Posts by LongHairGal

29

Why does it matter whether or not Armageddon is near?

by TxNVSue2023 in

why does it matter whether or not the end of the world ( (armageddon) is near?

if it was next week, next year, next decade, next century?

what is to be gained by knowing how close or far it is?

LongHairGal

TXNVSUE2023:

Maybe you haven’t read many threads and posts on the forum.

You might have missed the part about how many Jehovah’s Witnesses have not prepared for their old age and retirement. They were discouraged from getting higher education/careers and full-time employment and told they should be in the ministry instead. They worked part-time for low wages.

I am glad that you probably got college & career.. This means you are not overly concerned about when the End comes - which is as it should be.. Unfortunately, this is not the case for many Witnesses. They are waiting for ‘this system to end’ because they cannot deal with having gotten older and being unprepared because of following bad advice (which some of them won’t admit).

I could have been in this predicament myself except I paid No heed years ago when pushy elders in the religion wanted me to quit my job. Thank God I didn’t listen.

48

What's the Worst Advice You Heard of an Elder Giving Someone?

by Sea Breeze in

jw
friends

i believe an an elder told someone who's daughter (14 yo) became sexually active with a 26 year old in the neighborhood, that maybe they should get married.

so, they did... with parental consent.

he turned out to be a ex-convict who shot his first wife in the face with a shotgun.

LongHairGal

WING COMMANDER:

You said a lot. I’m sorry you lost all the people you cared about. And, yes, the Witness religion is now unrecognizable. Those JWs must be turning in their graves!

I know you have regrets about not having a so-called normal childhood and that is understandable. I seem to remember you once mentioned your mom was an RN. So, you at least were exposed to somebody who had a responsible job. I have to assume you are decently employed. At age 44 you are relatively young.

Just imagine the many thousands of JWs who have now reached retirement age after hardly working at all?.. No preparation whatsoever.. Assuming any of them have any skills at all, how many are getting a job tomorrow? Not many I would wager.. This is a dreadful predicament and I would get ill just thinking about it - and this is why I thank God I was that ‘low hour publisher’ all those years ago!

48

What's the Worst Advice You Heard of an Elder Giving Someone?

by Sea Breeze in

jw
friends

i believe an an elder told someone who's daughter (14 yo) became sexually active with a 26 year old in the neighborhood, that maybe they should get married.

so, they did... with parental consent.

he turned out to be a ex-convict who shot his first wife in the face with a shotgun.

LongHairGal

WING COMMANDER:

Yes, that certainly does explain what happened back then in the Witness religion in the eighties and you described the very feeling inside the hall!.. I can almost remember it.

Many of those older JWs are gone today and I wonder what they’d have to say about everything... But, when all is said and done, I’m Glad I followed my gut.

48

What's the Worst Advice You Heard of an Elder Giving Someone?

by Sea Breeze in

jw
friends

i believe an an elder told someone who's daughter (14 yo) became sexually active with a 26 year old in the neighborhood, that maybe they should get married.

so, they did... with parental consent.

he turned out to be a ex-convict who shot his first wife in the face with a shotgun.

LongHairGal

DIOGENESISTER:

What I observed were that all the older JWs in the congregations were either collecting their pensions or about to…..Quite obviously THEY were in the workforce- so why would I not be.

But, all the older comfortable JWs were pushing poverty to us young baby boomers. (Apparently, nobody’s conscience ever bothered them.) And this was the early ‘80s not pre-75.. There was a frenzy to pioneer all pushed by the elders.. It was like a virus and everybody caught it but me. Again, the elders pushing this were well-off.

Even though I was scoffed at (to my face) and not invited places, something held me back and I just could not bring myself to do this. Maybe it was my non-JW upbringing and being in the working world and seeing how ‘normal’ people lived that stopped me. Who knows? I just know that I am ever so Grateful today that I never listened to these fools years ago!

48

What's the Worst Advice You Heard of an Elder Giving Someone?

by Sea Breeze in

jw
friends

i believe an an elder told someone who's daughter (14 yo) became sexually active with a 26 year old in the neighborhood, that maybe they should get married.

so, they did... with parental consent.

he turned out to be a ex-convict who shot his first wife in the face with a shotgun.

LongHairGal

HOPELESS1 & DIOGENESISTER:

Thanks. These comments are amazing and truly show the tragedies that happen when people relinquish their will and follow the direction of high control groups. This includes areas of education/careers and also domestic issues. This is nobody’s business!

I was shocked when I read that the Witness religion did away with time slips at their annual meeting.. I was super Glad I never listened and realized it was worth it to have been shunned/excluded from gatherings and special dinners years ago! 😉 Maybe I can credit my non-Witness upbringing for saving me in the end.

People in the religion who already have a career, wealth/education under their belt but push a life of poverty on some naive young person - are among the worst, in my opinion!

48

What's the Worst Advice You Heard of an Elder Giving Someone?

by Sea Breeze in

jw
friends

i believe an an elder told someone who's daughter (14 yo) became sexually active with a 26 year old in the neighborhood, that maybe they should get married.

so, they did... with parental consent.

he turned out to be a ex-convict who shot his first wife in the face with a shotgun.

LongHairGal

Like some comments here, the remarks made to me pertained to my occupation.

I wasn’t born-in but came into the JWs already with a full-time job.

My study teacher tried her darndest to get me to quit and it was suggested that I should take up housecleaning.. I said ‘no way’ and was insulted for doing so. This self-righteous old lady probably didn’t think very highly of me as a ‘worldly’ young woman.. My dress was highly scrutinized.

Anyway, my refusal to follow intrusive and unwanted advice led to me being soft/shunned.. I ended up going to another congregation which was somewhat better but the same general attitude against full-time work (by women anyway) still persisted.. I let the criticism roll off my back like water off a duck. I ended up Fading after the 1995 Generation teaching… Thank God I resisted these people or it could have ruined my life.

18

Apostate lies are NOW fulfilling BIBLE PROPHECY 😅

by raymond frantz in

the new study article 28 watchtower that has just been published on jw.org is about apostate lies and introduces new concepts in their effort to compat apostasy in the congregations.

so despite the loosening of their recent disfellowshipping rules their fight against apostates is still raging hard.

according to the foreword of this article, they will concentrate on :.

LongHairGal

COLORADO GAL:

Welcome to the forum! I agree with everything you said in your post.

I also agree that the recent changes are about control. I wasn’t much concerned about the beards and dress thing.. It was them doing away with the counting time/slip…This was a measuring stick to categorize people in congregations as to who was ‘spiritual’ and worthy of associating with.👎 Well, I am Glad I kept my full-time job until retirement!

Like you, I also observed that they ignored single parent women and even single women in general.. All they wanted them for was to do favors, to which I said No.. If they could knock me for working, they could take a hike.

As you observed, many have walked away from the JW religion and I’m Glad to be one of them.

40

New lawsuit against the Watchtower in Ontario, Canada

by yalbmert99 in

the new class action lawsuit against the watchtower for having covered up child sexual abuse will begin in court on may 13-14-15, 2024 in the province of ontario, canada.

it is not the same as in the province of quebec because the laws aren't the same.

i don’t have more details.

LongHairGal

MAGNUM:

I am curious as I don’t really know you personally - just the posts you have made on here.

This OP seems to be about CSA lawsuits. Would the case you hinted at be referring to that topic? Or, would it have to do with something else - maybe being a pioneer (who technically worked for the religion) your whole life and reached retirement age totally unprepared?.. If that is the case I suppose there would be many thousands of rather upset Witnesses both current and former who fall into this category!

9

Visiting old churches

by moley in

when i was a jw i did and still enjoy visiting old churches and cathedrals because of the history and amazing architecture of these wonderful old buildings.

a sister in my old congregation regaled us with a story of a visit to the tower of london and walking up this crowded narrow staircase only to discover it led to an old chapel.

the way she described her horror at almost entering you would have thought they were doing human sacrifices.

LongHairGal

MOLEY:

I certainly did and those centuries old churches/cathedrals in Europe are so wonderful.

I remember the opulence in Rome with St. Peter’s and also the magnificent gloom of Winchester Cathedral in England. Very old, almost a thousand years.. I think I was more impressed with this place and remember the tour guide pointing out large urns or containers of relics on an elevated area. I remember the name King Canute(?) being mentioned as one of the persons whose relics were there.

In those early days of being a JW, I remembered the scripture about Babylon the Great and the “dwelling place of every unclean and hated bird”. I wondered to myself if it pertained to this place because it had the right atmosphere. But, I loved it and it’s great that they take pains to preserve this part of their culture and early history from the days of William the Conqueror!

20

So Let's Say Bigger Change Happens

by peacefulpete in

if a change in the blood policy happens, who will be more upset, jws or former jws?

i suspect the latter.

when the beard thing went down, jw's seem to immediately embrace it, whereas many former jw's have been brooding about it.. did it take away a pet gripe we had?.

LongHairGal

PEACEFUL PETE;

No offense , but you are waaay off! 🤣

My interest in the Witnesses is solely as a spectator.

What in the world would how JWs are supposedly ‘judged’ now mean anything to me?? You gotta be kidding.. This sounds like something a still-in person would say.

I am not living as a ‘refugee’ as you so comically suggest. 🤣🤣🤣 A refugee implies somebody who supposedly has ‘no home’. I never even felt ‘at home’ in that religion.. My home is very firmly placed in the real world - which was where I came from before I made the blunder of setting foot inside of JWs.

Peace out.