by WingCommander 51 Replies latest jw friends
Some examples from non-Witness land:
https://kanahoma.substack.com/p/the-christian-college-crisis
https://www.sdpb.org/education/2023-01-23/longterm-issues-to-close-doors-at-presentation-college
https://cincyjewfolk.com/2024/04/19/how-to-close-a-campus-huc-jir-bleeds-money-while-cincinnati-pays-the-price/
The church/synagogue/congregation members are simply not there to financially support the old program anymore. The youth are leaving; older ones are dying off; their worlds are shrinking.
BETH SARIM:
Yes, those upper echelon dinner invitations years ago in the congregation certainly did not pay for anybody’s Retirement.
Believe me, I was a young twenty-something and was certainly not thinking about my retirement or old age all those years ago! I was simply thinking of immediate concerns: like paying my rent, groceries, automobile expenses, etc. I also noticed that all the older people in the congregation were collecting pensions and had comfortable lives. They were available to pioneer.
I came from a non-JW background so common sense prevailed.. Not the mentality of somebody jumping from a plane without a parachute. Older people with cushy lives (many of whom are dead today) were suggesting I do something foolish like just quit my job. The poverty they were pushing for me was not for them.
I don’t want to imagine how bad things would be if I listened to any of this. The old hypocrites with the cushy lives aren’t even around to help anybody they misled.
Again, glad I didn’t buy any of this and so what that I suffered the ‘consequences’ of not being invited?... But, I’m smiling now and those pioneers who knocked me then can go ask somebody else for charity.
Its the children of indoctrinated families who are truly victimized.
Complete lack of critical thinking skills
Truly believe their parents have their best interests at heart.
When really such an upbringing is very harmful & damaging.
BETH SARIM:
I do believe my so-called worldly Catholic parents had my best interests at heart.
However, I do Not believe that Jehovah’s Witnesses had my best interests at heart. No way.. They were out to exploit me and couldn’t give a rat’s a$$ what became of me. But, Thank God my contrary nature and ‘worldly’ upbringing saved me and I am grateful today.
As far as JWs not having their children’s proper best interests at heart it’s because something got between the parents and their children. That thing was a cold religious corporation.
The sad thing in all this:.. Witnesses believed the fantasy they were told and threw common sense out the window.. In fact what they did was cave in to peer pressure. They even ignored scriptures that promote saving or preparing. They followed men.. Hence, you have the many thousands of Witnesses today who reached retirement age unprepared.
Surely, no young person years ago invited to a pioneer dinner and patted on the back had ANY idea their financial security in old age was in jeopardy and they were being lulled into a sleep mode wasting precious Time with fantasies.
@LongHairGal:
You remind me of my late mother by your manner of speaking. She would be 72 today. She wasn't born into the JW's, but was exposed to their literature as a child. My parents met in the mid-70's, married, and started to study with older JW's that they lived around. My mother was already a full RN into her career. My father was not a professional. Just had shit jobs (if at all) his entire life. My mother was always looked down upon because of her education and career by men and women alike. My father never held a "position" in the Congregation, so we got invited to literally NOTHING in 20+ years. A remember a few Congregation picnics before they were basically banned in the early 80's.
Thankfully, like you, my mother got fed up with this petty bullshit. Especially while my father was dying of cancer. She was working FT, taking care of my dying father at home, and the JW's? Nowhere to be found! She asked for shepherding visits and possibly even some meals. Know what the Elduhzzzz told her? To pray more, attend all the meetings, and be more regular in the Field Misery if she were depressed. Cause ya know, she had SO much free time, right? She got ZERO support from anyone, much less the Elduhzzzz. My parents were in good-standing for 20+ years, and they got nothing in the time of their need except "Do more. Give more." To top it off, the Presiding Overseer at the time (a nice fellow actually) had heart surgery. Guess what? An announcement was made from the platform about showing support to his wife. Ya know....bring food, take her out to dinner, etc. This woman? A houewife and Pioneer. Never worked outside the home in her life. My mother? ZERO announcement. Non-working Elders wife? BRING FOOD, ya good-for-nothing slaves! I was there, I heard it. Pissed me off something awful. Did I mention our elderly JW grandmother lived with us as well?
My mother was STUNNED. It was the final "Red Flag" moment for her. It started her questioning. She actually bought Ray Franz's books and read them first, after I mentioned reading about them. (a former GB member leaving, etc) So she woke up. Started a retirement plan, improved her life. Started accepting work invitations to do stuff from co-workers. Her live improved immensely after leaving the dumbass JW's in the dust.
Here's another fine example of the JW's "Christian Love." Summer of 1993 or 1994. My JW mother at the time decided to try to Pioneer during the summer. (Again, while working a FT job!)
So one Sunday, I'm sitting in the WatchTower study Q&A. My mom goes downstairs to the bathroom. She comes back, in tears. I ask her what's wrong? She proceeds to tell me that this old snooty Pioneer bitch confronted her in the Foyer with her teenage granddaughter, and then proceeded to actually circle and berate my mother and tear her down. Asking my mom "who she thinks she is trying to Pioneer, what her job and fancy education." Etc, etc. OMG......I was 14-15 at the time, but I was soooooo pissed off that I went and spoke to the Elders, and told them to get this old bitch in her place, cause if THEY didn't, I was gonna put my first in her face. Hateful cunt! They got the message, as they didn't even question me.....they went right to her.
But this ^^^^ type of shit above, is the dumbass crap we've all had to put up with. Hateful bullshit being passed off as "Christian Love." Basically, "eat shit, like it, and come back for seconds!" Nah.....I'm good, go fuck yourselves JW's!
LHG
I dont know if you've heard of a youtuber on Mondays called ''Surviving Paradise".
The host os Stacy.
He relates what you talk about. About checking ones' brain & common sense at the door.
What the Borg offers is truly fantasy. Never dying,, absolute health.....
But as long as the Borgs demands come first.
ie) shunning your family,,dying for refusing blood...
The borgs demands come first. & negating what we have now.
BETH SARIM:
Yes, I have listened to a couple of his podcasts.. As he says: they truly do ‘check their brains at the door’. I witnessed this.
WING COMMANDER:
Yes, I most certainly am a Baby Boomer like your late mom.. May she RIP.. In all probability, I would have had conversations with her. We could relate because we both worked. We weren’t like other stupid Stepford wife types there!
I confess I have NO camaraderie whatsoever with married women who never worked. They said the stupidest things and you’d want to punch them in the face. So, I got a reputation of sorts that I ‘said things’. Well, that’s because some effin’ morons thought they could say anything they wanted to a single woman!! Some of them got an answer they never expected. I wasn’t tolerating or humoring anybody like this because their shit was intolerable.
It is not just the GB that deserve to be criticized. It is the rank & file idiots in each congregation that are guilty of this unchristian behavior. There was also great jealousy I perceived if somebody worked and they imagined you were rolling in dough. These idiots thought I was ‘golden’ and had no responsibilities because I was single. Meanwhile, as anybody who works full time will tell you.. you have no time for anything and you’re lucky you got a nights sleep.
I am sorry your mom went through what she did, and that part where she had nasty things said to her because she tried to pioneer. Their remarks indicate this all-pervasive jealousy of an educated woman with a decent job.
As I have said many times: ..if I had listened to this idiot religion and caved in to pressure to pioneer I would be so screwed it wouldn’t be funny. As it is, I do have to watch my pennies. I have said it before that I have No pity for anybody who chose not to work… Starving??.. Go ask the religion for money that pressured them/promised them Paradise..or track down their spiritual friends who might still be around!
But none of these fools deserve anything from people they criticized, marginalized and slandered.
LHG said: "no young person years ago invited to a pioneer dinner and patted on the back had ANY idea their financial security in old age was in jeopardy and they were being lulled into a sleep mode..."
By now, some of those who basked in the praise from WTC for trading their future for full time service, must surely realize that they got nothing in return. Worrying about bills, a roof over your head, and medical coverage is a wakeup call from that indiced sleep.
I took a lot of grief for focusing on my future, and some JW's won't speak to me now. No one forced them to stay at Bethel until they were kicked to the curb, but it rubs them wrong that they were duped. Sadly, it is too late to make a dent in their budget deficit. My heart goes out to them but my donations do not.
Thomas;
The things you relate to here. Is what makes mind control so damaging & hurtful.
You look after the Borgs demands first. Negating your own.
Sure the perks. Dinner invites,, maybe trips to the lake for a couple of nights.
But,,,cult victims fail to look after their own,,,,,needs. Like work,,mortgage,, bills & retirement.
THOMAS MORE:
Yes, surely there must be many pioneers who ‘basked in the praise’ years ago who have had their rude awakening now in their senior years. These people surely must be angry. I wonder what they are doing about it?
It’s certainly tough getting older, but to people who never prepared for it…positively devastating.. I’m so very Glad I never listened to JW rhetoric. I was shunned back then.. But, So what?… I was not raised a Witness and felt they were unrealistic anyway and I let things go in one ear and out the other…
As for JWs getting kicked out of Bethel: anybody still there had better be prepared with phone numbers of contacts to help them.
As for getting grief for focusing on your future, and some JWs not speaking to you now? How stupid.. Glad it’s all in the past for me since I’m retired and long Out.. I have no desire to be around JWs now with their panhandling mentality. When all is said and done: they were deceived by a religion and it’s not my problem.
