Researcher With Questions

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Posts by Researcher With Questions

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  16

  Novelist With Questions

  by Researcher With Questions in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am a writer, who is at present working on a novel, and i am developing a character/characters who has/have been jehovahs witness(es), and i have some questions that i am hoping someone may be willing to answer.

  first, my general credentials.

  i am a working writer, with a number of professional poetry publications in journals and lit.

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  Researcher With Questions

  Will do, Giordano.
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  16

  Novelist With Questions

  by Researcher With Questions in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am a writer, who is at present working on a novel, and i am developing a character/characters who has/have been jehovahs witness(es), and i have some questions that i am hoping someone may be willing to answer.

  first, my general credentials.

  i am a working writer, with a number of professional poetry publications in journals and lit.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Researcher With Questions

  Village Idiot. LOL re: Armageddon. Want to hear something funny/odd though? The name of the fictional town (and the title of the book) is, get this, Zion--chosen a full year ago, when I began work on the book, and a solid 8 months before I knew that there would be any former-JW characters in it.
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  16

  Novelist With Questions

  by Researcher With Questions in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am a writer, who is at present working on a novel, and i am developing a character/characters who has/have been jehovahs witness(es), and i have some questions that i am hoping someone may be willing to answer.

  first, my general credentials.

  i am a working writer, with a number of professional poetry publications in journals and lit.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Researcher With Questions

  Greetings Giordano (and anyone else who might have some insight here):

  I have a follow-up question, if I can bother you one more time. I have done a bit of research now into the matter of the 1975 prophecy, and it seems, based on what I've read so far, that JW folks during that time were both particularly discouraged from and reluctant to have children (and obviously, why wouldn't this be the case, if the End was believed to be imminent?) Yet, as I've structured my plot, my fictional couple would have had at least three children during those years (between 1966 and 1975--in 1969, 1972, and 1974).
  

  This seems as though it might be a problem when it comes to authenticity of my couple as JW folks, especially if quite devout. So, here's my question:
  
  If they did this, had these children, how might that have been regarded by their JW community? By the elders? As an indication that the couple didn't really believe the prophecy? As some sort of evidence that they were perhaps a little too--let's call it "affectionate with one another" (I'm trying to be delicate here)? As evidence that they are somehow irresponsible and not really completely dedicated to the important matter of getting ready for what was supposed to be coming in 1975?
  
  I've read a few threads/posts here on this site that address the matter of children and having them more broadly, but of course, 2016 is not the same as 1966-1975.
  
  Thanks again!
  
  
• 
  16

  Novelist With Questions

  by Researcher With Questions in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am a writer, who is at present working on a novel, and i am developing a character/characters who has/have been jehovahs witness(es), and i have some questions that i am hoping someone may be willing to answer.

  first, my general credentials.

  i am a working writer, with a number of professional poetry publications in journals and lit.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Researcher With Questions

  First, thank you all so much for your responses. The information and insight you've offered is invaluable. Please, if you will, let me know, those of you who have responded, whether or not you wish to be included in the Acknowledgements page of the book. If I don't hear, I will err on the side of protecting privacy, and will avoid acknowledging, and in any case, I will not be mentioning this site in the acknowledgements (again, privacy). But if you want to be acknowledged, just let me know by PM.

  Yes, Village Idiot--that is supposed to read "tenets." Darned autocorrect/autofill. I should have caught it on the proofread though. And yes, I've read a number of the threads/posts you mention re: married couples and their struggles, and have found them quite helpful.
  
  Anyone else who'd like to weigh in, I'm all ears (eyes?).
• 
  16

  Novelist With Questions

  by Researcher With Questions in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am a writer, who is at present working on a novel, and i am developing a character/characters who has/have been jehovahs witness(es), and i have some questions that i am hoping someone may be willing to answer.

  first, my general credentials.

  i am a working writer, with a number of professional poetry publications in journals and lit.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Researcher With Questions

  Greetings All,

  I am a writer, who is at present working on a novel, and I am developing a character/characters who has/have been Jehovahs Witness(es), and I have some questions that I am hoping someone may be willing to answer.
  
  First, my general credentials. I am a working writer, with a number of professional poetry publications in journals and lit. mags, including The Country Dog Review, The Lake, Pirene's Fountain, and Harpur Palate. My first chapbook of poetry was published by Kattywompus Press in 2015. I worked for over a decade as a college composition instructor, up until Spring 2013, when I left teaching to work full time as a writer, and as a community volunteer. I have worked as a volunteer creative writing workshop facilitator at two local shelters/transitional homes for women and children, as well as, as a volunteer for our local adult literacy tutoring program. My current project is my first work of long fiction, and is a work in progress. For more detailed or specific credentials, you may message me.
  
  Next, a bit of information about the plot line in question: The bulk of the novel is set in 1986-1987. In 1975, a couple was disfellowshipped for allowing a blood transfusion for their daughter with leukemia. The child (unfortunately) passed anyway. After having been disfellowshipped, the couple moved to a different town with their two surviving small children, and did not continue in any formal way with the Jehovahs Witnesses (e.g. attending meetings). These characters are part of a larger "cast" and the plot line is running concurrent with and is intertwined with other plot lines (which have nothing to do with Jehovahs Witnesses, but do in some part deal with matters of faith, belief, and truth).

  Now, the questions:

  1. If someone is disfellowshipped, how common is it (if at all) for that person to NOT seek reinstatement, but to still adhere to most or all of the tenants/beliefs of the Jehovahs Witnesses? (Aside from attending meetings, going door to door, etc.). In other words, to continue to adhere to doctrine, without this sort of formal practice?

  2. If one half of the couple in question desires to be reinstated, but the other does not, what would happen? Would or could one half of the couple do so? What would be the likely impact on the relationship if that person were to be reinstated? Would/could they even be reinstated in the scenario above?

  3. if someone were disfellowshipped for this reason, (or any reason, for that matter) how long does this process take, and what form does it take? How does it come about, and how is it carried out?

  4. What are the problems with the scenario I have presented (the plot line I've described at the top of the post)? Based on the knowledge you have of the Jehovahs Witnesses, what are the "plot holes" in this idea?

  5. Is a more likely scenario for the couple in question to have walked away from the Jehovahs Witnesses, moved to a new town, but to have continued to adhere to the doctrine (or, for one of them to have continued to adhere to the doctrine)?

  My desire is to craft characters who are complex and true to life, and to be sensitive and accurate in my representations.

  Also, I have another (related) question. How might I find out the date(s) that particular Kingdom Halls opened/were incorporated? If anyone has this information, what Kingdom Halls existed in the Southeast Michigan/Northwest Ohio region in the 1950s (if any) and into/through the 1960s and 1970s?
  
  Thank you in advance for any and all input. Should anyone who provides information wish to be included in the Acknowledgements page of the book, please send me a message to this effect, along with the name you wish to be acknowledged by, and I will gladly include you. Should you absolutely NOT want to be acknowledged in this way, that's perfectly fine as well, but please let me know that as well, either in your response, or by message.