Punished by our friends for the letter we sent. (page 3)

Honesty

Out of 465+ customers, I only had 3 families who are JW's.

Within 3 months of it being announced that I had disassociated from the ~~Christian~~ Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses all 3 JW families canceled on me.

I held a party to celebrate.

NotaNess

Shorter ways to spell "Jehovah's Witnesses":

C L I C K

and

G A N G

You all no longer belong to the "In-Crowd"....congratulations!

My photography business took a hit when I quit attending meetings . Most of my clients were JW weddings . Things have picked up nicely now though and my worldly clients are no where near as cheap as the witnesses were . Some JW's that have spoken to me lately have made a point to remark in a snidely manner ," How's your business doing ? " ....I always make sure they know it is great couldn't be happier ! ..Takes the smirk right off their face .

LongHairGal

Lenny:

Look at the bright side of not having them as customers. You will never have future dealings with them trying to weasel out of paying for something because you are a "brother" and you will never have the issue of trying to collect from them. You are much too kind to let people off now, but I guess you just want to be rid of them and don't need the aggravation.

JWs hate former members more than they can ever hate anybody else. Why? Because you know all about them. You also caused them mental anguish by heaping yet more doubt on them in addition to what they already must feel by revealing to them what has been hidden from them about this U.N. association.

Always smile when you see them.

LHG

Quandry

Well, now. Can't you just imagine the buzz that was taking place in the K.Hall? Maybe the ones that were your customers got together to compare notes as to what their actions would be. Maybe there were talks about you in the K.Hall. You sure seem to have kept them very busy. Fifty letters is alot. With the way the Witnesses gossip, you can bet that many more people know about the U.N. scandal now.

willyloman

I was happy to see this post and the specific numbers and economic impact you included. It proves something I have often said, that many dubs see the light but cannot escape the Watchtower because they are held hostage by family and business contacts.

When I left, there was another elder who in private conversations freely expressed many reservations about the way the organization was run. He was a very successful self-made man, relying on hundreds of clients he had built up over 20 years. His business was obviously lucrative. He had the nicest house I've ever seen under dub ownership, and while he drove a four-door pickup truck to the meetings and in service, he had $300,000 worth of automotive toys hidden in his garage.

In talking with him one night, I asked what he had gotten of tangible value out of his 30 years of witness living and without thinking he said his business had been successful from the very start because so many "friends" had moved their accounts to him. He quickly caught himself and said, "Well, that's the material benefit. The spiritual benefits are even more important." He went on to recite the standard list. But I sensed his initial answer was closest to his heart. I asked how he had started his business and several related questions. We'd had a couple of glasses of wine which enhanced our personal kinship, and he was quite frank. Most of his clients were dubs in the old congo he spent years in, located in another state. Since he had moved to our area, he had added a number of local "brothers" to his client list and had done some extensive marketing which added a large number of retirees who had moved into the area. He continued to service his old clients via the internet and telephone and fax, and made frequent busniess trips back home. So while his client base was not all JWs, dubs were a significant majority.

He didn't talk dollars, but I was able to do the math and later estimated from our conversation that he probably made $250,000 a year - and I'm sure that's a conservative estimate in an age when six figure incomes are increasingly common.

One of his pet peeves was judicial committees. He was particularly disturbed by the BOE letter from WTBTS that elder bodies who were sued were on their own and could not expect any help from "Mother." As a result, he rarely served on a JC, unless it was clearly the kind of case where a lawsuit was not a remote possibility. His position was that he had worked hard, caught the brass ring, and without any formal education was on track to retire in a few more years with a small fortune, enough to settle in remote location he often travelled to in the summer. He wasn't about to put his personal fortune at risk.

Since the lights came on in the thinking part of my brain and I planned and executed my exit strategy, I have often thought that he would happily join us if it wouldn't cost him his business. A thread like this one makes it abundantly clear that his fears are well founded.

Numinous

Not only have I seen businesses built up by the use of witness contacts, but literal homes built with the labor of brothers and then later sold at a large profit. It is usually wealthy brothers who do this over and over again. Brilliant plan following suit of the mother organization. I do wonder why nothing was done by the elders after this letter was sent. Usually any questioning or bad attitude sends the body of elders on the rampage.

Gill

Sorry to hear that Lenny!

However, I did sack my Jehovah's Witness window cleaner the other week! Felt good!!

Punished by our friends for the letter we sent.