To those JW's at age 10 and above who read it, understood it, got played, and survived. 😇
by was a new boy 29 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Beth Sarim
Great posts guys!!!
Keep posting the pics & links.
Good job!! Keep em coming!!!!
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Balaamsass2
If you were a JW in 1967 you no doubt heard this District Overseers talk. It was recorded and shared in almost every JW congregation. Sisters replayed it on cassette recorders everywhere with bated breath. The speaker, District, and Circuit Overseer Charles Sinutko..if still alive...spent his last years in poverty in the run-down community of : Desert Hot Springs CA. ( Unlike Palm Springs a little south...When we looked at real estate in the area, many windows had iron bars...and yards were ringed with block walls and barbed wire...not our idea of retirement).
April Fools joke on Charles and everyone who listened to him and Watchtower.
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3rdgen
How many here remember District Overseers and Bethel Representatives who were flown (all expenses paid by Watchtower) to major cities all over the US?
The "Society" would rent a stadium or convention center where the most gifted and arousing speakers gave talks such as "The Great Earthquake" and "Stay Alive 'Till 75"
Anyone who says the fervor over 1975 came from those who "Ran Ahead of the Organization" was either not old enough to remember or LYING.
I vividly remember the "Kingdom Ministry" that extolled the families who sold their houses and possessions in order to pioneer in the "Last Remaining Months"
During the same time period we were using the book "The Nations Shall Know I am Jehovah" better known as the "Ezekiel" book at the "book study". Week after week it went on and on about how bad the Israelites were for "Panneling their houses" At the urging of the leadership people were soft shunned for building a house or doing or buying ANYTHING others (mainly elders) thought was "Not Living With a View to the End"
In '72 or '73 one of the Watchtower study articles repeatedly stated if a publisher is able to Regular Pioneer but does not, "It is Tantamount to MURDER" Our Bombastic Circuit overseer was visiting that same week. By the time it was over I and several others in our hall were sufficiently guilted into signing up. (100 hrs. a Month)
Even though at this time the Governing Body and the Elder arrangement were in their infancy THEY really knew how to whip up FEAR OBLIGATION and GUILT
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Biahi
This kind of 💩really messed us up, didn’t it, 3rd gen? I know I’m still affected by this garbage, and I’ve been out close to 40 years.
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LongHairGal
3RD GEN:
That’s an interesting read. I came into the JW religion after 1975 (but before they changed those famous baptism questions).. I always wondered how many of those ‘75-ers recovered from this mistake!..
I was a young working woman terribly criticized because I wouldn’t quit my full-time job to do housecleaning and pioneer!
When I hear about all these recent changes the religion made - I have to laugh because they mean nothing. How many countless people were affected all through the years? When I especially heard the one about no longer needing to submit a field service time slip - how do you think I felt??? I was judged over this and got real hatred from some people there.
Thankfully, I never listened and ‘Faded’ at some point. I worked until Retirement.. Now, they want to entice people back. They’ve got to be kidding. I have no desire to be around desperate Baby Boomers, some of whom were my critics.. They bought into all the religion’s BS and had ‘Armageddon’ as their retirement plan.. Well, let their ‘spiritual’ friends help them. You know.. the ones who invited them to all those dinners and special gatherings.
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Ding
Well said, LongHairGal.
They had Armageddon as their retirement plan.
No backup plan.
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DisgruntledFool
Charles Sinutko would have been 31 years old when he gave this talk. The arrogance of youth on full display.
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3rdgen
Thanks, Biahi and LongHairGal,
When I think back to those 60 years I spent steeped in that toxic environment I am not surprised that I had to see a therapist and still on anti-anxiety/depression meds.
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3rdgen
I realize I left this thread on a negative note. Yup, I am angry, sometimes depressed, and unlike LongHairGal, I was a child bride at 17. I listened and obeyed the GB not to finish my education, not to have sex before marriage, and the biggest NO NO, not to work when you have a husband who earns enough to get by.
Baalam'sAss listened and obeyed the edict and family pressure against Higher Education even though he was offered scholarships to some Ivy League Colleges. Instead, he pioneered, served at Bethel, and married a Pioneer sister who knew she could not have children. He dearly wanted to be a father and would have been an extraordinary one. But hey, "New Order" is coming any time now so marry the hot chick. LOL
We both went through nasty divorces in separate cities and met in our mid to late 40s at a KH where we had both coincidently moved. We were assigned to the same book study where he was the conductor. As we became acquainted, we saw each other's good qualities that had been grossly overlooked by not only our former spouses but our entire JW families!
We got married and had a whirlwind of trouble from my teenage kids, our exes, the congregation, his job, and even our mothers and other family members.
The bright side is this. At a certain point, we got our carts loaded with the hypocrisy and meanness associated with JW's.
We found the courage to examine OUR religion and now we have been completely out for 12 years.
It is never too late to wake up if you are ready. We are SO HAPPY we did.