It was sad looking at all of my congregation members yesterday!

by RULES & REGULATIONS 18 Replies latest jw experiences

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  RULES & REGULATIONS

  I went to the meeting yesterday and found it to be a sad experience.(I've been fading over the years and down to 2 meetings per month)

  I looked around and found that there are no new members.Just family members and friends. Most of the teens that I knew as little kids were either disfellowshipped or quit. Most members that started the congregation 35 years ago are either deceased or old. They've all been waiting all these years and still no ''Armageddon''.

  The talk was about ''agape''love. How many times has this talk been given?

  The new song book is alot better because the songs are shorter( we know how awful Jehovah's Witnesses sing). The Watchtower was boring as usual with all the ''parroted answers''. Everyone loved when little kids answered...... except me! The ending prayer thanked the ''faithful and discreet slave'' for the spiritual food.( I think the food rotted long time ago) Then,they were getting ready for afternoon ''service''.

  I feel sorry for any who still believe and go to all these meetings and ''service'' work for nothing. I know that some are happy to be there. But, it has to raise questions to some why things are still the same as when they joined. I just know in my mind that I don't belong there any longer!
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  steve2

  Yep, it's sad and maddening but some people have such a limited vision for their lives that they prefer to go down with the ship.
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  crapola

  I used to feel the same way. I'd look around at all the older ones and there were very few new ones coming in. Finally I just could'nt do it anymore. My mom is still in and going strong and scared to death that I will die soon at Armegeddon. I feel sorry for her.
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  moshe

  R&R, so please help me out and perhaps save a life. When the opportunity presents itself in a meeting ask this simple question, "will a blood transfusion save the life of a starving man?" when the realization hits home that the answer is, NO, follow up with the punchline, "so blood transfusions have nothing to do with the OT prohibition to not eat blood" You can also tell them a householder asked this question, "if blood transfusions are against the OT laws to not eat blood, then why do Jews and Jewish doctors see no problem with them? You can look this up in the WT CD and find a big black hole on this. Don't be a part of the problem- work to fix it.

  shalom,

  Moshe
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  sir82

  You want sad? How about this....

  We recently had a old pioneer sister move into our territory. Mid 80's, never married, well over 50 years of "full time service". Now she's going senile.

  Imagine - she started pioneering in her 20's, full of youth and vitality, put aside the thoughts of marriage because Armageddon was so close, she could get married to a "perfect man" in the "new system", she'd never grow old....

  Now she sits in a fog, lucid maybe half the time, old, body breaking down, mind nearly gone.....

  And for what? She will continue to decline for a few more years, then die, and what will they say about her? What will be the highlights of her life?

  "She really loved Jehovah....she spent 60 years ringing doorbells of empty houses....she went to a lot of meetings at the Kingdom Hall..."

  Perhaps the saddest part is, she has no idea what a waste it's been....then again, maybe that's a blessing....
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  awildflower

  And to add to that Sir, she probably has no family. She never married or had kids, so no one to care who she is or help her now. I too know "sisters" who although they may have married, they decided to have no children because of "this system of things", now they're past the age of having children and lived with that sadness all that time. I often thinking about my childhood in the org and all the kids I grew up with, are not jw's anymore! So back then when we were thinking "oh if they leave there not going to make it through Armageddon", thirty years later, they are still alive! Same with us, thirty more years from now will be the same. In fact I think we'll be living in a better world. Crazy what people give up. And they are not giving it up for "Jehovah", they are giving it up because it serves the needs of their own ego.
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  LongHairGal

  Rules & Regulations,

  I know this sad feeling you are talking about because I have experienced it too when I visited the congregation. I also noticed there are the same old timers with family and some grown children and maybe a study or two.

  I might add that I noticed that the new studies tend to be women and they tend to be older or disabled, so I wonder if the sisters visiting them are helping them in some way. Just wondering.
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  MidwichCuckoo

  I always thought how dreary and depressing 'Kingdom' songs are compared to 'Christendom's' Hymns, which always seem to be sung with passion in Church. 'Kingdom' songs are by far inferior, but then isn't everything the WT produces..? LongHairedGirl - Yes - I think some JWs have tried to gain converts by offering practical assistance to the vulnerable...just another ploy.. none of what they do is 'spreading the Good News', it's just manipulation and salestalk (Theocratic Ministry School ?)
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  teel

  MidwichCuckoo: I wonder if they keep up the practical assistance after the disabled's baptism...
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  MMXIV

  I would still be interested to see/find out how that little community I grew up in changed over the years. I only hear when another old timer passes on. When I was young - there was a generation of old ones who had built the congregation. That generation has now completely disappeared.

  MMXIV