committeechairman

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Posts by committeechairman

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  186

  Just out of curiosity, how many elders (current & ex) do we have here?

  by mrquik in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  me.

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  committeechairman

  I am currently serving as an elder.
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  35

  Earthly Organization Reset - What Would You Do?

  by committeechairman in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i've been reading and posting comments on this site for a while now (about a year) and the comments i see indicate that many who are here have good ideas about what would be required if either (1) jehovah's witnesses were completely reset and the whole framework of belief and organization were started over or (2) if a completely new organization were built.

  this assumes, of course, that you believe god exists and that he is interested in human affairs (i know some of you don't).

  it also assumes that you do not believe that the "heritage" of jehovah's witnesses has such great weight and importance that it precludes putting all beliefs and procedures on the table to examine them and change them if necessary.. given all this, what do you believe should be the beliefs and organization of true worship today?

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  committeechairman

  So, Frazzled, do you think that all organized religion eventually goes the wrong direction and starts to hurt people instead of helping them?
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  35

  Earthly Organization Reset - What Would You Do?

  by committeechairman in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i've been reading and posting comments on this site for a while now (about a year) and the comments i see indicate that many who are here have good ideas about what would be required if either (1) jehovah's witnesses were completely reset and the whole framework of belief and organization were started over or (2) if a completely new organization were built.

  this assumes, of course, that you believe god exists and that he is interested in human affairs (i know some of you don't).

  it also assumes that you do not believe that the "heritage" of jehovah's witnesses has such great weight and importance that it precludes putting all beliefs and procedures on the table to examine them and change them if necessary.. given all this, what do you believe should be the beliefs and organization of true worship today?

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  committeechairman

  One more question - what about reports and reporting? Done away with or retained and simplified?
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  35

  Earthly Organization Reset - What Would You Do?

  by committeechairman in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i've been reading and posting comments on this site for a while now (about a year) and the comments i see indicate that many who are here have good ideas about what would be required if either (1) jehovah's witnesses were completely reset and the whole framework of belief and organization were started over or (2) if a completely new organization were built.

  this assumes, of course, that you believe god exists and that he is interested in human affairs (i know some of you don't).

  it also assumes that you do not believe that the "heritage" of jehovah's witnesses has such great weight and importance that it precludes putting all beliefs and procedures on the table to examine them and change them if necessary.. given all this, what do you believe should be the beliefs and organization of true worship today?

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  committeechairman

  I've been reading and posting comments on this site for a while now (about a year) and the comments I see indicate that many who are here have good ideas about what would be required if either (1) Jehovah's Witnesses were completely reset and the whole framework of belief and organization were started over or (2) if a completely new organization were built. This assumes, of course, that you believe God exists and that he is interested in human affairs (I know some of you don't). It also assumes that you do not believe that the "heritage" of Jehovah's Witnesses has such great weight and importance that it precludes putting all beliefs and procedures on the table to examine them and change them if necessary.

  Given all this, what do you believe should be the beliefs and organization of true worship today? Should it be highly organized and centralized, loosely associated, or not organized at all with individuals handling their own worship? What beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses today seem unscriptural to you and really should be changed, and why do you think so?

  I'm looking forward to the discussion. This is my first new thread for initiation of a new discussion.
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  53

  VERY CONFIDENTIAL LETTER - Child abuse 10/01/2012

  by WatchTower87 in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  confidential letter child abuse http://adf.ly/auxbu.

  to all bodies of elders.

  the congregation secretary should arrange for this letter to be retained in the congregation permanent file of policy letters.

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  committeechairman

  OnTheWayOut:

  I won't presume to tell you how to feel about this. I only offered the information to give additional insight. I can still see how having to call the branch might appear to hinder reporting to the authorities, but I can say that the branch office did nothing other than encourage us to report it right then and cooperate with any follow up.

  I will say that the main reason for us calling in was to (1) make sure we were in compliance with local laws - no mention ever of protecting the corporation and (2) make sure there is a record of the incident so that if this comes up in another congregation or later on someone knows what is going on.
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  53

  VERY CONFIDENTIAL LETTER - Child abuse 10/01/2012

  by WatchTower87 in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  confidential letter child abuse http://adf.ly/auxbu.

  to all bodies of elders.

  the congregation secretary should arrange for this letter to be retained in the congregation permanent file of policy letters.

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  committeechairman

  I've been debating for a while about whether to post this or not, but here goes.

  Over the decades I've been serving as an elder I was fortunate enough not to have to deal with a child abuse case in the congregations I've served in. Until now (within the last year). Situation came up and I'm not going into detail about it but I will explain what the branch office did. We called as per the instructions in this letter and the response from the branch office with immediate: contact the authorities. The only issue they had with us calling was that we had not called the branch office soon enough and had not reported the issue to the authorities quickly enough. It was made clear that we should immediately (like when we hung up with the branch) report this (along with advice about the best way to report it) and that we should cooperate with authorities in their followup investigation and we could do so in the clear identifying ourselves as elders in the congregation. No cloak and dagger stuff. I had always worried that if a situation like this came up that I would have to choose whether to continue to serve as an elder or report the matter to the authorities and I had already decided that I would resign as an elder and report to and cooperate with the authorities, so this was a welcome relief.

  I'm sure this comment will whip up a firestorm of other comments. I'm not saying that what the organization does is perfect; some things have been quite broken in the past. However, it appears that in this case what is happening is correct.
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  14

  Questions During Meetings...Grounds for Suspicion?

  by Cold Steel in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  with so many meetings during the week, it seems like the opportunity to raise questions would be rich.

  i just wondered how probing questions are handled in most kingdom halls.

  are they taken as an indication of an inquisitive mind or a potential source of stumbling for weak members?

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  committeechairman

  So - when I have served as the Watchtower Study Conductor, I typically would take a question like this and ask the questioner if I could, for the sake of time, talk with them about the question after the meeting with whoever wanted to listen. That worked well and seemed to keep everyone (including my fellow elders) happy.

  I agree that most elders would not know what to do in the situation described though.
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  15

  How long will it be

  by joe134cd in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just wanting estimations on "how long do you think it will be before the society allows internet witnessing as another avenue of preaching".

  i feel it will only be a matter of time.

  they have to do something to counteract all the negative stuff.

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  committeechairman

  I give it less than 12 months. The brothers and sisters are sick of going to try to talk to people who do not want to be talked to. They are tired of going in the field ministry on Saturday or Sunday and no one is home or answers their door.

  It is interesting that there has always been this side chatter in the publications about evening witnessing. If that's really the way to do, why not then officially change the primary meetings for field service to a weekday evening? Or put the public meetings on Saturday and the door-to-door ministry on Sunday? I've never been able to understand why the schedule is stuck on Saturday when we find the least number of people home.

  I do think there is basis for adjusting the ministry method from the first century method of door-to-door (which is only tangentially mentioned and it isn't clear that this was the main evangelizing method) to one that works now. If we fast forward 20 years and say for example that it is unsafe or unhealthy to step outside our homes...will we still be required to go from door-to-door just because that is what we think first-century Christians did? It seems more reasonable to stick to the primary mission of Christians: to make disciples.

  Sorry for the rant. It is quite difficult for me to be patient and wait for the glacier-speed changes of the organization right now.
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  113

  Elders receive a report that I am openly displaying false religious symbol

  by confusedandalone in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  when you look at the image above what do you see?

  a sneaker or an outward display that i am now following after another religious group?.

  well yesterday i had a 10 minute conversation with an elder who finally got the balls to call me.

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  committeechairman

  Because what you're describing is not clearly a religious symbol, I don't believe those elders have anything to stand on in this instance. If they decide to disfellowship, they will have to send this in a report to the branch office. In the report they will have to provide detailed evidence that supports their formation of a judicial committee and a decision to disfellowship. Also, they will have to provide even more detail in the narrative for the report.

  The branch office can and will kick back disfellowshippings which have insufficient basis. I've seen more than one instance where the elders were hasty and acted without proper foundation and the branch office directed the elders to rescind the disfellowshipping and announce it to the congregation just that way.

  An interesting thought exercise is to substitute another religion. Let's say that I bought white tennis shoes with red and yellow coloring (stripes or otherwise). Those ALSO happen to be the colors of the Catholic Church (white, yellow, and red). Does it follow that I'm now a practicing Catholic if I'm not attending mass or taking part in communion? Even if I used to be a Catholic, there is no basis for an apostasy charge in my opinion here.

  If you are called to meet with a judicial committee mention very early in the hearing that you see no basis for the hearing and that you believe that the body of elders did not have proper foundation and evidence to form the judicial committee. These are code words to an experienced chairman that if they reprove or disfellowship that you believe there is basis for appeal. Also mention to them the option they have (a surprising number of elders do not realize this) that if they decide that the committee should not have been formed because the evidence is insufficient to justify a committee that this is authorized by policy in their instructions. If they decide to disfellowship, immediately request (mail a registered letter the same day if possible and hand the chairman of your committee a copy and tell the chairman orally that you will definitely be appealing the decision) an appeal hearing on the basis that there is no evidence of apostasy (you have to state why you are requesting the appeal) then if the appeal committee also upholds the decision exercise your right to send a companion letter with the report to the branch office to force the issue to senior oversight in service or the branch committee.

  Hopefully you find this helpful.
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  52

  Wasting Time In The Ministry--How Did You Do It??

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i know of a couple of elders that regularly went out in the ministry throughout the week.

  no matter which street they were on, they always seemed to be near the same spot.

  someone here talked about the michael jackson moonwalk.

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  committeechairman

  I struggle with serious, deep, chronic depression. There have been times that I (I am an elder) would deliberately arrange the group so that I was "odd man out". That meant I was going door-to-door alone. Then, when I went to each door, I would stand there for the usual amount of time that I would if no one was home, but I would not ring the bell or knock at all. The householder, if they noticed me, would simply think that they couldn't hear my knock. They were generally going to ignore me anyhow, so it didn't matter. The other publishers could not hear that I wasn't ringing the doorbell or knocking.

  I don't really do that now because I don't have nearly as much difficulty with depression any more.

  CC