Has anyone ever noticed the amount of Witnesses that receive assistance through state and federal programs, like welfare, food stamps, medicaid, WIC...I'm sure it varied from area to area but does anyone feel they noticed people within the congregation were using it too much...
I was just thinking about it. I guess cause the other day I had an appt with my financial advisor (I'm so glad I'm saving for my retirement!!) and there's a restaraunt below the offices...My advisor was telling me that when they get there in the morning the cleaning man at the restaraunt always has his music turned up all the way...She said people at the office were complaining. I know who the cleaning man was...a brother in my former congregation. There are so many brothers and sisters in our congregation that had cleaning jobs like that. I don't know how they made ends meet. You got to do what you got to do to pay your bills but there were a few that I know of on welfare and they abused the system terribly. I know a sister who lied about her husbands income so she could get the state to pay for her gastric bypass. It always ircked me that the WT encouraged everyone to not get a real education. I felt they made out like you could still get a good job based on the skills you learned being a witness. But it's BS and they basically force a lot of brothers and sisters to rely on the government to support themselves.
Posts by AZ
-
3Witnesses on federal and state assistance programs
by AZ inhas anyone ever noticed the amount of witnesses that receive assistance through state and federal programs, like welfare, food stamps, medicaid, wic...i'm sure it varied from area to area but does anyone feel they noticed people within the congregation were using it too much.... i was just thinking about it.
i guess cause the other day i had an appt with my financial advisor (i'm so glad i'm saving for my retirement!!
) and there's a restaraunt below the offices...my advisor was telling me that when they get there in the morning the cleaning man at the restaraunt always has his music turned up all the way...she said people at the office were complaining.
-
-
AZ
-
22
This is how messed up it was...
by themonster123 ini've just been thinking about jwd and how messed it up it is how the witnesses twisted things in my mind so i totally got mind-warped....what am i talking about, you ask?
well, whenever someone has a quote on here from watchtower literature from years past (like from the 1970s or 1960s etc) proving that witnesses have taught/do teach this or that in the past, i automatically discredit that quote necause how i was taught as a witness was that whole new light thing-meaning...... "oh, well, things have changed-our teachings have changed, we no longer believe or teach this, this, and that anymore,"- i'm so brainwashed that when i read old quotes on here where people prove to say that witnesses taught this or that, it's like i kind of go "oh well that quote doesnt' matter," but in reality.......... jws should take responsibility for everything they've taught!!!
and not just keep saying, "well, that was then-this is now.. ...i mean, from an outsider's view point, they would say "oh, so witnesses teach this?
-
-
AZ
I've also wondered about that new light thing too but I guess it was just very convenient for them because that's all they had to say was it's "new light" and a new understanding. They couldn't possibly lie about something. The new light line was just a cover up but everyone excepts it because, oh ya, that's right, it's the "true religion".
-
11
hello.....
by L.Wells ini have lurked here for quite some time but felt the need to register, probably because i feel almost ready to leave.
a little background.
i am raised in the truth, am for all intents and purposes a good witness.
-
-
AZ
My advice would be to get out now...I have a story similiar to yours. I just stopped going and so did my parents several years ago. It wasn't until the last several months that I've gone looking for information. There is a lot of dirt out there. When you're a JW you believe everything so blindly. I never thought I would come to realize that it isn't the truth and if you're smart enough to have figured it out than you should just leave. There are so many people still stuck there because they still believe. There is an ex JW that wrote a story on another website. You should read it...it's long but it really helped me.
-
27
I always had to chuckle at this
by TooBad TooSad inat circuit and especially district assemblies so many witnesses take.
notes of what was being said at such a feverish pace that i would ask.
myself: "what are they hearing that i am not hearing that is so important.
-
-
AZ
Yes it was a waste of time, but then so was going to meetings and the assemblies in the first place. I found that taking notes keep me occuppied. I know they always told everyone that if they took notes they could review them later and recieve even more "scriptual food from Jehovah's heavenly table" BLAH BLAH BLAH
I only took notes at the assemblies and of course the speaker talks faster than anyone can write...so I didn't get much down.
I loved to see a show of hands on how many people ever looked at those notes again...Just the WTBTS way of sucking more time out of our lives. I remember one meeting when the CO was there and they gave everyone a graph of how much of our week was actually spent in service to god as if too prove that they didn't ask for that much of our time.
-
27
TV Shows...which ones didn't you get to watch?
by TheCoolerKing inwhat tv shows didn't you get to watch when you were a jw?
either because you had to attend one of the five meetings a week or had to go out in field service on the weekend?.
i remember being pissed off as a kid every saturday morning, because we always had to go out in field service.
-
-
AZ
Thank god my family was never that active so I hardly ever went out in service...so I never missed Saturday morning catoons but I remember not being able to watch the smurfs, which didn't really upset me that much but looking back on it now I remember the whole JW movement about smurfs being bad. It's kind a funny cause they were dead serious that they were from satan...I also remember wanting to see "Willow" at the movies. It had wizards and stuff like that in it. I told my mom one day when we were driving in the car and there was another sister with us. The sister told me that the movie was bad etc. etc.,...I was really pissed...
-
12
Where does the WT Society get all of its money?
by Threestars ini was always taught that they were so frugal and even poor, just scraping by with neccessities back in brooklyn and at the farm, and in our congs they always harped at everyone to put more in the box since they couldn't make the hall payment or the utilities, etc.. now i am hearing that they are quite well off.
is this mostly from wealthy dubs leaving money to the borg in their wills, or, rich ones donating, (for instance prince or the williams sisters)?.
just curious..
-
-
AZ
I think I always heard that they mostly made it on donations...but why am I not surprised to learn that we have ownership in companies that make machines for the U.S. military...it's scary that you can find that kind of information out but I guess all you have to do is look.
-
13
Disfellowshipping question
by DJK ini have heard a rumor that an elder or former elder was disfellowshipped because none of his siblings (6) baptized and all left the witlesses when they turned 18.. is it possible?
i'm afraid to ask anyone who may have knowledge of it because they will tell someone i had asked.. djk, of the leader of the pack class.
.
-
-
AZ
I've heard of similiar situations but not to the point of DFing. A brother that was denied more privileges because of a family situation that was beyond his control. His wife had psychiatric problems. He was a great guy and would of made a good elder. He had the time and he wanted more responsibilties but apparently they told him no. So he switched to a different cong...
-
9
What were the neighbours of your kingdom hall like?
by sass_my_frass inevery one of the houses around every kingdom hall i attended were do not calls; i imagine due to the many years they'd been subjected to a hundred cars arriving, three times a week; every week for as long as they live there.
one lady used to throw buckets of water on whoever walked up her stairs.
one bloke called the police every tuesday night to tell people driving out not to turn their cars headlights on until they were pointing away from his bedroom window.
-
-
AZ
There was a nice trailer court on one side. It was fenced of and the entrance was around on another street...I remember going out in service once and calling on people that lived in a house right across the street. They seemed nice. I remember every year for christmas they had this massive light train thye stuck on the side of the house. I recall once the elders making an announcement that we needed to park in the parking lot ...(ya go figure) Apparently the neighbors were complaining that we were stealing there parking spots...All I know is isn't wasn't me and we had a huge parking lot...I think we had a lot of brothers and sisters that thought they were handicapped. They probably didn't wanna walk all the way from the back of the lot. It was kinda of a weird shaped lot...other than that I don't recall anything else but I haven't been to the KH in about 5 yrs or so...can't really remember how long it's been now...oh well.
-
7
Q: What do you call a Married Jehovah's Witness that.....
by NotaNess inoffers a female jw to sit on his lap 3 times, then says "c'mon, i'll give you a dollar", like a tip for a lapdance...as she giggles?.
any guesses?.
and he has responsibilities at his hall, like someone in charge of the public talks or something like that.. .
-
-
AZ
It's always very interesting when one of your co-workers is a JW. You get to see what they're like outside of the KH. I work with one. I've know her my whole life and she's always been kind to me but we've never been close. She works on the other side of the office and so she hangs out with them at break and what have you...It's funny though because I overhear her talking sometimes and I can tell she hangs out with a lot of the people at work. She's goes bowling with them and out to bars and the like. Of course this is something that we're not suppose to be doing but she'd never get in any trouble for it. Her father is an elder and it seems that some people could do no wrong just based on who you were related to...
-
9
What things do you do to mark your progress away from the WTS?
by Lady Lee ini was at the meetup this week and had a couple of interesting comments about what people have done to mark their progress away from the wts/jws.. one person said that when she recognizes that she has taken another step away she rewards herself with her own private birthday party, cake and candles and sometimes even a gift.
she is doing this for all the birthdays she missed.
and it needn't fall on her birthday but it does mark some change in her.
-
-
AZ
I still want to have my backyard literature burning party. I'll do it this year for sure. It just feels great knowing that those pieces of rubbish aren't sacred writings from Jehovah that should be held in high regard.
I agree with that one...I think everyone has a whole garage full of left over books and literature to throw away...we were cleaning out our garage last summer and my mom told my dad to get rid of it all...my dad made some excuse why not to and my mom said just make sure it's gone by the end of the week...they both forgot and it's still there...I think my dad felt guilty...but you're right it isn't sacred writing...It's just garage and a waste of good paper.
I don't know that I really mark my progress but I'm getting married in June to a man who is not a JW but JW or not he is a wonderful person despite what I was taught at the KH...that people that aren't JW's might seem nice but will "spoil our useful habits". I don't think I will ever forget that scripture. I'm also moving to a new city were I don't know any of the JW's down there and don't want to either...I know I'll be able to relax and not have to worry about who I might run into...Who will shun me and act like they don't know me...It's so awkward and such a waste.