Private meetings banned?? (page 4)

Iown Mylife

Nobody would think we lived in a free country, hearing that.

blondie

*** w12 2/15 p. 19 par. 5 Preserve the Positive Spirit of the Congregation ***

Think also of widows, single-parent families, or other individuals who may benefit from occasionally joining us for a meal or during our family worship.

*** km 10/12 p. 6 par. 2 How to Benefit From Your Field Service Group ***

Additionally, we might occasionally invite someone from our group to join us for our Family Worship evening or for a meal.

*** km 1/11 p. 5 par. 10 Help for Families ***

What If I Am the Only One in My Family? Those who live alone can use the Family Worship evening for personal study. A good basic personal study program should include reading the Bible, preparing for meetings, and reading The Watchtower and Awake! Some publishers supplement this with a personal study project. On occasion, they may wish to invite another publisher or family to join them for an upbuilding Scriptural discussion.

troubled mind

When I was first married in 1979 my husband would never study with me . So I invited another Sister my age over to prepare meetings together . An Elder got wind of this ,and reprimanded me for circumventing the headship arrangement . Real encouraging ....

Then another time i started a sort of 'stay at home Mom' group .We could meet during the day share encouraging stories or experiences just for upbuilding association .Once again the Elders passed the word this was not an approved arrangement that could lead to things like gossip ....so the other women lost interest and it fizzled out .

Our old congrgation always took things too far . When the information came out against large gatherings they immediately went over board judgeing every picnic or graduation party as accessive . I remember several held study nights in their homes ,and being counseled about it after the Question from readers came out . After that they were just quiet about it and asked fewer people .

Such sickening control measures ...

humbled

First thing I was asked when a CO had an interview with me about a burdensome matter I had researched for some years."Have you been meeting with others? Is that why you have this concern?"

It seemed a strange line of inquirey then. But I got to understand how nervous the Org. is/was about independent study. especially in groups.

Julia Orwell

That's probably the real reason they got rid of the book study: it was pretty much a private gathering where small groups could discuss the bible. I remember the book study as my favourite meeting because it was close to home and much more informal and relaxed. You could discuss things in that group of 10-15 people that wouldn't be discussed at the hall. This informal environment must have been a perceived threat to the Org.

JWdaughter

We had groups of youth get together to study,usually at elders homes, but always at homes with responsible adult supervision. There was usually a MS or elder watching over the whole thing. Nothing egregious morally ever happened. We would study the WT, then eat and play games-all very wholesome stuff. It was the WT article in the early 8o's about 1975 that killed it. An elder WAS there with us and he shared HIS own experiences (we were all old enough to remember, but were mostly just preadolescent at the time. He washonest. Soon,the meetings ended and Bro N. was exiled somehow (don't know the whole story, but he was no longer elder in that congregation). That was a big wake up call. I already knew too much. I left shortly thereafter.

Violia

late 60's or early 70's the wts did not support private group study or private group studying for the meetings. recall very well. It occurred much earlier than the 80's, some areas were becoming aware that certain folks were conducting basically "meetings" under the guise of a study.

wannaexit

Couldn't you say that its your family worship night?

Rattigan350

Jeffro is right "The Watch Tower Society cannot ban private meetings for any purpose, but it doesn't endorse independent Bible study groups"

Why does it matter what the watchtower or the fds says about anything?

But the real issue is in this quote " meet together once a week to discuss bible topics"?

Why would they want to do such things?

frankiespeakin

Private meeting even to study their currant religious propaganda pamphlet is a threat because the strong hand of the Governing Body controlling such a gathering will be considerably weakened. With that free-er type of WT study & consideration going on some may be inclined to admit their doubts about such and such teachings of the GB, and that is what they/GB truley fear happening.

My suggestion to active JW lurkers is persue this form of get-togethers as a means of getting others to wake up out of this Governing Body induced delusion.

Private meetings banned??

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