Yes if you told an Elder or Circuit Oversear "I'm getting married and don't have much money for accomadation or a WEDDING etc so I'm quiting Pioneering..." This is what our C.O said to my Pioneer mate who did this. {Smugly} "Thats okay brother, Jehovah can replace you....." This Pioneer after 4 years of full time service, took this as a slap in the face! Even though I was a faithful Pioneer I still thought: "What an A.hole! So when I quit 5 years later I faked a "Chronic Fatigue stress illness" as did many Special and Full time Pioneers. It the only way to quit with some dignity.
The only honourable way to quit PIONEERING was to fake an ILLNESS!!!!!!!
by Witness 007 7 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Finally-Free
People routinely get treated like shit when they quit pioneering™. I stopped for health reasons, and I wasn't faking, and was still treated like crap afterwards. Same with my ex, whose feet were in such pain she'd stagger whenever she got up to walk. The only people I saw that could quit and still be treated like normal people were couples that started having kids.
W
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cantleave
Remember when ME was dubbed pioneer diesease, because so many pioneers seemed to suffer from it.
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tinker
Every pioneer I've ever known developes the lastest 'pop' illness. Low Blood Sugar was the malady of choice when I was in. Chronic Fatigue became rampant in the ranks as well as Irritable Bowl Syndrome. They were all going to alternative medicine clinics for colonics and fasting. And most of them believe a chiropractor is a REAL doctor and can treat the flu by cracking your neck. Every illness is because one leg is shorter than the other
Don't get me wrong I like alternative medicine, it has it's place but most Jdub Pioneers are acutely addicted to it as an excuse not to get their time in. Just stating you are tired of the pioneer grind is to shame your entire family.
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OnTheWayOut
I was unaware of a problem in my cong. until one of the pioneers pointed it out. We had a bunch of single ladies under 30 pioneering and a handful of them would have loved to quit. BUT there was pressure from all sides on them. They didn't want to be looked down on by their "peers" who were mostly the other pioneers, but anyone in their circles that thought that all single young "sisters" should be pioneering. They didn't want to get a call from the elders to try to change their mind. They actually thought it was easier to remain a pioneer than face all that.
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Farkel
: It the only way to quit with some dignity.
Dignity is not something people give or take from you. It is something you have, or you don't have. You create your own dignity, not others.
Personally, I would feel I've lost some dignity if I had to lie to keep others from harshly judging me.
Farkel
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DrJohnStMark
After I quitted pioneering I was treated as if I had some exotic contagious disease. By the caring 'friends' in the congregation. Most of whom had never even tried pioneering and never would. For many years I still was 'in good standing' but that was not enough... the gradient was negative.
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WTWizard
And they are trying to take even that away. Remember the "brother" that had only one leg, severe headaches and back aches, had to walk 20 miles through dangerous terrain, and still pio-sneered? Remember the "brother" in the iron lung that managed to pio-sneer? If these people can do it, they will shame people who refuse to pio-sneer or that wish to drop out because of a mere fatigue problem.
Better to simply not do it in the first place. Yes, they are going to hound and harass you to pio-sneer. They think you need to pio-sneer. You get those "five Saturdays" months, and the next month has "five Sundays", and you have no excuse to not pio-sneer during those months. They have those pio-sneer drives in the fall, at the start of the new circus year, and the REJECT Jesus season--"Pioneer--or DIE!" is common during these. But, once you start and do it once, you will be expected to do it all the time--and if you simply don't get your time in, you will be hounded about it, too.
Joyful? I myself have seen regular pio-sneers straggling to meetings for field circus. One "sister" would be coming in about 20 minutes later (when her husband lost his job in 199*, he also regular pio-sneered), and would be "I don't FEEL like being out today!". When they were together, they were both like that--coffee and all, 20 minutes late, disorganized, and just plain not wanting to be out there. If it was joyful, more people would be eager to be out there--and they would be at the meeting place at 8:45 AM waiting for it to start so they can get in the territory. And, they would be staying out long after they got their required time in--and people not pio-sneering would also be getting 80 or 90 hours a month without being hounded (and not fake time, either).