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If someone is disfellowshipped, is that the end of their relationship to the church? Is it seen as desirable for such a person to rejoin, or is that even possible? I'm thinking of how Mormons can apparently be very insistent about lapsed or former members rejoining and keeping in contact with them, this sounds like the opposite. My first thought was "at least they leave you alone" but i'm sure that's not how it feels. I'm also curious about the 144,000 and the taking communion thing. These are people in the JW who attend services like anyone else and just do an extra part of it by ceremonially taking bread and wine once a year or what? Do they have any kind of formal or informal leadership position or responsibilities? I'm assuming that these are people who are well known in the community already- some rando publisher couldn't just get up and say they're anointed- or is that wrong? e: What kind of things did your church emphasize that Witnesses should do in life? Was there mention of things like feeding the hungry, etc or is it 100% proselytizing? That is, is there any value of good works in life or is the only thing that matters warning people about armageddon? Kellsterik fucked around with this message at 21:10 on Mar 17, 2015 |
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Mar 17, 2015 13:57
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| # ¿ May 10, 2024 13:45 |
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Captain Bravo posted:Wait, what? You know how a lot of people say organized Christianity is materialistic, hypocritical, obsessed with money and power, and doesn't actually follow Jesus' teachings? Jehovah's Witnesses agree with that. They, on the other hand, are actually doing it right.
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Mar 19, 2015 03:48
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The regular missionary activity reminds me of being in Scouts as a kid. I almost never enjoyed going to weekly meetings or fundraising or whatever, spent the whole time looking at the clock and wishing it was over already, but I kept going every week because that's what was normal in my family and social group. Would you ever go out solo, or always as a group? I imagine more than a few disenchanted people would just hang out for a few hours and fill out a fake report if no one else was there to watch them. I always wonder how often two slackers get paired together in Mormon missions and just blow it off and cover for each other.
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Mar 19, 2015 07:11
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Wikipedia tells me that the governing body has walked back a number of doctrinal positions over the years, including one that pretty firmly said that armageddon would occur within the lifetime of those anointed who were alive in 1914. What I take from that is: neither repeatedly pushed back dates for armageddon or ever-increasing numbers of anointed are going to be an actual problem for the health of the Witnesses as a whole anytime soon.
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Mar 20, 2015 09:50
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