Older JW: not happy

by Gorbatchov 40 Replies latest jw friends

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  Pete Zahut

  The old folks have been marginalized and no one really cares whether they're happy or not, nor do they care what they have to say. Unless they have quaint anecdote from yesteryear, when trotted out on the podium, their life experiences and observations are generally dismissed by the new ones who have entered upon the scene.

  If you're not in the "young single" or " young married with kids " demographic, you could drop off the face of the earth and it wouldn't phase anyone. What the governing body said and did in the past and all of the sacrifices older JW's made as a result of their admonition, matters not, to anyone who came later. If you are old and disappointed, it's your own fault for reading too much into the information you read in the Watchtower, for being overly zealous and rushing ahead of Jehovah's chariot.
  
• 

  floridaborn

  My parents died 15 years ago, both in their early 70’s, so fairly early in their golden years and before the intro to iPads and even the new songs.

  They were both confident they would walk through Armageddon. I wonder how they would have felt if they would have survived up until now to see their religion become what it is today.
• 

  silentlamb_silent_no_more

  I have not been around JW's in a very long time as I've been out since 1999 however, I do wonder about the older ones. The ones who were in my congregation, a few were upbeat at the time. I did notice however quite a large number of ones who were not so, and would fall asleep during meetings, conventions and assemblies. Just aimlessly walking around like they were on a different planet sometimes.
  
  I feel for those who have devoted every single bit of time to this organisation and every single piece of spare cash to it too and then wake up and forced with the option of leaving for their sanity, or staying for community. I would encourage them not to leave their estates in wills to the watchtower. Split it between real charities that do charitable work like Make a Wish foundation, or a homegrown local charity, like feeding the homeless and others which truly help out those in your own community. Not the Jw organisation who are going to use it to buy armani suits and rolex watches for the higher up governing body. They tell people to take a vow of poverty, yet they are sitting living in the lap of luxury? Just like the 1% of the world and the 99% have to share the rest of the wealth. It's not fair.
  
  Mind you, we know what God says about money ;)
  
  Mark 10:23-25
  23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”

  24 The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is[a] to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
• 

  fulltimestudent

  Yeah OK - I do not know any (still-in) jws anymore (outside of immediate family who seldom talk to me anyway).

  But I realised in the decade after 1975, that Proverbs 13:12, was soon going to apply to a lot of witnesses

  "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life." NIV,

  And, I am more confident than, ever that bloody old YHWH and his piss-weak son are not ever going to bring a paradise (on earth, or in heaven) to anyone who thinks of following them.

  I am quite aware that (now I am undeniably in "old age") I will die in the not too far off future. I totally regret wasting so many bloody decades trying to be like Jeeeezus. (What a bloody fool thing to try and do). In the meantime, I am quite happy, have a reasonably good life, with intellectually satisfying things to do. Even though some good friends have already died I seem to be able to make a few new ones.

  I'm so glad thatI got out when I did !

  
  
• 

  NewYork44M

  Those in the late 60s and 70s lived to see the peak of the organization. There was nothing more exciting than being a witness in the 1960s and early 1970s. There was absolute faith that the end was around the corner. Since then they have seen the demise of their dream. Every flash of new light pushed the end even further into the future. At the same time, their life options evaporated. It is hard to look back at a wasted life.
• 

  scratchme1010

  Do you notice the same??
  

  Yes, and it breaks my heart.
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  respectful_observer

  I was surprised recently to hear my parents (in mid/late-60s) -- both uber-dubs who always put a positive spin on everything WT-related-- lament (unprovoked) that their congregation, which used to be full of young people, families, and tons of kids, is now just a collection of older people battling health issues, whose children have all moved away.

  Their congregation looks good on paper-- a disproportionately high % of publishers who are pioneers and elders-- however it's the same people that have been pioneers and elders for 30+ years. Same people, same apathetic territory, etc. The only thing that seems to have changed in the last 30 years is steady decrease in "young" (<50 y.o.) and in the increase in health issues for remaining members.
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  Sail Away

  I only have contact with one active JW in her early 80's. She has admitted that she will likely die before Armageddon, but you know, "We have to stay faithful to the end." Funny thing is, she just told be, that I'm the only one who has ever been there for her, and she only trusts me to care of her when she gets sick. She knows I walked away nearly 7 years ago now. She's pretty much a fruit loop, and ignored by her congregation, but she's my fruitloop.

  Something is up with Mr. Sail Away's 90-year-old Dad. He isn't listening to the elders and is listening to the son he shunned for nearly 50 years. The only comment so far was, "We don't always agree with the administration of Jehovah's organization, but that's where faith comes in."
• 

  eyeuse2badub

  scratchme10103 hours ago3 hours ago

  Do you notice the same??
  

  Yes, and it breaks my heart.

  Ditto! Only now I'm one of those older ones who fell for the wt bullshit most of my life. Breaks my heart that my kids and wife of 51 years still believe their shit!

  just saying!
• 

  Gorbatchov

  It is heartbreaking. They are like a ship without a steer. Not prepared for being old and sick.

  Society fooled them all.

  This must have an impact for the witness cultural aspects.

  G.