it seems some inactive ones and active jws are hardly ever bothered by the elders while others are constantly called, checked up on, etc...... what gives?.
Personalities, visibility, family ties, history, elder laziness, elder ego, organisational focus...
Any number of reasons. In my experience it is those who have caused a stir or are known for being outspoken/controversial and have few influential family still in that get the most sneaky heat.
some souls here may feel i was a little harsh.
if so, i am deeply sorry.
i was abused by a handful right from the start, presumably on the basis of the avatar picture (and 2001 vintage).. when visiting dubland, i often find that others start fights with me - for whatever reason, and i provide quite a supply of them - and when it doesn't quite go the way they expected, they cry persecution.
Indeed the asssumption that God exists is the base line for lots of reasoning to encourage faith. How often did you answer points such as there can be no God due to the amount of needless and preventable sufferening in the world with a "ah, well let's presume God exists. Now ask the question why he would permit this? It's because Satan had challanged his authority and divine justice requires time. You don't beleive in Satan? Well, just assume he does exist then you will see this is a really satisfying answer to the question as to why there is so much suffering...."
a discussion of this talk on friday morning deserves its own thread.
as i said elsewhere, it was a remarkable one.
the speaker was manfred vencebi (google him - he's a bethel bigwig) and some of his remarks are real gems.
I think the number of languages will become a bigger and bigger boasting point.
They do around 700 atm and aim to grow that to over 1000 in the very short term future. They mention this regularly now at assemblies and Bethal speaker talks. They put it in the context of Google and Wikipedia figures to show how amazing the organisation is.
They have started linking this to the "every tribe, nation and tongue" scripture. I don't know if they will use this to officially say that having jw.org/publications in all these languages means the preaching work is fullfilling prophecy but I am convinced this will be suggested more and more thus implying a truely global preaching work and deflecting criticism away from the fact that at least a billion people (perhaps double that) are never likely to be reached via the D2D, trolley and public preaching work.
i've heard some view points that state, atheists are generally more moral & caring for fellow humans, than are theists.. i'd like to hear some personal stories of life changes and quality of life after you became atheist.
i have a simple theory that may explain this.. i'll explain my theory if you'd like, after a few responses, as i really am interested in the personal changes that you experienced.. thank you very much, and i look forward to your stories..
As a born in Witness, when I was well and truely in I felt morally superior. I felt that I was part of a pure organisation that had proper morals, aligned to God's purpose.
As I have woken up to TTATT and lost my faith and belief in God I have realised how shallow my morality was. I do feel that I was taught a good moral baseline but it was the reasons why it was important to act with honesty, integrity and compassion. As a Witness is was because it would be pleasing to Jehovah. As a humanist (for want of a better phrase) it's becuase it's the right thing to do for my fellow humans.
As such I have realised I am not actually that compassionate. As a Witness I avoided giving to charity, dismissed giving my time and energy to voluntary organisations aiming to help those in real need - treating these as minor compared to the life saving work of peddling the Watchtower. I have had to completely re-evaluate my thinking process and what I really think about the issues facing mankind on a daily basis and what I can do to help. Now I feel a fraud.
I always considered I was a Witness with proper thinking ability. Now I realise that I still delegated so much to WT reasoning. I am having to start pretty much from square one to try and build my own opinion that is not shaped by the paths moulded by my decades long adherence to WT philosophy.
the main reason i ask is that i like to know when my locality will be almost jw free.. also my jw family will mention them, and i wish to rub in the hardship of travelling long distances for some.
so any ammunition in the form of accurate info.
will be appreciated, thanks..
Massive burden. Hotels and guest houses were gone within hours of the announcement that the assembly was happpening, even though they said don't book until the "official" list had been sent through.
Those that followed direction were left with Hobsons choice.
Minimum price in most hotels (including all the official ones) was around £100 per night for a double room. A family needing two rooms would spend at least £200 a night, plus meals.
Anyone moaning has been reminded of brothers in Africa crossing crocodile infested rivers or the Jews traipsing for days to Jerusalem to savour the spiritual delights on offer.
I was thinking of wearing traditional English costume, in the spirit of all the other national costumes on offer. I am not sure if being a Morris dancer with a stag's head would get me noticed though?
the main reason i ask is that i like to know when my locality will be almost jw free.. also my jw family will mention them, and i wish to rub in the hardship of travelling long distances for some.
so any ammunition in the form of accurate info.
will be appreciated, thanks..
Just to add that most of the conventions are the august bank holiday weekend. Everyone in the south will be at Twickenham or the Excel. Anyone from Bristol down, even Cornwall, will be at Twickers. That's one hell of a trek.
the main reason i ask is that i like to know when my locality will be almost jw free.. also my jw family will mention them, and i wish to rub in the hardship of travelling long distances for some.
so any ammunition in the form of accurate info.
will be appreciated, thanks..
Check out jw.org. They are all on there. Look under about us/conventions and search the UK from now until end of Sept.
i've been given permission to post news of our friend.. kate hasn't been very well.
not well at all.
i think much of it has been a delayed reaction to her df'ing, the general fallout when leaving the wtbs and family issues.. i just wanted to give you guys the heads up and give you a chance to show how much we care about her.. thanks for listening..
Very sorry to hear this and, if you are dialing in Kate, GET WELL SOON!
i am new here, been lurking for a while but felt compeled to join as i would like to comment on more and more of the topics i come across.
by way of an introduction here is some info about me.. i am an active jw, married with a family, living in the uk.
i serve as a ms and have done for many years.
Hi Scott,
I'd not realised that it's almost 2 years now that I've been on this board. Somethings have changed and some things haven't. I am still a Witness but in name only. I no longer am an MS, have stopped almost all field service, attend less than 50% of meetings and am fading slowly. It is much harder than expected to fade my family but there is progress. I no longer believe anything of WT doctrine and have concluded that there is no evidence for God at all. I am catching up on a lifetime of understanding why evolution is entirely possible and, indeed, proven but I still have a way to go before reaching the dizzy heights of knowledge that people like Cofty and Cantleave have.
Cheers
k99
i managed to catch the new dvd on youtube last night before the inevitable takedown.
as a film i felt it wasn't anywhere near as good as the prodigal movie, the story wasn't as dramatic, the characters much less interesting and developed and the direction weaker.
i found the prodigal relatively entertaining (all things considered) this one was just dull.. here are some of my random thoughts anyway [spoiler alert - ha!].
Konceptual, he states in the video he became a JW in his mid-20s. Assumingly after college, then.
That'll learn me for not watching the whole thing.
Once, good point, in JW world this family would have been considered materialistic and spiritually weak (until the end of the movie) This would have hurt their JW social life, but of course this issue was never raised in the film.
Bizarrely every single domestic situation used in WT videos presents a materially well off family yet we all know how these are looked down on unless they are those uber families that do everything spiritually. And entertain COs. On their boat/fast cars/helicoptors.
