counting time (2)

by varian 17 Replies latest jw friends

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  varian

  i know i´m a simple mind, but if 3 jws study with a jw-child or someone else for an hour, they´ll all report there own time, which will add up to 3 hours, right? but the real netto time spent for the study is obviously 1 hour, no matter how many jws took part. am i seeing a mathimatical fault?

  another question: why don´t jws also use modern media for preaching? if the end was really just round the corner, wouldn´t it be appropriate to do everything possible by using tv, internet, radio etc.? they used radio before alot in the 30ies and 40ies, so why have this changed. modern media is proven to be very effectiv, so why are they refusing it?

  thanks in advance.

  varian
• 

  wobble

  The door to door work is encouraged by the GB simply to keep the Dubs busy, as are all the meetings and study and stuff, so the Dubs don't have time to think or question.

  The GB knows as well as you and I ,that it takes 30 years of an average publishers door knocking to make one convert.

  They are afraid to use TV and the Net as any religion that truly believed its own BS would, because TV programmes are open to ridicule in the most public way and to rebuttal, plus the Mormons would only go and produce a much, much better one,same applies on-line.

  The conclusion is that they are only in it for the money that maintains their rock-star life style, and the best way to do that is to keep as many trapped in the mind-control of the cult as possible.

  As I said on another thread, I do think they must be frantically looking around for another method of recruiting, but whatever that may be, it must not exacerbate the problem they have at present of 1,400 or so leaving each week.
• 

  Amelia Ashton

  OMG you are so right!

  I went on a Bible Study with a pioneer brother which included a meal. They started cooking about an hour after we arrived. We ate a very enjoyable and leisurely meal and then had the study. The Bible Study was 3 paragraphs of a brochure in their language but we had our own English copies. The whole visit lasted 3 hours but the study was only 15 mins.

  I counted just the 15 minutes we studied but the pioneer brother counted the whole 3 hours and also the travelling time because it was a "foreign language" study outside of our own territory. He was allowed to because he was a pioneer but I was just a normal publisher and could have only counted the time if I had started my ministry by speaking to someone before getting in the car!

  I completely missed the fact at the time. The time we were counting was the same time twice. I was too annoyed that my conscience wouldn't allow me to count the full 3 hours.

  If I had been a pioneer we would have counted a total of 6 hours for a fifteen minute study! Does this seem an even remotely honest or accurate way of reporting time spent preaching!
• 

  nugget

  You are not actually counting time you are measuring levels of control. The Field service is only of significance to those that participate in it so it measures how much time each individual could have spent doing something for themselves but chose to give to the society.

  It is a way of confirming how strongly someone is conditioned and therefore how likely they are to tow the party line if given greater responsibility. It is also a way of telling people they should do more. Publishers are told they should strive to be pioneers, Pioneers are told they should have better quality of service and be an example to inspire others. Everyone is made to feel they could do more.

  They don't seek accuracy as long as people feel obliged to report they are still under the influence of the organisation.
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  Amelia Ashton

  I so wish I had lied on my FS reports now.
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  DagothUr

  According to the rules, his counting was right. A publisher starts counting time from the moment he starts preaching (the most experienced JWs use to give a flyer on the street right after they leave into FS) until the moment he leaves the last visited person. It does not matter if they spoke of the Bible or not, it does not matter if they spoke about spiritual matters or not. When a JW is talking with a "visit", it enough if he just lightly brushes spiritual stuff into discussion. The rest can be about everything, from football to painting the fence and it's called "manifestation of interest towards the visited person". You should have also counted the full 6 hours. It's legit. You were both in FS for that amount of time. It does not matter if you are a pioneer or not. However, that visit counts as 1 only for the person who initiated it (in this case, the pioneer). But the time can be reported by both participants.
• 

  Kahlua

  I had noticed this also when my elderly aunt was having a 'study'. 2 or 3 people would come and stay a couple hours visiting, maybe read a few paragraphs and leave her some literature. Oh, yeah, and she would always give them some money. I suppose only one of them could count the 'study' but the others could count the time and probably a return visit. My aunt is now 90 and will never go to another KH or assembly because of her health. The only good thing is it was company for her to break up her boring day and the wits got to count all that time on one person that will never be a publisher again.

  The same thing happened when my father was in the hospital just before he died. 3 ladies came to visit him. It was obvious they were in field circus. They drove about an hour each way to the hospital and stayed about 15 or 20 minutes. One lady left the WT and Awake! and told him he could give them to his nurse. I figured that was a good 6 or 7 hours of time counted plus 2 mags 'placed'. Then dad could have 'placed' the same mags again with his nurse - had they not disappeared shortly after the ladies left - oops, where did those things go?
• 

  joeblow

  This all reminds me of my own time reporting.

  My parents would do what they could to get the family out at least one Saturday per month for at least 2 hours. I would of course report that time - I didn't have much choice since my father was responsible at the time for collecting all the service reports.

  When I hit 18 and moved out on my own to a different town, my "real" field ministry dropped to zero, although I still reported time. At first it was hours similar to what I reported while living at home... about 10 hours per month. I'd put a different number every month... sometimes 9 hours, sometimes 12 and so on so it appeared to be more real on the monthly reports. That soon dropped to 1 hour per month just to put in a number... This 1 hour thing continued for about 10 years... I still attended some meetings simply because it was expected... so since i was attending, I was also pressured into submitting a report. Funny thing is, for virtually the entire time I never once was out in FS with anyone in the cong.. but no one questioned it as long as I submitted some kind of report.

  Eventually I clued in that no one was really checking on me... so I stopped submitting FS reports altogether. I was hounded a few times to begin with, but soon that stopped. They never asked... I never volunteered any info.

  This was not just in one cong either, but stretched over many congs in at least 3 or 4 different countries over the space of about 20 years.

  I know I'm not the only one that has done this. I remember looking at the YearBook, and checking the service reports for various countries and wondering how many of those hours were faked. i knew I wasn't the only faker... I guessed that at least half of the people I was aquainted with at the time... maybe even more, faked their FS reports.... extend that out over a city... a country... that's a LOT of fake hours.

  Hmmmm just like so much in the JW thing... fake everything.
• 

  Ding

  As I read DagothUr's explanation of the rules, it struck me how similar a legalistic religion like the WTS is to a government bureaucracy.

  No one really cares how much useful work is done.

  What matters is following the rules and filling out reports.

  Can you imagine the apostle Paul sending time cards back to Jerusalem to be inspected by Peter, James, and John?

  Can you imagine Paul agonizing about whether he could count his tentmaking time on the grounds that it was a "manifestation of interest towards the visited person"?
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  Joliette

  OMG I hated turning in time. I never got any time anyways so what the hell was the point.