by Quarterback 28 Replies latest jw friends
It is possible that they are heavily involved in RBC work. Regular pioneers get to count their RBC time on their report.
Of course, that shouldn't make up the entirety of the hours.
But, as has been pointed out above, the whole "count your time" thing is extra-scriptural anyway, so what difference does it really make anyway?
Objrctive truth: "-- Noah's LIFE SAVING work preaching of rightiousness--" like today's text? How many lives did Noah save that way? How many are really recruited by D2D? and CO seem to be in the dis-appearing mode after the 'arrangement',
they are wise, it is a charade, the flood story is fudged, there was no noah.
I have seen several couples and families doing the same thing. They don’t even join other groups. When they show up in the FS group they go together and say they have special arrangement so that no one goes with them. And at the meeting they will refer to this special arrangement as a special RV. The interesting part we never saw them bring anyone new to the meeting even though they have several bible studies with student fighting to be part of the WTS.
Shows how fake the annual figures published by WTS - wonder the percentage of JWs doing so and how this skews the stats.
I remember working with a CO who wasn't really much of a "ministry man" one Friday morning. I'd taken the morning off work and arranged the territory.
As I got into his car at the Kingdom Hall , he said "do you know any good places to wash cars?" Knowing from previous experience & the other elders how this guy operated , I jumped out , buttonholed an MS , gave him the map & asked him to make sure everyone was ok for the morning & keep an eye on the brothers for the territory.
So we trundled off to a garage , took the car to a car wash. There was a bit of a queue and frankly his car was a lot cleaner than mine , but we waited patiently. After washing , he asked if I had any magazine calls so I popped to one close by who was inevitably not home. Then he wanted to pop to the bank and pick up a few things at the corner shop. Then he saw a coffee shop so we had a coffee as he said he wanted to discuss the spiritual state of the congregation ( ie dire , as usual ) for a few minutes. Ironically one of his concerns was that not many were pioneering and the brothers weren't doing well in terms of rvs or studies! We gossipped about people we knew and spoke about sport - he was a bit football ( soccer ) fan. Then we went to the house where the break was , and had a coffee and cake there. Then I went home & he went for his lunch. That was the whole extent of our ministry. Still - I booked 2 hours! On Sunday , he spoke about what an excellent week of activity was had by all on the ministry.
In one of my previous congregations, 20 or so years ago, there was an enclave of old Rutherford-era JWs. At the meetings, they were friendly and mixed in with everyone else, but for field service, they all stuck together. Never went to a congregation FS meeting. Checked out their "favorite" territories over & over again, and worked only with each other.
It's not uncommon for groups of people to always want to stick together in FS. The elders are supposed to discourage it, but it's usually pretty far down on the list of priorities.
I agree, as some have mentioned, that some of the phantoms might be spending some time on RBC work, disaster relief work, etc. However, such should not be reported as field service time. A lot of publishers, including elders, don't know how this is supposed to work, and as a result, time is wrongly reported as field service time.
Here's how it's supposed to work (unless there's been some change lately). Suppose a reg pio works on RBC projects for 60 hrs one month and spends 10 hrs in the ministry (or at least pretending to be in the ministry). He should only report 10 hrs for the ministry and he should inform the elders (mainly secretary) somehow (maybe noting on field service report form) that he spent 60 hrs on RBC work. If he did that all twelve months of the year, then at the end of the year he would only have 120 hrs on his card as actual ministry time but a note indicating 720 hrs credit. So if the elders felt the credit was legitimate, he would be considered to have fulfulled his hour requirement. However, he only reported 120 hrs in the ministry; the 720 hrs are a credit toward the 840 hr requirement.
Many actually report the RBC, etc. time as field service time; that's not right. Another example. Reg pios are given credit towards their hour requirement for attending Pioneer Service School. I forgot how many hours, but just say, for example, 50. Many actually report that 50 as field service time. They shouldn't. At the end of the year, if they hit the 840 hr mark exactly and did only actual field service and went to pioneer school, their cards would show 790 hrs actual time and 50 hrs credit.
So, it should be obvious, at least to elders, whether the phantoms are actually in the ministry or working on other projects.
Another point about this topic - in my area it is considered to be far easier to work on RBC projects, participate in disaster relief work, etc. than to go in field service. Some even live for the RBC projects and love disaster relief work. That kind of work can be exciting, interesting, and outright fun. That's not wrong in itself. However, the majority of those in my area who participate in such work do not support the ministry; they hate it. I recently saw a swarm of hard-hatted RBC workers on a kingdom hall site, and I remarked to my wife "how many would you see here if the project were to work in field service?".
Consider the following two options: #1 - You can go in your jeans to work on an RBC project or do disaster relief work. #2 - You can spend the same amount of time in a suit or dress in one of those dreadful, depressing field service territories where nobody's interested in the least and you're viewed as a cultish, lunatic, religious nut. The driveways are long and you're watched the whole time you're walking down them.
I believe that most of us here, if not all, would agree that if we were choosing just according to what would be the easiest, we'd choose #1. I would have preferred the #1 option all my years, but I chose #2 because my heart was in it and I really believed in it.
It seems to me that the ones the opening post referred to want the glory of being known as a sub CO couple and being reg pios, but they don't want to do the dirty work.
P.S. I have nothing against helping others through disaster relief, etc. I just want those who do it to be honest. If they're JWs I just wish they'd admit "hey, I'd far rather be doing this than going out in the ministry". I don't like the type who claim to be reg pios and who want the glory, but who don't do the dirty work - who look for creative ways to get time and not actually have to participate in the ministry.
Haha invisible publishers, maybe they are Awake! They may know TTATT and just can't preach anymore and lie about their hours.
I have seen ones like this. They are faking in one way or another. I kind of feel sorry for them because they are trapped and confused. They really don't know TTATT but know something is up with the preaching work. Preaching is just recruiting for the GB, these ones are fed up of being recruiters but don't know how to leave the BOrg.
Kate xx
Haha dozy you do have some good stories. I bet I know the C.O. you mean as well, getting his car washed.
I also love that you're implying elders count ministry time for judicial committee work and DF'ing appeals!
