by LongHairGal 37 Replies latest jw friends
We'll see people or JWs who once condemned governments or other churches end up relying on them. For hand outs.
This tells me to be blatantly obvious that the Borg is just run by dudes. It will be beyond obvious to any dumbed down witness,,,that this is the case.
BETH SARIM:
Probably.
When all is said and done - after a further decrease in membership which will come with time and Boomers passing away and younger people leaving, there will be the inevitable sales of more Halls... Whatever is left of the religion will probably be online. They will have then joined the ranks of other obscure religions in the U.S.
Possibly the once bustling religion might similarly ‘disappear’ into the sky like Professor Marvel did at the end of the movie “Wizard of Oz” . There would be some very outraged and disappointed people but those are the breaks!
While this is conjecture, nothing at all would surprise me.
Unless someone is prepared to pay your bills for you, they have no right to tell you what financial decisions you should make in your life.
I know an elder/ pioneer, born in the early - mid 1960's. Father was a missionary/ pioneer. He is the typical poster boy for the org. Pioneered his entire life along with his wife- still pioneering- no kids, rents a house and has a window washing business. He is the super spiritual type.
He was extremely disappointed that the age limit for circuit overseers was changed- he just missed out by being a couple of years too old after the change. And now of course, he is getting older.
What has been his reward for his loyalty? He has witnessed nothing but prophetic failures all his life. Im sure he believed he would never get old and was looking forward to the end coming long, long ago. The sad thing is I know for a fact he is a fairly intellligent guy that could have probably excelled in a chosen career that would have been much more satisfying.
This is the moment for a new Watchtower original song.
"We kept our eyes on the prize, organized our lives by humble prioritize, and now we feel that this was not so wise".
Gorby
From my experience within 70+ years of having known the Organization, encouraging specific secular work was never done by the Society. Especially in the 1970s in Britain, window cleaning was a helpful well paying business which was flexible enough to fit around the Society's demanding schedule. You see, as we were a smaller religion in England at the time, we all had mutual connections all over the country and we told them either by letter or telephone or when we visited them about this fantastic and easy business which could help "put God's Kingdom first", some may even have had relatives who emigrated to the US or Australia and shared the same message with them. As you can imagine, some independently minded elders at assemblies and conventions subtly promoted it at the time when the Society definitely was not encouraging jws to pursue a specific lifestyle, only to find work that paid all the bills and helped them to live and which never conflicted with bible principles. Of course, I am presumptuous to assume if the British JWs started the craze, but it seems that for a pre-internet era word soon spread around across to many brothers and gradually many took up window cleaning as well as other cleaning activities (some chose office cleaning).
I did it for a time in the 80s, and I hated it. Some clients were so obnoxious and demanding. Such is the way of the British in some areas with our "stiff upper lip". I went back into accounting as I had done for many years previously and I felt for all those brothers who remained window cleaners until retirement, it was an especially dangerous job in those days, due to the fact this water fed pole system wasn't yet introduced and became a more preferable option some time in the 2010s in the area I lived.
Yes, the picture is sad. Let's not remember however some of these men made the sacrifice because they genuinely believed they were doing it to increase their ministry activities.
I am stunned at the number of Jehovah’s Witness men now who work "full time" as window cleaners, especially now they don't have to report time and if they do as regular pioneers it is a measly 50 hours! It's a doddle now. Call me a grumpy old man, but some of those witnesses who work "full time" as window cleaners earn 10 times more than my state pension, those bastards!
"Simplify your life by reducing the amount of secular work you do". Heard this wonderful advice so many times, usually during the local needs part, from brothers who are well off financially and about to go on another overseas family holiday.
SKIN:
Yes, I remember it well about financially secure Jehovah’s Witnesses telling other gullible (mostly younger) people to pursue poverty. The poverty they were pushing was certainly not for them!
The Witness religion is filled with such hypocrisy.
Usually they were affluent because they were older and already earned their living and collecting a pension or had their own businesses and were doing very well. My pet peeve was married women who made stupid remarks. They never worked and were married to non-JW men who let them do their ‘thing’.
All these people did not relate to me as a person who worked full-time to support myself.. Most of these people are gone by now and went to their graves living a cushy life.. Me? I’m glad I never listened to any of them.
When was a MS, I diclined a part on the meeting "Simplify your life for Jehovah" or something like that.
Because I did not simplify my own life.
The PO went crazy, hé had to look for some one else.
In the 90's.
Gorby
It is expensive to be a popular jw
You miss a lot of paying work and you provide a lot of free labour to the watchtower corporations
You have to take time off work for elder school and pioneer school
my parents would buy brand new cars and have them miled out in 5 years in theocratic activities
There is nothing left over for your retirement savings. Watchtower owns the house and the house never loses.
HOSER:
Yes, I saw that the ‘popular’ JWs were so chummy.
Of course, I never realized what you said about buying new cars and getting them used up in ‘theocratic activities’ which is to say you were providing charity to everybody else! 👎 No good!
I was not raised a JW so this would be absurd. It seemed to me the JWs somehow ‘hypnotizes’ people to act against their better interests. I’ll tell you one thing - After I got all the hate and shunning because I worked, I was determined never give charity of any sort to anybody there. I also never did favors either.
This is why I really wouldn’t have pity for the fictitious window washing brother depicted in the article! His ‘spiritual’ friends would have to help him.
