the secretary of the congregation said in a talk, what the congregation should have as goal for the new service year: attend field service meetings!.
he explained in a sad tone, that he visited all of our 3 or 4 service groups.
and what happened at the field service meetings.
I've known many "full time" pioneers that just showed up for the meeting for service and then made 'calls'. This is a common practice - supporting the meeting arrangement with your suit and tie or dress on and then running personal errands.
When CO's are visiting, they always asks for everyone to attend the mid-week meeting before service - even if you're not 'going out'.
It reinforces the structure : what's important is how you appear to others in the congregation.
ginger
idk if waking up has been good for me.
i still have almost no friends.
im still waiting to graduate this december to qualify n b certified for my job.
Many JW's put on their Kingdom Hall uniform.
Field service has morphed into a social event.
Most don't believe ALL of it anymore.
We couldn't pretend (deceive ourselves) anymore and quietly stepped off the JW merry-go-round over a year ago. Boy do things look different when you examine this religion while standing with your feet firmly planted on the ground (reality).
ginger
idk if waking up has been good for me.
i still have almost no friends.
im still waiting to graduate this december to qualify n b certified for my job.
It's time for you to take a break.
Your world has been turned inside out - divorce is very hard and having kids during this process makes it even more difficult. Rejecting your religion and your 'friends' during this past year complicates things even more.
Take stock of your life goals. Let yourself off the hook. Forgive yourself.
Understand that you cannot accept responsibility for things that you can't control (the outcome of a judicial meeting is one of those). Let it go.
Change the things you can - take care of yourself. Find happiness in something simple every day.
ginger
we received this link through an email chain.
not too sure what the purpose is....it's mostly about food.. .
vimeopro.com/user4747451/tnvideo.
The South is a stronghold for Jehovah's Witnesses in the US. The traditional religious and political conservatism, rural demographics and 'southern hospitality' makes for an easy transition for the locals to become Witnesses. In fact, many continue with the same intensity they had in the religious upbringings as Witnesses - it's all in and fire and brimstone (the threat of shunning and Armageddon).
Those of us who are from the south know that it's the 'group mentality' that prevails. Individualism is frowned upon. It's a "my granddaddy thought that way and my daddy thinks that way so I'll think that way" mind set that is deeply intrenched in southern culture.
The south is also thriving economically (has been for the past 30 years) so this makes the southern US very appealing to the Watchtower leadership (sorry Honesty....).
ginger
we received this link through an email chain.
not too sure what the purpose is....it's mostly about food.. .
vimeopro.com/user4747451/tnvideo.
It seems to be a locally produced promotional video - somehow directed toward Witnesses in Britian. Some of the folks in the video are long time elders and fully involved families that are almost always on convention and assembly parts.
I was wondering if any others from different parts of the US have seen similar videos...
we received this link through an email chain.
not too sure what the purpose is....it's mostly about food.. .
vimeopro.com/user4747451/tnvideo.
We received this link through an email chain. Not too sure what the purpose is....it's mostly about food.
recently i had a conversation with a close witness friend.
i have always viewed him as moderate.
not full j-dub nut bag witness style.
so today's study is all about being kindly, and not judgemental to those in the congregation....we don't know their circumstances etc.... i can't believe the hypocrisy being spewed out...both in the article and by means of the answers from the audience!.
we know the reality is so different!
unless a witness does everything exactly as the gb directs...in every aspects of life, they are effectively no longer a good person, but are viewed as spiritually lacking or weak..... they are going directly beyond the biblical directives, and being ones who condemn, rather than ones who commend!.
Listen, obey and be blessed...or else.
This is typical behavior of an abusive relationship. I control you, put you down, demoralize you and slap you around tonight. Tomorrow I shower you with gifts and tell you how much I love and care for you.
here's a hypothesis that we can expect to see robustly tested over the next 2 (2016) to 5 years (2019):.
as jw.org traffic goes up, door-to-door work will go down.
it will be harder to maintain a focus on the motivation and effort required to go "out" into your local territory because the "shift" has started to occur.
I'm confident that multiple scriptural precedents will be ... uncovered. Perhaps as a 'refreshment to your soul' or 'my yoke is kindly'.
Field service has, in recent decades, become a mere social event. This fits the bill.
ginger
i used to be very impressed with convention experiences regarding how worldly employers would hire jws because they were known as the most honest workers.
i was too indoctrinated to realise these were selective experiences, and there are plenty of experiences of jws being dishonest in the workforce.
i have received a couple recently by email.. i have cut quite a bit out of the following email i received so that the person and company cannot be indentified, but you will get the message.. .
We've also had some Adventists do work for us and all too often they share the same attitude toward work - do as little as possible while earning the maximum amount of money for the job.
It's weird - I think because they also share the same 'living as alien residents' in a world ruled by Satan ... awaiting the paradise to be restored on earth.
Adventists and JW's also share the 'congregation is your family' notion and that the people in the 'world' can't be trusted - so this can justify taking advantage of employers or business owners.
