i guess it's the covid-19 thing.
but very little news from a couple of people i know well there.
they can't leave the "compound" or much of anything else.
RUB A DUB:
Yes, I get your drift. These particular bethel ‘lifers’ sound very old..I presume that the JW religion would be decent enough to keep THEM til the very end.
But..any other bethelites there between the ages of 45 and death had better have some emergency phone numbers and a plan B - in the event they get a letter slipped under their door!.. I don’t think anybody can assume that nobody else would be let go!
i guess it's the covid-19 thing.
but very little news from a couple of people i know well there.
they can't leave the "compound" or much of anything else.
FINKELSTEIN:
Yes, I know there is no retirement fund for longtime bethel workers! When they got kicked out they had to depend on family, etc.
I imagine some of them are employed by now. Others opted to be sp. pioneers in the congregation getting a stipend and expecting handouts.. I’m glad I’m not in the JW religion anymore because they would get nothing from me!
When the first bunch got let go from bethel all those years ago, the thought that came to mind is that any OTHER bethelites still there had better make plans just in case...
If they didn’t..well good luck to them.
i guess it's the covid-19 thing.
but very little news from a couple of people i know well there.
they can't leave the "compound" or much of anything else.
RUB A DUB:
As for those bethel ‘lifers’ you know who have ‘no other options’:..what happens if the JW religion decides to let another group of bethelites go like they have done over the last decade or so??
What would these people do since there are halls being sold all over the place, fewer congregations to go TO and even fewer Witnesses to beg handouts from?
im new to this forum, i dont know where else to post my story, sorry if im wrong for posting this on this subject.
as i begin to wake up from being in the org i thought id introduce myself to this forum with how i was raised in the org..., ive been beginning to look at everyones stories from being raised as one and how they left, and i find comfort in knowing im not alone, so maybe another young person like me will find the same comfort reading my story.
as you can tell by my username, i am posting this on an anonymous account because of fear of what the elders would do to me and my parents if they found out who i was.
ANON1028:
It’s so heartbreaking to read stories like yours that reveal just how abusive and controlling the JW religion is for somebody raised in it!..Good that you let the world know.
I know of two cases where JWs compelled minor teenage children to leave the home because they didn’t want the religion.. Fortunately, they turned out okay and are happy adults.
Best of Luck to you.
PANTS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS:
Of course there are JW related things, but I agree the forum has changed somewhat.
Even though I generally loathe politics and the things that are going on in the country and the world...I sometimes have to jump in and say what I feel about things when I see a topic that sets me off because of BS being spouted!!!
so as things are now opening up and food never ran out, i've been dipping into our emergency supplies.
they say that spam doesn't have a shelf-life, it has a half-life, but i kind of wanted to see if it was like i remembered as a kid.. as it turns out spam fritters are as delicious as i remember, probably better ('cause i did fancy ones).
i used this recipe and they were glorious.
SIMON:
I never had Spam but I am tempted to try it after seeing this and a commercial on TV which made me hungry.
Never tried baked beans on toast.
i would think that exjws would exercise more critical thinking than not.
now we are thrust in this “ world” and take sides on social issues and politics.. just because our government leaders say something it doesn’t mean it’s right.
just because the majority of the news media tells us how we should think, it doesn’t mean we have to follow.
MINIMUS:
What I see and experience in the world shapes my opinions - and certainly Not what anybody else says or thinks.
FINKELSTEIN:
You would THINK that ex-JWs would have inherently sharpened skills identifying bullshit and disingenuous propaganda, etc.
I think perhaps maybe if the ex-JW is a little older and/or not raised in the religion, although there are exceptions to this.
I was not raised in the religion and left as an older working person in my 40s. Whereas some young JW who is born-in and wants Out doesn’t even know who they are or how the world works!..If anything, I think they would be most vulnerable to whatever - so I think it depends on who the ex-JW is.
the point of the letter was how many are feeling disappointed these days.. no circuit assembly, convention, how we can't fellowship at the k.h.
disappointed we might have had a love one die, etc etc.
he then goes on to write about how disappointed jehovah must have felt when his first human creation rebelled.
HOSER:
I wouldn’t be surprised if some Witnesses are happy they don’t have to go to meetings. Of course, they aren’t going to verbalize this to anybody outside their home.
For born-ins, this is a taste of freedom they never had. For those who came into the religion as an adult, these few months away from the tedium of meetings may have been a wake up call and reminder of what life was like back in the ‘normal’ days before they got suckered into the religion.
The religion probably knows they are losing their grip of control so they need these letters and guilt-trip reminders to try and hold on to people.
i don't remember disfellowshippings happening very often and announcements about being re instated but i think i remember that we used to clap hands if someone came back after being disfellowshipped.
but then i think clapping wasn't allowed.
am i correct in my recollections?.
RUB A DUB:
I also saw a few instances of brothers who divorced their wives and came back with a younger and prettier wife.
This was the Witness recipe of ‘how to do it’. A man wants what he wants and let everybody’s opinion be damned.
after further review and thought, i really don't see how removing a monument or statue that may be truly offensive to a large group of people is in some way rewriting history.. i think of germany or other parts of europe.
you don't see swastikas on buildings or statues of hitler or mussolini or other upper level generals in public.
would it be good for a person (think jewish) to drive around a city and see hitler in a public park, even though it is "historical?
WASANELDER:
The confederate statues belong in a museum. They are part of a bygone era and are hurtful to some people.
But, I’m sure many people will get the same ‘satisfaction’ as you say when the birds shit on whatever politically-correct monstrosity that will be erected in the place of the old statues!
