Happy birthday, James jack, freedom without guilt is great! I’m right behind you, 62 in 4 months. I’m working to 65 and retiring, no old age Walmart greeter for me. 😀
My Update
by James Jack 30 Replies latest jw experiences
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Disillusioned JW
James Jack there are churches (at least in my locality), including ones which are called Bible churches which claim to be nondenominational, which use a modern English translation of the Bible. Those translations used include the NIV, NASB, and NKJV.
I invite to consider reading the book called Nailed: Ten Christian Myths That Show Jesus Never Existed at All, though I haven't read that particular atheistic book.
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LongHairGal
JAMES JACK:
Happy Birthday and I wish you good health to be able to work to support yourself.👍🏻 I’m sure some ex-JWs aren’t meaning to ‘rub it in’ when they say they are successful. Some have done well for themselves and I’m sure their intention isn’t to make certain other people feel badly.
MICKBOBCAT:
I don’t blame you one bit for making sure these people don’t get any of your money. I would feel the same way since I was criticized and shunned back then because I worked full time. I wouldn’t be Retired today if I listened.. The sickest irony is I would be the last person to get help from these hypocrites and envious people. They better GO track down their ‘spiritual’ friends 🙄 for money (you know) the ones who invited them to all those ‘special gatherings’ I was excluded from!
I read two posts on Reddit the other day saying the religion is STILL encouraging people to turn down well-paying jobs! Hopefully with the internet there is enough warning so that young people there today do not repeat what happened to the generation before them who are struggling now as we speak!
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neat blue dog
Happy 1st birthday, you're young! 🙂
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OnTheWayOut
Happy First Birthday.
My situation is completely different, but I can relate to your not preparing for retirement. -
WTWizard
I personally would rather spend time working on actually making a small part of the earth better than wasting time in field circus. You have access to a piece of land where invasive vines have taken control of? (Or rubbish, or both?) Or, perhaps a dilapidated building that could be put to good use? Or time to donate to preventing cruelty to animals?
There is nothing like spending time with a pair of brush cutters or a saw to cut down those Chinese wisteria, oriental bittersweet, or kudzu vines in your own woods or roadside (and a rubbish bag to take out whatever rubbish you happen to find). A few simple hand tools might help with a project to fix a building that is run down. You can spend a few minutes at a time doing these items. You are going to make a small but measurable difference in that corner of the world. Planting new trees or encouraging the ones already there also helps a little.
On the other hand, field circus does nothing. You simply pollute more driving around, your McDonalds wrappers pollute more, and you pollute even more with dry cleaning. Meanwhile, the trees remain unplanted or choked off with Chinese wisteria (which continues spreading through the area). The building remains falling apart. Animals continue being abused. God is not going to take care of it--rather, it would rather kill off all those pine trees (the oaks, too) along the road to make things uglier for us.
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Diogenesister
James Jack Happy 1st birthday!
I'm so sorry you are going through this. I too didn't save, although I tried to buy a property fwhen I was very young I was so naive I got fleeced trusting the person I went into it with. I did get a sort of education young because I didn't agree with the JW view of charity and I wanted to work for Medicines sans frontiers or Medicine Sur le monde etc
I suppose the positive is that you're alive to enjoy life. There are those who don't make it to our age or, worse, were so distraught they couldn't "live up" to Watchtower's fake so-called standards they took their own lives, or were even victims of Judge Rutherford's medical foibles.
It's hard, I know, to struggle through weakening health in order to make ends meet. I take it you have a happy marriage - something good did then come out of the Org? I know many folks who like to see it that way. Do you have children? If so, I'm glad for you! Like Ray Franz I believe that's the most egregious thing the org did to many folks...deny them the right to feel happy about bringing a family into the world. I know it was his greatest regret (have you read his books, by the way? He too had to do manual work in his late 60s in order to make ends meet. If not please do read them).
As to faith communities may I recommend Eric's you tube channel at Beroean Pickets also David and Vivian Aspinall. They will have details of their Zoom meetings where there is no talk of hell and the usual things that trigger many exJW yet they accept all view points.
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Diogenesister
Beroean Pickets Chanel is here:
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James Jack
Diogenesister " I take it you have a happy marriage "
I do. 5 years ago when I started to express my doubts about the Organization, she was mad and threaten to turn me into the Elders. So I decided to "slow drip" information. First, I reminded her how some Elders can be mean and uncaring, like when she was in the hospital for 30 days recovering from breast cancer, on her first meeting back at the hall, the Service Committee deleted her as a regular pioneer( she was on year 24 as a regular pioneer).
Then we watched a program on JW child abuse. Although throughout the program she would yell out, "that can't be true". I would pause the program and say: "I was an Elder here in this Congregation for 21 years and I can name 3 individuals you know and these very things happened to them. Besides, you have individuals going on national TV, filing police reports, going to trial and winning cases against the Watchtower! And may I remind you, that anyone who files a false report, commits a criminal act, punishable with jail time and fines." So who is lying?
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silentbuddha
James Jack if I remember correctly we use to live near each other in the FL. Congrats on the big moves! Enjoy everything you achieve moving forward.
In regards to the not saving, don't feel you were the only one. My parents both did the same thing. Uprooted our family in the 1960's and moved to where the need was great. So diehard my dad quit his union job, refused any military benefits and worked for near minimum wage for years until he realized 75 was not the end.
Many people firmly believed and made those decisions. Best thing to do is move forward with job bro!!!