by Hopscotch 71 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Here is a scan from the Dec 15 09 Wt (study ed) with a graph of how a witness should apportion their time to remain joyful.
So according to this graph, to remain joyful a witness should spend 3 times as much of his waking hours in 'theocratic activities' as he should in secular work!
Hopscotch
Tune in next week, when they illustrate how to use the restroom.
And apparently, you should spent the same number of hours doing personal study as you spend at work.
Let's see, I worked 9 hours today, if i study for 9 hours....that leaves me 6 hours to spend time with my kids and spouse, cook meals, clean the house and....... OH, ya!!.........sleep!!
Yup, that sounds perfectly balanced to me! And happifying!!!!
So... 24 hours a day divided by 6 = 4 hours per segment. So only 4 hours per day for secular work. I don't think my company would like that very much.... but theocratic activity is fully half of your time, or 12 hours a day. Maybe they are calculating this on a weekly or monthly basis...'cause otherwise it makes no sense.
I don't see sleep even mentioned in this.... not going to last very long on no sleep. Whoa...
Coffee
There are 24 hours in a day, and 8 should be spent sleeping.
That leaves 16 hours a day to be awake. In 7 days, that's 112 hours a week to use wisely.
This Watchtower graph is split into 6 equal parts. 112 hours divided by 6 activity groupings is 18.5 hours. This is 18.5 hours a week to devote to each subject area.
A job on 18.5 hours a week? Remember, most Jehovah's Witnesses do not have a college degree and can not be high paid consultants. If fortunate, say they earn $15 an hour. At 18.5 hours a week, that's a meager $270 a week, or $1,080 a month! That, will surely feed and house a nice family? LOL.
What's puzzling is the block for meetings. Meeting time has been reduced, and is now about 4 hours a week. So, what is the Witness going to do with the extra time? It doesn't take 14.5 hours to study for or commute to meetings. And, field ministry and personal study have their own time blocks. So, is the Watchtower about to propose a change in the individual Witness lifestyle? Are longer meetings in the future?
At 18.5 hours a week for ministry, that puts everyone as Pioneers! Weren't the required hours just reduced?
Does the Watchtower really want to devote 18.5 hours a week to personal study? Could leave to the followers finding more fallacies.
Obviously, with the exception of Bethelites, very few Witnesses are spending 55.5 hours a week (that's 18.5 * 3) in meetings, ministry, and personal study.
The purpose of this Watchtower appears to be to place a further 'guilt' trip on those who are struggling to make ends meet and be good "Christians." The Watchtower is always raising the bar, and this is an attempt to make those with full time jobs "feel bad" about their choice to feed and clothe their family. Obviously, these working stiffs are depressed because they are taking time away from personal study, ministry, and meeting attendance to have a job.
How does this pan out for school children and teenagers. Try going to school for only 18.5 hours a week. Even if you are "home schooled", this is likely not going to meet education mandates.
Skeeter
HOPSCOTCH- Good thread. They say to balance the " spiritual " activities with the " secular " activities- but it's anything but balanced. If anything the WT society wants witnesses devoting at least 75 to 80 % of their time to supporting WT society endeavors. So as most mind control cults do- they keep people so busy with cult activities- there is no time left for family, social life, or work activities. It's a twisted way of life for sure
Here is a scan of the second page of this article. The paragraphs in the second column seem to me to be alluding to leaving your job if it does not leave you with enough time to keep up with all the 'theocratic activities' that you will bring you joy.
Hopscotch
To be fair I don't think that it was intended as a realistic pie chart of our weekly activities, but not to let one facet of our live overtake the other important ones.
To be fair I don't think that it was intended as a realistic pie chart of our weekly activities, but not to let one facet of our live overtake the other important ones.
Jehovah's Witnesses seem to take things literally and to follow a literal example. The artist should have made a different rendition if the activities were not to be equally divided. The Pioneers are going to look at this as a fine example of how they spend their lives "dedicated" and will continue to look down on the normal publishers who can not meet these expectations.
Skeeter
An Idiot wrote that article..
Only an Idiot..
Would take the advise of an Idiot..
.......................OUTLAW
