Posts by Journeyman

11

Relevant message on Reddit about current elders

by Gorb in

jw
friends

read this relevant message on reddit, about current elders.. https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/1eb0ees/the_changes_are_affecting_elders_the_hardest_in/.

spot on, isn't it?.

gorby.

Journeyman

Don't blame the Governing body because elders just follow along. They need to stand up for what they believe and be their own people.

That's all well and good, and in some cases I do agree (especially up until the recent past) that that might have been the case, but in recent years - certainly since around the 2000s when the current GB began to come together - there are a number of things that mitigate against that.

1) In some - perhaps many - congregations, some elders hold more sway than others. For example, where you have families where two or more men (perhaps father and son) are on the body of elders. In these cases, even if you are an elder trying to appeal to mercy and leniency in a judicial matter, you could be overruled and possibly even brow-beaten into changing your view to accept the harsher outcome because more influential or dominant elders force their opinion on the rest.

2) In areas where the organisation has completely changed the direction - such as the subject of submitting ministry hours, or in some doctrinal matters, you could have been a faithful elder agreeing with, and obeying, exactly what you are told for years, but now you are expected to do a complete 180° turn, yet still hold to the idea that when you were doing the exact opposite you were also doing the right thing. In such cases, that's not the choice of the elder at all - it's the GB that has moved the goalposts by "reinterpreting" the Scriptures and how they should be applied.

Also, bear in mind that in areas where elders had more discretion in the past, that has often been taken away and replaced with more explicit direction. Think for example of all the branch letters these days which give minute detail about how to carry out actions and convey information, along with frequent revisions to the elders' Shepherd book on what should or should not be done in various matters.

Think also of the congregation meetings themselves: years ago, the organisation provided an outline programme in the Kingdom Ministry of how each midweek meeting should be conducted, but local elders could (and did) deliver and emphasise points according to their own discretion for their own congregation. Now meetings are increasingly proscriptive, often with videos which are expected to be played directly, and only limited, pre-formatted questions which must be asked, with no additional time for variation or deviation from the "script". Likewise, the CBS, which has been brought into the main midweek meeting and so now has little variance, and also often has significant video segments (depending on the publication). Even the CO visits can have video clips directed from "on high" from GB HQ itself.

The room for elders to apply their own "Bible-based conscience", knowledge of the local Witnesses, or personal discretion has been severely reduced in many areas, now that everything is provided directly from "mother" online and in videos and broadcasts.

136

List of UK Travelling Overseers in 2013

by soiledumpling in

hi pepeep am attempting to get a current list of uk travelling overseers.

left 4 years ago and have heard rumours of many new ones.

.

Journeyman

Is Andrew Smith still on the circuit?

Was he short and chubby? Quite friendly for a CO? If so, he reminded me of a hamster - small and round with no neck! Seemed decent enough, although I didn't really have any dealings with him.

Last I heard, he was on a foreign language circuit somewhere in London. Arabic I think? But that was just before COVID so he'd be somewhere else by now I reckon.

29

2024--Become a Circuit Overseer in Your Mid-to-Late 20's!

by Atlantis in

jw
friends

become a circuit overseer in your mid to late 20's.

you would have had to qualify as an elder previously.

this would mean the male would have had to have been an elder in his early 20's.

Journeyman

They don't have a choice IMO. The number of older men who are still willing to carry the water for WTC is diminishing quickly, and there is a gap of elders in the 30-50 year bracket. They are actually targeting teenagers, hoping that they will be incentivized to stick with the org instead of leaving when they hit their 20's.
THEY MUST MAINTAIN CONTROL OF THE SHEEP - even if they have to use pre-pubescent boys to do so.

You could be right, but if that is their thinking, it's also doomed to fail. Fast-tracking inexperienced, ill-prepared young men into positions of leadership is a sure-fire way to wreck things, both administratively and in terms of personalities and congregation "harmony".

Again, look at examples from the "real" world - when too many young and newly-promoted people rise to the top in the police, military, skilled trades and industry, and so on, the quality of output, workmanship and reputation all suffer. You need a balance of youthful energy and creativity from new members along with maturity of experience and thought from older members to get the best out of a group dynamic (and to be more representative).

Tight pants told us, if you're not a MS in your early 20's who would want to be around you.

Yeah, and whatever happened to him? I wonder if he ever reflects on the old adage: "It's not where you start, it's where you finish".

As BluesBrother hinted at, I would bet a lot of these fast-tracked young men will fall away (their beliefs will be too weak and untested or they will just change their mind and be drawn to other things - and people - outside) or they will burn out due to lacking the maturity to pace themselves and balance their lives. And on the way, they will mess up a lot of other people who actually try to follow their "guidance" as "older men". I think any older people - married couples, parents, etc - will just nod at their immature "instruction", stop listening and go and do what they think is best - which will be exactly the opposite of what the Org wants.

25

Not going to say a word

by berrygerry in

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-0p-5x2g4w.

Journeyman

It's part of the reason why I've always thought the Bethel environment an unhealthy one.

Self-contained (and often rigidly enforced single-sex) environments like military bases, youth camps, religious seminaries and so on have all proved to be perfect environments for the proliferation of sexual deviance, excessive mental and social control, power trips, violence and other unhealthy behaviours.

Jesus encouraged his disciples to live relatively "normal" lives within their own communities ("In the world but no part of the world", etc), not shut themselves away in private communes.

11

Why the term "disfellowshipped " was removed

by raymond frantz in

https://youtu.be/ags07jlopcy?si=g9ra1jqksuuauyax.

Journeyman

This is yet another example of the rushed and muddled thinking and lack of proper advanced planning in the Org these days.

Major changes like removing the phrase "disfellowshipping" - even if only semantics in the end - will have huge implications for all the videos, webpages and print publications already released (as Jeffro indicates above).

So once again, the Org is going to have to throw time and (more importantly for them) money at changing all that stuff again. Ok, you could argue that the electronic materials will not really cost them, as it's only the time of their IT staff, and that's free labour.

But reprinting all those Enjoy Life study brochures and books? And what about the current book they're studying at the Book Study? They've only just reissued that again in 2023. And of course, yet another edition of the Elders book and the Pioneer school book, among other print materials. What a load more waste, with no proper planning.

And of course, no guarantee they won't change something else that's pretty major in another 6 months or a year, as they stumble from one legal challenge or doctrinal about-turn to another. And the more fancy material they propagate - videos, animations, etc - the more they set themselves up for having to change later.

For all it's flaws in the past, at least the basic theology appeared to have some sort of internal "logic" and integrity. Now it's just change and tinker about with whatever you want to, from year to year, even if it messes up other stuff in the doctrine.

I think, as someone has said before, they miss having a Fred Franz character who at least had some kind of "big picture" idea of what to believe. Now it's just make it up as you go along.

1

What do door-to-door Jehovah's Witnesses do when someone speaks another language than is common in the community?

by JenovasWitness in

don't mind me, am new.

the lemm.ee jw community (where i'm shinigamiookamiryuu) died so expect more questions.. i have a question.

what do door-to-door witnesses do when someone whose door they knock on speaks another language?

Journeyman

They used to have a handbook called Good News for All Nations with a potted introduction in multiple languages which could be shown to the householder (if you could find out from them what language they speak) and which enabled the publisher to go back with literature in their language and pass on their details to an appropriate language congregation. If permission was given (or often, even if it wasn't - in the UK and EU this was the days before GDPR) the details were then written on a yellow slip and given to the relevant language congregation.

Today there are two other options, both of which require a mobile device: Download/playback a relevant video in their language from the JW Library app or the JW website, or if you really want to make the effort, use the fairly new JW Language app to find out some sentences in that language to make basic conversation. It is a kind of Babelfish tool, which enables the publisher to have some handy preaching phrases.

Of course, you can also just have a few basic items like tracts with you in other languages, if you know what the main ones are. In the UK, apart from the main European languages, it's mainly going to be Polish, Romanian, Albanian, Arabic and some South Asian languages like Urdu, or Punjabi. Then just hand someone one of those to read and direct them to the JW website to find their own language for themselves. That's the lazier option.

2952

It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars (continued)

by Simon in

jw
friends

uh oh, looks like the mega thread gave up the ghost, so while i investigate / fix it just continue the discussion here .... it's been a long 9 years lloyd evans / john cedars.

Journeyman

It’s a shame really, how things have ended, as his work was to a very high standard. [...] He is also the only guy I know of who has been able to make a living on the back of watchtower, and I think in his prime, quite a successful one.

While it's true he was successful at making a living for a while, and I did used to enjoy watching some of his content for a period of a year or so up until he imploded, it now seems clear that even during that seemingly most successful time, he was really leeching off the work of others (for example, Mark O'Donnell, Covert Fade and other contacts doing the actual legwork, Dijana and Tibor doing video work and admin, Kim and Producer Bob, and so on).

He had a certain way of fronting and presenting which appeared at least semi-professional, with his extensive JW library and the bunker, but we now know it was all just for show, with no real depth.

His decisions since being forced to go solo show that the real creativity, knowledge and skill did not originate from him but from the people he gravitated towards and kept around him.

19

It's been ten years since congregations surrendered their finances to HQ

by truthseeker in

jw
friends

anyone have any anecdotal reports of individual congregation finances since the stealth takeover by the wt of their checking accounts?.

are donations up?

can they pay their bills?.

Journeyman

THE BOTTOM LINE
Is your KH getting a facelift, new carpet, new chairs, new roof? Then get ready to go somewhere else because it will likely be sold as soon as a buyer is found.

That's not been my experience. I've seen money spent on refurbs at halls in my area, but there is no choice for the local congregations on how it is spent (which suppliers, materials, colours, etc). I believe the Regional Building Committee or whatever it is called now makes all those decisions and is the one through whom the Org spends the money, so local bros don't see any of it. However, no suggestion of selling off the facilities since the refurb. But then, as I live in a major city where the nearest few halls are busy and in constant, frequent use, there is less likelihood they will just be sold off.

I've noticed more in line with what skin reported: the congregation has detailed accounts, down to the penny, but there is always a regular amount sent to the Org. As I recall, the Org has set a maximum limit on each congregation for what they can retain for local expenses - the rest has to be sent to the Branch. Kind of like being allowed a "pocket money" allowance, even though it's the local bros and sisters who provide the money in the first place!

Then there is a "recommended" regular contribution per publisher for things like convention, CO visit and other such 'expenses', which, as skin said, are decided by vote of all baptised members, but where there is basically a kind of "three-line whip" to shame/force everyone into voting the "right" way.

52

What would happen if the religion just straight out gets outed as bad? The ORG admits to it and all the members get told to disperse

by Starlight.vee in

like the org just gives up and comes out saying that all of what they are saying is untrue and that there is no armageddon, nothing.

how do y’all think the the members still in it would react?.

there be a mental health crisis i perhaps.

Journeyman

It's a ridiculous scenario, but if we were to entertain it for a minute, I presume that what would happen is that a core of "true believers" would simply go off and form a new offshoot (or maybe several).

That's been the history of religious groups (and indeed any other organisations where there remains a core of committed "believers" in the original principles, like charities or businesses too).

So there would be something like "Jah's New Witnesses" or somesuch, which would be a much smaller splinter group, possibly with other similar break away groups, while others would either go away to other Bible groups, some might go to mainstream churches, and the rest would get on with their lives in other ways, maybe just keeping their beliefs private from then on.

25

New instructions on not using sisters to manage KH computer ?

by fifth.column in

since covid in france, especially in the countryside with lack of brothers, it was quite common that some sisters were using the computer at the back of the kingdom hall to manage zoom session.. i heard a rumor that new instructions, maybe a july letter, stated that this was reserved for male only, even unbaptised publishers, but no sister if there is at least a male available.

that would be a steps back and disappointment for these sisters.

last week i heard at my mom’s house how they were happy that this service was available for them, a proof that the org was moving forward.

Journeyman

Today WTC is hanging on by their fingernails and still belittling women who make up over 65% of their publisher base. It's a head scratcher.

That, coupled with the comment in the October WT about appointing COs in the mid-twenties, shows the current GB continue to be masters at shooting themselves in both feet, while at the same time boasting of how "Jehovah is enabling them to keep standing"!

There's an old joke about a drowning man who refuses help from rescuers on land and in boats, saying "God will save me!" and who drowns anyway. When he gets to the gates of Heaven he asks "Why didn't God save me?" and St Peter tells him: "God tried to save you - he sent you all those rescuers, but you turned them away!"

The GB are somewhat like that. They keep proclaiming that God will help them and rescue them when they are attacked, yet they keep making foolish and indefensible decisions and pronouncements, ignoring the advice of more moderate members - even after occasionally making some correct changes (like the recent relaxations on beards and women wearing trousers).