To save thine own a$$ . And for appearance . Make the elders look good at circuit overseer visit time. The brown nose effect . Any of these in no particular order
#1 reason they go in service...be honest!..........
by oompa 45 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Purza
In the 30 years I was associated, I NEVER had a study. Never wanted one. Oh yeah, I would repeat the company line and wish for a study, but deep down, I didn't want the committment. In my final months, they were lucky to see an hour a month on my time card.
Purza
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Finally-Free
peer pressure.
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mustang
No. I think #1 would be "If I don't go out the elders will hound me."
Sometimes I wish that I could tell some of them this, but then I recall that I actually did, in a fashion:
I listened to my father and watched a another JW super zealot (in a foreign country on the other side of the globe, where JW's are proscribed) stumble, falter and nearly go into shock when I said NEVER MORE (quoteth the raven :) ) DOOR-DOOR.
Like they say about MasterCard: priceless!!!
They are so transparent: after doing J-Dub-ing that for 20 years, they thought I wouldn't see through their strategy to drag me back to the flock.
Mustang
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White Dove
I may have had an epiphany the other day while thinking about just why JW's are so desparate to make converts.
They have only khall people as friends, and not all of them are "fit."
I believe that deep down inside, JW's are very lonely and want more friends.
I met so many really cool and nice people at the doors that I really wanted to convert.
I was very lonely, too.
They are doing it to find more friends that they would be allowed to have.
Some of them are doing it for this reason. Others could be for all the other reasons mentioned by other posters.
Mine is just another idea that I've not seen or heard before.
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bonnzo
its the only way i can get up early (sorta) enough to get to a few yard sales.
whats up oomp? hows it going? golf soon? pm me.
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oompa
lol bonzo...yard sales!........we also have shopping, centers/malls, buying boots and breakfast!!!.....hang in there guys.....you will find a way to stop going out...........oompa
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sweetstuff
They really do
soap operaservice time to gossip about whoever is not out in service and feel like their lives really don't suck a$$. -
willyloman
totally agree that people go out for social reasons, peer pressure and guilt. Once you have a basic awareness of this, these motivations only work for so long. After if finally realized the truth about the truth, I could no longer sell it,
I thnk a lot of us recognize this process. Having been a loyal dub for three decades, I saw it all change from zealous, excited participation in a work that seemed to be getting results - based on visible growth - back in the 70s and early 80s... to the modern era when it was all about being seen in order to be deemed "spiritual" and not "weak."
I have not gone out in FS since I left dubdom in '03, but for some years prior to that the drill was:
1. Show up at 9:30 for a "10 minute" service meeting that lasted 30-40 minutes when you included the socializing and milling around in the hall afterwards and the bull sessions in the parking lot before finally jumping in the car and heading out.
2. Drive to a territory as slowly as possible, cruise through the territory first to get the lay of the land, then stop, stand around outside the car and discuss who would go with whom, and which streets you'd work.
3. Starting at around 10:30, knock on about 10 doors, 8 of which were not-at-homes. Take plenty of time between doors to get out a notebook and appear to be carefully recording the status of each call (on slips of paper that would often disappear or in a notebook you'd never open again except to make more notes).
4. Knock off and head for a coffee shop, preferably one that was at least 10 minutes away (always conscious of eating up time). Order coffee and, sometimes, breakfast, and spend nearly an hour "visiting" with the friends... a time in which "theocratic" discussion was generally off limits.
5. At around 11:45, look at your watch and proclaim aloud the need to "meet someone back at the hall" or "go to work" and then head for home. The more 'theocratic" among us preferred the excuse, "We have to go make some calls." Most of these calls, we all knew, were phantom.
6. Get home at noon, and add up every possible minute and record it on the calendar - in some cases starting with the minute you walked out your front door at 9:15; with a little judicious rounding up, you had already had 3 hours to report. And it was only the first Saturday of the month!
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Awakened at Gilead
I'm gonna give my different opinion... I was a JW zealout... (so there is hope!)
I had tons of Bible studies.. I was in full time service for about 16 years... as a pioneer, I always had about 3-5 studies... as a missionary, I had about 15... I "helped" about 15 people get baptized... and I didn't just go out for 2 hours... Saturday FS meant all day in service to me... I would frequently go out from the group and stay out until 5 or 6 pm or later sometimes if I had a good RV or experience...
So not all people on here were fringe JWs who hated service... When I believed I was sharing the "truth" I was quite wholehearted and spent as much tim in FS as I could... the fringe publishers who just went out for an hour irritated me to no end, lol....
Of course, a litttle over a year ago, I snapped, and service just wasn't pleasurable anymore... I couldn't put my finger on it...until after about 6 months I realized that I didn't believe in JWs anymore...
The rest is history...