I was talking with a friend who is 57 years old, he's been in all his life and has 2 or 3 sisters. Both his parents are still in and were in before they had children. That's a combined 250-300 years in the religion and all that time my friend is the only one that brought anyone into the troof and that family went nuts. Wonderful time wasting religion isn't it.
Regular pioneering is a financial double whammy.
by hoser 15 Replies latest jw friends
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problemaddict 2
Its true. The cost of pioneering when you are 18-22 depending on some of the other choices you are making in your life, could be catastrophic. Imagine even moreso if you are a woman in that same age group that has made bethel (or a bethelite), your goal like some I have known. Some chance this idea of being a prominent organizational mans wife......for decades with no success. talented,a ttractive, otherwise sane women doing this.
I pioneered on and off, but getting my time kept my best focus away from conversion. I converted 7 or 8 people before I was even 35. Some are still JW's and I wonder all the time if I should be saying something. Some I have hooked up with as adults, and they woke up and left. They were SHOCKED to see me gone as well and we have reignited a friendship. They never blamed me.....which i always appreciated.
One woman who was a bit of a mentor in the ministry to me in Sacramento I think at last count before she passed away had almost 180 people she studied with get baptized. She passed away several years ago now, but wow.
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snare&racket
then there is the financial implications to your future, not many businesses are interested in a door to door preacher with soapy water skills.
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Julia Orwell
I never pioneered but I can tell you I've saved a fortune since I left the cult early last year. I earn less than I ever did because of work fluctuations but seem to have more money, a car not under finance and my own home.
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punkofnice
I would imagine it's quite expensive in Starbucks too.
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WTWizard
The time wasted pious-sneering is significant, plus you are barred from certain occupations because "you might stumble someone". And, just see what others will say if you go into a coin shop and come out with as much as a single silver quarter. They are not allowed to earn money, they are not allowed to invest money--and for certain, they are not allowed to spend the occasional toilet paper on a scratch off ticket that might by off chance win them big money or more likely a more modest amount. Many end up on welfare, a terrific abuse of the system.
On the expense side, they do not care how high gas goes. If it goes up too much, it is "a test from Satan" and they are supposed to continue going out even if they do not have the means. Then there are donations for littera-trash, other field circus supplies, suit dry cleanings, and whatever they need to do to maintain the impression of being godly. How often do the pious-sneers get pressued to let others use their facilities, and some of them abuse these by leaving messes or wasting supplies. And that's before being hounded to go on this stupid two-week damnation mission in Israel this coming spring. (Which I hope is a terrific flop.)