing decrees on medical matters

-- Folks who have never raised children, issuing decrees on how to raise children

-- Folks who have never had to work, let alone work hard, issuing decrees on when you should quit your job and "rely on Jehovah"

-- Folks who have never opened a book on evolution nor made any attempt to understand it, writing books about how "wrong" evolution is

I could go on listing 20 or 30 more examples, but you get the idea

20

Administering a Blood Transfusion When Directed by a Superior- Jehovah's Witness Policy

by Ron.W. in

administering a blood transfusion when directed by a superior - jehovah's witness policy effective june 15th, 2018. while the hospital liasion committee elders were instructed that they may inform doctors and nurses of this decision, this letter was not allowed to be distributed to anyone outside of hlc members.. as a result of the concealment of this letter, and by virtue of the fact that this information was only to be shared verbally with jehovah's witness medical professionals and others, confusion erupted across the united states and in other branch offices of jehovah's witnesses.

countless letters were received at watchtower headquarters in new york from concerned jw nurses, paramedics, and others who were instructed verbally on this new policy, but which contradicted existing written policy that had been in effect for many decades.. in addition to letters from witness medical professionals, circuit overseers in the field wrote to the us branch and hospital information desk in new york about the problems caused by this unreleased policy.

for example, south carolina circuit overseer brandon roberts reported to headquarters that "the majority of the nurses in our circuit were not aware of this updated policy.

FFGhost

That letter is Splane and/or Morris. More likely the latter, as he served as a medic in the US army and thus likely views himself as some sort of expert on anything "medical".

Edit: There is a LOT of detail in that Reddit link - there is someone risking a $#!+-ton by leaking all those documents.

The Reddit author singles out Sanderson in his comments - I can also imagine him as the author / co-author of this policy.

Edit 2: The more I think about this, the more bizarre it seems. The letter clearly indicates that any JW who "administers" (as noted in the Reddit comments, there's a lot left undefined) a blood transfusion is "an accomplice in a wrong practice" and is "violat[ing] the Scriptures". Yet, they do NOT say that doing so is a DF offense. So, it's "wrong" but not a "serious sin"? As noted in the Reddit comments, they refuse to put this in writing outside of the HLC context, so virtually no elders other than LDC members would ever even know about it, much less know if a JW nurse or doctor did so.

I don't get it. What's the point of laying down an uncommunicated, unenforceable regulation that carries no outlined consequences for breaking it?

35

No beards...even Jesus! Strange Watchower rule for brothers!

by Witness 007 in

watchtower 1954 p.511 "why do watchtower publications now show jesus with short hair and no beard?

because he is shown that way in older representations of him that are older then the traditional effeminate looking pictures.".

watchtower 1968 p.286 "bible evidence and a recent review shows that jesus did have a beard..." charles russell style of beard was popular at bethel...till rutherford took over.

FFGhost

Now there are plenty of bearded brothers and elders

In some parts of Europe, yes. In North America it is still absolutely (unwrittenly? Is that a word?) forbidden if you want to have any "privileges". No elder there would remain an elder if he grew a beard.

77

Back to the Meetings. It's Offical!

by pistolpete in

yep, the vacation is over, it's time to go to work------for free!

😭😢😓😰😡.

https://www.jw.org/en/news/jw/.

FFGhost

Indeed. The BA2 variant should be peaking right about the time of the Memorial, making the Memorials into "super spreader events".

All the effort of being so cautious for so many years is to be undone in a couple of weeks, all to fluff the ego of the GBers who now insist that things instantaneously go back to "normal", as if the pandemic never happened.