Posts by LongHairGal

53

What makes a cult (in the pejorative sense)?

by Vanderhoven7 in

michael moore writes:.

a cult is an organization that enslaves minds and destroys families using cult mind control.

cult mind control involves orchestrated deception, social pressure, psychological abuse, and repetitive indoctrination (brainwashing) centering around an unchallengeable ideology enforced in a totalitarian way in a closed socially-separatist community setting.

LongHairGal

CARLA:

So true. And, yes, your JW couldn’t understand any of this to save his life.

While not being able to leave gracefully is the number one tell-tale sign of a cult, there are other things. There is next-level intrusiveness and no boundaries. This is in every area you can think of, including your choice of employment.. God help you if you don’t look out for yourself! ..The attitude towards women is abominable. There is no real concern for the individual and quite frankly they couldn’t care less if you are breathing.

I think when you are in a cult it’s a case of not seeing the forest for the trees. Only when you are Out does it become crystal clear what you were a part of!.. I know I felt this way.

22

What is the current Watchtower "rent charge per publisher" for Kingdom Halls in the USA???

by Balaamsass2 in

i was following a few threads in reddit from current pimo jws complaining about local announcements regarding halls being short on their per publisher "rent payments".

third gen and i have been out pomo for a while...so how much is this charge now?

could this be part of the recent push to get people to "come back" or get re-instated...if it even is online and 15 minutes of service per month?

LongHairGal

LV101:

We both have had our share of encounters with all sorts of users and grifters in the JW religion and can spot them a mile away!

It’s a shame to say it really.

99

What the new JW light position really is 👍

by ElderBerry in

i’m still an elder and i consider myself jw light.

as my fellow elders are.

we don’t throw our weight around like elders used to in the past, it’s all very easy going these days.

LongHairGal

SEA BREEZE:

You are right and it’s true that kids who talk too much don’t make it in a cult!

I was neither a ‘kid” nor a born-in and I remember asking innocent but intelligent questions when I was new.. I was then put on the shit list. It also didn’t help that I wouldn’t stop working full-time to ‘pioneer’ and do favors for Users there.🤣 Just attempted exploitation pure and simple. I should have known at that point it was downhill all the way and a total waste of my time and energy.. I could’ve have exited the JWs sooner.

I can laugh about this now because it’s many years ago and I’m now retired. Although it’s a sad reality that some born-in kid who wants out of the Witness religion can very well end up in the street. The authorities should be more aware of this very ugly fact in this secretive group.

22

What is the current Watchtower "rent charge per publisher" for Kingdom Halls in the USA???

by Balaamsass2 in

i was following a few threads in reddit from current pimo jws complaining about local announcements regarding halls being short on their per publisher "rent payments".

third gen and i have been out pomo for a while...so how much is this charge now?

could this be part of the recent push to get people to "come back" or get re-instated...if it even is online and 15 minutes of service per month?

LongHairGal

RANDOMUSERNAME3500:

The guy you tell about is a typical grifter in the JWs and there were always a couple of them in the hall. The other ‘bad actor’ was usually a pioneer couple - always expecting money from people..Looking for freebies and wanting everybody else to pay for their ‘Everlasting Life’.

And they do tend to change halls after everybody has their ‘number’… If I had been there and anybody came up to me with their envelope asking for $$ for anybody there, my answer was NO… I got criticized, marked and gossiped about because I had a full-time job… Where did any of those hypocrites get off imagining they could then come up to me to ask for charity???

This is part of the reason they hated me and I couldn’t have cared less..Nowadays, You would be asked for $$ left and right.👎 Glad to be Out.

UGOTTOBEKIDDINGME1:

I would have loved to see you tell off those JWs when they criticized your uniform! ..As a group they are appallingly ignorant and do not realize that they would have no freedoms at all if somebody else did not fight for them!!!

99

What the new JW light position really is 👍

by ElderBerry in

i’m still an elder and i consider myself jw light.

as my fellow elders are.

we don’t throw our weight around like elders used to in the past, it’s all very easy going these days.

LongHairGal

FINISHED MYSTERY:

Your quote about the elder who said: “I would rather be wrong and in the organization than be right and all alone” is a sad commentary on what probably is the mindset of the majority of the people still left in the JW religion!

Quite simply, they don’t care if it’s right or wrong. They don’t care who got damaged or hurt. They don’t care about faulty teachings and failed prophecies.. Some of the older ones condemned me for working full-time and not ‘pioneering’ years ago.. Meanwhile they were married women with a man supporting them in a comfortable style OR they were men who earned a good living…Such hypocrisy.

I am so Glad I walked away from all this ages ago.

99

What the new JW light position really is 👍

by ElderBerry in

i’m still an elder and i consider myself jw light.

as my fellow elders are.

we don’t throw our weight around like elders used to in the past, it’s all very easy going these days.

LongHairGal

CARLA:

You are totally right and I agree with everything you posted about the JW religion 100%.

You, being married to a Witness, have seen it all. It is hard to think about the number of people in this religion who stay in spite of how toxic and damaging it is. An elder is even more reprehensible than a regular rank & file Witness because he sees behind the curtain and knows everything.. And, as for the excuse that they stay ‘because they want to make things better’ etc. it’s nonsense.. They really just don’t want to give up whatever MATERIAL benefits they have (social and business contacts, etc.)

I am a ‘Fader’ who, fortunately, had no family there and I never caved in to the immense pressure and criticism (from elders and other hypocrites) to quit my job all those years ago!

Then, when the religion changed the teaching about counting hours at their 2023 annual meeting - I just could not believe how right I was!!!.. I was ‘judged’ on this as a ‘low hour publisher’🙄 and Thank God I never listened!

22

What is the current Watchtower "rent charge per publisher" for Kingdom Halls in the USA???

by Balaamsass2 in

i was following a few threads in reddit from current pimo jws complaining about local announcements regarding halls being short on their per publisher "rent payments".

third gen and i have been out pomo for a while...so how much is this charge now?

could this be part of the recent push to get people to "come back" or get re-instated...if it even is online and 15 minutes of service per month?

LongHairGal

JHINE:

You have a PM.

KENMAYO1:

Even though this may not sound like a lot of money to some people, those who got criticized for having a career might resent even this.. And this doesn’t include all the other expenses a person might have in the JW religion like gas prices and wear and tear on their vehicles going out in the ministry, lunches and maintaining a decent wardrobe (before the days of pants for women and a more casual look for men). Never mind all the other miscellaneous appeals for $$.

I have heard things have changed and there isn’t much door to door now, but people have many more expenses living in the world today!

22

What is the current Watchtower "rent charge per publisher" for Kingdom Halls in the USA???

by Balaamsass2 in

i was following a few threads in reddit from current pimo jws complaining about local announcements regarding halls being short on their per publisher "rent payments".

third gen and i have been out pomo for a while...so how much is this charge now?

could this be part of the recent push to get people to "come back" or get re-instated...if it even is online and 15 minutes of service per month?

LongHairGal

BALAAMSASS2:

That’s a good point and I hadn’t thought about that one.

They certainty would want people back to give $$. They need brothers to be elders and hold microphones. But, they also want people (women) to do favors for people there.

In the old prosperous days when I was there they tried to enlist ALL the young women to do favors for affluent older people and other Users there.. I was viewed so negatively because of my job that I made sure I said NO.. But, there were plenty of other brown noses and pioneers who said yes.. Good for them and they probably got invited to those ‘special dinners’.

The demographics are different in the JW religion today. They have had serious population loss and this is really their fault as they literally pushed people out, in my opinion..(I walked out).. Most of those affluent older people I remembered have passed away.. The die-hard Boomers are seniors now and are probably the ones looking for assistance of all kinds now!

44

New GB member Judy Jedele critizing Job's "humility" while wearing $20,000 Rolex, gold cuff links, coloured suit. Incredible!

by WingCommander in

jw
friends

i swear, you can't make this shit up!

for years and years growing up in this cult, i had to constantly hear from my parents, from the stage, in the literature, about "keeping your eye simple", not being "materialistic", not "having a showy display of one's wealth.

" of course, this never seemed to apply to the wealthy business owning elduhzzzz who ran and lorded it out over the congregations, but i digress.

LongHairGal

WING COMMANDER:

I totally agree that people have the right to question and criticize religious leaders - especially if anything about them deviates from the high moral biblical standard that they purport to have.

We can’t forget that many people on the forum may be active Witnesses (maybe even a few exes).. who have these religious leaders on a pedestal. There’s that holy mystique they confer upon them… I, myself, never believed this nonsense about anybody there - even when I was in the religion.

That’s why you sometimes see downvotes when somebody posts something hard-hitting that seems ‘irreverent’ to these sacred cows. Some posters don’t like it.. Too bad.. That wouldn’t stop me from speaking my mind.

44

New GB member Judy Jedele critizing Job's "humility" while wearing $20,000 Rolex, gold cuff links, coloured suit. Incredible!

by WingCommander in

jw
friends

i swear, you can't make this shit up!

for years and years growing up in this cult, i had to constantly hear from my parents, from the stage, in the literature, about "keeping your eye simple", not being "materialistic", not "having a showy display of one's wealth.

" of course, this never seemed to apply to the wealthy business owning elduhzzzz who ran and lorded it out over the congregations, but i digress.

LongHairGal

FINISHED MYSTERIES:

Nah, I like my watches even though you can look at your phone for the correct time.

But, my watches are more down to earth price-wise. My most expensive one is just over two grand purchased two decades ago. I believe that it is in poor taste for religious leaders in any religion to flaunt riches in the faces of the public.