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I was actually on an even lower tier as a teenager: Unbaptized Publisher. It's means filling out those monthly papers on hours of preaching and number of magazines, but without the commitment to God or whatever. Usually this tier is reserved for children super committed but too young to really get baptized. I stopped going to meetings and was never disfellowshipped and thusly, can still talk to people both disfellowshipped and still in the JW tribe  I refused to get baptized or even give anyone in my family hope that I would. So being officially an Unbaptized Publisher was like a consolation prize for all involved.
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Mar 24, 2015 00:23
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| # ¿ May 10, 2024 08:32 |
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Psychobabble posted:Then there was another two hour meeting with one hour devoted to skits! It was meant to prepare you for work in the field and how to address different situations that may come up. I can't quite remember what the second hour was, someone else can fill in the blanks. Those be service meetings. The first 45 minutes consist of reading the weekly bible reading e.g. "This week's is Romans Chapter 4: Verse 1-76" and then some poor ten year old gives his first talk in front of the whole congregation. This talk consists of ten or twenty verses. In the old days when I was a publisher we had to prepare an introduction and conclusion to encapsulate the bible reading and apply it to modern times or at least make it entertaining like Aesop's Fables. I loathed doing this but my grandma did give me a $20 every time I gave a talk so there was that. After the bible reading were two more talks from more experienced dudes like Ministerial Servants. In the last 45 minutes there were demonstrations on stage where one person would play the householder and the other the witness and they would rehearse approaching people on the street or in their house and how to sell the latest headline in the Watchtower and Awake magazines. My dad did this a few times but took the demonstrations a little too far in dressing like a lumberjack for the whole meeting and at the end playing a dude uninterested in the magazines. He got in trouble for "getting lost in the role" enough times that they demoted him from ministerial servant to just publisher. Our Service meetings happened on Thursday nights and I usually missed some cool TV shows. My dad installed a small TV in his Cadillac so we could run out of the meeting as soon as it was over and watch the end of some TV show in the parking lot. Usually reruns of The Simpsons or Seinfeld. I think he just didn't like talking to people after the meeting because all the cool witnesses he liked talking to usually left or were disfellowshipped 
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Mar 26, 2015 06:09
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precto posted:It probably should be noted that this was the only thing women could do in meetings. All other services had to be hosted by a man or, in the case of the bible readings, a young boy. The demonstrations are often dominated by the women since it was the only thing they could participate in. That's another interesting angle on this. There were a couple of times at a book study (small gathering for bible study at a house) where the elder and ministerial servants were out sick. So there were just a gaggle of male and female publishers and children. The wife of the presiding elder conducted the book study while wearing a cloth on her head. There is something in the bible about woman having to wear a head covering while conduction a meeting as a sign of reverence or respect for the male leadership. Funny times. Tomato Soup posted:They just came again I think when special preaching groups like Chinese or deaf congregations get a "lead" to witness to one of their own, they might be a bit overzealous in preaching. There is one or a few Kingdom Halls where these special groups meet in your city. So being put on the regular do not call list in your territory might not stop the special deaf group house calls. Nut up and tell them your wishes when they visit next. If you are firm, this should be the last you hear from them for a while.1
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Mar 30, 2015 23:59
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Invite them in to watch some cool youtube videos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpJIXDjUyvo
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Apr 1, 2015 01:50
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Darth Brooks posted:I am one of Jehovah's Witnesses. Should I keep out of the thread or stay to answer questions? Stay and chat. Beware bad associations that spoil useful habits!  Tell us your story and what kept you in.
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Apr 2, 2015 23:51
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karl fungus posted:I live in New York City so I see that Watchtower building fairly often. What goes on in there? Also, are the insane subway preachers Jehovah's Witnesses or do they belong to other churches? How about the people that stand around in subway stations, handing out religious flyers? Not sure about the subway preachers. There are a bunch of buildings in New York devoted to printing all the literature for this and many other countries, administrative stuff for all the congregations nation/worldwide, housing for a few thousand "Bethel-ites" (JW's who work on special tasks like writing the Watchtower, artists, electricians etc,.). I went on a tour a couple times and they have a pretty nice setup. They do all of their maintenance/remodeling/construction in house so they don't pay anything for labor.  View from the top floor balcony:  Some buildings have entire floors devoted to doing one thing. Breakfast/Lunch:  Laundry:    Construction/Maintenance:  Printing:   They bought this theater from the 1920s and remodeled it.    I think many of the services in the city of New York are being moved upstate to save on costs of housing so many people in the city. Video production, music, literature translation are all things that are migrating upstate. They have some really cool or very Christian original art on the walls which had been in Watchtowers or whatever:       Props from photo shoots for the literature:  Scale model of Jerusalem Temple or something: 
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Apr 11, 2015 06:55
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Powered Descent posted:Suddenly I need to know the answers to this quiz. If only because most of these could be Rorschach blots. ("You thought that stain was motor oil? That means you're a sexual predator. You pervert.") I was thinking about which one was the "protein stain"?
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Apr 14, 2015 03:21
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big scary monsters posted:They both had name badges, one said Elder James... I have not heard of name badges for the door-to-door work. Sounds Mormon to me.
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Apr 14, 2015 15:34
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| # ¿ May 10, 2024 08:32 |
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Phaeoacremonium posted:Not a question so much as a remark on someone bringing up those literature kiosks earlier in the thread. I see two of those stationed on the sidewalk in my town every weekend, on the route that most people use to get to the station. Easy pickings, I guess. I also assume that the JW in my town have stopped house visits completely and now just kind of bother passers-by at the moment. They're not particularly aggressive, which is nice compared to the regular screaming street preachers and crazed dvd-wielding Korean evangelists. The kiosks are a new thing I've noticed as well. Easy way to get the hours in while chatting with fellow JW's. A handwritten manifesto sounds really fishy to me. It could be one of the crazy JW's that has nothing better to do. Ramblings wouldn't be allowed to be given out (I think). What country is this?
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Apr 16, 2015 08:36
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