'Seek the Kingdom First' Economics

Tornintwo

Has anyone else's family finances been victim to the 'seek the kingdom first' economic policy?

For years, my husband and I have had our own business, my husband is not the most proactive guy, prefers to go in field service than to work, but he has always encouraged me to 'rely on Jehovah and all these other things will be added to you', 'seek the kingdom first' etc etc. There have been times, such as when I was heavily pregnant and we lost a big deal, that I have been begging Jehovah on hands and knees to honour that promise, wondering why he wasn't helping us. I have been told by elders when were down to our last few pounds that He is a 'last minute' god and we would get help when we really needed it - in actual fact our worldly family have bailed us out several times, but hubby thinks this is from Jehovah also!

The thing is, this in my head now, so this week Im having a bad week in business and I am sat and these niggling thoughts come into my head, 'is it because I'm not going to meetings now J isn't providing for us, is it because I am posting on this ex-jw website?!?!' It's crazy I know, why would almighty God give me a business deal when he simultaneously allows millions of children to die of starvation.

As a result of our family jweconomic policy, we have no savings, no pension and we don't own our own home. I turned down a modelling contract when I was younger and a university place, because it wasn't what the society recommended. And now I'm finally free of this mind control, I still have put up with my husband's seek the kingdom first way of providing for his family. Although I would really like to make some serious changes in our work/life situation, it is extremely difficult to do so because I'm up to my neck in the family business & caring for children, I am currently working on a long term plan but boy I so wish I had the last 25 years back.

Driving Force

Yes, I agree with you. We also have financial problems because of putting kingdom interest first, expecting Jehovah to honour his promise, which he does not.

I am no longer under this mind control, and I also have no savings, no pension and do not own my own home, because I put kingdom interest first for 29 years. I gave up a military career and have turned down some very lucrative positions since then in companies because they were dealing with military equipment.

I am now free, but not my wife. The bOrg have split up our family.

I hope things work out well for you, whatever you do, do not pray to Jehovah, because he will not help. It is good that you have non JW family to help out.

Diogenesister

Ok.I can totally relate but I was wracking my brains for some useful advice.

What I was thinking was that as you rightly said what has got you this far is your hard work, brains & family help. As you continue baring most of the load and pull through whatever issues arise hubby will no doubt put that down to Jehovah too.

The only thing I could think of was to find a decent financial advisor of some kind ( the free kind that come with your bank or better yet a paid proffessional if u can afford it) and put your cards on the table. Tell them everything. The reason you are in this situation, that your husband can be relied on to a limited extent only and what you want.

See what they can come up with, a life plan if you like.

I really wish you all the best, beautiful and talented, you go girl!

The Searcher

Ask your husband why the Org keeps putting pressure on the sheep for cash, but doesn't rely on miraculous funds appearing from God to bail them out?

Also, discuss the dire straits which the Org has suddenly created for D.O.'s, C.O.'s, Bethelites, and Special Pioneers.

Suggest to him to work more & earn more, then he'd have something to give to needy ones. (2 Cor. 8:14)

It's time you started salting away funds for "rainy days" for you both, because your husband is !

dubstepped

These are my thoughts based on my personal experience. I do think that Jehovah can help. I've seen it in my own life. Do kids starve in places where food isn't around? Sure, but He doesn't make food appear where it isn't. My guess is that work is out there unless you live in a depressed area. My wife and I found that if we needed something and prayed and acted in total harmony with that prayer of was answered. We paid off $55,000 in debt in 18 months cleaning houses. We aren't high paid professionals. I gave up college scholarships to pioneer. I gave up cutting edge business opportunities back in the day to pioneer. I was never, ever blessed in pursuit of what the Borg told me to do. I was blessed when I took matters into my own hands with Jehovah and followed a path that I felt was being laid out before me instead of forcing it.

My best advice would be to forget everything you've been told about what God can bless. My mom told us in no uncertain terms that we would fail if we tried to pay off our debts to the exclusion of meetings/service. We did it even faster than we could have hoped, making an extra $80,000 in 18 months over and above our living expenses to pay it back plus income taxes. For us it was a matter of focusing on that one thing and knocking it out. We saw our efforts blessed in so many ways through the process. Our simple prayer was that we had a debt larger than we could imagine, and if Jehovah gave us the work we'd make ourselves available, come what may. We had so much work. We said yes to everything. When we got sick from being run down, jobs would seem to cancel and we'd have time to recuperate. Our van which had previously never run for more than a few months without needing major repairs ran for the entire duration without needing one. If we lost a client another would call out of the blue and request the exact time and day that was just vacated. I could go on. It was ridiculously tough. At one point we worked 34 days straight, often 14-16 hour days, but we did it. Working with Jehovah like that was better than any time ever spent out in service. We surrendered and felt like He helped us.

You don't have to live by JW rules forever. They'll leave you broke and penniless with the evil world supporting you. How ridiculous is that? You know because you've seen it yourself. Work more than you need to. We are now out of debt and changed our mindset from working just to get by to working for abundance. Leave the scarcity mindset behind. You can do it. We now live with our budget for the month paid one month ahead. We have money in the bank for a six month emergency fund. And we're finally working toward investing for retirement. I hope the same for you.

DesirousOfChange

I had the last 25 years back.

Been there. Done that. Got the T-shirt.

Only I lost about 40 years to the cult.

They tell you to pray to Jehovah for help, because they sure as hell aren't gonna give you a dime.

Doc

WTWizard

"Last minute god"? Why, so that thing can extort you into continual obedience and service lest you be cut off and instantly suffer? Not to mention, you don't get to enjoy any of life's luxuries because of that thing--instead, joke-hova sucks the life force right out of you.

WingCommander

I wanted to pop in and state that this type of delusional thinking is not just JW's. My S-I-L (Advent Lutheran), really thinks she is God's gift, so much so that she convinced herself that while singing hymnals on the way to work one day, she felt Holy Spirit wash over her and when she looked around she saw ZERO cars on a major interstate, and that she just knew she was "healed" of her autoimmune disorder. Now, this person is a CEO of a Bank, so it was Friday, and upon going into the weekly staff meeting, she opened said meeting by conducting a prayer, then related her miraculous "healing experience" on the way to work for all to hear. She then tested her theory, and miraculously she was in fact cured! (sensitive to food temps, would break out in rashes, etc like an allergy) Nevermind the fact that she had been obese before, stressed, overworked, etc and had lost a lot of weight due to said ailment, and work was better....nope! GOD cured her, on the way to work in her car. Ummm.....yeaaaaaah.......I'm going to have to go ahead and ask you to check into a mental hospital.....yeaaaaah. She then sent out a mass email with her "testimony", and placed it on Facebook as well. She sent it to our family (we're estanged) and I thought it was a joke at first! It was bat-shit crazy! Coo-Coo for Cocoa puffs!!! So let me get this straight.......God can take the time to heal some obese, upper middle-class American bean counter of some autoimmune disorder, but he lets the kids in Africa starve, and the women in Sierra Leona be raped on a daily basis? Get the f*ck out of here, poseurs!

This is epitome of human arrogance; actually believing that a superior being is catering to YOU, out over less fortunate people on this planet. Somehow, God cares about your business dealings, or whether you find your car keys, or if you need that sex change operation or win that tennis match.......but he can't seem to find the time to help out the scared to death Christians in the Middle East whom are fleeing for their very lives from ISIS? That's whack.

life is to short

I am in the same place. My husband has told me Jehovah only helps when you get to the very edge and have one foot over the cliff and are ready to jump financially. It also mean's that Jehovah will only give you what you need to just exist which means it could be just one slice of bread a day. It would be enough for you to live on and nothing more.

I am not joking that is how he truly feels. I stupidly bought into it. We pioneered where the need was great, other pioneers were buying new cars and parking them two blocks away so as to not get door dings on them and then squeezing their fat bodies into our Honda Civic. There were going to on date nights to restaurants that I could not dream of going to. We never even had date nights as my husband was to busy being an elder.

I got on my knees begging and pleading with Jehovah so many times, crying my eye's out, pleading for help. I had a key to the hall as I was a pioneer and there were times I would go into the hall alone and get on my knees pleading and pleading with Jehovah for help.

Nothing, I got nothing, but I was yelled at by the other pioneers for not having money. That is all I got. It is just so frustrating. Living on one slice of bread a day is just a joke and we have been down to that little at times. My husband just kept telling me to keep my blinders on and focus on the Kingdom. It's hard to when you are watching everyone else have a life in the religion and you are living on nothing.

All I can say is it is just crazy and I truly think it is a mental illness that causes people to think that way. It is not right and if there is a God that is not what he wants from us.

LITS

Tornintwo

omg lifeistoshort, you make me feel like a wealthy woman, sounds rough 😓

think maybe we should ditch them both and find ourselves millionaires

'Seek the Kingdom First' Economics

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