i was having an affair with a pioneer at the time and a girl who was disfellowshipped was in the loo at the hall (she actually had not done aything scriptually wrong (but the elders thought she had ) i tried to smile at her as i felt i was not in a position to judge anyone as guilt was destroying me but she just looked down at the floor , 14 years later we are good friends and both "free".
when you were "in" and ignored disfellowshipped did you ever think "im not in a position to judge anyone " ?.
As an elder I followed the Society's general guidance but at the same time as an elder you had some leeway to check to see if they wanted to return.
After I stepped down, I made it a point to always speak to disfellowshipped ones, even to the point of taking them out for a few beers. It amazing what you find out.
Disfellowshipping and the subsequent shunning is a way of getting rid of people and then making sure they never get to tell their side of the story.
hey!.
the following story is apparently circulating in several south-american bethel-branches: after the earthquake in haiti, the wts was the first provide help in the form of 18 doctors who was transported in by air.
this clearly show how well the organization work bla bla bla.. im curious if anyone else here has heard this story, or have information about how effective the wts helping work really was..
The WT don't do humanitarian work. Even if they were first on the scene; (1) they look after their own first and (2) they offer only to convert non Witnesses.
Despite all they may say they do not follow Christ's example.
can anyone compile a list of as many as possible past and present co/do's from the uk?
Ray Midgley could be very intimidating though I suspect he had a dry sense of humour.
On one visit he had banged on about modern pop music. So at a coffee break Iduring field service, asked him, "well Ray what sort of music do you like then?" He said "oh something like Gilbert and Sullivan". I feigned shock and indignation, "not subversive Victorian satire; didn't you know it was considered very shocking in its day?". He just gave a wry smile.
this was a huge source of contention between me and my ex.
my parents were in the same district as us; i always thought it would be nice to sit together especially when i had two daughters in one year.
my ex rufused to sit with my parents if they saved us seats and he would never allow me to save two seats for them.
I don't care any more.
I don't go to any Kingdom Hall meetings so no problems there.
I go to the Circuit and District Assemblies to support my wife. Finding a seat is a problem when there is just two of you.
so then, we come to the topic of 1914, again.. a lot of us on here have said it, and so i decided to write about it.. http://www.jehovahswitnessblog.com/2010/01/1914-soon-to-be-forgotten.html.
cheers,.
carlos.
I am in two minds about it.
The 1914 doctrine is becoming less and less relevant as the years slip by. On the other hand they just don't seem to be able to drop it, it is still mentioned frequently enough in the literature although these are more vague now a days.
I think that it would be extremely difficult to drop it in the near future without it having a big effect on many.
http://www.jwbrothers.org/play.php?vid=2080.
among jehovahs witnesses, congregation elders work tirelessly to make contact with all members of the congregation to ensure that they are safe or can get to a safe place.
also, the elders check to be sure that each one has lifes necessities, such as clean drinking water, food, clothing, and essential medication.
I am saddened by this natural disaster. Whether, Jehovah's Witnesses, Christians or non-religious, many people have lost their lives.
Where the WTS will fail, as it always does, is once it has seen to the immediate needs of their own, they will be back into 'preaching' mode. They feel that the message is more important than anyone else - remember the World Trade Center - they handed out tracts!
The WTS has no doctors or medics they can offer (they discourage higher education) and they have no infra-structure to handle this sort of situation.
As mentioned before, any donations go to the 'Worldwide Work' - what ever they choose that to be.
a few months ago there was a thread about a couple of elders at the mill hill bethel being disfellowshipped because they disagreed with some wt doctrine (i can't recall exactly what it was) and that several other betheliteswere under 'investigation'.
i haven't heard anything since, does anyone know anything more about this?.
borghater xx.
This incident appears to be a classic illustration of the totally unbending, dogmatic stance taken by the Society and the fact that there is no way that they ever want people to really study the Bible and think for themselves.
There are many if us here, who as elders (aka the Society's enforcers) could not bring ourselves stand up and say that the Society was always right and that we had the absolute truth.
What really gets me is that in a few years time they are likely to produce 'new light' on this subject. What happens to the disfellowshipped ones then?
I remember having a conversation with fellow Witness young men, as we were then, in about 1974 and saying we would be disfellowshipped if we thought that the 1914 generation might well pass away before the end came. How things have changed since then on that topic.
i received this crap from my jw mom today.
i hope it doesn't "encourage" you to go back .
you see, when i left, i immediately felt the relief of not being burned all the time by all of the gossip that occurs within the congregations, circuits, etc.
I too have heard this illustration many times before, and I am sure I have even used it myself.
There is a lot of truth in it though and it is a mechanism used by the WTB&TS to keep its grip on people. If you are at the center, there is lots of activity to keep you 'hot'; field service, meeting parts, lots of association, etc.
What the WTB&TS fail to recognise is that it often themselves who do the cooling by bannishing and cold shouldering members they feel are a threat.
Great synopsis Truman!
The Judge certainly is the most difficult character to get to grips with. He is obviously highly intellectual, a linguist (he seems to know half a dozen different languages) and eloquent, surely traits that separates man from the rest of the animal kingdom, but at the same time is most a vile, evil individual.
I do find McCarthy's style of writing a little unusual in that he does not use quotation marks to distinguish dialogue. Perhaps that is because of that crappy old typewriter he used for nearly all of his working life.
I have just finished reading 'Blood Meridian' in which he paints a very disturbing view of humanity, I should I say specifically men.
It begs the question of just how civilised we really are and easily any pretext on cilivilisation can be replaced with wanton violence.
Looking at the atrocities of the past it is hard to not share his views.
Can't edit my original post - but can this reply. Sorry.
