we had to go off grid for a time, time and half a time as we thought we had been outed.
fortunately it was a false alarm, but it was a stressful time.
i asked for my original diary thread to be deleted in case there could be anything on there to identlfy mrs smith and i. i am always very careful when posting, and am sure there was nothing on there, but felt it best to have it removed in order to be as cautious as a dove.
"Interestingly, since I sent my letter, Mrs Smith has not been contacted by any elders to check up on her spiritual health"
This generally does not happen. She is "only" a sister. When I left and my wife initially indicated wanting to continue, she was fully on her own with ZERO support. Fortunately she soon decided to follow me out.
i visited my sister in a small town in the midst of the country, the town has a population of 3,000 and there's about 70 in the cong.
anyway, there was a local needs talk a few months ago about associating with family members who didn't live under your roof and no longer went to meetings.
one family of an elder dad and three sons (one an elder too, the others have stopped going) and a daughter (still going but married a 'worldly') are quite prominent and one half of a typical congregational feud.
A BoE Letter of September 3, 2012 shows that to be recommended as convention speakers, the following is required:
A brother who has grown children not living at home may also be recommended if his children continue to serve Jehovah and have a good reputation.
So perhaps this is now being extended, if grown children leave the CULT, then dad may no longer be Elder and Mom not pioneer. They can now get a life!
in a dutch (netherlands) nationwide daily newspaper, today an interview with a witness family was published.
a perfect witness family.. only not so perfect: they say "jehovah is first for us and above everything else.
even above our children".
Not a very Good publicity this article. Shows to the whole country how they SHUN their children for a fairy-tale fantasy. Whole article smells of cult and naive followers. Thanks for sharing.
"i heard from ones that had gone to the convention that our time before tribulation is miniscule.
i am scared.
i know it must be true.
Ironic to see a seven year old thread about how near the end must be. The sky is falling!
i usually dismiss the "drinking the kool aid" scenarios that are posted from time to time, but the latest wt has another bit of fearmongering.
the quote from page 20, para 17. elders who are reading this article can draw some useful conclusions from the account we have just considered: (1) the most practical step that we can take to prepare for the coming attack of the assyrian is that of strengthening our faith in god and helping our brothers to do the same.
(2) when the assyrian attacks, the elders must be absolutely convinced that jehovah will deliver us.
My best guess what they are planning, keeping in mind that it all about the money. They have consolidated branch offices and sold off Brooklyn, which has given them some cash for now. But what when this starts to run out? The next would be to start consolidating congregations and sell off kingdom halls, with money requested to be sent to headquarters. As KHs are often already paid off and persons will have to travel farther to get to the meetings, this does not sound logical or practical - but the flock "must be ready to obey any instructions".
how can we maintain.
a waiting attitude?
article,,just to wait and wait and wait.
Page 20, Paragraph 17: All of us must be ready to obey any instructions we may receive, whether these appear sound from a strategic or human standpoint or not.
when i was an elder, most of the elders were pretty independent 40 to 80 year olds.
they had no issue speaking up to the circuit overseer.
i wonder what the average elder is like now.
At the KMS in 2010 it was discussed that average age of Elders stands at 58 and of ministerials at 53 . Guess that not much has improved since then.
so i tt mom and dad via skype last weekend (they live on the other part of the county) and the topic of abuse came up.
of course they went ahead and blasted catholics for their coverups.
i mentioned gonzalo campos, now mom and dad know this guy he went to their hall for several years in san diego.
Behavior Control (Page 22 - Freedom of Mind by Steven Hassan)
- Encourage group-think (not stumbling others)
a family member visited us this past weekend and said that my 80 years old mother was recently told she no longer has to meet the annual hour quota to remain on the pioneer list.
"what a loving provision from the brothers" were my sister's exact words.
"mom was so stressed out with having to get her hours in every month" are you freaking kidding me?
This is meant to keep the pioneer numbers artificially up.
heh, publishers..... was talking with my mother the other day.
in the 17 years i've been out, my old congregation's publishers have drastically dropped.
when i was going , we were in the high 80s for publishers.
Hasn't Jehovah resolved the situation with this elder yet?
This elder has pestered 40 people away from everlasting life!
