I know of several. But one I remember was a full on dyed in the wool believer how was a farmer. Around 1975 he sold his farm moved his family to a very rural place and waited for the end to come. Well as we all know 75 came and went. He ended up working for his brother in law hanging drywall. When he was in his 70s and could not hang he was given a pity job by some of the brothers who worked construction. He would paint trim and some other things where he could shuffle around slow and he was slot. He was not worth 15 an hour in the nineties but he was paid that because some of the brothers thought it was a form of supporting the work. He died at an assembly on hot summer not sure from what maybe heart attack. He was in his eighties. He had to sell his home he built because he could not afford to keep it. He and his wife went into an apartment and then got on the FMHA loan program where you never will own your home but its payments are based off of your income. He paid I think around 85 bucks a month house payment. Again the Gov. steps in to save the true believers from themself.
Post your experiance with JWs who did not save for retirement and had to work or live off off SS till death
by wolverines 25 Replies latest jw experiences
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wolverines
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nowwhat?
Well I just turned 60 and saved zero for retirement. Mostly because I made so little money for 30 years with just a h.s. education
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stan livedeath
here in the UK i get the state pension. i can live on it. no complaints. i count myself fortunate in getting it. throughout my working life i never paid into a works pension scheme, and couldnt afford a private one.
fortunately for me--my old JW dad held a good job with benefits--and had bought his own home. on his death i was his sole beneficiary. so i have a comfortable home.
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Ding
This thread is a good reminder of the devastating consequences the GB's erroneous teachings and policies can have on the people who trust them the most.
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hoser
I know several that sold their possessions to serve where the need is greater in their 40s. Some of these had a fair amount of equity but as soon as you start eating into your equity it doesn’t last long. They ran out of money in their 50s and early 60s and ended up not having a pot to piss in.
To be fair there are a lot of “worldly” people that can’t manage money and end up pissing every penny they earn away with no retirement saved.
That being said Satan’s wicked world encourages people to invest for their old age whereas Jehovah says he’s got your back. Not
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LongHairGal
WOLVERINES:
This topic about people in the JW religion encouraged to be in the full time ministry and not bother saving for retirement really angers me....The government may have stepped in for this person you mention - but it sounds like they were still poor and had to work into very old age!
I was one such person who was shunned like I had a scarlet letter written on me because I had a full time job that I refused to quit to appease fools and jealous idiots.
What really gets me is that the older Witnesses back then were all collecting a pension - which means THEY were in the workforce likely full time in their early years. YET these people were preaching poverty for younger people in the hall (especially women). They thought I was supposed to quit a decent job, take up housecleaning, pioneer - and do favors like a moron for Users with cushy lives in the congregation! Anybody who had this fate in mind for me could go to you-know-where!
I am Retired today but would not be if I had listened to these Hypocrites. To add insult to injury, if I were fool enough to STILL be in the religion they would have the audacity to come up to me asking for money for people who never wanted to work!!!
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DesirousOfChange
I can think of lots of JWs who didn't save a dime of what they earned because they reasoned that the scripture says they will "throw it in the streets", thus no use saving it. Most of them are living off of Social Security and other Government assistance. Some of them seem to know every free welfare scheme there is. Yet, they would tell you that Joe Hoover has "taken care of them".
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FedUpJW
I can think of lots of JWs who didn't save a dime of what they earned because they reasoned that the scripture says they will "throw it in the streets", thus no use saving it.
My parents encouraged getting a GOOD education, getting a GOOD job, and SAVING for the future. My dad said many times, "Savings are stored labor." In order to live in later years one can either spend our "stored labor" in the form of savings on life's necessities, or you can work until you drop and spend labor that you may no longer be physically able to spend.
I know several JW's in their 70's and even 80's still trying to spend enough physical labor to make ends meet, when they could be doing what I am doing, ten to twenty years younger than they are, and living life debt free and carefully spending my stored labor set aside over several decades of physical work and investing/saving.
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LongHairGal
FEDUP JW:
Was your dad a non-JW? That was good advice he gave to save for the future. Any Witnesses who thought like this kept it to themselves. Too bad. They should have spread this wisdom around. As he said: “saving was stored labor”. Very wise.
Thankfully, I wasn’t raised a Witness so I had the hard-knocks advice of my father as well. He was looking out for me. Looking back, I can honestly say some of the Witnesses were envious and did not like working women and were trying to ‘abase’ me. I know it’s sick but I believe this was the attitude displayed towards me in the late ‘70s.
When I attended church, people weren’t meddling in your business or discouraging you from supporting yourself in a decent job.
I’m so grateful today that I resisted the JWs and did not cave-in to heavy peer pressure and labeling (unspiritual) they put on people back then.
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Ding
You're "spiritually weak" if you don't wholeheartedly buy into the latest false prophecy.
So you give up your home, your job, and your savings so you can go where the need is greatest and pioneer.
But after the prophecy fails and you're left without a job, without adequate insurance, without savings, and without retirement income, the whole thing was YOUR idea and YOUR failed expectations.
You're at fault for running ahead of Jehovah's chariot.
And now you're in danger of becoming an apostate if you entertain forbidden thoughts that the GB was at fault.
The false date, the hype, and the exhortations to give up everything to focus your entire life on field service right before the end of this wicked system of things were "merely an expressed opinion." (Rutherford, 1926)
"In its issue of July 15, 1976, The Watchtower, commenting on the inadvisability of setting our sights on a certain date, stated: 'If anyone has been disappointed through not following this line of thought, he should now concentrate on adjusting his viewpoint, seeing that it was not the word of God that failed or deceived him and brought disappointment, but that his own understanding was based on wrong premises.' In saying 'anyone,' The Watchtower included all disappointed ones of Jehovah’s Witnesses, hence including persons having to do with the publication of the information that contributed to the buildup of hopes centered on that date." (WT, March 15, 1980, pp. 17-18)
"...persons having to do with the publication of the information..."
This is probably as close as the WT will ever get to saying, "The GB's understanding was based on false premises. They believed their own hype and led many sincere JWs to financial ruin."