Posts by LongHairGal

43

Fading is better then completely leaving...comments?

by Witness 007 in

i got the internet in my house and realised it's all lies....but as a pioneer/ministerial servant i chose to fade.

see i had family and friends who were fully strict witnesses.

so i played the poor lost soul brother who is not sure what's happening.

LongHairGal

ELDERBERRY:

In 1995 they changed the Generation teaching. This was a major teaching. They previously believed that people living in 1914 would see the ‘End’ of the World or ‘this system of things’ as they put it.. Well, they changed their minds. They very nicely slipped their ‘new understanding’ into their magazine article very nonchalantly.

It was at a Sunday meeting that I did not prepare for and I just learned about it as it was read.. It hit me like a bolt of lightning that they were just stringing everybody along.. I knew right then that my time in the Witness religion was over and I planned my ‘Fade’. There wasn’t much fallout from other people initially and I kept my feelings to myself. There must have been a delayed reaction though because many people left the religion over the next several years.

Hopefully, this was a wake up call to some Witnesses that they had BETTER get themselves a decent job to prepare for their retirement. (There was a poster on the forum who was in this category. He got a good job before it was too late.) That was almost 30 years ago and would be enough time for somebody to have done something. Those JWs who paid no attention and did nothing? Oh well…

43

Fading is better then completely leaving...comments?

by Witness 007 in

i got the internet in my house and realised it's all lies....but as a pioneer/ministerial servant i chose to fade.

see i had family and friends who were fully strict witnesses.

so i played the poor lost soul brother who is not sure what's happening.

LongHairGal

WITNESS007:

I did a ‘Fade’ in 2001 because I just didn’t want any drama. As it was, I got the usual “we miss you” cards.

It had nothing to do with keeping in touch with family because my family were Roman Catholic and, thankfully, never in the JW religion. When I left I re-established contact with everybody. I admire when people disassociate the loud way and if this works for some, great!

With the recent changes at the 2023 annual meeting, there may be many angry Witnesses who feel they are done with it. I don’t blame them. Whatever they choose: whether Fading or DAing, I wish them all the best. Maybe this was the ‘last straw’.

The 1995 Generation teaching did it for me. But, if I were those who knocked themselves out in the ministry (for decades) when they should have been gainfully employed/paying into retirement, I would be physically ill.. I’m Glad I never listened! ..What difference does it make now if they hated me or never invited me years ago??

37

My grandmother called my mother

by Anony Mous in

so, i’m just posting this as a warning to lurking jws.

if you’re still on the fence, here is a story.. my grandmother, now in her 80s hasn’t talked to anyone in the family for over 20 years ever since my mother was the last one of her children that left ‘the truth’, she had sent my mother a card to never talk to her again.

so here we are 21 years later, she gets a call out of the blue that she needed help, she hadn’t been able to get into her kitchen.

LongHairGal

JEHOVAXX:

Getting back to the OP and the elderly person putting themselves at the mercy of a stranger:..

Let us not forget this is ALL the result of abnormal teachings of the religion. Among normal society, a person doesn’t shun their flesh and blood family and look to strangers. Among normal society, people don’t pursue poverty and deliberately not plan for the future.

Remember the scripture about the lowly Ant that stores up? The Witnesses taught commands of men. They literally hated on anybody who behaved like a responsible person. Now, JWs who followed ridiculously stupid teachings and are poverty stricken think they are going to go begging to anybody with a pulse who looks responsible.. Sorry, but I’d run from them. Meanwhile, who caused all this?

As a slap in the face, the religion does away with the very teaching that caused these Witnesses to knock themselves out unnecessarily in the first place. And no apologies forthcoming.

37

My grandmother called my mother

by Anony Mous in

so, i’m just posting this as a warning to lurking jws.

if you’re still on the fence, here is a story.. my grandmother, now in her 80s hasn’t talked to anyone in the family for over 20 years ever since my mother was the last one of her children that left ‘the truth’, she had sent my mother a card to never talk to her again.

so here we are 21 years later, she gets a call out of the blue that she needed help, she hadn’t been able to get into her kitchen.

LongHairGal

JEHOVAXX:

You say these people who followed that direction are a ‘burden’ on others. Really?🙄

What if these so-called others do not acknowledge this burden?.. What if they (correctly) conclude that this is not their problem? .. After all, whose fault is it that other Witnesses did not pay into private pensions in the first place???

Some might argue the religion didn’t ‘force’ anybody. That may be true but they imposed sanctions on people who worked in the form of shunning and gossip. I personally experienced this.

Of course, Witnesses should have kept their business private in the first place!!!

The reason my business became known is that a JW did my taxes and saw that I contributed to IRAs.. I’m sure they blabbed to all the busybodies. Thank God I planned because nobody would be supporting me!

As I said in my post above about wrong ASSumptions, nobody has any business believing responsible people are somehow obligated to provide charity to irresponsible Witnesses who didn’t work OR plan.. So sorry anybody bought into the fantasy.

37

My grandmother called my mother

by Anony Mous in

so, i’m just posting this as a warning to lurking jws.

if you’re still on the fence, here is a story.. my grandmother, now in her 80s hasn’t talked to anyone in the family for over 20 years ever since my mother was the last one of her children that left ‘the truth’, she had sent my mother a card to never talk to her again.

so here we are 21 years later, she gets a call out of the blue that she needed help, she hadn’t been able to get into her kitchen.

LongHairGal

MIKEJW:

I totally agree. I was raised Roman Catholic and found the Witness mentality appalling.

The JW religion has No social programs whatsoever.. They encourage members not to get college/careers - thus promoting poverty.. They promote shunning and we have seen the horrific results with family members not speaking for decades.. The most tragic is when parents are coerced into shunning their children who are either disfellowshipped or just plain do not want the religion.. So what happens when these stupid JW parents get old?

This is a mess. The religion is filled with wrong assumptions and urban legends. I always wondered where these came from. I think the religion probably floats these trial balloons with some CO or somebody giving his ‘opinion’ and then it’s repeated as gospel. They probably don’t want anybody coming to them - so they let the rumors spread that ‘people in the congregation should do this’.

Nope. The people in the congregation are not responsible for somebody else’s elderly parents!!!!! And, if a particular JW still in the religion has good reason to hate their parents because of ill treatment - they should get in touch with whatever agencies to help..

This is not the problem of anybody else. For many reasons, I am Glad I’m walked away from this chaos ages ago.

48

Even with recent changes it’s a struggle to get people to attend

by hoser in

jw
friends

the kingdom hall is still empty.

even with amalgamation of 2 congregations.

the elders are handling the microphones and there was only one comment from zoom at the watchtower.

LongHairGal

I started my ‘Fade’ from the Witness religion in 2001… When 9/11 happened and some inactives were scared and coming back, I was the one running out.

As far as I can see with these recent changes: (no more hourly time slip reporting and beards permitted), maybe a few younger people might stick around for a time… Surely I don’t see these changes enticing any intelligent people back who have left.

When I left, they weren’t using iPads yet. They weren’t showing videos yet. When I left, my congregation were basically responsible people (no desperation yet). The mentality was that the End was coming ‘soon’. The pioneers who hardly worked weren’t worried yet and expected Armageddon to save them from not preparing for retirement ‘in this system’.

Fast forward to now in 2024: the congregations suffered a loss of many after 1995. In fact, that’s why I left.. The End still didn’t come to save anybody.. Covid came and was a false hope that the End was near… Now, many have reached senior years in many case$ unprepared. Even for seniors who prepared, they still have to deal with illnesses.. Why on earth would anybody who is long out of the religion want to go back there?

44

2023 Yearly Report UNDER the Microscope

by raymond frantz in

https://youtu.be/pi7sn2rnrke?si=lnvklqct6nuayv2q.

branches of jehovah’s witnesses: 85 (= down one from 86 from the previous year and quite possibly they are referring to the hong kong bethel that closed down recently).

number of lands reporting: 239 ( =the same as 2022).

LongHairGal

MAGNUM:

You say it well about how it was in the JW religion back in 1980s!.. I remember it too.

But, I know I was nowhere near as zealous as you and others there must have been. No, I was the pariah on the fringes who worked. When the religion dropped that hourly time reporting with the stroke of a pen at the recent annual meeting, I thought about all those Witnesses who knocked themselves out for years.. There were no apologies, no nothing.

I can only imagine how all these disappointed people must feel about this religion now!

22

The Meaning of ETC

by titch in

folks: i don't mean to be a "forum grammar policeman", but there is something that i've noticed a few times.

i've noticed that a few---not all---but some, members of the forum who use the abbreviation "ect" when they want to use the abbreviation of "etc.

" for your education today, the term "etc" is the abbreviation for the latin term "et cetera.

LongHairGal

TITCH:

I looked up ‘pedant’ and it refers to TOO much display of learning.

Just because somebody spells properly and uses grammar correctly in most instances, does not make them a ‘pedant’, in my opinion. It just means we are better educated in this area! We are older and came from better school systems, before it all went to shit!

There are those who would downvote us. Let them. They are younger and came out of dumbed-down school systems. If they didn’t learn most of these things in grade school (like I did) they won’t have it in adulthood. They may also feel that computer skills are all they need in life. 🙄

I also believe ‘texting’ set us back to some degree as too many people abbreviate and use shortcuts in written speech. I have a friend whose texts were so incoherent I had to tell her I couldn’t understand a damn thing she wrote.. When I text I write in plain English so people can understand me. I might leave out the punctuation though.

On a related topic: because of the increase in the number of individuals who never learned cursive script (because of further dumbed-down school systems) - I would advise everybody to write in block letters on labels and envelopes - unless you don’t care if your parcel gets there.

47

Does becoming (or remaining) one of Jehovah's Witnesses result in Poverty? Pew Research results differ from Watchtower claims.

by Balaamsass2 in

"raised in the truth" during the 50s, 60s,and 70s i repeatedly read and heard from the platform how reading the magazines weekly "was the equivalent of a college education" and how many had turned their family economic situation around by being "trustworthy" and giving up expensive bad habits most "worldly people" had.

sounded good.. what is the reality?

how does avoiding higher education, and then spending up to 20 hours a week getting ready for, commuting, and then participating in meetings and field service affect family finances?.

LongHairGal

DISGRUNTLED FOOL:

I am glad you took the very wise advice of that older gentleman in the 1970s.

He warned you not to listen to talk of “gloom and doom” and that the JW religion was saying this in the ‘40s”.. He was most correct to say: “if you don’t look out for yourself, they certainly aren’t going to”.

I know this all from personal experience. They thought they would ‘punish’ me 🙄 with shunning in the late ‘70s and later because I would not quit my full-time job to do housecleaning and the ministry.. Thankfully, I never listened and worked until retirement.

When they removed the hour reporting at the annual meeting of 2023, I felt validated (not that I needed it because I always felt I did the intelligent thing).. The result is that many thousands of Witnesses who knocked themselves out for decades - ended up unprepared for their retirement!.. What a slap in the face!.. The End of the World didn’t come in time as they were led to believe!.. They hoped Covid was finally it.. Surely, they would have ALL made a different choice if they knew how it would turn out!

22

The Meaning of ETC

by titch in

folks: i don't mean to be a "forum grammar policeman", but there is something that i've noticed a few times.

i've noticed that a few---not all---but some, members of the forum who use the abbreviation "ect" when they want to use the abbreviation of "etc.

" for your education today, the term "etc" is the abbreviation for the latin term "et cetera.

LongHairGal

TITCH:

I know how you feel.

This is the result of dumbed down school curriculums in the U.S. several decades ago. So, now you see all sorts of mistakes like the one you mentioned. I’ve seen college educated people who cannot spell to save their lives and don’t know grammar rules. You even have lazy individuals who don’t care and some write and don’t bother capitalizing anything.

But, if this is bad for ‘worldly’ people who supposedly have education, how much worse is it for homeschooled and poorly educated JWs?