CRAZINESS!!! I'M BEING 'MARKED' FOR GOING TO COLLEGE!!!

by MsGrowingGirl20 100 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Jim_TX

  I'm sorry that you are being put under any emotional stress by a bunch of fools.

  If ever called into the 'back room', for a discussion about your choice to go to college, I wonder if you could tell them that you are going for a law degree (even if it isn't true), as you know the headquarters is needing more lawyers, and your goals are to work for the WTBTS in... well, it used to be Brooklyn. (Again - even if it isn't true).

  That should spin their heads around.

  Good Luck in your college classes! Hang in there!

  Regards,

  Jim TX
• 

  MsGrowingGirl20

  Thank you all for all the wonderful posts and advice...i'm def considering some of them...Somehow i don't think they'd go that far just to warn single ms away but who knows...you know....i'm definitely NOT going to let them pressure me into not going to college...it's so stupid! i'm fed up of straddling the fence....sigh...i will let you all know how it goes
• 

  blindcat

  The elders got very nervous when I went through EMT school. They had some uninformed idea I was going to be in a hugh, long drawn out program. I wondered why they got so nervous about a 9 month course, taught at the local fire station. I wasn't a pioneer, I barely made my regular hour quota, and when approached, they wanted to know, "how much time this would consume", and "why would I want to pursue this course"? I looked them in the eye and told them, "Because I don't like cleaning toilets, and it doesn't pay the bills". They left me alone. There were no threats of 'marking' or anything else. I guess they sensed I didn't really care much what they thought, or did, for that matter. I was pretty much sick of their pious, demeaning attitude toward the people who had to put up with them.
• 

  St George of England

  Tell them you are going to study Psychology as you hope to get a good job at Bethel when you qualify.

  George
• 

  Conan The Barbarian

  The Elders will make an evaluation of you per the recent March 2012 letter. This will consist of two of them talking to you and asking in a conversational way, what is your motivation for wanting to go to College. Your reply will be critical. If they determine that you are going to college not to pursue sacred service, but for personal enrichment and/or the pursuit of riches, you will most likely be removed as a Pioneer. The marking talk will be given during one service mneeting as mentioned by others here in the forum. The purpose of the marking talk is two-fold. One is to indicate that you have made a poor personal choice, which is the predecessor to removal; and second, The old women in the congregation will be happy. This keeps them from bad-mouthing the body of elders the next time the circuit overseer comes around. The body does not want to explain to the CO during the Friday night interrogation during his visit, why they didn't act when it became common knowlege that a Pioneer was going to go to College. Its call self preservation. Take care an keep us posted!
• 

  LongHairGal

  MsGrowingGirl:

  Do not let these hypocrites stop you from getting an education. They have no problem accepting people in Bethel who went to college to get a skill they want! They don't want people to get an education unless they are DIRECTLY benefiting from it. And as some other posters have said, do not be secretive about this "marking". GO around and tell everybody precisely why you are being marked: because you are going to college. You are certainly not seeking "riches", just a decent living.

  Never forget: you have a small window of time (when you are young) to get an education so that it matters as far as earning a living. This religion does not care if you starve to death. It is not a pretty picture to see somebody in middle age or older scraping by to make ends meet. It is bad enough when responsible working people lose their jobs or circumstances cause somebody to become poor. So WHY would you pursue poverty in the first place??? I wasn't buying this crap and I considered people there to be just plain jealous. They just want to see some happy, confident woman abased and targeted by all the users. If you are "poor" how could you help yourself, much less help somebody else?? As far as I was concerned, the poverty they are preaching is not for them - just some other sucker!

  Many halls have needy older single women in the back of the hall and I despise this religion that couldn't care if they drew their next breath.
• 

  mind blown

  the WTS wants RankNFile to stay stupid and un informed. If you stay stupid (no higher ed) you will not learn to use your critical thinking skills and if you stay un informed about past WTS dealings you won't find out they are twisting the scriptures as well as hypocrites.

  You can totally see it's a control thing. Any JW young one is eventually going to leave home, even if he didn't get an education, correct? So a parent has to trust they did good by teaching their child well in the faith. When a young one leaves home and what ever jobs he gets, he constantly has the world around him and tempation. So what's the difference? If a JW young one goes to higher education, a parent has to trust they did a good thing by training their child. And if one doesn't have parents in the faith, their bible study conductor and congregation would trust they did a good job in teaching their bible student.

  Didn't the great Mo (Moses) go to Egypt to get edumacated? As I re call?

  And the way things have always been, even if you get a lower paying job, you still have to put in long hours in order to pay your rent!! Much less put food on ones table. Yup stay dirt po and live off welfare.

  Ha.....just thought of something. Maybe it's a breeding scam. Teach RNF to stay stupid and breed little armies of JWs.....

  EITHER WAY IT'S A SCAM....

  Girl20 you have to feed and put a roof over your head. They are not going to...
• 

  rocketman

  It is one thing to delete you as a pioneer (bad enough), but they're taking a very hard line on the marking. As already pointed out, if you were in another congregation there's a good chance there would not be any marking.

  What you may wish to do, should they question you, is tell them that you're pursuing higher education with the motive of trying to make more pay-per-hour of work so that you can continue to pioneer. That could sway them. That's if you want to play it their way.

  I was an elder for a decade and we never marked anyone, despite plenty of stuff that went on in the congregation. Your elders are pulling out a trump card that is rarely used, at least in my experience.
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  ziddina

  Uhm, well, that's to be expected....

  They've been "anti-education" since Russell's time...

  And especially since you're female - how DARE you try to become smarter than the men in your congregation who are supposed to be your spiritual "heads"....

  Bleah....

  Lady, you just ignore them and make sure that you've secured your financial future...!!

  It would REALLY grate their groins to see you make more MONEY than them, too...
• 

  ziddina

  "...those who display a flagrant disregard for theocratic order though not practicing a grave sin that would result in judicial action. (w99 7/15 pp. 29-31) This could include such things as being grossly lazy or critical or being a profitless talker who is a constant 'meddler with what does not concern him.' (2 Thess. 3:11) It may involve one who schemes to take material advantage of others, indulges in entertainment that is clearly improper, or dates when not legally or Scripturally free. ..." From that super-secret "For Male Eyes Only" elders' manual..." Thanks, Interested One!! page #1

  Don't you just love being lumped in with "flagrant disregard for theocratic order"... "grossly lazy"... "critical"... "profitless talker"... "constant meddler"... "one who schemes to [defraud] others"... "[one who watches] entertainment that is clearly improper"... or "date when not legally... free" - in other words, a person of loose morals...

  That displays a petty, mean-minded intellectual parsimony that, coupled with their demand for "COLLEGE-EDUCATED" personel for key positions in Bethel, stinks to the skies of rank, flagrant hypocrisy...!!