Does becoming (or remaining) one of Jehovah's Witnesses result in Poverty? Pew Research results differ from Watchtower claims.

by Balaamsass2 47 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  zeb

  simply yes.

  The wt denies education. Without education there is only the bottom rung of work to choose from. There is nothing ignoble about being a cleaner or window washer but it pays very poorly.

  The creation of retirement insurance was created to be there for folk when they had to finish their employed work due to old age or illness or because they wished to retire and enjoy what years' they have left in fine pursuits with some measure of financial help to pay the bills along the way.

  WT denies this with its endless dogma about the system ending ..."any minute now". Do we cease to pay car or house/home insurances because there is sickness in some countries, or war or financial despair in others? No.

  Whereas you most likely will never be in a road accident or any of the above you WILL get old and leave work for a number of reasons. So jw without any retirement cover or very little will have a despair at paying bills or dropping their health cover for example and no creative hobby to use their spare time on.

  But putting people in this desparate situation is to have them in your clutches completely hanging on every word of hope (!) you utter all the while asking them to give or their meagre funds; effectively taking the widows mite.
  
• 

  Vidiot

  Hmm, I'd never considered this aspect of JWism quite this way before, but yeah... it makes sense.
• 

  jws

  Isn't $30,000 considered the poverty line? So as of 2014, almost half (48%) are living in poverty?

  Also aren't JWs big among immigrants? They often get paid much worse (though a lot of it might be off the books and tax free if the rest of the country is anything like the border states).

  And their message also suckers in the poor and downtrodden due to it's message you can have a do-over and live again, but perfect in paradise.

  I will say, money isn't everything though. You can be very happy with less. There's also something I feel is noble about a job that doesn't take a lot of education. I'm stressing all the time about projects, due dates, working a ton of hours and weekend. On the other hand, I think fondly of the jobs where it was mindless work you could do in your sleep. Some were mini projects. Clean the restaurant (when I was 15). Paper boy delivery route (when I was 12). So my hours were as long as it took. Others were jobs where I had set hours. You arrived by a certain time and left by a certain time. Done. You don't have to think about work until the next day. There are some pluses to the low education jobs.
• 

  Balaamsass2

  During the last few years, my rural California county of almost 200,000 people has had a big influx of Assembly of God, fundamental Pentecostals move in, about 10,000 of them. The majority are strong supporters of Q-anon, and rabidly far right. They speak in tongues and believe "faith" will protect them from Cancer, COVID, and even death. They call their new mega-church "Bethel". lol :)

  Yes, most of them are even kookier than even the kookiest JWs. The majority appears to have moved here from "bible belt" communities of the deep south and Appalachia. They are packing up U-Haul vans and leaving areas with a minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, to arrive in their promised land of California with a minimum wage of $15.00 an hour. Their superstitious approach to life is something to behold. :) Their rabid HATE of education and diversity is astounding. It has helped me to better appreciate how "Magical Thinking" can negatively affect personal income and a community in general.

  The New York Times and LA Times have covered this religious "circus". https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/16/us/california-shasta-maga-trump.html?unlocked_article_code=LU6lMgiqRsb1D-0bR_a4-emleltCzvhLJkk_hJg21PXH5t_XJfd7BcioXf-WYpDVOB2o79O1xETkSLUzVbP5veuOln31NhYuXv9IU-mvUOUvGxOuYt2PKjKK17sI0pDhIyjZ2-G9bl5zNUK7zTT3yQvaRE-yLSO1jRj9LoS8R11NTcwyu6BrWDeincurOZO8y5FCeI9SUhK1XZf2LftZwkQQmJlw-zQBuUpe8UlLmosw-JfCD1_QaVwg5qEFJ4-XdTRzjkEyHIedKlse13IHngK-f7U0NCyIlXi_uMOejraTg1OOR_UxBd4Z3-HaKybBodoHWcT6OHeCEGPxd7DYq9E&smid=url-share
• 

  joey jojo

  I remember a visiting elders talk one Sunday, he was talking about the dangers of higher education and putting people off going to university. Yet, he was a university educated architect.

  I really resented his talk because I had woken up by then and was severely regretting the choices made for me by my parents concerning my own education.

  I don't know how he could look young people in the eye and actively derail their futures.
• 

  road to nowhere

  Circuit assembly interview mentioned turning down an apprenticeship. So much for trades.

  We too had Brother "Country club/winter home" who gave the keep it simple talks all the time.
• 

  Foolednomore

  One time some brothers came to my door And I told them I'm too broke to be a Jw, I'd rather be rich.
• 

  LongHairGal

  BALAAMSASS2:

  Thanks for resurrecting this six-year old thread. It’s very timely since the same message against college/careers is still being preached!.. There are many new people on the forum in this six years. In addition, more baby boomer pioneers have reached retirement age unprepared.. Imagine the anxiety in the congregations?

  JOEY JOJO’s post above speaks about a college educated architect elder preaching against college to impressionable young people. Does this guy have a conscience? And ROAD TO NOWHERE tells about how they are knocking trades!.. So, apparently nobody should work at all in the JW religion it seems. The elders and other people with businesses and cushy lives - that’s okay. But everybody else should be out in the preaching work - on starvation wages or unemployed.

  I’m thankful I followed my gut all those years ago and held onto that job until retirement. Glad I’m Out.. I would not want to be around these ‘needy’ Witnesses who chose not to work. I refuse to be a sitting duck targeted by anybody!.. Unfortunately, this is the handwriting on the wall there for anybody who cares to see.
• 

  Rivergang

  Joey jojo and road to nowhere,

  Nothing like the good old "I've got mine but you cannot have yours" attitude!
• 

  Balaamsass2

  "BALAAMSASS2: Thanks for resurrecting this six-year old thread. It’s very timely since the same message against college/careers is still being preached!.. There are many new people on the forum in this six years. In addition, more baby boomer pioneers have reached retirement age unprepared.. Imagine the anxiety in the congregations.

  JOEY JOJO’s post above speaks about a college-educated architect elder preaching against college to impressionable young people. Does this guy have a conscience? And ROAD TO NOWHERE tells about how they are knocking trades!..".....bamm.

  Thanks Long haired girl.

  Watching an even kookier group than JWs from a distance, helped me realize the issue goes beyond Watchtower's disdain for education.

  It is the disdain for PLANNING, LOGIC, and GOALS. Most rabid JWs I know never had a one-year, 5-year, or 20-year PLAN...for business or LIFE. Many JWs never saved for retirement or bad times. Some bought little or no insurance. Written business plans were almost unheard of. All very basic life skills AKA "Adulting life skills". Instead, child-like "magical thinking" was encouraged "Big daddy in the sky will provide", crippling sincere JW adults for life.

  This cultivation of child-like "Magical Thinking" (Common in borderline Schizophrenics) is at the root of many JWs' inability to function well in the real world. I saw it in my first wife's rabid devotion to every word spoken by the governing body, and her inability to keep a job, save money, or plan for the future. The end result? A 60-something rabid JW bag lady, reading her I-pad Watchtower in a coffee shop all day with a beggar's can for collecting donations from kind-hearted "Worldly People", with all her worldly possessions in a couple of bags at her feet.