The Time and Effort you gave as a JW is worthless (page 2)

nvrgnbk

Sucks real bad don't it Snakes?

I really don't know how you can sit through all that Open mind.

I have mixed feelings about the whole experience. I became a publisher as a teenager. If I hadn't taken up with the JW's, I might have taken up with some cult that was even worse. I wanted pat answers, so I found them. I wanted to know which religion was the "right" one, so I heard what I wanted to.

At the time, it worked for me. I would have wasted my time in any case. Now I think I had to do what I did as a growth experience. What I learned about myself, about human nature, about cults in general, about mental illness, about bullying, about betrayal, and about learning to be true to oneself is valuable. And, believe me, people tried to warn me; but those warning fell on deaf ears and a tuned-out mind. Most of us do refuse to learn the easy way and enroll ourselves in the School of Hard Knocks while we are young. I felt so smug that I did not make the same mistakes a lot of teenagers did, but those who made more normal kinds of mistakes were able to recover much more easily.

When I hear the stories of others who have experienced the pain of being in a cult and escaping, the way they are dealt with gives rise to one big question: Where is God in all of this?

Grateful not to have lost the lessons,

SandraC

R.F.

my dad, faithful witness for 50 or more years, went to prison for 4 years because of the draft stuff.
was told by an elder a few years ago when he was seeking comfort about his old age and its limitations, to come to the meetings, they needed the seat fillers.
broke his heart.

That breaks my heart too. R.F.

IP_SEC

JH... stop being a little wuss. He that ENDURES to the END... no excuses! and no soup for you!

OUTLAW

"No soup for you!"..LOL!!........WBT$ only wants more from you!..Is that so hard?..If your in a comma,they will put a little card on your hospital table advertiseing the WBT$..If a person in a comma can continue to work for the WBT$,why can`t you do just a little more!..Your all Ungratefull and lazy!!.. Beating A Dead Horse ..LOL!!...OUTLAW

Blueblades

33 years a Watchtower Slave! No retirement! No pension! Turned down good $$$ money jobs and careers! All I get now is Social Security, and it is not enough to make ends meet. Both my wife and I together just get by between the two of us collecting SS. She works part time and I'm looking for work.

Thank You Governing Body for all the love you have showed to all those who have slaved their lives away for you and are still doing so.

They use to call me by my nickname FUNSALOW! my funds were low because we gave most of what we earned to the Watchtower Society.

It's my own fault for becoming a captive of a concept and chasing after that "CARROT" that was and is not there!

Blueblades Who won't put his hat out in front of the Watchtower.

The wanderer

Dear SnakesInTheTower:

I could not help but to comment on your thread reply.
That was a response that put the whole Jehovah's Witness
life in proper perspective.

Fortunately, I started saving for retirement at the age
of 25 because I had some underlying fear that Armageddon
might not come about in my life time.

All of the other things about not finishing college on time
and not going on vacations all stand true in my life.

I could not express the embarrassment having to have gone to
class with students who could qualify as my son or daughter.

Respectfully,

Richard

38 Years

I try not to think about the wasted loyalty with meetings, conventions, pioneering. After the 1975 thing, I too started thinking the big "A" was not coming in my lifetime. I started living with this in mind and it helped me move forward with some goals. I couldn't get to all my goals because of what I lost being in the Borg. My mind and talents wasted away. I had the "spiritually weak" label for years, but it didn't bother me. I was so burnt out, I couldn't do all the dub stuff anymore. I can't see any good reason for wasting away as a dub for 38 years, but I'm just glad that I got out. I am trying to make up for lost time, and it's going really well

WTWizard

How often do they urge you to do more to make up for the time when you might do less or mess up in some way? I have heard them use that to extort people to do more. Pioneers who already have their time in will often go out for an additional 10 or 20 hours, often right up until the end of the month, just in case there comes a day when they have to slow down. Then when that day comes, all that "extra" time amounts to nothing.

This reminds me of the "spiritual wealth". They claim that material wealth breaks or gets stolen, but spiritual wealth doesn't and is therefore safe. What they don't tell you is that material wealth is rarely lost in one blow. You expect things to break, and then you get another. Or, a fire or burglary results in loss of some possessions. In the meantime, you have had the use of the good(s) for that time. With spiritual "wealth", you do lose it all in one blow, often for something so trivial or even bogus, that it seems grossly out of proportion to the "offense". And you do not get the use of it while you still have it. Besides, it is usually easier to gain back material wealth than spiritual "wealth" when you lose it.

BluesBrother

Sure it is.

40 years or so pounding the streets of Southen England, and a couple up here in the Midlands. All the meetings, the studying, the talks ..The opportunities forgone...As Ian Dury said "WHAT A WASTE"...It all counts for nothing now, as the family enjoy reminding me.

But what the hell? I can't go back in time so lets try and enjoy what is left... At least I know that I will not be living forever, which is better than being deluded by a lie.....

The Time and Effort you gave as a JW is worthless