Posts by LongHairGal

25

Are Jehovahs Witnesses a cult?

by GoverningBody in

this question has been presented many times throughout the years.

somewhat recently, there has been much talk surrounding the "bite method" :.

"bite” stands for behavior, information, thought, and emotional control.. some examples were thrown at me, such as the decisions of who we associate with, discouraging any worldy media, encouraging our brothers and sisters to report any of our misbehaviours to the elders, our rejection of criticism on the truth, shunning etc.. what do we think about this?.

LongHairGal

CARLA:

I imagine it must’ve been hard to see the man you married change so drastically after he joined the Witness religion!

I also believe the religion fits the definition of a cult. What makes them so dangerous is how seemingly harmless they appear to be on the outside..They just don’t seem anything like those other famous cults like Jonestown or Waco. The problem with the JWs comes later with the lifestyle when you’re in the thick of it.

Also, the problem with the JWs is that not everybody is equally damaged by it, in my observation..It’s hit and miss and depends on who you are!..Some people have a fairly happy life there; others might be devastated. For example: it’s harder on women.. IF a woman does not get married OR get a career - she ends up poor if she follows the nonsense about ‘pioneering’..While this can also happen to a man, unfortunately, we live in a man’s world and a woman will end up worse off.

I also agree that not every religion is a cult by today’s definition. I was raised Roman Catholic and could see the contrast. As you said, in most churches you can disagree about certain things and not be viewed as ‘evil’ 🙄 like in the JWs.

Yes, it’s funny you said JWs are like ‘body snatchers’. But, thankfully, in my case, I got MY body the hell out of there 👍🏻.

33

An upcoming Watchtower article saying if people Pioneer Jehovah will provide!

by LongHairGal in

jw
friends

i saw the post on reddit and the thread got many responses..can anybody believe the religion is still saying this??

it has to be as plain as day that so many jws are poor and struggling today because they never got a career or decent job years ago.. sadly, there are still witnesses who believe money will fall from heaven if they are in the full-time ministry.

they expect some miracle to occur..but, we all know the truth: people in the congregation will be hit up for yet more money for another bunch of irresponsible people pursuing poverty.

LongHairGal

DAVROS:

What you brought out is precisely why I am GLAD I am no longer in the JW religion. I have No intention of being a sitting duck targeted to give money to irresponsible people who never worked.

I would not do this even if I HADN’T been shunned for having a full-time job!

It is sad though about all the many Witnesses over the years who fell for this great big Con that they didn’t have to work hard, plan and save for retirement like normal people do. If I had also fallen for this, what predicament would I be in today??

They were led to believe they were somehow going to escape this responsibility (like they were going to ‘escape’ death and waltz into the ‘New System’)..I’m sorry, but I’d run from them. In fact, I would never go anywhere I was walking a gauntlet of panhandlers and needy with their hands out.

Brothers with businesses (and the religion they slaved for) are going to have to help them somehow!..Good luck!

33

An upcoming Watchtower article saying if people Pioneer Jehovah will provide!

by LongHairGal in

jw
friends

i saw the post on reddit and the thread got many responses..can anybody believe the religion is still saying this??

it has to be as plain as day that so many jws are poor and struggling today because they never got a career or decent job years ago.. sadly, there are still witnesses who believe money will fall from heaven if they are in the full-time ministry.

they expect some miracle to occur..but, we all know the truth: people in the congregation will be hit up for yet more money for another bunch of irresponsible people pursuing poverty.

LongHairGal

FFGHOST:

That is such a sad story you tell about this older couple.

The point being:..it’s not that we don’t all eventually get sick and die. It’s that Witnesses who take the foolish gamble they did have put themselves through UNNECESSARY hardship and struggle IN THEIR OLD AGE. Their bodies are weaker with diminished stamina and they find themselves in many cases having to do manual labor (which is probably all they are qualified to do and maybe the only work available)..They are forced to function as though they were still 45 years old !!!

This is not the only story I have heard of about JWs selling homes and living off the proceeds to pioneer…This all sounds like a repeat of what Witnesses did before 1975. Maybe if the religion didn’t try to hide this embarrassing fiasco there would be fewer people repeating the same foolish mistakes today. In a similar vein, I have also heard of JWs who dropped out of the workforce before their actual retirement age to go live in exotic locales. I think they imagined the money they saved would last until ‘Armageddon’. But, rumor has it they were asking the ‘friends’ to send them money! This is an awful predicament, in my opinion, for people over 60 years of age to find themselves in. 👎

33

An upcoming Watchtower article saying if people Pioneer Jehovah will provide!

by LongHairGal in

jw
friends

i saw the post on reddit and the thread got many responses..can anybody believe the religion is still saying this??

it has to be as plain as day that so many jws are poor and struggling today because they never got a career or decent job years ago.. sadly, there are still witnesses who believe money will fall from heaven if they are in the full-time ministry.

they expect some miracle to occur..but, we all know the truth: people in the congregation will be hit up for yet more money for another bunch of irresponsible people pursuing poverty.

LongHairGal

DREARYWEATHER:

Much of what you say could probably be true in a few instances.

Some JWs MIGHT be poor even if they were in another religion..It is also true that hard work, financial sense and planning are not the ‘forte’ of everybody..However, you are ignoring the fact that the Witness religion encourages this ignorance to a large degree! Also, by social isolation the JWs don’t get to pick up on certain practical knowledge that other people acquire at early ages.

I was not raised a JW and had to learn financial sense and planning. It certainly was not my natural ‘forte’.🙄

The Witnesses demonize college and careers. You are also ignoring that they engender hateful attitudes in the congregation and cause people to be shunned or not invited. This is not benign or harmless..I was Catholic and didn’t experience this..Sorry to tell you but the JWs look far worse than the other religions of Christendom.

And, lastly, the part about OTHER people in congregations being hit up for money for people who don’t want to work is exactly what’s happening in the JWs..I don’t believe this would be viewed favorably in other religions! This is being needy because of laziness or stupidity - not because of hardship or tragedy!

In fact, the priest would give a sermon from the pulpit telling people they should look for work. Even Jesus’s followers had occupations and supported themselves!

68

2010 Circuit Assembly..........Sunday Program nonsense and madness.

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

i went to the sunday circuit assembly and came back all riled up with all the nonsense.. the sunday program was on ''safeguarding your spirituality''.

''it is better to remain single and not marry.

that gives you more time for studying and the preaching work.

LongHairGal

RULES & REGULATIONS:

Reading this twelve year old thread is interesting and sad. What is sad is that this stand against college and careers (in 2022) is still current in the Witness religion!!

It was nice to read my old post. The difference now is that I am Retired and glad I worked full-time..The other difference is that many Witnesses have also reached retirement age but cannot retire due to the fact that they did Not work at a decent job…[Note: even people without college degrees in the ‘70s could have gotten good jobs w/benefits back when there were jobs a plenty!]

These JWs could have been in a much better situation today..But, no, they opted to follow the advice of the religion and be in full-time ministry and on the fringes of the workforce with part-time jobs with no benefits. 👎

I am out of the JWs as a twenty-one year ‘Fader’ and GLAD I was that ‘unspiritual’, ‘low hour publisher’.🙄.. I am so Thankful I ignored all the foolish talk there!.. I know of three single women who are needy now because they fell for wanting to be accepted by all the phony hypocrites there!

33

An upcoming Watchtower article saying if people Pioneer Jehovah will provide!

by LongHairGal in

jw
friends

i saw the post on reddit and the thread got many responses..can anybody believe the religion is still saying this??

it has to be as plain as day that so many jws are poor and struggling today because they never got a career or decent job years ago.. sadly, there are still witnesses who believe money will fall from heaven if they are in the full-time ministry.

they expect some miracle to occur..but, we all know the truth: people in the congregation will be hit up for yet more money for another bunch of irresponsible people pursuing poverty.

LongHairGal

I saw the post on Reddit and the thread got many responses..Can anybody believe the religion is still saying this?? It has to be as plain as day that so many JWs are poor and struggling Today because they never got a career or decent job years ago.

Sadly, there are still Witnesses who believe money will fall from heaven if they are in the full-time ministry. They expect some miracle to occur..But, we all know the truth: people in the congregation will be hit up for yet more money for another bunch of irresponsible people pursuing poverty.

So many outraged posters there have posted their personal experience...Every day more Witness Baby Boomers are reaching retirement age unprepared. I expect as time goes on we will hear the full extent of this horror.

I’m just so Glad I’m not active in this religion anymore!

19

Ukraine and Armageddon

by jhine in

i'm going to take a wild stab in the dark here and guess that the watchtower is having a wonderful time over the whole ukraine situation.

is the whole " end of times " thing being pushed again to bring dissidents back into line .

they must be seeing as a gift from above .

LongHairGal

MUM:

Congratulations!! That crucial decision is $upporting you now! 👍🏻

How would it have helped us now if we had ‘pioneered’ back then - instead of working and paying into SS & retirement like most normal people??

All the hypocritical older JWs with cushy lives who pushed poverty for young people back then and hosted special gatherings for pioneers 🙄 (that I wasn’t invited to) are mostly dead by now. They couldn’t even help now if they wanted to!!..People like us would be so screwed today it wouldn’t be funny. It makes me cringe to think about it.

I wasn’t yet in the JW religion in 1975 and not a word was mentioned to me about it. So, the rest of the world was not aware the Witnesses were expecting the End of the world (Armageddon/Apocalypse) yet again.

19

Ukraine and Armageddon

by jhine in

i'm going to take a wild stab in the dark here and guess that the watchtower is having a wonderful time over the whole ukraine situation.

is the whole " end of times " thing being pushed again to bring dissidents back into line .

they must be seeing as a gift from above .

LongHairGal

PISTOLPETE:

All that you say is true but what is most unforgivable, in my book, is that I was treated like Typhoid Mary or like I had a Scarlet Letter!

The religion engendered hateful attitudes and the people in the congregation carried it out towards people like me. But, I knew I had to support myself. I don’t know if I can only credit my non-JW upbringing but I’m glad I had the strength of character to ignore all this.

I remained on the fringes of the congregation with few friends. In time, I did a ‘Fade’ and am now retired from my secular job. Even though I have a few fond memories of some of the elderly JWs who were decent to me (and perhaps knew of the injustice of pushing poverty, etc.) I have NO pity for the younger pioneers there who looked down on me and were invited everywhere. I’d run from them.

Maybe they can track down some of those ‘spiritual’ friends and ask THEM for money. In the meantime, they wish and hope for the Apocalypse to happen!

19

Ukraine and Armageddon

by jhine in

i'm going to take a wild stab in the dark here and guess that the watchtower is having a wonderful time over the whole ukraine situation.

is the whole " end of times " thing being pushed again to bring dissidents back into line .

they must be seeing as a gift from above .

LongHairGal

PISTOLPETE:

This is a human tragedy that isn’t talked about.

These Witnesses just suffer in silence. The elderly man you mentioned is damn lucky he’s still able to get around and also that he has a younger wife!!..Does the religion care? Ha!

The reason he gets a pathetically low amount from SS was because he worked part-time!..In order to get a decent benefit from SS a person needs to work full-time for decades.

It’s too bad the older struggling JWs today didn’t know this years ago..No, instead they listened to foolish bullshit and were lulled into a sleep mode. Meanwhile, the clock was ticking!.. It makes me very angry that some of the older JWs back then pushing poverty were themselves collecting a pension!..This hypocrisy is unforgivable and I am so Glad I never listened.

So, what we see today are older JWs hoping for Armageddon (whether it comes because of Ukraine or some other place) as the solution for their predicament.

19

Ukraine and Armageddon

by jhine in

i'm going to take a wild stab in the dark here and guess that the watchtower is having a wonderful time over the whole ukraine situation.

is the whole " end of times " thing being pushed again to bring dissidents back into line .

they must be seeing as a gift from above .

LongHairGal

SOLOMON:

You nailed it. So many Witnesses want the End to come because they are miserable living in this world because they were urged Not to prepare for old age and retirement.

So, instead of getting decent jobs/careers with benefits years ago, they were conned into working part time, etc. so they could be in the ministry..They got lots of praise and were invited to special gatherings (as though that means anything now)🙄.. They had nothing but disdain for people like myself who worked full-time.

Well, now these Witnesses have reached retirement age and Armageddon hasn’t come yet. They are panicked. Some still working at hard manual labor their bodies can’t take. Others are asking other JWs for money. These people all want the End to come because of the predicament they are in.