by JH 30 Replies latest jw friends
It seems to me that all the JW's I knew while going to the meetings, weather they were spiritually strong or weak, never criticized. They were like real sheep.
I used to always bitch about the length of the meetings and the time of the meetings and so on.....when I drove the brothers back home in my car or talked to them in private.
Naturally I would only say this to my closer JW friends or those I knew wouldn't squeal on me.
People would tend to criticize the elders as individuals and sometimes as a group but always with the idea that if the organization knew they would straighten them out.
I heard older JWs discussion some doctrines as needing refining. They always carefully chose who they talked to privately.
Remember things changed drastically in the early 80's with the Great Apostasy at Bethel. Things locked down tight then. Private pre-studies of the WTS were banned unless it was a family study or 2 families studying together.
I remember when the 1914 generation changed in 1995 that it did not surprise some JWs, the ones that actually studied the Bible not the publications.
Blondie
I knew a few who bitched about others in the hall, particularly about the hypocrisy of the elders. It didn't take long for me to start bitching about them too, and with good reason. Besides, what else is there to do with your time when you're living the boring life of a Jehovah Witness?
Bitching made the service™ time pass a little faster.
W
There were a few complainers, and I joined them in the few months before I left, but no one was very open about it. There was plenty of gossip, of course, but that was geberally about those who had left or were irregular in meeting attendance.
Yes, plenty of times. However, much had to do with petty and trivial matters. For example...
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"How come the Society scheduled our CA and DC within a month from each other?"
"Isn't it odd that all the Bethel facilities are more than well to do when in light of basic functionality? Why do they use our donations to make fine Spanish wood mahogany contribution boxes in Bethal lobbies?"
"Weren't you surprised when all of a sudden during the last part of the meal (while invited to eat at Bethel), everyone would drop their utensils on some sort of que, quickly stand up in unison, and then end the meal with a prayer. Everything was perfectly timed with utmost precision. It looked as if this was a cult!"
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Yes my dear fellow board members, "it looked as if this was a cult" was said to me at Bethel by a fellow guest JW.
Alligator Wisdom (aka Brother NOT Exerting Vigorously by WTS standards)
YES!
My in-laws!! Its pretty ironic that they would be the ones to tell everyone about our doubts, so that now everyone is treating us like we are DF'D, yet they were two of the biggest complainers that I knew. Also, my sister-in-laws father who was the PO said one time, at a family/close friend meal, that he and his wife have wondered if Armegedon really ever is coming. And he was dead serious! My sister-in-law, was very disturbed by such a statement and told him never to talk like that. Yet these are also the same people who have completely turned their back on us as well. WHAT A JOKE! JUST A BUNCH OF HYPOCRITES!
Sincerely,
Lady Liberty
I personally have heard it out of the mouths of many of my "friends"
Mostly along the lines of "I just dont understand it, if they are Jehovah's people why don't people show more love"
This coming out of the mouths of people not doing so well in life right now, and being stomped on by other "brothers and sisters" who take opportunities away from them for their own selfish gain. Actually I too have been a victim of this. Lost a 60k yr job cuz of a brothers selfishness :-(
Oh did my in-laws ever complain. Heck, we all did!!
That is until I quit going and got DF'd. Now - they don't say too much - and what they do say has a "positive spin."
i have heard pioneers complain about elders and complain about the lack of love in our congregation
the most criticizm was when the generation change came out..whooo that caused a stir!!
In my world, Witnesses always criticized the organization past. My dad eats Bibles and craps Watchtowers and he said he knew something was wrong in Bethel when they started allowing Witness people to talk to disfellowshipped members. He said he was positive something was wrong when they changed the title of the Kingdom Ministry to "Our Kingdom Service".
After Ray Franz was disfellowshipped, everything the Witnesses didn't like for the last 100 years was blamed on him and sealed:-)
