Fifty years ago today: One quote to demolish the Watchtower

by JeffT 60 Replies latest jw friends

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  fastJehu

  Just like "flipper" I'll be 60 years old soon before the year is over, and I was born and raised in the JW cult as a third-generation JW.

  I showed this Awake article to a young bethelite a few years ago. I showed him the original artkel from the bound volume.

  I advised him with all my heart to think about how he would feel when he was as old as I am.

  In the meantime he has left Bethel, completed a 3-year education and got married (no JW).

  Although he is shunned by his JW family, he lives his life without the Watchtower.

  @ JeffT

  You write right: "most" of them....

  However, since most people don't like to be lied to, articles like this 1969 Awake article might make one or the other JW think.
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  blondie

  Fifty years ago I was baptized.
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  sparky1

  You gave great advice, fastJehu! I had something similar happen to me when I was a Bethelite back in 1976. I took an older gentleman and his small family on tour. At the end of the tour, he asked if he could give me some advice. I said sure. He told me that he was a Bethelite back in the late 30's and early 40's and that they were preaching Armageddon to the Bethel family 'any day now'. He figured out that it was a lot of hot air and left Bethel and established himself in a good job. He advised me to do the same. I followed his advice, eventually became a full partner in a business and semi-retired at 47 years old. In two years I will be fully retired and have an excellent Social Security benefit plus all my investments and cash. One of my very good friends from my Bethel days is coming up on 70 years old without a penny to his name because he chose to be a Circuit Overseer. (Which incidentally was the road I was supposed to take) Interestingly enough, he advised me against going into any type of business since it would just be destroyed in the soon to be coming Armageddon and I shouldn't waste my time on worldly pursuits. I hope that young Bethelite appreciates the time you took to help him 'see the light'. Kudos to you!
  
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  LongHairGal

  FLIPPER:

  Great post and 100% Truth. I’m glad I got the hell out of the JW religion before it was too late for me..Retirement is good and would never have happened if I listened to the religion..We ALL have to plan for our old age and it is insane not to.

  SPARKY1:

  I am glad you listened to that wise old gentleman who told you to plan for your future and not listen to ‘hot air’. But, I’m a little disturbed though by JWs and bethelites who knew back then that it was crap and didn’t warn enough people not to listen.

  I also noticed (and was a victim of) the double standard towards women. Everybody was preaching poverty for young women - not so much for young brothers. If a brother got a decent job there was not so much criticism..But for a young woman it was a no-no..Well, I had NO intention of following in the footsteps of other single women who were jackassing around doing favors for people.

  I rejected the sh#t advice and kept my job. Anybody looking at me and imagining I was there for OTHER people’s benefit and going to act in a way harmful to myself was delusional. This was the sick message given to young women in the JW religion and I’m glad I rejected it.
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  LongHairGal

  JEFF T:

  Just another thought on the situation of people still left in the JW religion who never got a career and are older and struggling to eke out a living:

  I wonder if it will get to a point when they are crying and elders or other brothers will actually need to do cold calls in the local community at homes of faded or other JWs asking outright for donations for needy people in the congregation?

  If numbers in congregations are dwindling there will be yet fewer people to corner for money so this would not seem out of the realm of possibility. If this were to actually happen, I might take pity and give a modest donation after I give them MY opinion on things.
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  blondie

  I will add a related point. My in-laws have gone to a Lutheran church their whole lives. It was vigorous at one time but now mostly older people. They shared a minister with another church nearby but so many members died off that one was disbanded. After their current minister retires, they will not be able to pay a full-time minister and will have to have roving ones fill in. Their children and grandchildren are not interested in going to church and the whole schmear. They have even given the thought that my hubbie, inactive jw he is, could give a sermon once a month. I don't think they would like that in practice, he went to that church growing up and does not like all the mumbo jumbo recitations from their book. 2 hours meeting, 1/2 hour sermon.
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  Finkelstein

  The WTS has been preaching a false Gospel since its inception as a religious publishing house .

  When C T Russel the founder of the WTS. proclaimed that Jesus took to heavenly throne in 1874 and that 1914 was most likely going to be the year of Armageddon.

  He went against Jesus's instructions for preaching his new Kingdom order in that no one knows of the time not even him.

  Admonishing his followers to not set a time upon god's own sacred.
  

  He also instructed his true followers to not listen to men who say things he didn't give them to say.

  So the WTS being apostate to the written word goes further back than 50 years .
  
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  eyeslice2

  I was 17 at the time and was desperate to go to Med School. Of course the line was brought out, "well we'll not need doctors in the New System", so I never did get to go even though my grades were well up to the mark.

  I went on to spend my career in IT, which turned out to be financially rewarding enough but I do regret not having the opportunity to work with people rather than computers.
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  Finkelstein

  Indicative to the kind of corruption expressed by the WTS, the 6000 years of mankind's existence calculation was use twice before the late 1960's , as in the early 1900's and the early 1940's.

  Speculative bullshit to enhance the organization's literature was the driving agenda, it did work to the exploited ignorance of JWS at the time and the reading general public.

  The evil slave identified itself during that time as it did in years past by the WTS.
  

  This corrupt dating scheme was the cause for many to leave the organization back in the 1970's, including myself.
  
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  BourneIdentity

  LongHairGal21 hours ago

  “I wonder if it will get to a point when they are crying and elders or other brothers will actually need to do cold calls in the local community at homes of faded or other JWs asking outright for donations for needy people in the congregation?”

  That is exactly what I would expect the Society to encourage. They never provide any assistance or charity with all the millions they rake in from the flock. Just like all the Bethelites they sent packing, no severance or anything, they can be the local congregations burden now and they wipe their hands clean. They are just so cutthroat and heartless. This cult can’t end soon enough.