new to the forum.
i have a question i did not get any feed back for on another site.
what to these people who gave decades working for free in bethel when they are 60 plus years old.
KERRY KING:
I always felt that those who pioneered and got fawned over with the special dinners and looked down their noses at people like me who didn’t pioneer were ‘having their reward in full’. That’s the way it seemed to me.
Anybody who did volunteer work for the religion better be asking the religion for money because that is who they worked for! Never forget this.
new to the forum.
i have a question i did not get any feed back for on another site.
what to these people who gave decades working for free in bethel when they are 60 plus years old.
THOMAS DAM21:
This is a sad story for anybody who worked for ‘free’ doing volunteer work instead of a REAL job where they pay into Social Security. I am sorry anybody fell for this. Those Witnesses already on the outside are better off, in my opinion, than those in bethel. Nothing sadder or worse than a bethelite who gets kicked out over 50 years of age who not only has no $$ but doesn’t know how the world works.
HOSER:
I know what you mean about them thinking they ‘had the world by the tail’!
I remember this arrogant attitude by some people there.. They pioneered and were ‘admired’ and invited to special dinners and gatherings that I was not invited to because I would not quit my full-time job.. Some of them actually came up to me and scoffed and told me ‘I was missing out’ . That was decades ago..
We have all reached our senior years. These people expected they’d be in ‘the New World’ by now., At least I rid myself of this delusion many years ago and kept that job until it was time to retire!
Instead, these JWs have to keep trying to make a living in a VERY bad economy and getting older with health problems.
i got this notification from ex-jw reddit today via email:.
r/exjw · posted by u/nightmare_dark_shade 1d ago.
guys, my parents found out i was posting here.
BETH SARIM:
It is enough to make me cringe if I think about what horrible predicament I would be in today if I had caved in to pressure years ago by the Witnesses to quit my full-time job to do housecleaning/pioneering!.. Thank God I resisted.
I am sorry I missed the opportunity to tell off certain older Witnesses who have passed away. I would have rubbed this in their faces.
This would have been no laughing matter for me if I were gullible. The JW religion would not be supporting me in my senior years.. I would be knocking on Christendom’s doors for help.. JWs have NO social programs to help the needy which is ironic in view of their contributing to this ‘neediness’ with telling people not to get college or careers!👎
I firmly believe that religions should be required to have some programs to help the poor and needy if they want to keep their tax exempt status!
Again, I am thankful I did what I did and listened instead to the wisdom of my (non-JW) Catholic family and friends!
i got this notification from ex-jw reddit today via email:.
r/exjw · posted by u/nightmare_dark_shade 1d ago.
guys, my parents found out i was posting here.
WING COMMANDER:
All so true! Other churches have activities for all ages and are pleasant to attend. What a contrast to the *dead* JW religion that has nothing but gloom and doom and a toxic environment! I don’t believe the Witnesses ever had Fruits of the Spirit.
I guess being Catholic and then making the mistake of getting involved with the JWs turned me off.. But, even the Catholic Church has come a long way and those I know now who attend are content.
Again, other churches have social programs for the needy.. In contrast, Witnesses have none.. This is too bad in light of all the needy it created by telling them not to get careers.. I feel it would be the ‘Christian’ thing to do to help their people out in some way (the many who reached retirement age unprepared thanks to never getting those careers or decent jobs).
I’m so Glad today I followed my gut and never fell for anything they said.
i got this notification from ex-jw reddit today via email:.
r/exjw · posted by u/nightmare_dark_shade 1d ago.
guys, my parents found out i was posting here.
WING COMMANDER:
I know how your mom felt and I also scoffed at the unbelievable bullshit I heard them say. And it went in one ear and out the other.
Remember, I saw all the older people in the hall collecting their pensions because they had been in the workforce.. Meanwhile, I was treated like an outcast for being in the workforce. But, I’m retired and can Thank God every day I never listened to these hypocrites (it’s almost as if they were trying to kill me with their pushing poverty).
The JW religion is also dishonest in their portrayals in the videos as you pointed out. They either show a couple obviously wealthy; or in others a guy with a house in a decent suburban area that he would have to be making over six figures to afford and maintain, not to mention a wife that probably helps out too.
As for anyone especially today in 2024, who believes they can get themselves fired from a good job and that another one is going to be dropped in their lap - words can’t describe the stupidity of this person. They’d never get an ounce of pity from me. Hopefully any gullible person who did this in the past learned from their error. This is not the ‘80s with a healthy economy. Quite the opposite and I don’t think we’ll see that again.
Nah, when the last of the Boomers mostly women are gone with their generosity (courtesy of some deceased husband who worked 40 years) it’s pretty much over for this religion - and good riddance when that finally happens!
mandated shunning is on the rise around the world with devastating effects on millions of people.
shunning that is mandated by organized groups to its members is a form of both physical and psychological violence against those people being shunned and cut off from their family and life-long relationships.
mandated shunning means that the shunning is ordered from the top down.
TONUS OH:
No, but they’d be treated like how a host would treat an unwanted guest. A fake smile and keep on moving!
Witnesses have limited contact with the world not being exposed to ‘real’ situations that are not in a Kingdom Hall setting.
Even ‘worldly’ people wouldn’t think if they didn’t bother with somebody for 40 years that they were going to pick up where they left off ages ago.
Witnesses are deeply delusional and frankly I would have no patience to deal with them ever again - and glad I don’t have to.
mandated shunning is on the rise around the world with devastating effects on millions of people.
shunning that is mandated by organized groups to its members is a form of both physical and psychological violence against those people being shunned and cut off from their family and life-long relationships.
mandated shunning means that the shunning is ordered from the top down.
NOT FORMER:
Regarding the JW religion’s ‘relaxing the rules’ towards Disfellowshipped and shunned people.: I agree with you that under the surface it’s not a kinder or gentler religion.
Here is what I think: I am ‘Faded’ and not disfellowshipped. I am shunned when I encounter some JWs I knew but I do not care as I have no family there and am Out a long time and retired.
So, how would I really feel if people who shunned me decades ago all of a sudden came up to me smiling and wanted to be friends??? 🤣 Quite frankly, I’m not interested and I would politely back off.. I built a life without them and too much time has passed. I neither need nor want their old faces around me.. It is to their credit I suppose if they realize they were wrong but it’s too bad a religion gave them permission to be a human being.. Sorry, but it would be too late in my case.
The JW religion IS ridiculous and imagines people are like light switches that you turn On and Off.. Someone should tell them it doesn’t work that way.
However, I DO understand that a Disfellowshipped person shunned by loved ones with a broken family they dearly miss would find the religion’s new policy (trying to undo its damage)..to be good news!
i got this notification from ex-jw reddit today via email:.
r/exjw · posted by u/nightmare_dark_shade 1d ago.
guys, my parents found out i was posting here.
WING COMMANDER & BETH SARIM;
As somebody not raised a Witness I cannot imagine those long District Conventions of long ago! The three-day ones were long enough.. My weekend was wasted and I got NOTHING done and went to work Monday exhausted.
As Beth Sarim mentioned in another post, people are too busy making a living these days and taking care of households… This shows how out-of-touch with reality the religion is about everyday life and what people have to do in order to live.
The people running the religion are cloistered and some have never paid a bill in their lives. They are clueless about everything. Maybe in the 1950s life was simpler for many but not all. Today? ..The religion can forget it if they imagine anybody has time to spend several days at a stadium listening to religious talks.. And then telling poor dopes they should be prepared to get fired from their jobs if they can’t get time off. In other words giving their bosses an ultimatum.. Get Real.
But, then again, they are the ones still telling gullible JWs not to get decent jobs so they can eat and not be destitute in later life… I can’t even feel sorry for people stupid enough to listen to them.
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:
That is a very sad and touching story you tell about this sister and BLESS you for being there for her! You are a wonderful person.
Everything she says I relate to. Except I am not crying like she is.. I was raised Catholic and came into the Witnesses as a young working adult. I refused to quit my job to appease them.. But, you should have seen the hypocrisy: all the older people in the hall were collecting pensions because they were in the workforce. But, yet they shunned me because I WAS in the workforce. However, I ignored all this.
As far as looking for a man there: all the good ones were taken and the leftovers were oddballs that I didn’t want. I thought it best to look outside but kept quiet about it. I have heard recently that the men there (40ish age bracket) are looking for teenage girls to marry! So, any older woman with a brain has to look elsewhere.
The religion wants single women around as drudges to do favors anyway. Before I ‘Faded’ in 2001, I never did favors for anybody there. Nope. Not after all the hate I got over my full-time job. Today I am retired and Glad I never listened to the Witnesses.. I am sorry that this sister and others who listened and followed the ‘pioneering/no career’ path are struggling today! So sad.
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?
