by Mikejw 96 Replies latest jw friends
SOLOMON:
That just shows there is no department or infrastructure in the religion to address things like this.
You probably did the right thing to give your gift to a food bank. If it became known in the congregation that YOU had money to throw around, your name would be given out and you would have every Tom, Dick & Harry calling you and bothering you for all sorts of handouts. That’s what happens in JW land.
it is not just about the supposed end of the world, also about the uncertain timing of our little personal world , the person's death.
how about the investments that were supposed to cushion the loss of income after the end of work life, say 25 year mortgages of houses you sold, and now as a 90 year old, staring at another bleak decade in the face, with all that cushion long gone?
how good can bleakness get, with good governments, aka wt's "satan's world" stepping in?
Adding to admonitions from the platform to NOT save for the future, were the admonitions to avoid ALL education. I clearly remember murmuring and gossiping in the 70s about a few elders who took short courses to prepare for simply getting a Realtors License or Contractor's license.
I eventually went to college at night. I had to carefully plan my courses around meeting nights. I told no one for years. You would have thought I was selling drugs or having an affair. Looking back, I can't believe I stayed in for so long. I am so grateful for the invention of Google, and sites like this that opened my eyes to the absolute craziness of Watchtower Dogma.
BALAAMSASS2:
You were not the only one in the Witness religion who went to school and took night classes on the QT. I heard similar stories about those going in for nursing or others taking courses needed for their jobs. It was a deep dark secret. How stupid.
I remember at some point when I was taking a class for something and some ignoramus older brother said humorously: “what do you want to be a doctor?” 🙄 I was bothered by criticism by people with a secure cushy life because maybe they were close to retirement having ALREADY earned their living.. They just didn’t give a shit or it never entered their mind that some younger person had to make certain about their financial situation.
My hat is off to anybody like me who resisted stupid talk and criticism by fools and hypocrites - and who went and got that degree or certificate or stayed on that job until the end. Nobody is going to pay your bills.
If anybody is suffering now because they caved in to peer pressure and never had that decent job - unfortunately nobody in the religion feels any accountability about this!
Longhairgal- This goes along the lines of what my grandparents told me. Don't expect anyone to take of you, it just will not happen. Take care of yourself. Watchtower only only takes care of itself. And basically screws the followers. Can't expect anything from them now can you!?!
FOOLEDNOMORE:
I agree, but unlike most people on here I was not born-in or raised in the Witness religion. I came in as a young working adult in the U.S.
The idea that I would be a deadbeat was foreign to me. Sadly, this mentality runs through the culture of the religion like threads in a fabric.
Up until now, many JWs who were born-in were not in reality about the world. (Not all, to be fair.) The worst of them have poor life skills and have an infantile view. They can’t manage money and imagine it grows on trees. Some are ignorant and don’t know how to live economically - eating out instead of cooking at home. Some may think they are owed charity by more responsible people in the hall.
Although back when I was in - my congregation(s) weren’t too bad and I was surrounded for the most part by comfortable suburban homeowners especially in the early days. No panhandlers then..It was later on I saw more deadbeat types.
Somebody like myself raised outside the religion wasn’t looking for somebody else to ‘take care of me’. That’s what getting a decent job and saving for the future was all about. I’m sorry the culture of Witnesses teaches otherwise. That’s TOO bad about them.
We ended up giving it to the local food bank. I guess the publishers can go there if they are hungry.
While we were still "IN" I do know of a single mom with two kids who went to the local Pentecostal Church at the start of the school year when the Church gave out free winter coats to anyone, not just members and without questioning them. No doubt she was just guilty of not relying on Joe Hoover.
