2024 Governing Body Update #2

[Dolce vita]

6 minutes ago, Pabo said:

Voici une pensée particulière que les aînés, les maris et les frères doivent garder à l'esprit - nous devons appliquer encore plus les conseils spirituels que nous avons reçus lors de notre dernière convention - Faites de l'exercice de patience.

 

Pourquoi?

 

Parce que nos sœurs, épouses, filles et mères ont désormais besoin de plus de temps pour déterminer ce qu’elles décident de porter maintenant qu’elles ont plus de choix dans leur garde-robe.

 

Encore plus si nous les accompagnons dans leurs expéditions shopping.

🤣🤣You're done ! (in French : you are cooked)

[Dark King]

My favorite part is about the disfellowshiping and having to go to the disfellowship person after a few months a few months could be two three or four months I really think most people should be only disFellowship for 6 months or less like in the book of Corinthians. Elders who work hard in Shepherd the person should be able to help a person become repentant in 6 months or less most people should be falling to this category.

 

To me if a person is as disFellowship one day but repent the next day he should be able to back into the congregation but this is just my opinion. It definitely should have never taken years.

 

I have a close friend of mine who was  disFellowship for over 30 years and he could not even remember what he would disFellowship for and they had to reinstate him without even knowing what he was this disFellowship for.

 

I really love this new understanding and really hope we can really take care of these ones whom Jehovah cares about so much. We have to show the same love that Jehovah shows for all his sheep.

Edited March 15 by Dark King

[Dolce vita]

5 minutes ago, bagwell1987 said:

N'est-ce pas Edward Mulhare ? Quand j'étais enfant, j'adorais « ce » film. Il était si beau. 🤭 💕

It's him !

[Romain]

7 minutes ago, Dolce vita said:

That said : I hope dear brothers that you will not all abandon the tie and the suit (or a Hawaiian shirt, checkered shirt with a cowboy tie or a beautiful white djelabba) because on a personal level, I have always felt a lot of pride in introducing you to people who came to the meeting for the first time. In the world, many men follow fashion and sometimes it works against them. This is not the habit of our brothers. And for the sisters, the dresses are also very becoming even if there are also quite chic pants/jacket suits that will probably do the trick : Chanel, YSL, Givenchy, Dior... well, pants that cost an arm and a leg

I personally won't give up on wearing a tie and a jacket at the meetings and conventions

As for the ministry I think I will give up on the tie or, well, it'll depend on my mood I guess lol

[MullumMiss]

IMO mens suits without ties doesn’t always look good unless the shirt is a really high quality designer type.  I discussed with my husband if he chooses not to wear a tie to the meeting, that he wear his suit pants.  For witnessing he has a few pairs of chinos that he wears but if he wore them to the hall without a tie it would look too casual.  Wearing chinos without the tie in service looks ok imo.

 

On a serious note I cried when told,  if our conscience allowed we could say a greeting at the hall to disfellowshipped ones.  In the past I have often said hello though understanding our stand on not saying a greeting.  My conscience was clean then and most definitely now. 💜

Edited March 15 by MullumMiss

[Amygdala]

One of the reasons my bible student stopped studying with me at the beginning of the pandemic was she felt ashamed that she couldn’t afford trousers and asked me why sisters always had to wear skirts. She couldn’t understand so long as a person looked respectable. Now we are studying again (after 3 years she reached out to me), and I can’t wait to tell her the news! I had been going on our recent studies dressed mostly in dress pants. So she will be happy to hear the news.

 

We are blending in more so-to-speak so as not to draw undue attention to ourselves or easily be recognizable when BtG goes down. Fantastic. 🙏

[Pabo]

I once forgot to wear a tie in the ministry about 15 years ago and I had the best morning out, where people actually talked to you instead of automatically shutting their door when they see someone with a tie.

 

So it is nice that we have that option of not wearing a tie in the ministry, especially here, as it does get over 30°C in the morning here in summer. Also too, the tie not choking you and getting whipped with the tie end, when we get those strong winter winds that we get in the Hunter Valley.

 

I will still wear a tie at the meetings, as I am usually doing something anyways, but I rarely wore my coat in the first place unless I was actually on stage or on mic duty.

Edited March 15 by Pabo

[Tortuga]

Any guesses about Update #3?

 

I wonder if one day the brothers will encourage us to reduce the time we go door to door in areas where we rarely find people at home and plan to spend our scheduled service activity in other forms of service.

 

Wouldn't it be interesting if the Territory servant was told to create territories of the local parks and shopping areas? Can you imagine checking out a territory and it's just a local park. You 'work' it by walking or sitting for several hours each day trying to start conversations. Or you check out a territory and it is a single store like Costco or Walmart. You 'work' it by walking around a couple of hours each day trying to start conversations. 

 

So instead of going door to door or carts for scheduled service activity, wouldn't it be interesting if we were told to do informal witnessing as formal witnessing?

[Dages]

1 minute ago, Tortuga said:

Or you check out a territory and it is a single store like Costco or Walmart

Shopping temptation

 

[Dages]

So basically, now, if we know an DF'ed person (family member, former student, former close friend). We can contact him/her to invite him/her to a meeting.

It's no longer a kind of Elder-only task.

 

I love this.

[Amygdala]

I wonder if the announcement regarding young ones under 18 and baptized, and not perhaps the need to form a judicial committee, may help alleviate the worries of maybe a few parents of letting their child get baptized, pre-puberty, if that is really in their hearts desire.

[Pabo]

33 minutes ago, Dolce vita said:

🤣🤣You're done ! (in French : you are cooked)

 

Actually, my wife hates shopping, as she is of a petite size up top and many clothes do not fit her nicely. So when she does decide to go clothes shopping due to necessity, it is like a expedition. And most times, we come home with nothing.

Edited March 15 by Pabo

[Abigail]

1 hour ago, jwhess said:

It was a turbulent time and adjustments were made and then unmade.  It is best to leave them to the past (or memories).  Disloyal brothers were removed and some of the decisions influenced by them were abandoned.

 

If you look at the index for 1970-1990 you will find the references to things like "disfellowshiping" are not found in articles dating after 1974 and before 1981.  It is best to leave them that way.

 

As a quick answer to your inquiry, we were told ordinary publishers could study with some disfellowshiped people.  Not those of the 2 John 9-11 type (apostates, etc).  But those of a milder form of wrong-doing (theft, disloyalty, etc). Later in the 1980s it was explained that only elders would be able to correctly know who needed the studies and the rest of us should maintain our quiet distance from such ones.

 

Now we are being carefully directed (through the elders) to consider a kindness in treating disfellowshiped individuals.  Some may even be studied with (at the elder's direction).  Good news indeed.

 

Thank you so much for that explanation brother John. I was a child in that period so thankfully was blissfully unaware!

[Dolce vita]

17 minutes ago, Pabo said:

Il y a environ 15 ans, j'ai oublié de porter une cravate au ministère et j'ai eu une matinée magnifique, où les gens vous parlaient au lieu de fermer automatiquement leur porte lorsqu'ils voyaient quelqu'un avec une cravate.

 

C'est donc bien que nous ayons la possibilité de ne pas porter de cravate au ministère, surtout ici, car ici en été, il fait plus de 30°C le matin. De plus, la cravate ne vous étouffe pas et ne se fait pas fouetter avec l'extrémité de la cravate, lorsque nous recevons ces forts vents hivernaux que nous recevons dans la Hunter Valley.

 

Je porterai toujours une cravate lors des réunions, car je fais habituellement quelque chose de toute façon, mais je portais rarement mon manteau en premier lieu, sauf si j'étais sur scène ou au micro.

I also tell myself that our suits and dresses are identifiable from 3 km away. We always see Jehovah’s Witnesses “coming.” No longer wearing 'the identifiable costume' will allow us to blend into the crowd and promote contact, as you experienced, Jason, and as Brother @Tortuealso suggests, when we do informal activity in a park, an activity most pleasant.  Also: the costume will no longer be able to identify us if we are banned or persecuted in one way or another.

[Dolce vita]

10 minutes ago, Pabo said:

 

En fait, ma femme déteste faire du shopping, car elle est de petite taille et de nombreux vêtements ne lui vont pas bien. Alors, quand elle décide d'aller faire du shopping par nécessité, c'est comme une expédition. Et la plupart du temps, nous rentrons à la maison sans rien.

I sympathize with all my heart. Bredouille (empty-handed) is my middle name😁

[TheKid23]

22 minutes ago, Tortuga said:

Wouldn't it be interesting if the Territory servant was told to create territories of the local parks and shopping areas?

We’ve actually done that. When we had our new Co, his 1st visit he wanted “street work” maps and quite a few of them were parks or just paths that are commonly used around our territory. 
 

when a few of us did business territory last week we did some street work and just casually chatted to people in the street around the shops.

Edited March 15 by TheKid23

[Regular]

26 minutes ago, Tortuga said:

Any guesses about Update #3?

 

I wonder if one day the brothers will encourage us to reduce the time we go door to door in areas where we rarely find people at home and plan to spend our scheduled service activity in other forms of service.

 

Wouldn't it be interesting if the Territory servant was told to create territories of the local parks and shopping areas? Can you imagine checking out a territory and it's just a local park. You 'work' it by walking or sitting for several hours each day trying to start conversations. Or you check out a territory and it is a single store like Costco or Walmart. You 'work' it by walking around a couple of hours each day trying to start conversations. 

 

So instead of going door to door or carts for scheduled service activity, wouldn't it be interesting if we were told to do informal witnessing as formal witnessing?

My wife and I actually do that. We generally go to a park or library, sometimes McD’s to write letters. 

But we also survey the area watching for potential opportunities and when we see it, we strike! casually stroll over to them and try to start a discussion. Usually, they never see it coming. Besides that, folks see us writing and curiosity compels them to ask, "what cha doin" Strike!   Then we engage them in a little discussion.

Beats the heck out of driving around wasting gas on people who aren’t home.

 

Edited March 15 by Regular

[Sofia]

2 hours ago, Doug said:

 

The announcement didn't offer any reasons for these adjustments.  But doesn't it help assuage our concerns about the GT?   We don't need to draw attention after BtG has been destroyed.

Exactly 

the whole update is a reminder that GT is close 

[Dolce vita]

36 minutes ago, Amygdala said:

L'une des raisons pour lesquelles mon étudiante en Bible a arrêté d'étudier avec moi au début de la pandémie était qu'elle avait honte de ne pas pouvoir se permettre de porter des pantalons et m'a demandé pourquoi les sœurs devaient toujours porter des jupes. Elle ne pouvait pas comprendre tant qu'une personne avait l'air respectable. Maintenant, nous reprenons les études (au bout de 3 ans, elle m'a contacté), et j'ai hâte de lui annoncer la nouvelle ! J'avais participé à nos récentes études habillé principalement en pantalon habillé. Elle sera donc heureuse d'apprendre la nouvelle.

 

Nous nous fondons davantage dans la masse, pour ainsi dire, afin de ne pas attirer indûment l'attention sur nous-mêmes ou d'être facilement reconnaissables lorsque BtG tombe en panne. Fantastique. 🙏

Same thought, Sister, about the invisibility side during GT

[Dolce vita]

2 minutes ago, Sofia said:

Exactement 

toute la mise à jour est un rappel que GT est proche 

I really believe it❤️ Otherwise why this sudden rush to repatriate repentant excommunicates and why ensure that excommunication is only applicable in extreme cases? Why NOW, why these major adjustments one after the other as if the high-speed train was going to stop because it was entering the station, at the terminus? I wonder.

[Sofia]

34 minutes ago, Tortuga said:

Any guesses about Update #3?

Enjoy this one, brother Richard

We need to breath it and absorb the information.

After the memorial we may have more astounding information 

Who knows? Regarding the final sealing. (?)

[Landon1285]

58 minutes ago, Dark King said:

My favorite part is about the disfellowshiping and having to go to the disfellowship person after a few months a few months could be two three or four months I really think most people should be only disFellowship for 6 months or less like in the book of Corinthians. Elders who work hard in Shepherd the person should be able to help a person become repentant in 6 months or less most people should be falling to this category.

 

To me if a person is as disFellowship one day but repent the next day he should be able to back into the congregation but this is just my opinion. It definitely should have never taken years.

 

I have a close friend of mine who was  disFellowship for over 30 years and he could not even remember what he would disFellowship for and they had to reinstate him without even knowing what he was this disFellowship for.

 

I really love this new understanding and really hope we can really take care of these ones whom Jehovah cares about so much. We have to show the same love that Jehovah shows for all his sheep.

Now works befitting repentance can be observed more closely. 

[Esined]

1 hour ago, MullumMiss said:

On a serious note I cried when told,  if our conscience allowed we could say a greeting at the hall to disfellowshipped ones.  In the past I have often said hello though understanding our stand on not saying a greeting.  My conscience was clean then and most definitely now. 💜

 Ditto and ditto (the crying and my conscience allowing me to just acknowledge people)

[Thomas Walker]

They make this announcement right before the Special Talk/Memorial. Going to be an interesting night. My Cong has the Special Talk in four hours. We're going to see who watched the update right away.

 

Now, if you'll pardon me a moment, I'm just going to light a small bonfire for my ties...

[MullumMiss]

3 minutes ago, Thomas Walker said:

 

Now, if you'll pardon me a moment, I'm just going to light a small bonfire for my ties...

When a brother has a part on the program, he should wear a tie and a jacket if that is the standard of dress in that land. 

LOL…..Now don’t burn them all.🔥🔥🔥

Edited March 15 by MullumMiss