Terminology

Today’s post deals with online terminology which is used when discussing Jehovah’s Witnesses and ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses.

My purpose isn’t to teach you how to pin labels on people.

Rather, it’s to expand your thinking when you encounter a Jehovah’s Witness or someone with a Watchtower background.

Getting through to a person who is a gung-ho, true believer in Watchtower doctrine and practice requires a very different approach than getting through to a person who has shed their Watchtower teaching completely and embraced atheism as their worldview.

It’s easy to make the mistake of considering all Jehovah’s Witnesses to be identical in their spiritual beliefs.

That’s because the Watchtower religion is highly structured and authoritarian. For example, if you decide to attend a Kingdom Hall service on a particular day, you will experience the service and the same teaching on the same topics regardless of where you attend anywhere in the world.

“Independent thinking” is considered wrong. It’s seen as a rebellion against Jehovah and his organization.

Despite this uniformity, not all Jehovah’s Witnesses or people with Watchtower backgrounds are in the same place spiritually.

If you visit online discussion boards about Jehovah’s Witnesses, you’ll see four different acronyms: PIMI, PIMO, POMO, and POMI.

These describe four different groups of Witnesses or former Witnesses and their relationship to the Watchtower organization.

Here’s what they mean.

• PIMI means “Physically In, Mentally In.”

These Witnesses may or may not harbor secret doubts about some of the Watchtower’s teachings, but they are active in their religion because in the main they believe it is “the truth.”

They come to your door to bring you “the good news of Jehovah’s Kingdom” because they believe the message and because they believe they would be disobeying God (Jehovah) if they didn’t spread that message door to door.

If you are active in a non-Watchtower religion, they believe you are in “Satan’s organization.”

Whether you have a religion or not, they believe you are in spiritual darkness because you are not a follower of Jehovah or a member of his “earthly organization.”

For the most part, my book, Getting Through to Jehovah’s Witnesses assumes that the Jehovah’s Witnesses you are trying to reach fall in the PIMI category.

• PIMO means “Physically In, Mentally Out.”

These are Jehovah’s Witnesses who have serious doubts about Watchtower doctrine and practices but who stay involved in the religion, at least to some degree.

They still attend some or all Watchtower meetings.

They may still go door to door or engage in cart witnessing, often doing as little as they can get by with and still be recognized as Jehovah’s Witnesses in good standing by elders and family members.

Some are looking to escape the Watchtower but don’t know the best way to go about it or feel that the timing is not quite right. Others have resigned themselves to staying in so as not to be shunned (treated as dead) by Witness friends and family.

• POMI means “Physically Out, Mentally In.”

These are people who are no longer practicing Jehovah’s Witnesses but wish they were.

Some were disfellowshipped (excommunicated) and are working to get reinstated.

Others left voluntarily but now want to return because at some level they still believe it is “the truth” or because, despite their doubts, they want to be accepted once again by family and friends who are shunning them.

Some POMIs have given up. They still believe the Watchtower religion is “the truth” but have concluded for one reason or another that they can’t live up to God’s requirements. They believe they are without hope and expect to die soon at the battle of Armageddon when Jehovah destroys the wicked. Unfortunately, some of them have suicidal ideations.

• POMO means “Physically Out, Mentally Out.”

These are people who used to be Jehovah’s Witnesses but no longer attend meetings or go door to door.

They may believe aspects of the Watchtower teachings, although some now reject it all.

Some have become Christians.

Some have joined other religions.

Some have rejected God and religion altogether.

In future posts, I’ll discuss how to assess where the Jehovah’s Witnesses or ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses you encounter are spiritually and how best to get through to them to give them the opportunity to encounter the real Jesus and the real gospel.