Tempest in a Teacup

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Posts by Tempest in a Teacup

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  27

  More congregations? One of the strategies they used to inflate the numbers in my city.

  by Tempest in a Teacup in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i looked at the 2017 yearbook figures this morning, and it reminded me of something which happened in my former congregation 2 years ago.

  it was a tiny foreign language congregation with at most 25-30 publishers.

  comes and splits a 30 member congregation into....three.

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  Tempest in a Teacup

  The number of congregations has never been a statistic that JWs have especially trumpeted

  I live in a very very multicultural and multilingual land. Over here, the growth/numbers of other/foreign language congregations have always been trumpeted (as opposed to the mainstream language congs). It is commonly perceived here as a sign of interest among the speakers of those languages, and the fact that no one is left out of their preaching effort. The last talk in the assembly always highlights their new groups/congregations/circuits formed, as well as the assemblies held by those new congregations (especially if it is their first).

  That said, one constant with the watchtower is that it uses different politic tactics to fit different contexts (we're talking about a global organization here). They maintain a system which benefits their interest until they find another way to maximize them.

  So, no, the two realities are not mutually exclusive.

  
  
• 
  27

  More congregations? One of the strategies they used to inflate the numbers in my city.

  by Tempest in a Teacup in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i looked at the 2017 yearbook figures this morning, and it reminded me of something which happened in my former congregation 2 years ago.

  it was a tiny foreign language congregation with at most 25-30 publishers.

  comes and splits a 30 member congregation into....three.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Tempest in a Teacup

  I looked at the 2017 yearbook figures this morning, and it reminded me of something which happened in my former congregation 2 years ago.

  It was a tiny foreign language congregation with at most 25-30 publishers. C.O. Comes and splits a 30 member congregation into....THREE. These new groups were made of one family, with a few single people/couples.Reasons given were that the members were coming from afar, and that more people would be interested in joining if there's a group close to their area of residence.

  I rather suspected that it was a plan for the C.O. to pompously announce (while shouting) in the following assembly that "the number of (...)speaking congregations have increased from ONE to THREE, all within a year."

  The thrilled crowd would then applaud the 'blessing from Jehovah', thinking that the split happened because the congregations overflowed with publishers.
• 
  23

  Are JWs the most gossiping people on earth?

  by Londo111 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  we all gossip.

  it is only human.

  watchtower actually tries to instruct adherents not to gossip and it can land a jw in front of a judicial committee—some do try to follow this admonition.

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  Tempest in a Teacup

  My non jw brother, after observing jws at a convention and in one or two meetings, gave us his "analysis" of the gossiping problem in jws about 20 years ago.

  He determined that the underlying reason why there's so much gossip was that we formed a society which was too closed on itself and our lives as co-believers are too intertwined.

  And so "person A's cousin is the bible student of someone 's sister in law who in turn is the best friend of someone's mother. The mother is in the same congregation as the wife of someone who studied with the nephew of the cousin of the friend of someone who has issues with the daughter of person A (and so on and so forth)". In the end, someone somewhere in the jw world will always know you/know things about you.

  I felt it makes sense. I've been paying attention since then and it's so true. Our lives are too intertwined. Of course other reasons are part of the equation.
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  53

  She displayed a literature cart in front of my house: That does it for me!

  by Tempest in a Teacup in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  is this something they've asked them to do?

  cart displays in front of their homes?

  my mom is only in her mid 60s so i'm quite sure this is not an issue of mental illness.. the only illness she's suffering from is boredom since she's refused to work for years now.

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  Tempest in a Teacup

  Oh, she came back saying that more and more elderly sisters are using that method to preach and she went on to give me a few instance of people who are doing it. I told her that I didn't care.
• 
  53

  She displayed a literature cart in front of my house: That does it for me!

  by Tempest in a Teacup in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  is this something they've asked them to do?

  cart displays in front of their homes?

  my mom is only in her mid 60s so i'm quite sure this is not an issue of mental illness.. the only illness she's suffering from is boredom since she's refused to work for years now.

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  Tempest in a Teacup

  UPDATE:

  I had a talk with her. It was a cyclical discussion. I told her that she can't put the publications in front of the house because I feel ill at ease when she does so. She asked me why I 'd feel that way. I said that I just didn't like the idea of a table full of wt publications in front of my house, and that she was free to display it wherever she wanted in town but not in front of my house.

  Being the manipulation queen that she is, she kept asking and re-asking "but why not?"and I kept repeating the same answer. At a point in time she said that she was "going to think about it ".

  Knowing her, I know she's only going to put together facts to try to convince me.
• 
  53

  She displayed a literature cart in front of my house: That does it for me!

  by Tempest in a Teacup in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  is this something they've asked them to do?

  cart displays in front of their homes?

  my mom is only in her mid 60s so i'm quite sure this is not an issue of mental illness.. the only illness she's suffering from is boredom since she's refused to work for years now.

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  Tempest in a Teacup

  If she doesn't bring anything to this relationship and arrangement, why are you supporting her?

  because I live in a culture that puts the family, especially the Mama on a pedestal and nothing take her off that position.
• 
  53

  She displayed a literature cart in front of my house: That does it for me!

  by Tempest in a Teacup in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  is this something they've asked them to do?

  cart displays in front of their homes?

  my mom is only in her mid 60s so i'm quite sure this is not an issue of mental illness.. the only illness she's suffering from is boredom since she's refused to work for years now.

  1. 
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  Tempest in a Teacup

  For the ones talking about a passive-aggressive behavior on my part, I wish to tell you that there's a simple reason I couldn't lash out at my mum as she told me about the cart: I have been fighting with her a lot recently. For her that kind of thing is normal and she would blame it on my temper instead of taking it as a serious issue.
• 
  53

  She displayed a literature cart in front of my house: That does it for me!

  by Tempest in a Teacup in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  is this something they've asked them to do?

  cart displays in front of their homes?

  my mom is only in her mid 60s so i'm quite sure this is not an issue of mental illness.. the only illness she's suffering from is boredom since she's refused to work for years now.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Tempest in a Teacup

  I have a dawn to dusk work schedule because of which most things escape my attention.

  Carla: she's already done it: a few weeks ago, she told me that she went around preaching in the immediate neighborhood.

  Once again, I was told after the deed was done.
• 
  53

  She displayed a literature cart in front of my house: That does it for me!

  by Tempest in a Teacup in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  is this something they've asked them to do?

  cart displays in front of their homes?

  my mom is only in her mid 60s so i'm quite sure this is not an issue of mental illness.. the only illness she's suffering from is boredom since she's refused to work for years now.

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  2. 
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  Tempest in a Teacup

  It's my house and she forcefully moved in to live with me.
• 
  53

  She displayed a literature cart in front of my house: That does it for me!

  by Tempest in a Teacup in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  is this something they've asked them to do?

  cart displays in front of their homes?

  my mom is only in her mid 60s so i'm quite sure this is not an issue of mental illness.. the only illness she's suffering from is boredom since she's refused to work for years now.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Tempest in a Teacup

  Is this something they've asked them to do? Cart Displays in front of their homes?
  

  My mom is only in her mid 60s so I'm quite sure this is not an issue of mental illness.

  The only illness she's suffering from is boredom since she's refused to work for years now. My mother virtually spends EVERY waking hour reading and listening to wt material.

  I don't know for how long this display thingy has been going on. She casually mentioned it this morning as she was telling me of a (non-jw related) discussion she had with someone while sitting there.

  I was mortified. The thought of my mother sitting on a chair by a table full of wt stuff in front of my house is simply mortifying for me. Heck, I moved to this area barely 2 months ago and don't want to pass as a weirdo.

  I did not tell her anything on the spot because I want to clarify this situation in all calmness and tell her in a clear and concise way that home cart display is uncalled for and unacceptable in my house.

  I'm going away for the weekend and will talk to her when I return. Any suggestions as to how to convey the message effectively?

  In case this will help: I stopped attending meetings a year ago.