jookbeard
I watched my zeal waver and dwindle away into inactivity and atheism...I was praised for my zeal,enthusiasm and public speaking LOL
Me too - same experience!
Lack of zeal
by road to nowhere 29 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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JW GoneBad
Lack Of Zeal...there's nothing that's going to affect a JW's zest & gusto more than to...after decades of saying that Joel 2 (locusts) applied to JWs...then suddenly and abruptly as was mentioned at this past AGM to say that Joel 2 locusts applies to enemies of JWs! Even though I'm an 'etched in stone' PIMO JW...it was a WTF moment for me when I heard this 180° about-face announcement!
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ToesUp
"I would say it did begin to fizzle when I was leaving at the time of the new light(tm) overlapping generations(tm)."
Same here Punk! The overlapping generation was the nail in the coffin for us. What a bogus way to move the goal posts. Who came up with that one? lol
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slimboyfat
Thinking more about this, it’s more than just a lack of zeal these days, it’s a complete discourse change (as historian Callum Brown might put it) that has taken place.
Becuase it’s not as if JWs have the same outlook now as they did in the 1970s, but have just dialled it down a bit, from say 100% down to 20% or even 10%. There’s a more fundamental change taking place, a difference in kind rather than just a difference of degree.
I can just about remember when JWs still took the Armageddon message really seriously. You could tell they took it seriously because they would tell neighbours and workmates and schoolmates about it and try to get them into the Kingdom Hall. (And some succeeded in making converts this way) Some people worried that if interested persons, or JW teenagers didn’t get baptised soon enough, their lives may be in danger at Armageddon. JWs often changed jobs, moved house, gave up hobbies and interests, and more to devote time to preaching.
With rare exceptions JWs just don’t behave like that any more. They don’t preach to colleagues any more as if their lives depended on it. If they move house or change jobs it’s because it’s convenient, not to accommodate the imminent apocalypse. It’s a compete change in mindset.
They still have the Armageddon rhetoric at the meetings, for sure, but they no longer have the actions to match.
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FedUpJW
Edit to local needs. One of the few that wasnt taken over by mother
The very few times I have asked anyone about the "local needs" parts these days I get the same damn answer. "We got to see a WONDERFUL video from Jay Double You Broadcasting about ____________ (fill in the blank with whatever BS subject some lazy-ass elder chose). So happified that I don't have to sit through that garbage anymore!
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The Bethelite
They have been asking their followers to "sprint" towards Armageddon for how how many years now?
"Just a little more! You can make it! Just push a little harder.... You can make it! Give all you have! Trust that your reward is almost here.....
Yes just go to any meeting at any Kingdom Hall.... and just look at their faces.
Their look says it all!
Tired?
You bet they are!
They are at the point that if the Society asked them to drink the "Kool Aide" most would be willing to take it.... just to be done with it!
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LongHairGal
SLIMBOYFAT:
I remember those days. I came in the religion the late ‘70s.
The zeal was amped up. But, there I was with my full time job. I had to support myself and could not pioneer. I was in the midst of a buzzing hive of activity and criticism because I would not quit my job. I was ‘panned’ of course and hardly invited anywhere. Maybe a few elderly (on a pension, obviously were in the workforce in youth and knew money didn’t grow on trees)..showed me kindness and hospitality.
I continued on the fringes of the religion doing a little..Then came 1995 and that Generation teaching which was like a sucker punch. I knew it was over and I planned my ‘fade’ and I’ve been out almost twenty years.
Looking as an observer I see what you see about what has happened to the JW religion..I’m now retired and very glad I followed my gut instead of foolish talk.
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sparky1
In the early 1970's my family regularly travelled 33 miles one way to our Kingdom Hall in blizzards for the Thursday night meeting. Sometimes the roads were barely plowed and we would not get home until 11:30 at night. Now, there is a Kingdom Hall about 3 miles from where I live. Most of the congregation is clustered within a 15 mile radius of the Hall. This past Tuesday night there was a dusting of powdered snow and the meeting was called off! Without something like the 1975 date to drive them on, the average witness doesn't give a rat's ass anymore.The religion is now shallow, moribund and all about appearances.
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road to nowhere
I remember wishing for cancellation. Then go to the store for a bottle of wine. There are a lot of older ones now though
Is the old hall still in use or do the ones living further away just fail to come?
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slimboyfat
I can remember, even in the 1990s, in a foot of snow, people struggling to get to the Kingdom Hall, and the meeting still going ahead with only 20, about a third of the congregation, in attendance.
Nowadays a report of snow is enough to cancel the meeting, in case people can’t get home again after the meeting.