the koolaid wt issue for february has an interesting article about when your baptism can be considered invalid.but the main thrust of the article is aimed at making it super clear that if you were present at your bapt.
talk and answered the two questions then forget about it, elders are put on notice to not let anyone off the hook.but... if you were committing a serious sin and hid it at the time of your baptism, then it was invalid, and point is, they'd still announce you not being "one of j.w.s" so if you plead your case to walk away from the wt saying you didn't know what you were getting into, it will do no good, but it will be grounds for an announcement.just ol' mother wt tightening up loose ends.
If they are going to get all legal here .... then I have a get out.
Although in the second of the current questions, the candiatates are asked to say yes to "do you recognise that your baptism identifies you as one of Jehovah's Witnesses" (or words to that effect), I got baptised long before they changed the questions and the second question was much more to the effect that you would do Jehovah's will hence forth as directed by the holy spirit.
catching up on some of the posts a thought came to mind..... .
if an elder or ms wants to step down, what is the process?
can it be as simple as saying "i need to step down" without having to supply an explanation?.
Old Goat - you and I share so much in common. I have had more than my fair share of run-ins with ignorant, unreasonable and power-crazed elders.
One of the biggest problems I saw as an elder was the almost uncontrollable urge by everyone in authority to make rules. Everything from what was and wasn't acceptable to wear through to where you could or could not park in the street. Surely non of this is in the Bible!
i was raised in it.
for the most part i was an exemplary jw.
i'm a very social fun loving person.
As a person, I don't think I have changed and would like to thing I am nice.
What I no longer have is the JW hang-up about worldly associates, so perhaps I am even nicer in that I no longer refuse to go out for the occassional after work beer with my colleagues.
one poster on the other thread said the elders are now destroying all records of all disfellowshipped people.
is that true?.
The names of sex offenders are treated differently and are permanently kept on the file even after reproof or reinstatement.
May be things are handled slightly differently in different countries. I agree that the names will be held permanently on file. However, the society instructed a few years ago that the details, i.e. any notes, correspondence, etc. relating to sex offenses, child molestation should be held by themselves and not the local congregation. I am sure it is a case of them not trusting, rightly so, the security of the local congregation. It is however, pretty 'big brotherish'.
Where the magical and beatiful Mary Poppins arrives on the wind! The film - Mary Poppins of course.
catching up on some of the posts a thought came to mind..... .
if an elder or ms wants to step down, what is the process?
can it be as simple as saying "i need to step down" without having to supply an explanation?.
Stepping down as an elder, now here is another source of the double standards of the whole JW set up.
When I was an elder, a situation arouse with one of my kids. This was nothing like a disfellowshipping offense but my son had been alone in my house with a ‘member of the opposite’ sex. Nothing happened and therefore no action was/could be taken.
I was under some pressure over this ‘incident’ so I offered my resignation. Now note, I offer my resignation, which could or could not have been accepted by the local body of elders. This was on the Sunday. On Monday night, I got a call saying that some other elder would be taking the group study that I normal took and that I was not take the part I was assigned on the Service Meeting.
What particularly got me about all this was that, according to JWs doctrine, elders are appointed by Holy Spirit via the branch office. As personally, I had done nothing wrong, nor indeed had my son, I felt that the matter should have gone back to the branch office and a decision made at that level as to my suitability or not to continue as an elder. However, what was very apparent was that when the knives are out for you then the local body of elders can be a law unto themselves. Of all the elders in the congregation, I had perhaps the greatest respect and was considered to be the most even-handed and consistent. I had served as an ‘appointed man’ for over 30 years. But that counts for nothing with this bunch of thankless and uncaring pseudo-Christians.
I choose not to attend the night that my removal as an elder was announced; “Brother Eyeslice is no longer an elder” (I was informed of this by wife who was there). Totally in line with the Society’s guidelines and not a word of thanks or appreciation for years of work for congregation.
I struggled on for about another year and then simply stopped attending altogether. Not a gradual fade but one Sunday I didn’t go to the meeting and have never gone back since. It has been over 6 years now and fortunately the pain, sense of betrayal and any bitterness have long gone.
I miss a few individuals who were my friends but with whim I have little to do now a days.
Do I miss the back-biting and pettiness of this religion - no.
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quite a debate has been going on in the media this week regarding carbon emissions and it has been suggested that we should either become vegetarians or at the very least drastically reduce our meat consumption.. lets face it .
I read "Diet for a new America"
I was thinking of reading this myself. John Robbins seems an interesting guy - the heir to the Baskin Robbins chain who has turned his back on big business.
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quite a debate has been going on in the media this week regarding carbon emissions and it has been suggested that we should either become vegetarians or at the very least drastically reduce our meat consumption.. lets face it .
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quite a debate has been going on in the media this week regarding carbon emissions and it has been suggested that we should either become vegetarians or at the very least drastically reduce our meat consumption.. lets face it .
Finally Free
The response was to consume lean meat
I suggest that you read a book called the China Study. It argues that there are absolutely no health benefits to eating meat over eating a plant based diet. Of the so-called 'essential' elements of our diets, that is amino acids and protiens that we as humans cannot produce in our own bodies, only vitamin B12 is problematic and this can be obtained from dairy or yeast based products.
