i just saw a post on reddit: ‘wt are prepping the r&f for changes in the march/april meeting workbook’.. in the post the person noted what they read (for march 8) and it mentioned bethel adjustments and reference was made to 2015 when bethelites were let go.. if this happens (yet again) another bunch of people are being sent home to fend for themselves in the big bad world at an advanced age with little to no preparation.
even though this doesn’t surprise me, it could not come at a worse time with a global pandemic and massive job loss everywhere..congregations are already in turmoil because of so many who reached retirement age totally unprepared because they were told armageddon would be here before they reached that age.
this is in addition to all the other ‘needy’ and troubled types in the congregations looking for as$istance.. i hope any bethelites there have a plan and some people they can contact.
PISTOLPETE:
You are not kidding!
I positively cringe when I think of what could have happened if I were gullible enough to have fallen for that. And because I refused, they made sure I wasn’t invited anywhere. Well, that means nothing now. The sickest irony is that if I were still in the JW religion, I would probably be the last person to be helped by the hateful, judgmental people.👎🏻
i just saw a post on reddit: ‘wt are prepping the r&f for changes in the march/april meeting workbook’.. in the post the person noted what they read (for march 8) and it mentioned bethel adjustments and reference was made to 2015 when bethelites were let go.. if this happens (yet again) another bunch of people are being sent home to fend for themselves in the big bad world at an advanced age with little to no preparation.
even though this doesn’t surprise me, it could not come at a worse time with a global pandemic and massive job loss everywhere..congregations are already in turmoil because of so many who reached retirement age totally unprepared because they were told armageddon would be here before they reached that age.
this is in addition to all the other ‘needy’ and troubled types in the congregations looking for as$istance.. i hope any bethelites there have a plan and some people they can contact.
I just saw a post on Reddit: ‘WT are prepping the R&F for changes in the March/April meeting workbook’.
In the post the person noted what they read (for March 8) and it mentioned Bethel adjustments and reference was made to 2015 when bethelites were let go.
If this happens (yet again) another bunch of people are being sent home to fend for themselves in the big bad world at an advanced age with little to no preparation.
Even though this doesn’t surprise me, it could not come at a worse time with a global pandemic and massive job loss everywhere..Congregations are already in turmoil because of so many who reached Retirement age totally unprepared because they were told Armageddon would be here before they reached that age. This is in addition to all the other ‘needy’ and troubled types in the congregations looking for as$istance.
I hope any bethelites there have a plan and some people they can contact. With what has already happened in the past they have to know this was always a possibility!
do you think that when people leave the religion that they are basically now, “normal”?
or do you think it’s more a work in progress?.
MINIMUS:
It really depends...maybe responsible somewhat older people who weren’t raised in the religion and know how the world works..and carefully planned their Exit..could be considered pretty much normal...They may have an unpleasant memory from time to time but that’s no worse than somebody never a JW who has bad memories from unpleasant experiences in life.
I was not raised a JW and I held onto the job I was criticized for - so I had an easier transition Out... I may have felt ‘strange’ for several months - but the joy of being Free again and reconnecting with estranged relatives before it was too late (priceless) canceled out these feelings.
i thought i would post an encouraging experience i found today.
i've been seeing a lot of 70-80 year old jws waking up, and their children are posting their experience on reddit.
these are old elders, pioneers, circuit overseers who have given their everything and finally at the end of their life, are walking away.. maybe the key to waking up is that a person has to have a deep sense of right and wrong.
PHIZZY & PISTOLPETE:
I never had any desire to drag anybody out of the religion by both arms. I’m just glad I got myself Out.
I feel badly for those who have family still in but I do agree with those who feel it would be a cruelty to ‘awaken’ anybody who is elderly and perfectly content to be there. It’s a social club for them. I don’t feel I have the right to rip the rug out from under somebody and disillusion them and set them up for shunning and hurt, which is what will happen.
I do feel that it is too late to replace certain things very late in life - regardless of what some may think!..Even young people who leave the JW religion sometimes need therapy. I would never inflict this on somebody elderly. I believe in leaving them alone.
you are what she wanted to be!please, let us remove any blame to anyone right up front.
what happened to petra was not the fault of mark o'donnell, listener, corney, mike and kim, or anyone else.. constant rejection and shunning even at an early age, the depression was storing up inside of her.
she was shunned inside the hall and outside the hall.
ATLANTIS:
I am sorry that Petra suffers from depression from her childhood experience as a JW.
I was not raised in that godawful religion so I cannot imagine. I came in as a young working adult and faced shunning because I refused to quit my job. But I was an adult so maybe it’s worse when you are in formative years to face this adversity!
Even though I was never a recipient of those documents..(since I have no real interest in the religion), other people are and I can see how much it meant to them. I wish her all the best even if this was too much for her and she needs to move on.
so the past couple of years, i’ve read several stories about jws who left the organization at an early age because they knew something wasn’t right------but they never bothered to research the religion.
there was this feeling that the watchtower was not god’s only channel.
so they left at an early age.
PEACEFULPETE:
As for being drawn to another church ‘with similar intellectual dishonesty’, that might happen to some who leave the JWs. But, I doubt it would happen to me.
I saw on some site there is also a terrible attitude towards single women that exists in other Christian religions, etc. There is the same stupid mentality that single women will be servile idiots doing favors for people!..(Dream on.) Also, the attitude is there that single women are temptresses looking to steal husbands! About the only thing these churches have in their favor is they don’t knock education and careers like the JWs do.. But, I wouldn’t go near any of them anyway.
I can’t see myself going somewhere where smiling ladies with glazed eyes come up to me and ask things that will annoy me and I have to be less than civil to some ignoramus. No, I had enough of this in the Witness religion to last a lifetime.
Only a glutton for punishment would seek this out again.
i think many people feel secure with an abundance of rules.
they enjoy being told what to do, how to think.
it makes them feel safe.
MINIMUS:
It’s too bad when people exchange the use of their own brain because they feel there is ‘security in following rules’.
Years ago I saw a post on the forum that made an impression on me.
Even though I don’t remember exactly what it said..it was along the lines of ‘living in a country where people fought for freedoms and why would anybody enslave themselves to something, etc., etc.’
When you think about it along these lines it’s really ludicrous what people have become accustomed to tolerating when they should just get up and walk out.
Yes, Happy Thanksgiving to everybody wherever you are! 🍽🍗
i thought i would post an encouraging experience i found today.
i've been seeing a lot of 70-80 year old jws waking up, and their children are posting their experience on reddit.
these are old elders, pioneers, circuit overseers who have given their everything and finally at the end of their life, are walking away.. maybe the key to waking up is that a person has to have a deep sense of right and wrong.
PISTOL PETE & JW GONE BAD:
Yes, I also saw this on Reddit. It’s quite possible he was disgusted with that ‘overlapping generation’ among other things (like maybe being hit up for money for people who never wanted to work)..I got out about twenty years ago and can’t imagine still sitting there through all that!
I just hope he has some kind of social support besides the one child (maybe other relatives/friends who are out). It would definitely be tough when somebody is older. I’m glad he had the courage to say ‘enough’. 👍🏻
my recollection of cos were they may have been very low paid almost volunteers..but they werent poor.
most appeared well dressed.
i knew a few..and they were well connected with wealthy famlies.
STAN LIVEDEATH:
What I remember is them stepping up the fervor to pioneer. If you didn’t cave in to pressure to pioneer you were looked down on in the religion.
I always felt they were out of touch with reality - like a lot of JWs never really in the workforce. But, I let all the talk go in one ear and out the other and it’s good that I did because I planned for Retirement. Would anybody support me if I didn’t?? Nah, I didn’t think so.
From what I have read, some have done well for themselves. If not, brothers with businesses will have to help them. I have NO interest in anybody who knocked me for my full time job. Go tell somebody else.
