wishing all of you a happy and prosperous new year.
my wish is for everyone to find happiness.
for those of you who are still having to keep up appearances (pimo's) because of family who are still in, my wish for you is anything that will open the eyes of your family members and finally be set free.. tonight here in minnesota, happydad will be celebrating with a bloody mary, right here at home in my sweats.
Happy New Year to everybody on this JWD forum (even lurkers) whether they are In, Out, half & half, on the fence or whatever.
Regards to all PIMOs, PIMIs, PIMQs or whatever other designation anybody can come up with regarding a person’s relationship to the JW religion. Peace to all. ☮️ 😊
this is not about stats, but "actual experiences" happening world wide in the organization.
there is about 156 comments of what some jws are seeing in their congregation.
feel free to read and come to your own conclusion on whether the watchtower organization is turning pimo but no one says anything in order to keep family relations.
JW GONE BAD:
I’m glad so many JWs are waking up in this pandemic.
As far as many of those Zoom cameras being turned off:..it serves the religion right for causing problems for people either because they weren’t ‘dressed right’ or some other aspect of their appearance. In some instances unwanted comments were made about something hanging on somebody’s wall - in THEIR own house no less. That was probably the last straw for some people!
I knew from the start this Zoom thing would not necessarily be well received because it is actually an intrusion into peoples’ homes. When somebody went to the hall and then came home, they closed the door and had privacy. Not so with Zoom. This also means a JW can’t ‘hide’ or get a break anymore. Some intrusive idiots imagine a person should always be available because they are presumed to be home in the pandemic. Q: “Brother, why didn’t you answer us?” A: “Because I was in the bathroom!”
Really now. This has gone far enough!
i know its weird to say something like this on this forum, but its how i feel about it.
i feel that way cause i see that covid has taken a tole on my dad who's growing older.
knowing that this will come as good news to him is somewhat comforting to me.
GREAT TEACHER:
Good comments. Yes, people love their family members who are trapped in the JW religion (mostly because of sunk-cost fallacy although they’d never admit this).
I’m Glad I have no family members there but I have a few Witness friends I keep in touch with. It’s too bad I couldn’t even wish them Happy Holidays and Happy New Year like I would any other human being. That’s the shame of it all.
graeme hammond writes:.
in his 2002 book that examined the behaviour and practices of jehovah’s witnesses, english sociologist andrew holden devoted an entire chapter to the trauma and friction experienced by those who choose to leave the jehovah’s witness religion.
“those who do eventually break free,” he concluded, “are seldom allowed a dignified exit.”.
VANDERHOVEN7:
Do they ever!..And with a vengeance too.
I don’t think anybody is hated more by JWs than somebody who doesn’t want their awful religion anymore.
ghislaine maxwell is on trial for grooming underage girls for sex and joining in, apparently.. her defence has recently finished, with maxwell declining to take the stand herself because she, in her words, 'doesn't need to as the prosecution haven't proved their case beyond reasonable doubt'.. that's for the jury to decide, ghislaine, lol.
.
doesn't it strike you as arrogant that she can't be arsed to stand up and speak in her own defence?.
Has anybody seen the News?
She got convicted.
the watchtower—study edition | march 2020. study article 13. love one another intensely.
if we have intense “love for the whole association of brothers,” we will avoid being partial.
7 jesus urged us to keep treating others the way we want to be treated.
RULES & REGULATIONS:
Your comments (in bold) made me remember how it was.
They meant well when they wrote this article but unfortunately it’s doomed to failure because it’s only human nature that people form cliques. Luckily, I am a loner by nature so I wasn’t hungry for attention. Unfortunately, I am single and not too many people were interested in being friends. I also had the double whammy because I worked full-time and that’s a no-no in the Witness religion. But, in spite of it all, I still had a few friends here and there. Some of the elderly were very kind and hospitable and I will always remember them.
STEPHANE LALIBERTE:
Good post. You analyzed it all and your conclusions are right. I give that elder credit for trying to do the ‘right’ thing. You are right about what you say that there ‘must be more than the faith to attract attention’. As far as the things you mention, it’s true people will seek a person out if they (unwisely) open their home and offer free food and refreshments and also offer ‘free’ or discounted services that Witnesses are famous for wanting 🙄.. Somebody would have to be nuts, in my opinion.
Yes, people would be ‘interested’ but I would hardly call this friendship. A person would just be opening themselves up to every User imaginable who are looking for freebies and a Mother Teresa type to do favors. (This seems to be a problem in other Christian religions as well.). I can’t speak for anybody else, but I NEVER would have been interested!! I had criticism heaped on me by JWs for working a full-time job plus being picked on for my figure and clothing, and believe me I tried to be modest.
i have learn a lot about the religion and congregations.
when i was active visiting meetings, i was there for the spiritual food.
i actually thought everyone else was there for same reason ;-) i have learn there's a great variation among jws.
CARLA:
Ain’t it the truth! You are so right about the religion being ‘way worse than you ever could have imagined’. It’s like the proverbial iceberg where you don’t see the three-quarters hidden underneath!
It’s not just that you as the wife see the quirkiness of the JW religion in your husband, he Never would have revealed any of the bad that he knows about!..JWs are taught never to reveal anything negative about the religion to anybody - especially a relative that they are trying to ‘impress’ or bring into the religion.
Sadly, the only way you would learn all these things is if you got involved personally or if honest people on the forum (who learned the hard way) tell our stories about what really happens there!
Thank heaven for the internet.
one of my jw family member had a big get together.
he invited a lot of his jw friends.
there was teenage kids, couples, singles.
PISTOLPETE:
Not only are some JWs transitioning into the ‘Real’ world, the religion has lost SO many that it’s beyond absurd if they won’t drop the self-righteous attitudes - at least initially.. I’ve been Out so long so I haven’t seen this in person. But, the few JWs I keep in touch with like the Zoom meetings and don’t want to go back.
Of course, if they start meeting in person SOON, the self-righteous judgmental attitude will creep back.. The reason I say ‘soon’ is because I don’t know how much longer they can Not meet in person to have an irreversible detrimental effect. More people have woken up and others have become apathetic and doing their ‘thing’, enjoying their freedom and not wanting to go back to the way it was!
So, even though it may look ‘better’ it’s really the End of the religion as everybody knew it.
here is an interesting skit of what would happen if a witness was transparent at your door.. https://youtu.be/b0koiba2kyq.
VANDERHOVEN7:
Your list is great.
I would have added also: ..“If you come in already with a full-time job or career, you should quit it and pursue poverty and get part-time work to be in the ministry more; and (especially if you are a woman) you should be a doormat doing favors for all the old ladies and Users in the congregation who DIDN’T pursue poverty and who live cushy lives..And, if you end up destitute who cares? Not us. Maybe Armageddon will come first to save you.”
I’m thankful today I neither listened to their advice nor followed the bullshit they held out to me.
Yes, I’ve always said that if the JWs laid all their cards on the table to potential recruits, nobody would join this religion. I know I wouldn’t have.
2017 - wt: the gb is neither inspired or infallible and can err in doctrine and organisational matters... clearly gb have received biblical information about things that been done wrong.
not from god directly, but letters received at headquarters.
if important new light about biblical matters have come to the gb attention, why are they not telling the congregations about that information?
STGEORGE OF ENGLAND & HYBRIDOUS:
I do believe about the fallacy of ‘sunk costs’ keeping some JWs in.
I’m glad I ‘Faded’ twenty years ago. I was in for about twenty+ years but in my case I just wanted Out. I wasn’t worried about time wasted.
I also think that some of them there also might have questions/doubts about doctrine but don’t dare speak up because, as is mentioned, where else would they go at this point especially some of the older ones. They WOULD certainly be ‘fired’ with no savings, no accommodation, no pension, etc. Although, this could very well come about anyway with yet more ‘downsizing’. However, they would make it happen for sure if they opened their mouths!
