Posts by LongHairGal

25

Post your experiance with JWs who did not save for retirement and had to work or live off off SS till death

by wolverines in

but one i remember was a full on dyed in the wool believer how was a farmer.

around 1975 he sold his farm moved his family to a very rural place and waited for the end to come.

he ended up working for his brother in law hanging drywall.

LongHairGal

WOLVERINES:

Regarding the story you relate that when you were a youth and put money into a savings account..you were unwisely told by this other couple to just spend it:..But time proved just how wrong their logic was!

What I want to say IS:..this talking about your private financial business with every Tom, Dick and Harry is not normal or done elsewhere..But, in the JWs normal boundaries are not observed or respected. Therefore there is the tendency to ‘confess’ or talk about your personal business.

I learned to keep my mouth shut and was very guarded about what I revealed to JWs when I was in the religion.

What is most tragic is that young people (who know nothing else) are influenced in ways they should not be by adults who have embraced an unwise lifestyle of not planning for their future!

Again...today I’m thankful I had the influence of so-called ‘worldly’ people and a non-Witness upbringing to save me from making an unwise decision years ago! 🙏🏻

25

Post your experiance with JWs who did not save for retirement and had to work or live off off SS till death

by wolverines in

but one i remember was a full on dyed in the wool believer how was a farmer.

around 1975 he sold his farm moved his family to a very rural place and waited for the end to come.

he ended up working for his brother in law hanging drywall.

LongHairGal

FEDUP JW:

Was your dad a non-JW? That was good advice he gave to save for the future. Any Witnesses who thought like this kept it to themselves. Too bad. They should have spread this wisdom around. As he said: “saving was stored labor”. Very wise.

Thankfully, I wasn’t raised a Witness so I had the hard-knocks advice of my father as well. He was looking out for me. Looking back, I can honestly say some of the Witnesses were envious and did not like working women and were trying to ‘abase’ me. I know it’s sick but I believe this was the attitude displayed towards me in the late ‘70s.

When I attended church, people weren’t meddling in your business or discouraging you from supporting yourself in a decent job.

I’m so grateful today that I resisted the JWs and did not cave-in to heavy peer pressure and labeling (unspiritual) they put on people back then.

25

Post your experiance with JWs who did not save for retirement and had to work or live off off SS till death

by wolverines in

but one i remember was a full on dyed in the wool believer how was a farmer.

around 1975 he sold his farm moved his family to a very rural place and waited for the end to come.

he ended up working for his brother in law hanging drywall.

LongHairGal

WOLVERINES:

This topic about people in the JW religion encouraged to be in the full time ministry and not bother saving for retirement really angers me....The government may have stepped in for this person you mention - but it sounds like they were still poor and had to work into very old age!

I was one such person who was shunned like I had a scarlet letter written on me because I had a full time job that I refused to quit to appease fools and jealous idiots.

What really gets me is that the older Witnesses back then were all collecting a pension - which means THEY were in the workforce likely full time in their early years. YET these people were preaching poverty for younger people in the hall (especially women). They thought I was supposed to quit a decent job, take up housecleaning, pioneer - and do favors like a moron for Users with cushy lives in the congregation! Anybody who had this fate in mind for me could go to you-know-where!

I am Retired today but would not be if I had listened to these Hypocrites. To add insult to injury, if I were fool enough to STILL be in the religion they would have the audacity to come up to me asking for money for people who never wanted to work!!!

6

Back here after almost 10 years

by TresHappy2 in

jw
friends

i couldn't use my old name so i've come under treshappy2.

i was thinking about cruzanheart and big tex.

we lost touch and i don't even know if they are current on this forum.

LongHairGal

TRES HAPPY2:

Welcome back to the forum.

I’m sorry you lost touch with the people you mentioned but I have not seen those names posting on here for many years!.. I hope you can track them down some other way!

8

Useing unhealthy fear to force people to obey.

by Yomama in

jw
friends

fear of being shunned.

do you have any stories?.

LongHairGal

YOMAMA:

I agree the religion is ‘fear based’ in many ways. Not just fear of people shunning a person but people fearful they aren’t ‘doing enough’ in so-called theocratic activity.

I never had any family in the religion (thank God) that anybody could use against me. But, I had non-JW friends for a long time after I became a JW.

One elder who was a book study conductor for a time made a nosey remark that “the reason I probably didn’t have friends in the religion was probably because I still had ‘worldly’ friends”. I took his advice to heart because I was ready to move on from these friends anyway.

But, even after I gave up these ‘worldly’ friends, I didn’t make many JW friends because I was shunned somewhat because I had a full time job.. Giving up cigarette smoking and certain friends was one thing..but I held onto a full time job until I Retired. I didn’t care what any of the Witnesses thought about that!

91

Your worst convention experience.

by zeb in

by a split second rescuing our handicapped son from being pushed down the stairs by a flood of sisters rushing out to see as the drama had started.. the main offender being a special pioneer..

LongHairGal

I am a long-time ‘Fader’ out of the JW religion almost twenty years.

In reading all of these experiences and looking back on what we endured with these conventions decades ago (travel, inconvenience and discomfort) because we were told we ‘should’ and the usual tripe about ‘spiritual food’ and ‘association’. We (or at least I) had not been totally disillusioned yet. The Millennium hadn’t come yet and there was still that fervor that some people had.

But, I realize I would never put myself through any of this now..and its not just because of age!

Those days are a bygone era.

32

Watchtower June 2020 Article, '' Return to Me''

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

the watchtower—study edition | june 2020. .

study article 26.

6 who can share in the search for inactive ones?

LongHairGal

FEDUP JW:

That is true about them figuratively ‘kicking some people out the back door’ while they are trying to get new people ‘in the front door’. I often wondered if they even realized what they were doing.

I think there was an arrogant feeling back then!..There were people coming in and maybe they felt ‘who the hell needs you’?

Even though I am a ‘Fader’ who walked away from the JW religion, you could say I was figuratively ‘kicked out’ by their bad attitudes towards single women and responsible working people. Also, let’s not forget their 1995 Generation teaching. That was the last straw.

I doubt they are going to look for me because word may have filtered back about my views..They would correctly surmise that it would be a waste of their time.

91

Your worst convention experience.

by zeb in

by a split second rescuing our handicapped son from being pushed down the stairs by a flood of sisters rushing out to see as the drama had started.. the main offender being a special pioneer..

LongHairGal

DAVROS:

Yes, that’s the one. The absolute worst. It might have been the summer of ‘83.

It was a miserable hot humid horror. It was the first and only convention that I went a long distance to (out of state).. I was young and went with three older people one of which was a heavy person with health issues. We stayed in somebody’s rural vacation place and drove to the stadium. We tried to make the best of it but after two hot torturous days where we got absolutely nothing out if it - we woke up the Sunday morning and said we had enough!..I was secretly glad.

We headed home instead. What a waste of time and gas! The only thing we got out of the weekend was that we went out to eat in Pennsylvania dutch style restaurants.

80

Quit Quietly now more than ever

by gone for good in

the amazing exoneration of info sekta in swiss court has finally reinforced the proper way to exit an abusive cult.. never write a letter of disassociation.

- no need to invoke shepherding or judicial action from elders.

make a written, dated statement of your free-will choice to have abandoned the jw religion - secure this document with a friend -a trusted friend (not the jw kind).

LongHairGal

GONE FOR GOOD:

That is a very sick and sad story about that grandfather.

What I wonder is what does the wife gain by airing her dirty linen and turning her husband over to the elders? How does she benefit if she gets him disfellowshipped? Is he really going to stop drinking OR will he drink more.

It’s particularly cruel to have his grandchildren shun him. And, as you said, he hasn’t harmed a single one of them. He’s an old man. So sad. Not just an old man being shunned, but young people deprived of love of a grandparent. Also, a callous forming on their heart so they will be more likely to be cruel to somebody else.

Please let this religion be over so that there are no more victims!

33

Are You Afraid To Publicity Express Your Opinion?

by minimus in

jw
friends

are you reticent to express your opinion when it comes to religion or politics?.

when we were jws , we had to be so careful that we didn’t stumble anyone.

are you comfortable saying that you don’t agree with someone or something even if it appears you are in the minority?

LongHairGal

LV101:

I remember that Godfather movie quote. It makes perfect sense, really.

The character needed to know what his enemies were up to - because they were gunning for him.