Posts by LongHairGal

58

Cult or High Control Group?

by MillennialDawn in

jw
friends

i see this phrase a lot: "the indication of a cult is what happens when you leave.

" i'm not sure where that originated, but it is a faulty categorization.

"cult" is almost always used in a derogatory way.

Yes, I do. As I said in my previous post answering your post: ..If the Witness religion was geographically isolated and its OWN sovereign country the potential is definitely there for this to happen!…Iran is its own country. This is what you are ignoring.

JWs are bullying enough now (operating inside of relatively free countries) with their shunning routine, the stand against beards and issues about women’s dress, etc..

Again, JWs are only kept in check (for the most part) because they are NOT a sovereign country but are subject to the laws of the countries they live in (thank God)!!

Otherwise they would very quickly degenerate and resemble these other oppressive countries you mentioned.

58

Cult or High Control Group?

by MillennialDawn in

jw
friends

i see this phrase a lot: "the indication of a cult is what happens when you leave.

" i'm not sure where that originated, but it is a faulty categorization.

"cult" is almost always used in a derogatory way.

LongHairGal

NO-ZOMBIE:

Good points! But I wouldn’t think of comparing the Witness religion to totalitarian regimes or countries that are religious theocracies.

So, as far as I’m concerned, they should not be in the equation here as to whether the JWs are a cult or not.

I am referring to the JW religion operating mostly in relatively free Western countries (even though I am aware they are in some non-Western countries as well.). The complaints against it are in comparison to how people fare in it as opposed to other religions. Just one example: people in other religions not discouraged from higher education.

The things you mentioned like the torture rack and beatings, etc. wouldn’t even be tolerated in Western countries (although I have no doubt that some extremist mentalities might like to do these things!).. As it is, it’s bad enough we all know that child molestation exists. Also, the JW religion is relatively young as compared to other religions. Given time who knows how bad they could get?

In my opinion, the JWs are a high-control group with some cult-like traits. They have the potential to be worse. What stops them? They are not geographically isolated and cannot carry out the horrors that other groups have!.. That’s why the people in Jonestown sealed their doom as soon as they left the continental US and followed what’s-his-name into the jungle with his guards!👎

4

Interesting experience with my PIMI Father

by joe134cd in

this highlights just how flawed the jw thinking is.

recently, it had been arranged for another jw to take my father to the convention in a couple of weeks time.

a few days ago my father is informed that his ride has refused to drive him due to his underlying health conditions.

LongHairGal

JOE134CD:

Sorry about the experience with your father’s friend. But, it’s nice of you to step in and help.

Witness thinking is screwed up. But let me say this: (and I know you repeated it to make a point)..I, for one, never believed/expected anybody to ‘lay down their life for me during the Great Tribulation’.. I consider this to be one of the fallacies or urban legends that floated around through the Witness religion, especially in the old days… I think it also went along with that other fallacy that ‘you would be taken care of if you were needy’.. I never believed this for one minute and made sure I kept my job.

One time I had a conversation with another working woman in the hall. We both agreed that since people were generally not too friendly towards us in so-called ‘good’ times, how in the world would they care about us if it were difficult times - let alone any ‘Great Tribulation’?.. We’d be up a creek ! I’m sure in the end we could only count on ourselves.

63

Did you have any Elders CO's/DO's that were "Hung up" on certain things????

by karter in

jw
friends

we had an elder that was hung up on mens haircuts he had a real thing about how short mens hair should be and even told one bro off for parting his hair down the middle.. even told one bro to shave off his sideburns.. a c.o who was paronoid about sound always telling the bro in charge off.. .

a d.o who orded the attendants to remove crying babys from assemblys on more than a few occations...hans hubler for those that know him..

LongHairGal

It seemed to me that the elders and COs in general ‘went beyond what was written’.

These men injected their personal opinions, preferences and biases into everything.. I would have to say that is what the Jehovah’s Witness religion is all about.. Never mind that you may not have been interested in anybody’s opinion about anything but they were determined to give it to you.. Maybe young single people got it the most?

The ‘hangups’ back when I was in? ‘Modesty’ in dress - where attractive/stylish women were hounded from time to time because ‘somebody’ (with an unattractive figure no doubt) had an issue about somebody’s appearance.

The other ‘hangup’ was them being busybodies about somebody’s secular work - trying to get gullible younger people to ‘pioneer’.. I was there and experienced it. Never mind that these older hypocrites collecting pensions weren’t supporting me or anybody!.. Nor would they be around when these other young people (being groomed for poverty) hit retirement age. We are seeing this today.

I am so grateful Now that I resisted all the foolish talk back in the religion when I was younger!

32

Sagely advice of a CO

by Vidqun in

“a circuit overseer started out by saying that on this last round of the circuit, the one thing he noticed the most...is that everyone is physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually drained...and that cuts across all barriers and demographics within the truth.

he then said that the one common thread that ran among nearly everyone was this: we feel guilty for feeling bad.

he said because we are told to endure with joy, our minds can cause us to feel enormous guilt over feeling this way...and then, my dear brothers and sisters...he proceeded to blow our collective minds.. he asked us to turn to daniel 8:27….

LongHairGal

BETH SARIM & NEW DAY:

Wow, this never ends!

Even though I’m long Out, it kills me to hear about moronic elders and circuit overseers STILL knocking secular work!!! This brings back bad memories of what was said to me years ago. Thankfully I never listened.

Here we are at a time when there are the hugest amounts of needy Witnesses in congregations since so many reached retirement age with NO preparation since they hardly worked - yet some idiots are still telling people not to work. “It’s a test of your faith, brother.”..They don’t care about anybody’s welfare. Maybe some day HE will be tested.

They could starve for all I care.

Even though I’m Out because of 1995, I would not tolerate being around needy Witnesses who never worked looking for handout$. 👎

34

My goodness! Fourteen years since I began posting here...

by garyneal in

jw
friends

i'm not sure if anyone remembers me since i do not post here much anymore.

i sometimes pop in around christmas time to see if anyone is interested in exchanging christmas cards like we used to back when i first posted on this site.

speaking of which, the holiday season will soon be upon us.. if you recall, i was married to a jehovah's witness and i had a daughter i spoke of a lot.

LongHairGal

NOTFORMER:

You are so correct that leaving the JW religion is like leaving an abusive partner.

In so many ways they can ruin somebody’s life and I’m very Glad I got out!👍🏻

34

My goodness! Fourteen years since I began posting here...

by garyneal in

jw
friends

i'm not sure if anyone remembers me since i do not post here much anymore.

i sometimes pop in around christmas time to see if anyone is interested in exchanging christmas cards like we used to back when i first posted on this site.

speaking of which, the holiday season will soon be upon us.. if you recall, i was married to a jehovah's witness and i had a daughter i spoke of a lot.

LongHairGal

GARYNEAL:

Welcome back!

NOTFORMER:

I also think the poster ‘Bribie’ can use some brightening up.🙄 When I first was ‘Fading’ from the Jehovah’s Witness religion - the FIRST thing I did was to send out Christmas/Holiday cards to my estranged non-JW relatives and family friends.

These were the good people I mistakenly turned my back on (on the say so of the religion). The religion wanted to isolate me from my friends and family!👎 At the end of my unhappy saga in the Witness religion, I came to realize my mistake and I am eternally grateful I was able to get in touch with all these people before it was too late! It was wonderful to be in touch and celebrate Christmas again and it brought back happy memories from childhood.

It felt great and I’ll always remember the feeling of coming back into the light after being in a dark place.

8

They still call it Pizza but it doesn’t taste like it anymore.

by Fisherman in

i remember as a kid that a slice of pizza was a dime, the same price for a large bag of m&ms or a large hershey’s bar or an ice cream popsicle, box of cracker jacks, bag of potato chips, bus fare.

the dimes were made out of silver and many of them were mercury dimes with the dates worn off.

…and while nowadays except for the pizza, everything tastes about the same only now costing 10 times as much, bus fare costs 28x as much and pizza costs 40x as much:.

LongHairGal

FISHERMAN:

Unless you go to a ‘Little Italy’ somewhere or a neighborhood that is predominantly Italian, you won’t usually get good pizza nowadays!

24

1974 and all that

by Number 6 in

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xznh9icm1os.

i came across this footage recently whilst searching for something completely unrelated and it blew me away!.

it's from the august 1974 convention at murrayfield, edinburgh and you can clearly see the stage set up still keeping the 6000 years and 1975 mantra going.. what makes this very personal for me is that i was here.

LongHairGal

THOMAS COVENANT:

That is certainly true about ‘worldly people’ knowing that they are going to die someday.

I can imagine that it must be shocking for a born-in JW to come to terms with being taught they were not.

I was raised Catholic and came into the JW religion when in my 20s. I never entirely bought into their belief about ‘not getting old or dying’.. But, I kept my thoughts to myself and figured other people in the religion can believe what they want.

When I finally ‘Faded’ from the Witness religion, the first thing I did was to rid my mind of any vestiges of paradise teachings or live forever fantasies. I felt this was an unhealthy trick to play on my mind.. I had no problem and figured it was because I never really bought it - among other things Witnesses taught.

47

Retirement savings

by TxNVSue2023 in

what's the current jw stance on retirement savings?

i know it changed.

pre1975 it was an attitude of "don't worry about retirement, this system is ending soon".

LongHairGal

RIVERGANG:

I suppose as older people your parents noticed things that a younger person wouldn’t - like older people with cushy lives and collecting pensions.. I was caught up in the ‘love bombing’ so this wasn’t obvious right away.

Of course, the love bombing turned to hate when the Witnesses realized I wasn’t going to follow in the footsteps of other younger women.. Doing housecleaning and pioneering was expected. This is why there are broke pioneers today who can’t retire. Instead of getting careers when young, they were deceived into wasting time in the ministry and doing favors for Users there.. (Of course, they were invited to gatherings that I was not invited to back then.. They should track down these ‘spiritual’ friends for handouts! )

No, the religion was certainly not looking out for my best interest. I kept that job they all hated me for until Retirement. Maybe my ‘worldly’ upbringing saved me. But, I have to say this: I saw the handwriting on the wall and knew reality would eventually hit all these Witnesses who never really worked - and I didn’t want to be anywhere near them!

I’m so Glad I’m Out.