Posts by LongHairGal

23

All the Old JW Acquaintances Passing Away

by StephaneLaliberte in

yesterday, my dad told me an older sister passed away.

she wasn't too old (in her 60s), but i knew her 30 years ago and haven't seen her in 15 years; the main reason being that i faded 10 years ago.. yesterday, i seriously considered attending the funeral and catch-up with old jws i used to know.

after thinking it over, i decided against it.

LongHairGal

Yes, many older JWs are passing away.

Several years back I set foot in a hall to hear a funeral talk about an older deceased JW. I went with somebody who is in.. I really went because I was hoping to see and talk to the deceased’s POMO children. They ended up not coming maybe because they didn’t need the religion’s notorious infomercial and possibly didn’t want to deal with phoney people afterwards.

While I was there I noticed the screens up front with the words to the awful songs. The newer hall with what looked like reduced seating capacity had much fewer than half in attendance. I might have exchanged a smile or two with a few I remembered. I didn’t expect much and I knew certainly that I was Out.. I couldn’t wait to leave.

45

Advice to reduce hours earn less and spend more time on the ministry

by ExBethelitenowPIMA in

the advice to reduce work and earn less to spend more time preaching has not aged well.. the cost of living crisis means many have more going out on necessities than they have coming in.. so many asked their employer to reduce their hours and refused promotion only to see their colleagues go up the ladder when they stayed lowly position with rubbish jobs thinking the end will be here soon.

next week midweek meeting is all about preparing for an economic crisis.. they say have a go bag and new advice for all jws to store food and water at home and grow a vegetable garden, i kid you not.

this is the new direction..

LongHairGal

JOURNEYMAN:

Of course they are not going to mention getting a promotion or higher paid job!

They are against full-time jobs, careers and any gainful employment. When I was there I tuned everything out that they said. I am thankful now I never listened to anything! ….They imagine people are going to work part time and still be able to make ends meet. They are not in touch with reality. I wonder if any of them ever paid rent or any other bills in their lives.

They mention ‘savings accounts’ and they have members who are painfully ignorant and don’t know squat about how normal responsible people live.. Some of them never knew what a savings account was. Now, ironically, they are telling said ignorant people they shouldn’t have one! 🤔

As far as go-bags and telling people to grow their own veggies (if they can): this isn’t bad advice.. But, them telling already needy people to work even less certainly is, in my opinion!

30

Jehovah's Witnesses and Mental Health

by Vanderhoven7 in

this psychiatrist makes sense to me.. https://youtu.be/l5wcqc6m-gi.

LongHairGal

HOPELESS1:

Funny that you should mention ‘Stepford Wives’ because that is the impression I got from the women in the congregation I first went to.

They were nice enough but I felt I was in a 1950s time warp. I came in as a young working woman and was regarded as an oddity. As born-ins they could never have understood or related to me.. What I saw was generational ignorance. They were the children of sheltered families, and so on.

The ‘honeymoon and love bombing’ phase came to a sudden stop when they realized I would not conform by quitting my full-time job to take up the approved housecleaning/ full time ministry.. Nope, that was not going to happen. I made other ‘concessions’ but I couldn’t bring myself to do that.

I suppose it was all downhill at this point and it’s a wonder I lasted there as long as I did. I can thank ‘1995’ for bringing it to an end. But, at least, I held onto my job until Retirement.

30

Jehovah's Witnesses and Mental Health

by Vanderhoven7 in

this psychiatrist makes sense to me.. https://youtu.be/l5wcqc6m-gi.

LongHairGal

BETH SARIM:

I remember those forced smiles at the conventions. But, I wasn’t impressed by any of the heavies there.

As far as mental health goes, if I wasn’t looking after myself financially and planning for my Retirement back then (because I was on my own with nobody supporting me).. I wouldn’t have been able to sleep at night.

Today, I am ever grateful.

42

Why did you leave the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses?

by Vanderhoven7 in

i've never been a witness so i never left.

graeme hammond writes:.

for some years i’d had a growing irritation and disillusionment with the religion: i was getting tired of the pompousness, the arrogance and the control, i felt increasingly choked by their restrictions and i was drained by their demands on my time.

LongHairGal

TITCH:

While I may not have left the JW religion for those reasons, in the years following I came to the same conclusions you did.

I may have expressed a curiosity about the bible, but that would never move me to ever get involved with a religion again! That’s over.

While I would never knock anybody else who wants to join a church for social reasons, there would be ‘issues’ because I’m single. Like the Witnesses, they are looking for money and women to do favors!! I knew a very kind, gullible woman who got involved with one of those newer Christian religions. She was befriended by someone who ended up being a squatter in her house. She’s lucky she got rid of her.

The country has very many needy locals plus many immigrants.. Many join churches and not just because they are ‘spiritual’.. They are seeking help and assistance - not only from the institutions themselves.. but they latch on to other parishioners!

Even though I am not gullible like my friend, I have no desire to be around any individuals ‘looking for something’. So, in addition to ‘having no spiritual cravings’, I don’t need a repeat performance of negative things I observed in the JW religion! Nope. 👎

30

Jehovah's Witnesses and Mental Health

by Vanderhoven7 in

this psychiatrist makes sense to me.. https://youtu.be/l5wcqc6m-gi.

LongHairGal

LEE MARSH:

I also agree that many JWs are unhappy or depressed for the reasons you mention.

Of course, some (especially men) would be in denial about this because it is stigmatizing. ‘Who me? Nothing wrong with my brain!’ It is also interesting as you mentioned that many when leaving the religion need therapy.

I think even the most seemingly well-adjusted people there have some issues rolling around inside their heads that they hide.

173

Is the tide turning against covid vaccines?

by slimboyfat in

have you seen this video about the covid vaccines?

have you got any views on the information?

i find it worrying at least.

LongHairGal

CHEVELLE:

Yes, a good comparison between the two.

Not to derail the topic but I know what you mean with the about-face attitude:.. first they not-so-gently ‘suggest’ that rank & file JWs do something (whatever that is); then when that something later turns out to be a disastrous failure..they say things along the lines of ‘nobody forced anybody to do anything’, etc.

Probably congregations today still have a few people around who never quite recovered from following advice in the KM you cited before the 1975 end-of-the-world failure.

9

Were 1st century converts told to knock on doors?

by BoogerMan in

acts chapter 2 clearly shows (in jw minds) that door-door preaching was a must for all converts.

(acts 2:37, 38, 41, 42) “now when they heard this, they were stabbed to the heart, and they said to peter and the rest of the apostles: “men, brothers, what should we do?” peter said to them: “repent, and let each one of you be baptized in the name of jesus christ for forgiveness of your sins, but also, preach to others by knocking on their doors.

...and on that day about 3,000 people were added.

LongHairGal

PHIZZY:

I agree. They did not do a blanket door knocking, but stayed at certain people’s homes! People offered hospitality back then.

They preached in the synagogues and/or out in the open.

17

New System

by Gman2001 in

jehovah has to kill 9 billion humans in the big a. does anyone remember any talks on the actual logistics of "day 2"?

with no infrastructure it sounds like gb style madmax..

LongHairGal

GMAN2001:

If there is to be little infrastructure left after the ‘great tribulation’/‘Armageddon’, I wonder why they are building these massive studios now?

Oh yeah, these buildings will magically be ‘protected’ from the lightning bolts and heavenly missile strikes!

42

Why did you leave the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses?

by Vanderhoven7 in

i've never been a witness so i never left.

graeme hammond writes:.

for some years i’d had a growing irritation and disillusionment with the religion: i was getting tired of the pompousness, the arrogance and the control, i felt increasingly choked by their restrictions and i was drained by their demands on my time.

LongHairGal

VANDERHOVEN7:

You were never a Witness? You could have fooled me. Just because people reply to a post doesn’t mean they read all the posts that person ever made.

I agree with most of the points of the person you quoted. In my case, I hated the intrusiveness and lack of boundaries people had. If you were single they imagined they could say anything or ask any question. I hated the snitch culture. I hated the exploitive nature of it (although they got nowhere with me since I was criticized over my job). There’s more..

Over time the negatives got to be too much and even though I considered leaving, I figured I would put things on the back burner in hopes things would improve. (Ha ha).

Then came the 1995 Generation teaching and I knew it was Over. I planned my ‘Fade’. Because I was already in the workforce and not a born-in, it was pretty easy.. I was already in ‘reality’ my whole life.. I had friends and connections outside. Aside from a few kind JWs, the rest were no loss to me. To them, I was probably a hologram on the wall they just didn’t see anymore.

I’m just glad the whole thing was finally over. No loss that I wasn’t popular. I am grateful I followed my instincts.👍🏻