what is everyone doing for thanksgiving and christmas?
or is it too early to ask?
we are having thanksgiving dinner at my nieces house.
JHINE:
I don’t really want to go off topic because it would hijack the thread which is really about people’s Holiday plans. But, to answer you, yes, I am American.
Anyway, everybody have a wonderful Holiday season!
ZACHIAS:
Yes, Thanksgiving is my favorite here in the US. It’s wonderful getting together with family and friends with great food.
my in-laws are two such people.
people who pioneered and did not work and try to save, instead they made just enough to get by and waited for the end to come.
now my mil is in palliative care and the state is paying for her keep, my fil lives in a dilapidated home and can not keep it up.
DIOGENESISTER:
My God, you are right! I stand corrected.
So, most of the bastards who were flapping their lips and trying to interfere in my life to get me to quit my full-time job were the ‘Silent Generation’, eh? They should have lived up to their name and kept their stupid mouths shut. However, there were some very old JWs of that Greatest Generation when I first came in but most of the offenders were younger.
If I had caved in to their pressure, I would not be retired today and would be in a very bad situation!!
This former ‘low hour publisher’ is very thankful today that I never listened to any of them of whatever generation!
what is everyone doing for thanksgiving and christmas?
or is it too early to ask?
we are having thanksgiving dinner at my nieces house.
PISTOLPETE:
Yes, you are certainly right about that.
In fact, in reading other things online it seems other Christian religions ALSO treat singles badly - especially single women. Luckily, I am not religious because I would NEVER set foot anywhere I would be viewed as a drudge who will do favors (not gonna happen)..OR who is out to steal somebody’s man away 🙄.
Luckily for me when I was a JW I kept my full-time job and had associations other than Witnesses. But, this was to my advantage when it was time to ‘Fade’. It went smoothly because somebody like me who was on the fringes of the congregation was hardly missed initially.
Now, it’s all in my rear view mirror and I can enjoy the Holidays and association with people who care about me, like the rest of the ‘normal’ human race does.
what is everyone doing for thanksgiving and christmas?
or is it too early to ask?
we are having thanksgiving dinner at my nieces house.
BIAHI:
Getting together with family! 👍🏻 I wish a Happy Holiday Season to everybody!
JHINE:
Yes, Thanksgiving is pretty much a US holiday - the Pilgrims, the New World, etc.
I like Thanksgiving because people get together with relatives and/or friends and have a nice meal with the trimmings, pleasant talk. Nothing wrong with that. I always wondered why the Witnesses frowned on it because it’s not necessarily religious!
Well, I had a rude awakening years ago during the Thanksgiving holiday. Here I was isolating myself like some idiot fighting a private war. I needlessly deprived myself of a good meal and association with my real family (who were the only people who REALLY cared about me). Instead I looked at four walls alone. I also noticed all the JWs disappeared during the holidays.. I was grateful for this lightbulb moment that started to pave the way for my eventual ‘Fade’ from this vacuum of a religion several years later!
I realized the reason the religion doesn’t want you to associate with family or non-JWs. They are simply afraid when you receive unconditional love and acceptance from people who aren’t judging you, you might not want the religion anymore!
the other night, my wife and i were driving through a upscale suburb with old, large, beautiful homes.
there is one house that my never jw she really likes.
as we drove by the house, i turned to her and said, "that's your armageddon house.
CARLA:
I doubt very much your JW is going to be honest with you about anything negative pertaining to the religion or the people in it.
I also heard that same stupidity out of the mouths of JWs when we were out in service. Unfortunately, they are covetous people because they are told not to get higher education or a decent career to pay for a nice house…Instead, they have dreams of inhabiting some non-JWs home after Armageddon.
I even heard something sick once from a sister who said (when looking at the homes on an attractive block) “well, they are having their reward in full”. I said that somebody may have worked very hard for their house! It doesn’t mean they are ‘bad’.
Speaking of “getting their reward in full”, I think THAT about JW pioneers back in the day who judged me as ‘unspiritual’ because I worked full-time. They got invited everywhere and fawned over - while I was avoided. Well.. hopefully they were able to Retire and can pay their bills today without looking for handouts from hard-working responsible people! Glad I’m Out.
my in-laws are two such people.
people who pioneered and did not work and try to save, instead they made just enough to get by and waited for the end to come.
now my mil is in palliative care and the state is paying for her keep, my fil lives in a dilapidated home and can not keep it up.
TRUTHBKNOWN:
Yeah, you’re the ‘dummy’ until they need your money!
MICKBOBCAT:
It’s amazing to hear about anybody, let alone a JW, who made fabulous money and ends up broke because of stupidity or arrogance…It’s similar to people who win lotto and end up penniless. I can’t even feel sorry for people like this.
With regard to the JW couple who ribbed you about your savings account:..I had that happen to me with a couple of JWs. One was an older JW who did my taxes and saw I put some money in an IRA. I got snide remarks about how “I’d never live to see that money”. Well, this person is long passed away and I’m retired several years!
I might also add this person ALSO was of ‘the Greatest Generation’ with a comfortable life telling younger JWs to pursue poverty. Can you IMAGINE if I listened to all of these older hypocritical JWs years ago?? Naturally, they aren’t even around to help anybody now. And, what would they say? I’m sorry? That wouldn’t even cut it.
Makes me ill if I think about it. But, I’m GLAD today I was the ‘low hour publisher’ years back. I supposedly wasn’t ‘spiritual’ because I worked a full-time job..the benefits and planning of which support me now.
my in-laws are two such people.
people who pioneered and did not work and try to save, instead they made just enough to get by and waited for the end to come.
now my mil is in palliative care and the state is paying for her keep, my fil lives in a dilapidated home and can not keep it up.
FEDUPJW:
It’s a sad story you tell about the second guy and I do feel sorry..As an exception to the rule: if a JW was my friend back in the day and treated me decently, I might take them out to lunch.
The general mentality there is what really bothers me: they imagine you are going to give them money after you were knocked, condemned and shunned for having a decent job or career! Imagine the audacity? I would RUN from most of them now.
If I had listened to the Witnesses, I wouldn’t be Retired. These people tried to interfere in my life, which is none of their business. They can never be forgiven for this as far as I’m concerned. Any active Witnesses reading this, take note.
WATON:
Yes, this really does get me about that older affluent Greatest Generation preaching poverty to Baby Boomers. No Accountability it seems!..The irony is most have gone to their graves after living a cushy life and aren’t even around to help any of the impoverished Boomers they misled!
Words can’t describe my feelings. I’m so glad I never listened and it doesn’t matter now how shunned or uninvited I was years back because I stuck to my guns and held my job until retirement.
my in-laws are two such people.
people who pioneered and did not work and try to save, instead they made just enough to get by and waited for the end to come.
now my mil is in palliative care and the state is paying for her keep, my fil lives in a dilapidated home and can not keep it up.
I wonder what the actual number is of Witnesses in this pathetic situation? I imagine they must mostly be comprised of the Baby Boomer generation.
The generation before them (the Greatest Generation) has very few still surviving. But, from what I observed in my congregations, these people were generally well-off or prepared. All the older people that I saw were either collecting their pensions or about to..That means they were in the workforce when younger.. Even the ‘great ladies’ who hosted gatherings for pioneers were married to ‘worldly’ men and lived an affluent life. No poverty for these people! Hell No!
I don’t see this talked about much but it seems poverty was preached and directed mostly at the Baby Boomers.. I had this done to me when older hypocrites tried to get me to quit a decent job to pioneer! Thankfully, I refused.
Hopefully, fewer young people will fall for this nowadays! They have the Internet and the examples of older JWs who did not prepare.
I am GLAD I am not around there now and having JWs come up to me with an envelope to give money to people there who didn’t work for whatever reason. whether they were ‘conned’ into not working Or just plain didn’t want to!..Does anybody think I would tolerate this after how negatively I WAS viewed and treated?? No Way.
i answered a question on quora about jw flip flops .
i mentioned, amongst other things , the 1975 debacle.
how witnesses were told that armageddon was coming in the fall of that year.
NOWWHAT? & JEFF T:
I came in the late ‘70s and not a word was directly mentioned to me (as a new ‘study’) about this fiasco!
Something might have been mentioned obliquely about ‘people who only served for a date’, but nothing more was said. I didn’t know what they were referring to and it was never brought up again. I had already been ‘in’ for a while when a young couple in a car group were referring to an older lady who no longer came. The guy said: “She’s a 75-er”. I asked what he was talking about. It was only then I got a sense of what had happened.
I knew nothing about this or any of the JW religion’s hidden history or I might have thought twice about joining!
related to the pilot program for in-person meetings for the vaccinated (jehovahs-witness.com) topic thread there is the following news announcement direct the org: the governing body announces that some in-person meetings will resume in select areas (jw.org) .
i certainly won't be participating in that..
HIDDLESWIFE:
I definitely do think that they want in-person meetings because Zoom cannot cut it with regard to control and also because of wanting donations from people. They must imagine people are likely to put $ in the contribution box. Many don’t want to donate online.
Also, some deadbeats who never wanted to work (who I had no use for) will get more in person.. I assume the Zoom meetings ‘hurt’ these types of JWs because it’s hard to get handouts if you’re not in person. They must’ve gotten creative to get money this past year or so.
This is a dilemma for the religion if they want to sell off halls because they want the money. How can they ‘control’ people and get money if they don’t meet fairly regularly in person?? They need available brick and mortar halls to meet in, that’s what. It will be interesting to see how this is going to work out for them!
