I'm a Neutral Jehovah's Witness

by Martini 105 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Martini

  Dear Brothers and Sisters,

  I Martini, will confide in you that I have become a Neutral Jehovah's Witness. I wonder if I'm not coining a new phrase here!
  I believe this is a catagory of latter day witnesses who like me are still active but in their heart of hearts are tired of the routine. They no longer wish to follow entirely the prescribed pattern of spiritual and material behavior recommended in detail to us through the pages of the Watchtower.

  Does anybody hear what I am saying?
  Brothers where is the problem with these folks, like myself?

  I need your comments to ponder.
  Please don't parrot by saying..."be regular at your meetings, be regular in field service, read your bible, pray and comment at all your meetings", because I've heard this all before, and...
  IT is NOT working for me personally!

  Are there ONLY 2 options;
  1.To remain Neutral and unhappy in serving
  God through the WT prescribed way OR
  2.To leave the Organization and heeping upon myself all the consequences of losing family,
  and possibly to lose God's favor and be destroyed by Him?

  Martini, who has waited long enough to ask these tough questions.
• 

  claudia

  Martini, I feel the same way you do, I have no answers it seems. I think just knowing there are others who feel the same way is theraputic. Neutral jehovahs witness=jumbo shrimp. lol
• 

  spectromize

  Martini,

  I hear what your saying and I would like to encourage you not to lose faith in Jehovah God.

  Thru the pages of the Bible, God has always given us men of faith and their exemplary way of life as an example of who can become God's friend.

  The eyes of Jehovah are searching the earth in search of the ones who will worship Him with spirit and truth.

  As we enter a new era in human history because of the internet and it's massive data of info and especially the info regarding our worship, you should feel it to be a very priviledge time for you and your family.

  Why here I am typing some words of encouragement for you Martini and I have never met you in person and yet I understand what your trying to express. Don't feel like your the only one. I too have felt this way. The best part of it is your faith is being tested.

  I can certainly say mine was, and I have come to the conclusion , to make sure your worship is directed in the right place. That is the worship of Jehovah God above anyone or anything else.

  I have come to the conclusion by reading the diffrent web sites on the internet that the society is right in a lot of their teachings but dead wrong in certain areas and use the excuse to wait on Jehovah to correct things, while it is in the power of their very hand to change things quickly for the benefit of the brotherhood but most importantly pleasing our Heavenly Father in spirit and truth.

  Have you notice so many who call themselves true JW's shy away from difficult questions concerning our doctrines? We are supposed to be champions of truth so why the fear to discuss difficult issues? Certainly our examplar Jesus was a very public person with his beliefs, he had an answer for everybody, which meant answering some of the vilest persons and most importantly truth lovers. In this way He showed perfect love by throwing fear outside. He also used his reason to discern and give an answer to people who had no love of truth and wanted to rob him of his time.

  So in conclusion Martini I would just like to say keep your head up and may Jehovah answer your prayers for he really does love His sheep. You have to remember this is only step one in the training of Godly individuals and lovers of truth. Truth lovers are able to take it when they are wrong or right, they acknowledge, they don't run and hide like the ostrich. In this system of things as we near the end, we have a very good preview of what our tests will be like for any who make it in the new system and approach the end of the thousand years while satan is let loose. What I'm still learning is this, to never confuse your loyalties or you worship. God's law comes first. He is the one that trains you if you stay close to Him. The end result is a close relationship with Him and the free gift of life in His new order.

  In conclusion I just want to say the society has taught us many truths by many faithful brothers over the years of which I'm forever grateful to Jehovah for providing these men. However our worship goes to God not men.
• 

  Frenchy

  Good advice given here Martini. One of the problems with our faith is that it sells itself as the EXCLUSIVE channel to God and that unless it's entire agenda and program is followed God will turn his back on us. In actuality, Jesus is the way to Jehovah and NEVER, EVER, has Jehovah authorized an organization to speak for him. As a matter of fact, he's had some rather bad experiences with organizations in the past. (Israel, who could not remain faithful and early Christianity which apostated within one generation) It's interesting that you said you did not want to hear that old song and dance routine about going to your meetings and going out in service. This is what being a witness has been reduced to. This is virtually the only advice you ever receive from elders, CO's, publications, and public talks.

  When was the last time you heard a public talk about cultivating a love for God without all the hype about field service, the meetings, and being loyal to the 'faithful slave' (translation: Governing body)? When was the last time you heard ANY talk from the platform that brought tears to your eyes instead of making you yawn and look at your watch? When was the last time you were truly inspired at a meeting, when you felt like standing on your roof top and shouting to the world how good God and Jesus have been to us and how much you love them?

  No more passion in our worship. As a matter of fact we are not called God's children anymore (we are told that if we are of the 'other sheep' we are only his friends by the Society, not his children!) we are referred to as 'PUBLISHERS'. Now how does that grab you? This is how we are thought of at Society headquarters, publishers of their literature.

  Is it any wonder that there is disgruntlement? Many, many are becoming disillusioned each and every day. It saddens me so to know that our faith has become hollow.
• 

  Martini

  To my friends 7of9,Claudia,Spectromise and
  Frenchy.

  Thanks, you guys are wonderful.
  This forum is becoming a special meeting place for me, thanks Simon.
  It feels good to be able to speak up and to sense some understanding, finally!
  I hate to think that after two and a half
  decades, logging on tens of thousands of
  service hours, helping a half dozen young
  folks find the 'way' to God, that all this
  should be reduced to 'dust in the wind'!

  As of yet I have no idea where the dust will settle, but perhaps those of us on a board like this can be supportive and assist one another to deal with our individual and personal concerns. Perhaps the Society feels they have the Elder arrangement in place to deal with these issues, but in reality those poor men are hard straped to following written rules and regulations in handling sensitive issues, such as those I have expressed. Myself and I'm sure all of you do not wish to make any trouble for the Society but we do want to be heard. I wish the brothers in leadership roles would listen to our pleas for honest discussion.
  Perhaps indirectly we can communicate to the Society through our posts right here, right now!

  Love you guys, please let's continue to talk along these lines.

  Martini, who is stuck in Neutral!
• 

  Simon

  I'm really glad you're finding this forum useful. This is exactly the kind of discussion that I thought it would be useful for - the things that need to be discussed but can't easily be raised with local elders because of how they've been instructed to handle them.
  I'm sure that if enough people express concern on a particular issue that they can't ignore the feeling behind it.
• 

  Seven

  Martini,

  It's good to know that we can all be a source of comfort to each other. I look forward to many discussions in the future along this line.

  hugs to all,
  7of9
• 

  spectromize

  Martini,

  Peace be with you, and hope that anybody here posting or lurking bring forth difficult issues they are dealing with, in order to attain to a more accurate picture of truth.

  Christian love,
  spectromize.
• 

  Frenchy

  Having served many years as an elder myself I can truly sympathize with those that are sincerely trying their best to serve those under their care. But as you have mentioned here, these poor brothers are severely limited in what they are allowed to do to serve their brothers. The elders are confined to merely pointing out Watchtower articles in lieu of straightforward replies to urgent and straightforward questions.

  I would like to give you an example of one such instance which occurred not too long ago while I was serving as P.O. of our congregation. One of the elders had a grandson who was an unbaptized publisher and living with him. In time the young man began dating a 'worldly' girl. He brought her to the meetings and introduced her to all the friends. Well, two of the elders jumped on that like the proverbial duck on a junebug and pulled him in the back room and gave him a verbal thrashing for courting an unbeliever (translation of unbeliever: Anyone not a witness). Well the romance progressed to the point where the two of them announced a wedding date. More back room talks with the young man. Shortly thereafter the C.O. visits and it's immediately brought to his attention. Well, he doesn't like it and wants to make sure that a 'marking talk' has been given and he tells the elder that if he attends his grandson's wedding that he will be removed.

  That's when I raise my hand and ask the C.O. 'Excuse me, but I need some clarification on something here. The boy is not baptized so he can't court a sister or else she'll be marked as well. Now you say that he can't court a 'worldly' person. Is he to remain celibate?"

  The C.O. stammered and mumbled and repeated what he had previously said about the dangers of being 'unevenly yoked' but he NEVER did answer my question. There was no canned response for this particular situation so he could not say a thing. NOTHING can be said unless it's been printed in an article or sent in a letter from Brooklyn.

  The elder had to buy a mobile home and set it up on some property he had so that his grandson could move in in order not to be removed as an elder. Now the young man does not ever come to a meeting and his new bride is disgusted with the whole congregation for the way her husband was treated. She was studying for a while but as soon as they were married she stopped. I can't rightly say that I blame her.
• 

  mgm

  Hello
  great discussion forum, with some great topics too, not only: "Which is your favorite soap?"
  I can say, I am also a so called "neutral Witness". I don't set myself under pressure and don't hesitate to say "no" to anybody, if I don't like it.
  More later
  nice day