Yet another category dreamed up (Infirm Regular Pioneer), full of arbitrary cut-off points (age 50 or older and having served as pioneer for minimum of 15 years). Who dreams up these criteria? Can they keep a straight face - especially since it does not apply to those who commence pioneering after age 60?
May 15, 2017 TO ALL BODIES OF ELDERS Re: Regular Pioneers
by wifibandit 41 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Pete Zahut
I wonder if Jesus followed this process when selecting his Disciples?
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Dagney
Well I'll tell ya, my mother became a RP rather late, maybe in her 70's. When she could no longer do it she was crushed because she didn't fit the criteria to be named an "Infirmed Reg Pio." She was a pillar of the congregation but they wouldn't give her the title.
I felt bad she felt so bad. But I told her..."what is your intention for pioneering? Is it for the title?"
The thing is, the WTBS make sure people understand how undeserving they are of anything, that all people have to sort of make them feel important are those frickin titles. I wish it didn't matter, but it really does to many.
Oh well.
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Sour Grapes
They are only unpaid volunteers spending their lives and money to promote a real estate company.
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steve2
..."what is your intention for pioneering? Is it for the title?"
Well said, Dagney. Shows how much pioneering is not done in the sight of Jehovah but in the sight of men. Talk about followers of men.
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LoisLane looking for Superman
840 hours per year X $15.00 per hour = $12,600's per one year.
That means in 10 years you would have made yourself $126,000.00
Nice nest egg, down payment for a house or in some places will pay for a whole house or apartment.
Normal people look out for themselves and their family and loved ones first. Only dysfunctional people need other people's approval with a "Look at me. I'm special. I am a pioneer..."
Then when it comes time for their old age and retirement they don't have any money and wonder why... Well look what you could have made if you worked like everyone you are preaching to, that politely tell you to go away...
The Big A is not coming. You have been lied to!
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steve2
In the early 1970s, a childless sister in her seventies (whose husband had been disfellowshipped years earlier for apostasy) from my home town congregation continued to pioneer despite the onset of worrying symptoms of vascular dementia. As the elder arrangement had only recently been instigated, no assigned elder took responsibility for meeting with this sister to tell her it was okay to stop pioneering and to offer support. Those working the territory with her reported lots of confusion, muddled thinking and distress.
She left the field mid-morning one day alone whilst the other pioneers busied themselves with door-knocking (I was door-knocking with my compasion on an adjacent block). As we rounded the corner , we saw the sister in the distance a long way from the assigned territory; she appeared to be sitting down on the pavement; as we neared, there she was in full view of the public, rocking backwards and forwards crying out loud because she couldn't find her keys or her car. She was inconsolable. [She had forgotten that someone else had driven her to the territory and there was no keys or car to find].
Even as a 17-year-old, it occurred to me that the other pioneers were so intent of continuing to door-knock to get their hours in that they knowingly allowed her to leave the field by herself. Did they even bother to ask where she was going? Did they not worry she could get lost or lose her way?
You would have thought that, after this distressing incident, the elders would have provided some guidance. They didn't. She was clearly now out of her cognitive and emotional depth as a pioneer. Yet they allowed her to continue to pioneer and, yes, there were more incidents involving her "losing" her car and becoming distressed.
Only when she was assessed by medical practitioners did the elders respond to ongoing voiced concerns about her suitability and, within three weeks, an announcement was made that this lovely sister had "stepped down" from her role as Regular Pioneer. Someone estimated she had pioneered for close to 50 years.
Her meeting attendance soon petered off and it wasn't long before members of the congregation stopped their visits to her home (ostensibly to avoid her disfellowshipped husband). And with 18 months she was dead and given a quiet memorial in the kingdom hall to which few attended. No one spoke to her husband during the memorial or afterwards, including me and my JW family in attendance. Looking back, I feel ashamed of our colluding with this shameful practice. That was 45 years ago.
Whenever people talk on this forum about JW organization becoming even more harsh as time passes, I reflect upon stories such as this one. I then realize in my heart like it is hitting me anew that, No, JW organization isn't becoming more harsh simply because it has always been a very harsh and unloving place.
What a sad end to this woman's life, spent dedicating herself to the 'spreading of the good news of a kingdom' that never came.
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hoser
A buddy of mine put in the 90 hours a month without being a pioneer. It pissed off the elders and circuit overseer that he refused to sign up as a pioneer. He finally signed up as a pioneer after putting in big hours for a couple of years. He pioneered for a few months and quit. He is a marginal jw now
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flipper
What a sick, twisted letter !
The quote : " This arrangement is not a provision to allow an individual to care for sick relatives .......... " .
Indeed. God forbid the WT Society would ever make such a loving provision to care for sick relatives ! Unbelievably calloused and insensitive. Being humane and sensitive to individual needs of JW's is NOT in the WT leaders vocabulary
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Etude
My mom, who was a steady Witness but not a fanatic, told me how in her congo there was a sister who was lauded for being a regular pioneer. She was single and seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time in field work. People treated her like a saint, which explains the reward some people derive without an physical remuneration. Anyway, she told me how one day, while in the middle of pioneering out in the streets, the "sister" fell and spontaneously aborted. Apparently, pioneering was not the only thing she was doing in the streets. The embarrassment to the congo was short lived. They of course threw the pioneer under the bus. But for my mom, it was a bit of vindication of the hypocrisy that goes on there and the misplaced adulation they give some people because of what they perceive.
Etude.