Posts by LongHairGal

32

Kneel before me, for I am an ... Activist!

by Simon in

i thought it was just me that had a negative view of people who proclaim themselves to be activists.. but no, it seems i'm not alone!.

.

LongHairGal

STANLIVEDEATH:

I never thought of it that way when I related my life experiences in the JW religion. I guess by that explanation everybody here is then 😊.

My posts mostly relate to the experiences of a single working woman in the religion and there aren’t that many of them - or at least I haven’t seen many on here.. Wow, what a hard life lesson I learned in that religion and I’m glad I got out!

I think people who are ‘real’ activists would be more ‘active’. I don’t have a desire for that and, of course, I like to think that someday I will put all thoughts JW behind me. But, I suppose I will always have an opinion on certain things.

..I think there’s enough activists around at this point and anybody who has questions about the religion has many resources today!

32

Kneel before me, for I am an ... Activist!

by Simon in

i thought it was just me that had a negative view of people who proclaim themselves to be activists.. but no, it seems i'm not alone!.

.

LongHairGal

LEE MARSH:

I always thought ‘apostate’ was a silly word since religions use it to point the finger at each other.

Well, I was an ‘apostate’ when I stepped outside of the Catholic religion and made the mistake of getting involved with the Witnesses. But, I rectified this error when I walked away from the JWs about 21 years ago. I’m done with religion though and would never again get involved with any church, movement or whatever.

While I certainly wouldn’t consider myself an ‘activist’, I am grateful for those who are. Certain things about the Witnesses need to be exposed. They can’t just continue to be seen as simply a ‘benign’ group who go knocking on doors. There is MUCH more to them than meets the eye..This fallacy has to go.

For one thing: Millions of people over the decades who never got decent jobs and hit retirement age with no preparation??? For what?? So, they can be a drain on the system and practically be panhandlers?? This is disgraceful. I don’t even need to get into the other very long list of reasons!

18

Nosey elders and Pioneer wife's

by Foolednomore in

jw
friends

i bought a pre-owned mercedes m class .

my second car.

and the day i drove it to the hall i was told by an elderrette that is a showy display and too much car.

LongHairGal

FOOLEDNOMORE:

All this is just a reminder of unpleasant memories and that having dealings with Witnesses was an aggravation I certainly didn’t need and something that I would never again do in my life.👎

My experience in the religion was a hard lesson learned - with some close calls..Like Thank God I wasn’t stupider than I was.. I never paid heed to anything said there.

My observation: Anybody that puts themselves out for these people will learn that it is thankless and all for nothing.

18

Nosey elders and Pioneer wife's

by Foolednomore in

jw
friends

i bought a pre-owned mercedes m class .

my second car.

and the day i drove it to the hall i was told by an elderrette that is a showy display and too much car.

LongHairGal

HOSER:

In addition to somebody’s kid spilling something on your interior, what about somebody saying that when you turned a corner their neck ‘hurt’?

When a certain sister said this years ago I saw aggravation I didn’t need and told her I could bring her right back to the hall if she wanted..It wasn’t often but it was stressful the few times I had ‘friends’ in my car having to worry about their likes and dislikes. I vowed never again.

In this day and age in the world we live in, you’d have to be absolutely nuts having strangers in your car, in my opinion. I wonder if Witness FS is a thing of the past because of gas prices, etc.?

42

Should a Christian celebrate Christmas?

by Samsie in

hello, i'm new here and have woken up to the real truth concerning the org.

i'm sort of fading away at the moment.... i need help with something, i used to as a child celebrate christmas and have always had amazing memories of it (my husband hasn't as he was born into the org) but i gave it up when i learnt the "truth".

my interest was only in pleasing god and still is.

LongHairGal

SAMSIE:

Welcome to the forum.

I am somebody not raised a JW so my feelings about holidays are different from most people here. I associate my childhood and pre-JW life as a happy time. I am forever grateful that we celebrated Christmas. I love the smells of the tree and the wonderful smells of cooking and baking, the lights and colors, seeing relatives and the excitement of opening presents.

The Witnesses prevent people from celebrating holidays and claim it’s because they are ‘pagan’. Well, everything is pagan - from the days of the week to wedding rings. Nah, the REAL reason is they don’t want you associating with non-JW friends and relatives. They are afraid that if you experience unconditional love and friendship from people who aren’t judging you - you might not want the JW religion anymore!

It is all about isolating you from people not in the religion.

Of course I celebrate it now..When I left the JW religion the first thing I did was make contact with long lost relatives before it was too late. I am so happy I was able to do so.

18

Nosey elders and Pioneer wife's

by Foolednomore in

jw
friends

i bought a pre-owned mercedes m class .

my second car.

and the day i drove it to the hall i was told by an elderrette that is a showy display and too much car.

LongHairGal

Hi FOOLEDNOMORE:

This isn’t quite the same but similar:

Back in the day I needed another car because the one I had was on its way out. A nosey older sister piped up and said something about ‘not getting a two door’ I believe because of the ‘friends’ and FS… To which I replied: “If the religion is willing to make my car payments I’ll get any kind of car they want.”

61

Elders hounding members to quit their jobs due to missing too many meetings

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

how many times did you see elders hounding congregation members to quit their jobs due to missing meetings?.

my brother worked at a grocery store at 16 years old.

he would miss tuesday's ministry school due to his work schedule.

LongHairGal

HOSER:

Thanks. I actually have two JW friends who privately told me I did the right thing by looking out for myself. I have No regrets there.

As far as Witnesses with taker type personalities: you are right but I came to believe that even if these people weren’t ‘Users/Takers’ when they joined - they learned HOW to become very adept users because of the ‘culture’ there. It’s very shameful. It made me sad when some JWs I liked were ‘used’ by some of the snakes there.

The religion is really a hostile environment if you think about it. Can’t trust anybody, have to be guarded in what you say and do, etc.. I certainly don’t miss any of it.

61

Elders hounding members to quit their jobs due to missing too many meetings

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

how many times did you see elders hounding congregation members to quit their jobs due to missing meetings?.

my brother worked at a grocery store at 16 years old.

he would miss tuesday's ministry school due to his work schedule.

LongHairGal

HOSER:

I’m sure you are correct and oftentimes help might have an angle to it. But, the fact is that it IS help - to certain people.

I suffered from a double whammy when I was in the JW religion. I wasn’t just disliked because I had a full-time job. I wouldn’t do favors for the Users there. You don’t criticize me and THEN imagine I’m gonna do favors. It doesn’t work that way.

Some people there acted like I ‘owed’ somebody something. Don’t know how else to describe it. Whether it’s just a hatred of certain types of women and I wasn’t the 1950s Stepford type wife.

Nah, make no mistake about it. It is what it is. I had no illusions about anything there. Because I was subjected to the harshest type of treatment because I was a single working woman and ostracized because they couldn’t manipulate me, that’s why I feel the way I do about how brothers with businesses are going to have to help out all those JWs who never worked. Don’t even talk to me about them.

Isn’t it ironic that now it’s MY turn to run from the Witnesses.

61

Elders hounding members to quit their jobs due to missing too many meetings

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

how many times did you see elders hounding congregation members to quit their jobs due to missing meetings?.

my brother worked at a grocery store at 16 years old.

he would miss tuesday's ministry school due to his work schedule.

LongHairGal

RULES & REGULATIONS:

That’s very good of your brother and others to help out this former CO..I would never presume to tell somebody else not to give if they want to..However, I’m not interested.. Maybe you are still in the religion so you feel sorry.

All the JWs including circuit overseers knocked me for having my full-time job. They are responsible for people like me being ostracized in the congregation. SO, Let their ‘spiritual’ brothers help them out!! You know, the people they hobnobbed with..This religion and its policies has created too many problems for people.

You forget: If I had been so foolish as to give up my job back in the day, I would not be retired now…Do you IMAGINE for one minute that any brothers would be taking up collections for ME like they do for the former CO you mention??? Don’t make me laugh. If I was stupid enough to still be trapped in this religion, I’d be the last person alive there to get any kind of assistance from anybody. Nobody would feel sorry for me..Sorry, but my opinion on the matter is that brothers with businesses who were ‘buddies’ with types like him are going to have to help him and that’s the way it has to be. And that goes for all the other ‘needy’ types there who never worked and have their hands out.

61

Elders hounding members to quit their jobs due to missing too many meetings

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

how many times did you see elders hounding congregation members to quit their jobs due to missing meetings?.

my brother worked at a grocery store at 16 years old.

he would miss tuesday's ministry school due to his work schedule.

LongHairGal

Very interesting experiences everybody. I’m really shocked by some of them. What I take away from all this: a concerted effort probably starting around the time of that 1969 Awake with Baby Boomers (and continuing until now) to get young people in the JW religion to not get college/careers and to purposely pursue poverty in the full time ministry pioneering.

If a person already had a decent job or career, they were told to get rid of it and pursue poverty (like I was told to quit my job and take up housecleaning/pioneering). I refused. Some were ‘threatened’ with loss of privileges, friends (not being invited). I was pretty much ostracized but that’s okay now since I’m retired and these older hypocrites passed away. I regret I never got a chance to tell these people off.

ALL the older people in the congregation back then were collecting THEIR pensions from when THEY were in the workforce. These people went to their graves living an affluent life after they pushed poverty for everybody ELSE in the congregation (mostly young gullible people). Is there anything just about this? Does anybody see anything wrong with this picture???

It would seem only those back then who refused to follow this ridiculous and hypocritical advice (myself and some others) ended up with a Retirement today. Anybody who caved in to the religion’s requests is suffering financially today in their old age and the people who pushed poverty not even around to Help them!…So, What did the religion accomplish?? They have congregations filled with all sorts of needy people who I am Glad to be nowhere near. Congratulations.