say it ain’t so!
.
in one sense it’s a no brainer because the figures just don’t add up any more.. in another (negative) sense it’s a no brainer because it’s been fundamental to jws since year dot and might undermine the whole thing?
BETH SARIM:
You are right about the JW religion’s two-tier class system.
This is why when I left the JW religion I made peace with the idea of death as it has always occurred. I felt the JW teaching of paradise earth was a cruel trick to play on my mind so I rid myself of it.. Maybe my Catholic upbringing made this easier for me to do this? I think nobody knows the answers about what happens to us.
Can you imagine all the bitter JWs if they are told their exact expectation might not happen?
is it just me or has there been a massive change in jws of late?.
when i grew up in the cult they had a real sense of urgency and would do an hour minimum, these days it’s not even ten mins before coffee break.. same goes for everything else, it’s half hearted .
LIAM:
Yes, I would imagine that most of the older Witnesses remaining in that religion have accepted that the End may not come in their lifetime (assuming it doesn’t happen tomorrow).
The stories I am hearing through the grapevine are of people becoming sick, etc. Most are Boomers. Some are the diehards I remember from years ago who looked down on me because I worked and didn’t pioneer.
That teaching of counting time that the religion did away with at their 2023 annual meeting shocked me.. I was the ‘low hour publisher’ who got judged over this.. Glad I never listened. I am happy to hear you say that some ex-pioneers are pursuing a career!
Now, the JWs have slackened off. Well, what kind of behavior or reaction did the religion expect from people there after they pulled the rug out from under them by changing all these teachings??
thinking sometimes about my youth days and the stories my grandfather told me about our jw congregation.
do you recognize that your congregation was full of somehowe strange folks, very low educated, poor and simple?.
the po was an elder with some distance, with some personality acting intelligent and following the rules strict.. there was always a kind of scandal.
GORB:
I am a long-time ‘Fader’ and as others have said I haven’t attended in decades so I cannot comment on the quality of the ‘leadership’.
I came in as a young working adult and the people in the congregation were conservative families. I didn’t get the sense they were oddballs except some women seemed like they stepped out of the 1950s. I was the ‘oddball’ as a working woman but I paid this no mind.
When I stopped going (late 2001) they were still using bibles and songbooks. No tablet or videos yet. So, I missed out on that. It was ‘early enough’ in time so that the pioneers (who knocked me for working).. were not yet worried about retirement.. Everybody assumed Armageddon was coming soon and no need to worry about that.
Well, fast forward to now: I am retired and the pioneers there (who thought they’d never become senior citizens in this system) have reached retirement age unprepared.
At least when I last attended I was surrounded by responsible people. There was no desperation in the air yet that I could perceive. No panhandling.. Now, I would never want to be anywhere near these misled Witnesses who didn’t prepare for their future and all the other problems in the congregation - and bethelites who were sent home and so on! 👎
i got an email notice today on this excellent letter of resignation from a german family that is trending on reddit.
i thought i would share it here if anyone is so inclined to write one.
for those with pimi jw family and jw business connections, it may not be wise to share such a letter, but i imagine it must be very freeing to send such a letter.
BALAAMSASS2:
Very well written letter. Everybody leaves for their own reasons and they vary from person to person. They were particularly bothered by the CSA cases and their own treatment in the congregation.. In my case, it was 1995 that finally did it.. My treatment in the congregation was secondary.. I’m also glad they publicized it. That way they’re telling their own story and not leaving it to rumor and conjecture.
DAGNEY:
I agree that people there don’t really care why somebody stops going. I think most are there because of family and friends and don’t really care how inaccurate the teachings are. Witnesses won’t admit this, of course.. When I ‘Faded’ I just wanted out with no drama. Funny thing is nobody ever asked me directly why I left.. It’s as if they didn’t want to really know.
rev18:23 '....you deceived the nations with your sorceries'.. the interlinear for sorceries reads pharmakeia.. bible hub has some interesting definitions, i'll try to share screenshots below.
the gist of it is that sorcery involves drugs/medicines/poisons, with or without spells, sorcery is not the same as witchcraft or divination, or white/black magic.
i have long wondered about the connection between the medical/pharmaceutical industry's symbol of the serpent wrapped around a pole/stake, and the use of the word pharmaceuticals/pharmacy.. considering the common use of fluoride in public drinking water, nsaids with side effects such as depression, brain fog, dizziness, and opioids, mrna gene therapy, vaccines and so on, i wonder am i going mad, are these all coincidences??
KERRY KING:
Maybe in ancient times it was sorcery. Today, it is Modern Medicine.
Yes, there may be bad points but, all in all, I am glad it exists.
hi all , i just had another call by a an elderly jw ,let's call him ian.. only about 3 months ago i had a young jw call and trying to talk to him i had to tone it down a bit because he did'nt seem so theocratically bright as he only offered a tract and not much else , and i've had others call since covid.. so it seems around here they are making regular calls but not like back in the day when i used to auxillary pioneer where we would go over this turf every 1 to 3 weeks in the 80's.. but back to my caller ian ,on his own , but out with a group of jw's he was quick to get around the pleasantries and and so i interrupted him tactfully to slow him down.
started with a bit of my history easing into the fact that i had my first contact with jw's with my soon to be mother-in -law who was an invalided jw ,we had many good talks about her beliefs in the early 70's.. at this point he jumps in and wants to know if i would want a study again because i told him that i once did a study with jw's back.
i carefully steered him into telling me about those days ,what was he was doing back then.
WOZZA:
You sure gave the JW ‘Ian’ more than he bargained for.
I guess the old days of JW-dom are long gone. No more attempts to be a Bible scholar. Just abbreviated presentations with revisionist history.. Surprised that an ‘elderly’ JW would be so ignorant about 1975.. Too bad that once the householder starts sounding too intelligent or God-forbid a former JW like you, the JW wants to flee.
I came into the religion after the 1975 thing, so I wasn’t there. But, I heard enough about it and read a lot about it.. The religion probably wishes for the day when there won’t be any more live witnesses to the event (or non-event) still around - so they can lie some more and totally pretend it didn’t happen.
I am glad you unloaded even more of the religion’s nonsense on him. He probably couldn’t handle it. I don’t think he will be coming back to your house anytime soon. Maybe somebody else will - and never mind about their cognitive dissonance. They are living a lie and you are just pointing it out like the story ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’.
... is just three weeks from this saturday.
the org has been tight-lipped, really, successfully secret about advance info on these in recent years,.
now that these relatively recent changes on dress and grooming, reporting fs time, judicial matters, etc.
CAREFUL:
The JWs are still reeling from last year’s changes. Maybe the older JWs don’t like them.
I am Out a long time as a ‘Fader’, and am just a spectator.. The change about no longer needing to turn in a time slip really shocked me.. I guess this century-old teaching was man-made and simply the product of self-appointed ‘holy’ men’s worthless opinions. Who knew?
However, I was judged over this. I was a ‘low hour publisher’ who worked! …I’m So glad I never listened to these phonies and it was worth every penny to be shunned all those years ago.
They caused quite a stir with these changes. I can’t imagine what they will do next. Stay tuned.
https://youtu.be/ze4q_7_-uo4?si=l0xe0drc5a9urhyt.
so there was a time the awake magazine was printed every 15 days but now since jehovah is blessing them so much the magazine is printed once a year, and here you have the 1st edition for the year , which is nothing more than an informatial of how good of a charity they are to their local community.
so we read in the following box: what we are doing firstly, jehovah’s witnesses promote a balanced, healthy lifestyle.
BETH SARIM:
I think I remember that magazine when I was still ‘in’: young people on the cover who died refusing blood.
You should count your blessings that you reached the age you are… I know two ex-JWs who took blood to save their infants! Years later they are elated over their decision and would not have been able to live with themselves if they did the other thing.
When I hear these things I am ever so grateful I was not raised a Jehovah’s Witness!..It is incomprehensible to think somebody would let their child die. What a deadly religion and I think there’s no other way to put it.. So Glad I left.
apparently, the downsizing is still happening and from what i read those let go are over 50!.
sad because these people expected to be lifers.
now they have to make their way in the world at an advanced age with no education or desirable skill!..
THOMAS MORE:
You are correct that JWs have forgotten what genuine affection is and they DO belittle others so as to elevate themselves.
Regarding the cruel remarks that were rumored to have been made on 9/11: I would like to think that any person or persons who even think like this were hopefully let-go in one of the downsizings at bethel.. They would have deserved to have experienced first hand what it’s like outside in the real world.. Maybe they would be reminded of the cruel and stupid remarks every day when they go to work for that brother who is barely tolerating them!
new york times 9/5/24.
" there are only two shakers left.
they've still got utopia in their sites.. "by jordan kisner.
BETH SARIM:
Too bad they wouldn’t believe it.
They would cling to false stories about a ‘brotherhood’.. Not that I should be sorry for people who made derogatory remarks about people like me who worked…but the religion does owe them.. Instead, they will get a kick in the a$$ and end up in congregations acting like they are entitled. Which is why I’m Glad I’m not there.
Meanwhile the religion probably will do what some suspected… And if Dan on Life After Religion’s predictions are right, they’ll sell all the halls and go online - leaving everybody (bethelites & rank n file).. stranded and high and dry. (Anybody see a picture of a little boat on a sandbar after the tide went out?)
They will all wonder what happened to their Rock of Gibraltar religion!
