Posts by LongHairGal

21

Retirement

by jehovaxx in

the difference is now blatantly obvious, older ones who went against direction of the gb and planned for retirement have relatively more comfortable lives.. those who trusted and followed gb direction never got further education or training, pioneered or spent most of their lives knocking on doors for free, making just enough to get by in a part time job.. if you followed direction from the gb then you thought the end was just around the corner so no need to plan for retirement.. now these ones have indeed got old which they were given the impression they never would.

they are a burden on others.

the state has to pay for them in their old age.

LongHairGal

JEHOVAXX:

Good post which I mostly agree with.

However, you say that: “Hardworking responsible people who did the opposite of what the GB said now pay for those that trusted the GB…”

Nope. I’m Glad I’m not in the religion anymore because it would certainly NOT be me who gives these people anything. I’m the one who got criticized/shunned for working!! I had to listen to remarks saying I was ‘unspiritual’. I’d be starving if I listened to the religion.

Brothers with businesses are going to have to help these people out in some way.

There are TOO many needy Witnesses who never worked. It’s absurd to imagine that the few responsible people left in the religion are going to give them handouts for the rest of their lives. This is unsustainable and if this is the ‘new normal’ in the JW religion I’m super Glad I’m long out of there!!!

21

Judicial Committees asking Details of Sex acts

by blondie in

jw
friends

i remember knowing that jcs would ask very personal questions about sex activities.

this article addresses this: https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15074595 .

LongHairGal

MISS DA SILVA:

I heard stories about what was asked in judicial committees and it’s shocking! 😮

This is one of the hidden things about the religion that I wish was more widely publicized!

42

New meeting format

by ExBethelitenowPIMA in

just watched november broadcast very different order to the leaked agm .

be good if someone did a deep dive on the difference and why the changes?

i didn’t time the items but it should be easy to see if edited?.

LongHairGal

FEDUPJW:

That was 2012. I started my ‘Fade’ in 2001. I might have made a couple of memorials but haven’t set foot in a kh since then.

This is what I cannot stand: ..the absolute hypocrisy and selective memory loss of these people. I got criticized and shunned for a full time job. I accepted that they did not like me. But, what I do not accept, however, are any of them thinking they’ll look MY way for $$.

I remember it all like it was yesterday. The older JWs with cushy lives (already in the workforce) ..telling young people like me at the time to pursue poverty.. Yeah, the poverty that wasn’t good enough for them I might add.. Thankfully, I wasn’t raised in the “truth” and kept my job.. Boy, they all hated me like I had a scarlet letter written on my chest.. If I listened to these people years ago I’d be starving now. The sickest irony is that I would have been the last person to ever be helped! Nobody would feel sorry for me.

And I don’t have any tolerance for their rhetoric about a so-called brotherhood and I’m sure there’s a lot of crap talk like that there nowadays.

I perceive they are going to have major problems with needy people howling in pain. Whose fault is this? The religion told them not to get college or careers and not get retirement plans!! And what happens now when even MORE responsible working types leave the religion after these new changes? There will be even fewer people to corner with an envelope for money for people who didn’t work.

This is a horrible environment to be around and I feel sorry for the last few responsible individuals in the religion. They will be seen as walking ATMs.👎👎👎

42

New meeting format

by ExBethelitenowPIMA in

just watched november broadcast very different order to the leaked agm .

be good if someone did a deep dive on the difference and why the changes?

i didn’t time the items but it should be easy to see if edited?.

LongHairGal

FEDUPJW:

You don’t say how long ago this happened about you being ‘tapped for money’. You were chosen for being perceived as a responsible person who had a job.

So, this in fact does happen because I had somebody say to me that it never happened to them. But, I remember it happened to me years ago and I also had a woman panhandler at a memorial. I said ‘No’ to her.

If this was years ago when there was ‘hope’ people could still get back on their feet, I wonder what it’s like now. All these Boomer JWs have reached retirement age.. They aren’t getting back on their feet and would expect handouts the rest of their lives… They have no skills and spent decades in the ministry when I was criticized for being in the workforce.

I wonder what percentage of Witnesses in any congregation did not prepare financially?? I would guess a considerable number. Of course it may vary from some who did a little to some who did nothing.

This is why I’m Glad I got out of the JWs ages ago... I would never tolerate any of them coming up to me looking for money.. I’m sure this is the new ‘normal’ there and I would not put up with it!

46

Nobody else understands

by ElderBerry in

if you once were fully pimi and truly believed jw doctrine to the core like i once did, when you come to the reality that it is not the truth at all it can be extremely devastating.. i think only other ex jws could ever understand.

i wasted my entire life i thought the real life was yet to come to wasted the best years knocking on doors.

now i’m so angry.. i can understand why so many top themselves when they realise it was all lies..

LongHairGal

MAGNUM:

You are totally right that people cannot grasp how all-consuming the Witness religion is.

Even lapsed or POMI people aren’t fully aware of this!!! I have felt frustrated with people I know who might have had exposure to the Witnesses when young - but never got involved. They lived their lives in the so-called ‘world’ with jobs, getting married, etc. having absolutely No idea what JWs who are ‘In’ go through!.. Even somebody I know who only went to the Sunday meeting and didn’t stay for the WT and attended the once a year memorial doesn’t fully comprehend.. This person doesn’t fully ‘get’ why I feel the way I do!

The reason for this is that the above mentioned meetings are for the general public and do NOT reveal what the JW religion is really all about!.. What saved me was that I HAD to work. Thankfully, I held onto that job they all hated me for. When I heard about them dropping the requirement to report hours, I despised them. I got persecuted over this.

We should ALL be glad we are out and savor freedom - taking one day at a time and enjoying the small but important things in life!

29

No Reporting of Time, Tithing is OK, Now WT Teaches a "Rapture" - What's Next?

by Sea Breeze in

those who will be taken to heaven will first need to be “changed, in a moment, in the blink of an eye, during the last trumpet.” therefore, while we do not use the term “rapture” here because of its wrong connotation, the remaining faithful anointed will be gathered together in an instant of time.

- the watchtower—study edition | july 2015. ok so they refuse to use the word "rapture".

kinda like they refuse to use the word church and clergy (except when it suits their purposes in court cases).

LongHairGal

NOT FORMER:

With regard to little ‘Rick’ and the turkey:

When I was a little Catholic school child in the earlier years of grade school, I was worried because Mom served meat one Friday. Anybody who knows about Catholics years ago was that you were supposed to eat fish on Friday.

Anyway, I anxiously told my mother that we should be eating fish! Know what she said? “God understands that you eat what you have.” In all likelihood, my Dad did not want fish so often and it was he who usually told her what to make. My parents were not strict Catholics.

I accepted what she said and never thought about it again. The point being it’s not just Witness kids who can get anxious about displeasing God!

32

Life in a spiritual (UN)-paradise

by Reasonfirst in

jw
friends

a long, long time ago, when i was young, i became a 'special' pioneer.

it meant that i had to spend 150 hours a month, and i received a small allowance.

i was then assigned to a small country congregation, in western nsw (australia).

LongHairGal

BETH SARIM:

Yes, that’s true. We are in the internet age and you just can’t feel sorry for such naivety and ignorance any longer.

But, if you read some of those Reddit posts, there are individuals still imagining elderly and other needy are going to ‘depend on the organization’. 😳 Last time I checked the religion/organization had No social programs whatsoever to help anybody... Ah, so that would mean anybody sitting in congregations anywhere are going to have brothers coming up to them with an envelope asking for money for people who never worked. Anybody who wants to tolerate being viewed like a walking ATM - well that’s their business.

So Glad I’m not there anymore.

32

Life in a spiritual (UN)-paradise

by Reasonfirst in

jw
friends

a long, long time ago, when i was young, i became a 'special' pioneer.

it meant that i had to spend 150 hours a month, and i received a small allowance.

i was then assigned to a small country congregation, in western nsw (australia).

LongHairGal

BETH SARIM:

I remember those days years ago when young regular pioneers were put on the ‘pedestal’ as you mention. I was compared unfavorably to them. I remember hearing about those special dinners with whoever and those other perks they got.

But, what about Today? These pioneers have reached their senior years.. For those of them who DIDN’T get married and/or somehow manage to save for retirement - what does it matter NOW if they were the congregation darling forty years ago???.. (It wouldn’t mean anything to me.).. I mean, can they track down any of these admirers and ‘spiritual’ friends and ask them for money?? Maybe some of those ‘great ladies’ 🙄 who hosted those dinners are still living?

These RPs might have been in their heyday back then and high on admiration from everybody, but that doesn’t mean anything now if somebody is struggling.

29

No Reporting of Time, Tithing is OK, Now WT Teaches a "Rapture" - What's Next?

by Sea Breeze in

those who will be taken to heaven will first need to be “changed, in a moment, in the blink of an eye, during the last trumpet.” therefore, while we do not use the term “rapture” here because of its wrong connotation, the remaining faithful anointed will be gathered together in an instant of time.

- the watchtower—study edition | july 2015. ok so they refuse to use the word "rapture".

kinda like they refuse to use the word church and clergy (except when it suits their purposes in court cases).

LongHairGal

SEA BREEZE:

I might have seen a Reddit post that said something along the lines of how all the recent talk about a rapture, etc. and people carrying on without the GB might hint at a disappearing act of some sort(?) It made me wonder…

THOMAS MORE:

Yes, I guess God didn’t think much about that monthly FS report either!.. I remember all the remarks I had to listen to years ago because I wouldn’t quit my job to be in the ministry! Now, poof the requirement is gone (unless God changes His mind again).

I’m just so Glad I never listened to these people.

49

The ''dreaded'' birthday cake

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

the watchtower—study edition | september 2023. study article 39. let mildness be your strength.

11 if a workmate asks, for example, why we do not celebrate birthdays, consider: could he be wondering whether we are allowed to have a good time?

or might he feel that our position will dampen the company’s team spirit?

LongHairGal

HOSER:

You hit the nail on the head.

I always believed the religion’s ban on celebrating holidays is really about separating their members from their non-Witness family and friends.. I always suspected it was about isolating a person! .. I remember when I joined they tried to separate me from my family and friends. I reasoned that an isolated Witness must be easier to ‘control’. 🙄

Then the JW can be shunned when they break any ‘rules’ and they supposedly won’t have anybody to turn to! Nice. Eh?

But, there’s another reason I think. They fear that if a JW experiences unconditional love and acceptance from people who aren’t judging them - they might wake up from the stupor and not want the religion anymore.