Is this really a balanced life?

ShawnS

My husband who was raised as a Witness & has recently considered getting baptised brought home a "Personal Study Schedule". This study schedule was given to him by an Elder and clearly states at the top "DO NOT POST TO ANY ELECTRONIC SERVICE SUCH AS THE INTERNET" - that alone makes me wonder - why are they hiding it??

Anyway, the schedule breaks down every day, clearly states how much time you should be spending reading the bible & JW literature each day through the week. The total hours in a week - slightly over 8.

What bothers me about this situation is the following: A normal person works 8-9 hours a day then there is commute time. In my husbands case he is away from the house 11 hours a day. You sleep at least 8 hours a night. You spend an hour each day on personal care, showering, brushing your teeth, using the restroom, getting dressed etc. Probably another 1.5 hours on daily stuff like eating breakfast & dinner with your family, washing dishes, putting away your laundry etc. If you add all that up, it leaves my husband with 2.5 hours out of any given 24 hour period to spend time with our children, help with homework, attend the occasional soccer practice, help get the little ones bathed & ready for bed, read them stories before bed etc.

Is it me or does 8 hours a week seem CRAZY and an unrealistic expectation? Where is the balance?

Sure there is the weekend to read but we also have to clean house, mow the lawn, general upkeep on our home & try to make up for the lost quality time we missed during the week with our children. For those of you who will say going to the meeting on Sunday is "quality family time"...that's a joke...getting a 5yr old & 3yr old to find a "talk" interesting isn't possible. I also do not believe the "talks" on Sunday are generally appropriate for all ages. When an Elder is giving a talk and words in the talk such as RAPE & ADULTERY & INCEST are used....sorry but I don't think those are words that should be used in the presence of small children. A 5yr old should not be exposed to those words & have to ask their parents afterwards.."Mommy what is RAPE?"

no more kool aid

Hi Shawn, no it is not balanced! I aspired to this craziness for 43 years and it is next to impossible. You are right it does not leave enough time to just sit with your kids or have a lazy day and make breakfast on a Saturday. Next thing you know your children are grown and you have done little but study your watchtower, get ready for meetings and knock on doors. Keep your kiddies away from the whole thing and provide them the normal activities and relaxation they need. NMKA

Londo111

This is all part of the BITE mind control system.

In particular:
Behavior Control: *Major time commitment required for indoctrination sessions and group rituals
* little or no time spent on leisure, entertainment, vacations)
Information Control:
*Keep members so busy they don't have time to think
*Extensive use of group generated information and propaganda (Newsletters, magazines, journals, audio tapes, videotapes, etc.)

sir82

You should post the schedule here.

00DAD

Read this post by Marvin Shilmer, then you'll know why the real reason why the WTBTS wants to keep it's little sheep so busy:

Why the unrelenting pressure for more and more organized religious activity?

ShawnS

I actually tried to post the schedule but couldn't figure out how to do it.

@ NMKA - This was just the reading schedule, I haven't seen one for "service" hours. If I remember correctly though, I believe they require 20 hours a week to be out in service.

just n from bethel

It's not balanced because it's never ending. Meaning there's no end in sight. There's no way to measure your progress of knowledge. No grading or feedback system. Nothing that shows weather or not you're really even educating yourself - not to mention most of what you're studying involves believing that Jewish Christian mythology are true stories - and the other part of it is pretty much leap-in-logic jumps as to why some men in New York's interpretation and extrapolation of such stories should be adored and followed unquestionably.

But putting that aside - even if what what you were studying was actually beneficial information - there's no structure or purpose in it. It's solely to constantly reiterate a belief system that would fall apart, unless you spend 8+ hours a week telling yourself - "this must be true, this must be true," and afterwards - 'Look how much time I invested in studying all this, years of hours and hours each week - I can't possibly be wrong.' If there was actually a way to measure your understanding and internalization of information and perhaps even one day be done with that kind of schedule, like you know, how most courses and study programs work - then perhaps there could be some reasonableness to it.

But alas - the idea is to keep you so busy, that you never have time to learn something of real value with real educational advantage, much less, enjoy your life and family.

bob1999

The Personal Study Schedule is on line here,

http://ministryideaz.com/shopcontent.asp?type=downloads#05

about 1/2 way down the page. .rtf 195 kb

Peace

exwhyzee

talks" on Sunday are generally appropriate for all ages. When an Elder is giving a talk and words in the talk such as RAPE & ADULTERY & INCEST are used....sorry but I don't think those are words that should be used in the presence of small children.

I agree. Those of us who grew up in the truth and heard about the horrors of the comming persecution we'd be undergoing and the destruction of all our school mates and neighbors or even ourselves if we didn't tow the line. We'd return from the meeting with a head full of fear of the future.

At one Sunday Watchtower study I recall a little girl raising her hand and giving us all a rundown on the difference between Circumcision of the heart and literal Circumcision. I often wondered what a visitor might think hearing a child talk about such matters.

finally awake

It's absolutely not reasonable - not even for a single adult who doesn't have to work for a living. Do not under any circumstances accept a bible study yourself, and do everything in your power to encourage your husband to do other things than study and attend meetings. The Watchtower Society tries to drive a wedge between married couples, and you need to try to keep that from happening. The happier and closer you two are as a couple, the more effective you will be in discouraging him from joining up with this cult.

Keep reading here, there's a wealth of information that will help you going forward.

Is this really a balanced life?

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