When living in Brisbane I heard a fanciful tale about a Gold Coast pioneer couple buying a Porsche that was advertised for $100 after seeing it in the classifieds. A couple of years later, living in New Zealand, I heard the same story about an Auckland couple buying a Mercedes for $50 after seeing it advertised in the classifieds. It was an identical story, with only the minor details changed. As it turned out, the tale is an urban legend, which Snopes.com says dates back to at least 1948. Read it here. I have also heard the urban myth of the mysterious millionaire benefactor, related here, delivered breathlessly from the platform before the opening of the public talk in Brisbane, allegedly as an experience a brother heard in a letter.
Australian Convention Pioneer family Experience - We found our vegetables in the gutter..why do they wanna be Martyrs?
by Witness 007 37 Replies latest jw experiences
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Roski
BD - it is tragic but unfortunately not unusual - it was their way of life (and mine too at one time). Even as I said "..don't go to the convention..", I knew they would be thinking that I would say that due to my 'poor spiritual' state - no longer 'relying on Jehovah'. I felt guilty afterwards for not being more forceful, but that is coming into focus as I've tried to help my mother in the intervening months only to find she is more than willing to be swindled out of her money by her 'spiritual' friends (dementia aside).
MrMonroe - the mysterious millionaire story was perpetuated by the elder giving me all the grief atm
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Broken Promises
Now, how in hell do vegetables fall in a gutter? I thought gutters, at least in the US, were those things along the roof that catch rainwater so it doesn't ruin the foundation and give people a bath when they enter or exit homes. How in hell are vegetables going to end up flying into the gutters, and then be found there?
LOL.... Australian gutter = American curb
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Heartofaboy
JWs who think they are always receiving blessings from Jehovah make me mad!
Why do they think they are soooo special just because they spend their time doing what the borg tells them to do?
Little children are suffering intolerable pain & cruelty everyday, yet the good lord in his wisdom thinks it better to provide a few bruised veggies to some self righteous prig...........
Jeesh give me strength.
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MrMonroe
Fortuitous things happen to people, good and bad, every day of the year. When they happen to Witnesses it's a blessing from Jehovah.
I have known Witnesses who died in motor accidents, lost their money in failed investment schemes, had their houses wrecked by home invaders, suffered fires at their business, were diagnosed with cancer and ended up childless, miserable and renting their home in their old age because of being obedient to the society. How does that fit in to the belief in Jehovah's watchful oversight?
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doofdaddy
I guess the devil looks after his own...LOL!
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chicken little
I have to write in on this one as I have had (sorry to say), similar experiences and have related them at the assemblies. At the time my husband and I were pioneering on a bare subsistance wage cleaning at all hours of the night. We often had little food and had an experience similar to the australian one. We were walking home from work in the night and came across a ditch were a bread lorry had lost its load out of the back.
We collected as many wrapped loaves as we could and were very grateful for the bread from heaven as we called it. It was not stealing as no company would use packages that had been on the earth.
We had many other experiences that at the time we gave God the glory for. Our tiny old caravan fridge broke down and we had no money for another one, one service the next day at a return visit we see a fridge in our visits hallway, we ask him if he has just got a new one, he says yes but he wants to get rid of the old one that is working well. We of course were overjoyed and yes we gave thanks to Jehovah. Actually our visit was a very kind man and as we have found out since leaving Jws there are lots and lots of people that do very kind things when you are in need.
I view the way in which we were used by the society in giving our experiences as assemblies, much the same as the revivalist churches in the last century. They needed testamonies of God's power, healing etc to give them credibility, the society does the same with our experiences. "See God is blessing you in pioneering, see what wonderful things happen when you serve God", I truly believed this and it was one of the points that held me in longer than I wanted because we really did have unusual experiences. I now see they were not so unusual at all, since I have left I have had just as many "strange" coincidences that have brought good things into my life to help others.
I work for the Red Cross with women who are beaten, whenever I have had to find furniture for them when they move to a new place; I can be sure that I will find just what I need within days, either through Facebook, at work in the rubbish containers (bookcases, chairs etc) or through kind friends that just want to help. So now when I meet the Jws I tell them how kind people are generally and how much I am inspired by their kindness. My dear friend told me that good things tend to happen to people who put themselves out for others, maybe that sounds a cliche but I think there is truth in that saying.
So yes I did take part in the boasting for God sessions, but now I am boasting for humanity, people are great!
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chicken little
I have to write in on this one as I have had (sorry to say), similar experiences and have related them at the assemblies. At the time my husband and I were pioneering on a bare subsistance wage cleaning at all hours of the night. We often had little food and had an experience similar to the australian one. We were walking home from work in the night and came across a ditch were a bread lorry had lost its load out of the back.
We collected as many wrapped loaves as we could and were very grateful for the bread from heaven as we called it. It was not stealing as no company would use packages that had been on the earth.
We had many other experiences that at the time we gave God the glory for. Our tiny old caravan fridge broke down and we had no money for another one, one service the next day at a return visit we see a fridge in our visits hallway, we ask him if he has just got a new one, he says yes but he wants to get rid of the old one that is working well. We of course were overjoyed and yes we gave thanks to Jehovah. Actually our visit was a very kind man and as we have found out since leaving Jws there are lots and lots of people that do very kind things when you are in need.
I view the way in which we were used by the society in giving our experiences as assemblies, much the same as the revivalist churches in the last century. They needed testamonies of God's power, healing etc to give them credibility, the society does the same with our experiences. "See God is blessing you in pioneering, see what wonderful things happen when you serve God", I truly believed this and it was one of the points that held me in longer than I wanted because we really did have unusual experiences. I now see they were not so unusual at all, since I have left I have had just as many "strange" coincidences that have brought good things into my life to help others.
I work for the Red Cross with women who are beaten, whenever I have had to find furniture for them when they move to a new place; I can be sure that I will find just what I need within days, either through Facebook, at work in the rubbish containers (bookcases, chairs etc) or through kind friends that just want to help. So now when I meet the Jws I tell them how kind people are generally and how much I am inspired by their kindness. My dear friend told me that good things tend to happen to people who put themselves out for others, maybe that sounds a cliche but I think there is truth in that saying.
So yes I did take part in the boasting for God sessions, but now I am boasting for humanity, people are great!
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life is to short
Chicken little you sounded a lot like my husband, he says Jehovah would let him dangle over a cliff until Jehovah saw if my husband was really going to realize Jehovah would take care of him. My husband pioneered for years living on nothing, he convinced me to marry him with his having no money and no real job expect part time window washing.
It was beyond hard and the members of the hall we were in were always complaining to me about how poor we were, no one thought it was neat and cool expect for my husband and I never took from anyone anything.
We were married for two months and I got a job then another job, I was working two jobs pioneering I was killing myself trying to keep up.
Roski My heart hurts for you. How sad. My husband did something like that also, he was having a major heart attack and went to the meeting conducted the school before he would tell anyone he was sick. At the ER he coded, he could have died at the meeting. The lovely elders let me drive him alone to the hospital as calling ambulance would have brought attention to the hall and they would have rather my husband die in my car with me alone then bring attention to the hall.
This is such a sick religion.
LITS
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Luo bou to
How about some meat (roadkill ) Jehovah to go with the bread and veges I've been faithfully flogging Trashtowers all day.