Do they still have to go from door to door and fill out field service report

by eileenpage 17 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  eileenpage

  Hello there,

  My husband, daughter and myself walked away from JWs 20 years ago so we have lost touch with latest teachings. My husbands family are still JWs. One of my daughter's cousin aged 26years and just married is phoning our daughter up trying to get her back inot the WT Society. She is 30 years old and intelligent but he is saying things to make her doubt what we have told her. he is saying that JWs are very different now than 20 years ago. He his telling her You dont have to go out "Witnessing" if you dont want to.( Do they still have to record hours? ) That they can pretty much do what they want as young people play any type of music and idolise pop groups. He is trying to make it sound really good and that we are lying. Can someone tell me what it is like NOW as a JW. Thank you in advance.
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  asilentone

  yes JWs still have to fill out the field service reports. Welcome to the board!
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  yknot

  Different?...... As an active I say with all honesty....

  Same pig, new shade of lipstick!

  The new lovely shade is striking in color and deep with sparkly gems of intepretational changes that prolong the authority of the GB until 2154 at which time yet another 'generation' explanation will be put forth should this cult manage to remain.

  To make good use of this new color many company quality control measures have and are being implemented to trim the fat.....

  Here a FS change:

  *** km 11/07 p. 3 Announcements ***
  Publishers no longer need to submit a Study Report (S-3) for each home Bible study conducted during the month. However, they should continue to indicate the number of different Bible studies conducted in the appropriate column of the Field Service Report (S-4). Effective immediately, the S-3 form will be used exclusively to record congregation meeting attendance.

  Beyond that.....

  FS is a 'privilege' to be bestowed by Elders first and a duty second......

  SO sure you don't have to go out in FS, but just like 20 years ago you will be viewed as weak and unworthy.......

  A persons value is based on FS hours.
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  Sapphy

  Hi eileenpage - you've been out 20 years, I remember 20 years ago, and it's the SSDD.

  Major changes - they abolished the book study. Generation of 1914 has passed away, and they're still dancing around trying to explain it. Blood fractions are allowed, components are not.

  Field service reporting is still mandatory and they will chase your for your report relentlessly.

  Disfellowshipping is alive and well.

  College education is still a big no-no.

  Elders still rule the roost.

  Sisters still clean everything.

  Subjection and headscarves are still around.
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  teel

  Welcome Eileen

  That is simply a huge lie as it is. None of those are true. JWs are required to go FS just like they always were. They say it's "voluntary" of course, but you know of your past it's not - it's the same now too. If you don't go, you're not a good JW, and "spiritual" friends will start to evaporate, friendships revoked, etc.

  They can only play music that is deemed by the elders as acceptable. This is widely differing from congregation to congregation, but generally much of the "worldly" music is deemed as unacceptable across the board. Idolising pop groups is not only unacceptable, but I believe most elders would view it as disfellowship worthy.

  Don't forget they like to twist words to suit their purpose. They say nothing is compulsory, because you can choose not to do it. But as long as there are punishments for doing or not doing something, that is called compulsory. Don't let them trick you with their smooth words.

  Basically nothing of importance has changed. As yknot put it so eloquently "Same pig, new shade of lipstick!"
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  blondie

  Just a tweaking on the elimination of the book study, it was not eliminated but renamed the "Congregation BIBLE Study" and combined with the Theocratic School and the service meeting, all three meetings being reduced in time to last as long as the two meetings originally did.
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  Heaven

  Hi eileenpage and welcome to JWN!

  Yes, JWs still have to go door to door. Yes, they still have to report hours. There are some who have their own special brand of 'counting time' like the nut jobs that show up on Internet discussion forums trying to look all knowledgable but coming off nuttier than an acorn social amongst squirrels.

  JWs are still being told what they can and cannot do. Presently, the WTS is telling JWs to stay away from movies such as "Avatar". A couple of years back when "The Golden Compass" came out an email went around about avoiding that movie. There was also scuttle butt amongst the rank and file about "Sherlock Holmes" because of the occult parts in that movie.

  Not much has changed with regards to the overall mind control and legalism being used in this cult. It's just getting wackier and wackier. Stay away... stay far away!
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  linp24

  am not a jw, so may be wrong about this: but isn't your salvation tied into the field service that you perform. That is, if you don't do field service, you may perish at Armageddon with no hope of resurrection?
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  Terry

  In 1922 new emphasis was placed on door to door selling of books and magazines by Judge Rutherford. A set of 10 of his own books would eventually be sold for about $ 2.50 (about twenty five dollars in today's money).

  The colporteur work under Russell was not too dissimilar to Fuller Brush salesmen or vacuum cleaner sales. Rutherford would prove to be as prolific a writer as Russell and kept the pressess churning out his angry screeds which attacked Roman Catholics, Jews (Big Business), Government and imagined conspiracies with the Devil. He also whined about Prohibition, naturally, being a tippler himself.

  What is my point?

  The brothers and sisters who go door to door think they are "feeding" the flock. They imagine their "preaching work" to be something lofty and noble and divinely commissioned by Jesus Christ. It isn't and it wasn't in the past.

  Why?

  Because, the stuff they have always been peddling isn't "food" at all. It is ravings and imaginary scenarios feebly connected to interpretations of Bible verses.

  Feeding the Sheep-like ones crap is not a noble pursuit.

  The magazines and books throughout the Watchtower's history are just so much dusty garbage on bookshelves. This isn't a polemic claim on my part. NOBODY IS ALLOWED TO USE THESE BOOKS according to the Watchtower itself.

  The "food" spoiled all by itself by not being true or valuable in a historic or prophetic sense!

  It was garbage at the beginning and it is just so much garbage now it isn't useful for anything other than PROVING it is garbage!
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  eileenpage

  Hi Everyone,

  Thaank you so much for all your imput. I have copied and pasted your replies and will email them to our daughter asap. I am so grateful that we were able to escape from the cult. It too a lot of courage at the atime and we lost friends and relatives at the time amd my parents did not speak to me for a couple of years but I am so glad that we left before our daughter was a teenager. She got a good education, went to university and is now a manager of a radio station here in Hobart, Australia. Thank you all again and I will keep in touch. God Bless

  PS I went back to study as I only went to year 10. I studied social work, counselling and at the moment I am helping a local church set up a Pastoral Care Team with training workshops.