Posts by LongHairGal

43

Members of congregation know it’s not true

by Mikejw in

we have lonely old folks and even some not so old.. they know the gb are not who they claim to be.. but they stay in the congregation because they are lonely.

i wonder what percentage of jws this is the case, i would guess a lot.

.

LongHairGal

NO-ZOMBIE:

I think you are probably right.

But, that group of ‘hardcore believers’ (like the few acquaintances I have left there) are older people. They are on the younger spectrum of the Boomer category.. What happens when their older friends pass away? I don’t think they are close to any younger people.. And I doubt the younger people are going to stick around for very long anyway.

My acquaintances attend on Zoom and I am not sure if they ever attend in person. But, If the religion decides to sell off even more halls so that they would have to drive too far - it’s almost like a game of musical chairs where someone is left standing without a chair. The missing chair being the missing hall.. It just seems to me the JWs are becoming the incredible shrinking religion.

83

Lines you would never hear from a Jehovah's Witness

by Ron.W. in

a slightly tongue in cheek, but also serious roundup of jw speak and why trying to reason with them is like trying to chip through concrete with a plastic spoon.. how many can you think of??.

elder: 'yes.

i read through the material you asked me to at your judicial meeting - you're right we're both in a cult!

LongHairGal

Lines I would never hear from Jehovah’s Witnesses:

””Dear Sister Full-Time Worker, You were so right to hold onto your full-time job and resist all the criticism of people in the congregation who were just plain wrong for meddling or who didn’t know better. We realize you had to support yourself and prepare for retirement. We also apologize for our unchristian behavior and hypocrisy since the older people there were collecting their pensions. We are sorry for engendering class distinctions in the congregation. Sorry for being unfriendly and not inviting you.. We realize the religion recently dropped the hourly reporting of time (which you were judged on) and you are probably glad now you never followed this man-made rule. So many others have regretted this in their senior years. Again, somebody else’s spirituality is not something other people should be judging.””

This is a tall order and I doubt I would ever hear these words.. But, if such a weird thing should occur - I will let everybody know.🤣

19

Is There Some Sort of Campaign Going on?

by NotFormer in

jw
friends

a pair of young blokes came to my door @ 10am (ish) today (wednesday, if that matters).

i opened the door a crack to : hi!

just asking a question: do you think that the world is getting better or worse?*".

LongHairGal

NOT FORMER:

There has been a campaign of sorts going on in the recent months.

The religion has ‘decreed’ people can invite disfellowshipped persons to a meeting or ask them if they ‘want to come back’. There have been many reports of people who have been out for ages getting phone calls, texts, visits or mail either by JW relatives, elders or old friends just looking them up now because they have ‘permission’.🙄

51

Interesting that the other cult-cousins are going thru nearly identical hemmoraging of members.....

by WingCommander in

jw
friends

i still read on reddit.

(though no longer post) occasionally, i'll venture over to the ex-seventh day adventist (sda) sub and catch up a bit.

it's been a long time.

LongHairGal

WING COMMANDER:

Another excellent thread!.. I also do not believe the Witnesses have 8 million members now.. Maybe at some point in the past they did!

I believe all religions are seeing a decline as the world has become more secular. . Also, part of the reason I think is many people don’t want to live by any sexual morality code!.. There, I said it.

As far as those other religions that have eerie similarities to the JWs, any Witness who sees these similarities in the religions (Mormons, SDAs, etc.) should wake up!… I know it made me angry when I first saw this years ago. I also asked myself whether they literally do use a similar playbook and who dreamed it up??

How insulting to everyone’s intelligence!

43

Members of congregation know it’s not true

by Mikejw in

we have lonely old folks and even some not so old.. they know the gb are not who they claim to be.. but they stay in the congregation because they are lonely.

i wonder what percentage of jws this is the case, i would guess a lot.

.

LongHairGal

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH:

I totally agree with your post.

The last few acquaintances I have in the Witness religion are in the younger Boomer age category. They are there because of ‘sunk cost fallacy’. In other words, they stayed at the party too long! These people also pioneered for long periods of time when younger and their income is now low. I can definitely see them asking the elders for help! They may know this and may figure they can’t leave because of this plus the ‘End is close’.

It’s sad because I remember everybody when young and so hopeful that the ‘new system’ would be here soon. NOW, they are older in a religion with faulty teachings and failed predictions!

I walked away soon after the 1995 Generation thing. I was on the ‘shit list’ because I worked full-time - and it was no loss since I had few friends there… But, I wouldn’t want to be in the religion now with all the needy people there who hardly worked.. Don’t want people coming up to me like I was their best friend…because they’re looking for money. I don’t need this.

13

JW Leaders Do Intentionally Torture Their Members

by FragrantAddendum in

that's one of the reasons they're being shut down.

LongHairGal

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH:

The OP certainly has a point and I agree with your post.

You are especially right that they use those JWs who suffered physically, emotionally or economically as examples to shame other people in the religion. This never swayed me and I don’t think it swayed the smarter older people in the hall. You didn’t see them suffering or doing without!.. Nah, that was for some other fool.

I remember the stories recounted about what Witnesses went through during WWII. These people were made to sound saintly. There was a lot of talk of being thrown in jail during the great tribulation and having to share your crust of bread! The point to all this as far as I was concerned was they were trying to get people in the congregation accustomed to the idea that they were going to have to suffer and endure things and that they had to be ready to ‘give’.

There was also an arrogant vibe that I picked up on from mostly older people there (who are gone now). They really did imagine that other people were going sacrifice for them.

Of course I observed all this but I never really took this to heart that I would ever do any of this.. I was the young person who didn’t pioneer and got knocked for working.

57

Holding a grudge

by LongHairGal in

i read something recently on reddit (not sure what thread) where a person related how some jw told them that ‘they hold a grudge’.. this reminded me of something an old jw acquaintance said to me some years back when i related my bad experience in the religion.. so, apparently, jehovah’s witnesses feel they should be forgiven for anything.

people should forget all about it and act like nothing happened and be charitable towards them, etc… when i read in james and ephesians i got the sense ‘holding a grudge’ was referring to the things average people do to offend each other.. i don’t see it applying to a religion that claimed to speak for god and who engendered hateful and unchristian attitudes towards people.. i know because i experienced this.. in addition, some people’s lives were damaged by listening to faulty teachings and interference in things that were clearly none of anybody’s business.. one case in point: them knocking worldly careers and now there are thousands of destitute jws in senior years with nothing.. then in 2023 the religion does away with a century old teaching about counting hours in the ministry.

meanwhile, i got judged over this.

LongHairGal

JHINE:

I agree with you. But the religion would see any opposition as grudge or persecution. They expect people to have the memory of a fly and forget what they did.

WING COMMANDER:

I know what your mom experienced with stupid jealous individuals. Although I was certainly Not ‘meek’.. But, I had a double whammy: I was criticized by some with No idea what it was like to work; they shunned me BUT some acted like I somehow ‘owed’ somebody something!! Anybody who thought this was delusional.. I never gave anything to these pioneers who chimed in with the chorus and criticized me for working.

I agree that these changes are a slap in the face - especially the one about no longer counting time.. Boy, am I glad I kept on working until retirement and never listened to these people.. As you say, it’s a giant STFU. I can’t even feel sorry for anybody still listening to them at this late date.. The religion and their ‘no apologies’ can shove it.

I still think they will lose more people over time and it won’t mean anything to some that they have ‘loosened up’ some things.

57

Holding a grudge

by LongHairGal in

i read something recently on reddit (not sure what thread) where a person related how some jw told them that ‘they hold a grudge’.. this reminded me of something an old jw acquaintance said to me some years back when i related my bad experience in the religion.. so, apparently, jehovah’s witnesses feel they should be forgiven for anything.

people should forget all about it and act like nothing happened and be charitable towards them, etc… when i read in james and ephesians i got the sense ‘holding a grudge’ was referring to the things average people do to offend each other.. i don’t see it applying to a religion that claimed to speak for god and who engendered hateful and unchristian attitudes towards people.. i know because i experienced this.. in addition, some people’s lives were damaged by listening to faulty teachings and interference in things that were clearly none of anybody’s business.. one case in point: them knocking worldly careers and now there are thousands of destitute jws in senior years with nothing.. then in 2023 the religion does away with a century old teaching about counting hours in the ministry.

meanwhile, i got judged over this.

LongHairGal

PHIZZY:

I am glad you understand. And we are not talking about one individual here - but a large entity/corporation with an international presence.

As long as a person is getting on with their life and fairly happy, then they can spend time online to counter the JWs damaging teachings - without harming themselves.. We have been there so we know everything. I have always felt this religion should be exposed so that the whole world knows what’s really going on there and what the fruitage is.. And I don’t consider impoverished and/or depressed people on medication to be good fruitage for any group!

57

Holding a grudge

by LongHairGal in

i read something recently on reddit (not sure what thread) where a person related how some jw told them that ‘they hold a grudge’.. this reminded me of something an old jw acquaintance said to me some years back when i related my bad experience in the religion.. so, apparently, jehovah’s witnesses feel they should be forgiven for anything.

people should forget all about it and act like nothing happened and be charitable towards them, etc… when i read in james and ephesians i got the sense ‘holding a grudge’ was referring to the things average people do to offend each other.. i don’t see it applying to a religion that claimed to speak for god and who engendered hateful and unchristian attitudes towards people.. i know because i experienced this.. in addition, some people’s lives were damaged by listening to faulty teachings and interference in things that were clearly none of anybody’s business.. one case in point: them knocking worldly careers and now there are thousands of destitute jws in senior years with nothing.. then in 2023 the religion does away with a century old teaching about counting hours in the ministry.

meanwhile, i got judged over this.

LongHairGal

I read something recently on Reddit (not sure what thread) where a person related how some JW told them that ‘they hold a grudge’.

This reminded me of something an old JW acquaintance said to me some years back when I related my bad experience in the religion.. So, apparently, Jehovah’s Witnesses feel they should be forgiven for ANYTHING. People should forget all about it and act like nothing happened and be charitable towards them, etc… When I read in James and Ephesians I got the sense ‘holding a grudge’ was referring to the things average people do to offend each other.. I don’t see it applying to a religion that claimed to speak for God and who engendered hateful and unchristian attitudes towards people.. I know because I experienced this.

In addition, some people’s lives were damaged by listening to faulty teachings and interference in things that were clearly none of anybody’s business.. One case in point: them knocking worldly careers and now there are thousands of destitute JWs in senior years with nothing.

Then in 2023 the religion does away with a century old teaching about counting hours in the ministry. Meanwhile, I got judged over this. I don’t know about anybody else, but this is not alright- not for people who sacrificed and did this.

Yeah, I hold a passive grudge in the sense that I could never forget that this could have been a nightmare for me if I had listened to them.. Sorry, but there’s no forgiveness as far as I am concerned for an immense sin of this nature.

14

Key Criticisms of the Organization

by Vanderhoven7 in

just picked this summary up.

"some of the key criticisms that have been raised about the jehovah's witness organization include:.

strict control and authoritarianism: the organization is highly centralized, with major decisions being made by the governing body.

LongHairGal

VANDERHOVEN7:

All those points are true and show that the Witness religion is toxic on so many levels.

The most dangerous of these points in my opinion are: (6) restrictions on medical treatment; (4) child abuse cases; and (2) shunning practices which can lead to suicide.

The points I was affected by were the: (1) strict control and authoritarianism; and (3) suppression of free thought and questioning.. The busybodies in the religion tried to interfere in my personal life. They tried to pressure me to quit a full-time job in order to do the ‘approved’ housecleaning and pioneering.. I refused.

I also ran into problems with their suppression of free thought and questioning. Couldn’t help that I was a natural critical thinker and inquisitive person.. This didn’t go over well there!