Posts by leaving-jws

24

What if regular meeting attendance wasn't a requirement?

by R.F. in

we all know how regular meeting attendance is the ultimate way of measuring the "faith" of those among the religion, other than field service reports.

what do you think would happen with the attendance numbers if you were only encouraged to go as a sort of option, if you weren't hounded for not attending regularly?

leaving-jws

I think if regular meeting attendance wasn't a requirement most people would still go. Only the people who really did not want to be at the meetings, in the first place, will use it as an excuse not to go.

Most people would see it as a sign that the Great Tribulation is about to errupt.

They would say, "See, Jehovah is preparing us for the Great T when the meetings will have to go underground. Jehovah wants to test us to see how we will respond during the Great T!"

Plus, you will still have those competitive people (pioneers, elders, and elderettes) who would say, "Even though regular meeting attendance is not mandatory, I do not forsake meeting attendance because I love Jehovah."

36

My wife is attending an "Assembly"?

by Shadow1 in

jw
friends

my wife has gone to attend an "assembly" can anyone tell me what goes on at these meetings?.

-"un-believing mate" still very new to all of this.. .

shadow1.

leaving-jws

I agree with more of the postings that the assemblies are just larger meetings with more guilt-ridden lectures to make them do more (meeting attendance and field service).

However, I think the most important thing you need to thing about is when elders from her kingdom hall will want to come over to visit with you. There aim will be to convert you by starting a bible study !

21

Watchtower Comments VIDEO (Pay Attention)

by V in

leaving-jws

Awesome! Awesome! Awesome!

I loved the point about the 1914 chronology and how most JWs cannot explain it because it doesn't make sense.

23

was anyone actually proud and happy to be spreading the word(ministry)

by looloo in

i can only think of one person who actually seemed to have "joy in her heart "on the min when i studied , and even the dubs used to hate being put with this person, it all seems so obvious now that it has nothing to do with a love for god , but doing whats expected of you

leaving-jws

I remember there was a period right after 9/11 when everyone at my KH was afraid of terrorism errupting into the Great T. Honestly, at that point I remember being happy to go out in FS because I thought it what I needed to do to save myself. I don't remember being concerned about people in the community per se. I knew, as did others in my KH, that people did not want to hear the message. But we felt obligated to go out to earn our own salvation.

I don't ever remember being proud or happy about spreading the word. But I do remember feeling like "I am in the light and you are in the dark" in respect to householders. And I felt that my religion had all of the answers.

Looking back I feel bad about the way I felt. Also I realized that the FS is a selfish act for most JWs.

Its about saving yourself and your family members, not others.

14

Did you have any self righteous holier than though in your congro??

by karter in

we moved to a new congro when we got married there was a pioneer couple who looked down on anyone who wasn't as good as them.. my wife was pioneering i was working my butt off trying to save some money to buy a house (we did) these 2 looked down on anyone who brought anything nice ,we found out they were running down to the welfare for a free handout at the expense of hard working people like me just to look good.. take away the label pioneer they would probably support themselves.. another solo mum living on welfare used to rave on how she pioneered lets face it having the state pay you to bring up one child she had plenty of time on her hands.. i was working on council houses and helped her get one even helped her move into it ,soon after she married the father of her child (he became a jw) after the help my wife & i had given her we didnt get an invite to the wedding they only invited elders , ms , regular pioneers one of my mates who was a pioneer said '' don't know why they invited me don't even know them''.

.

fast forward after much , much ass licking (you had to see it to believe it ) he became an elder only to be removed a few months later.

leaving-jws

Oh yeah we did! Ironically, they were always the ones that were on the pioneers assist others committee! I remember I got signed up to be in the program by my book study overseer. My partner was so excited to have a publisher under her wings in the beginning. But then she started to feel like it was a burden as I would overhear her tell her friends, "I can't work with you guys today because I have to stay with her." Serves her right for being a busy body!

41

only part of meeting you enjoyed

by martinwellborne in

jw
friends

for me it was bible reading, where you could express your own opinion, in line with present truth of course.. pre the change it was awful listening to some fool telling you his opinion of bible highlights.

leaving-jws

I loved the kingdom melody breaks so I could go to the bathroom and talk to my friends

8

Would this be considered shunning?

by dinah in

jw
friends

hey folks!

this is just an example of how the uber-dubs shun all of society.. my daughter and her best friend went skating the other night.

my cousin's daughter (who is still a jw) was there.

leaving-jws

Hi Dinah,

This is definitely shunning! Stuff like this really makes me mad. I watch my dad do this to his sister all of the time. But the sad part is that your daughter got caught in the middle of it. It must be very painful for you to know your daughter was shunned by a family member.

33

I NEED TO VENT

by Cindi_67 in

jw
friends

for the past weeks, i have gotten in touch with a lot of old high school classmates.

a lot of them i've found over the internet.

after reading their profiles and talking to them, to my surprise, a lot of them are professionals with degrees like doctors, engineers, business, etc.

leaving-jws

Hi Cindy_67,

When I read your post I totally understood you. There are so many JWs that put their lives on hold waiting for the big A. But you cannot let yourself feel discouraged because of your decision. At the time, you thought you were doing the right thing.

But like what others have already written. It's not too late to make a change. Don't dwell on the past! I was in your shoes as well. But when I realized the hypocrisy in the religion, I quickly made changes and re-evaluated my life. I pursued my education and now I can called myself a professional.

You can do it too.

11

Being a JW: Like a Competitive Sport???

by leaving-jws in

one thing i hate about being a jw is all of the competition.

i've been actively fading for about several months now.

but, to make the family happy i attended a meeting about a week ago.

leaving-jws

It's all about the competition! After field service the first question that will be asked by the frontrunner (pioneer) at a street corner is "how many magazines did you place?" Not like they care. They just want an opportunity to tell you about all of the great success they had in placing WTs. I am so happy to be away from the rat race!

Carmel: I understand why you would assume that I was projecting based on my vague statement of being eyeballed. But I have a buddy that everyone questions to get information about my whereabouts. And the people eyeballing me coincided with the people asking about me.

11

Being a JW: Like a Competitive Sport???

by leaving-jws in

one thing i hate about being a jw is all of the competition.

i've been actively fading for about several months now.

but, to make the family happy i attended a meeting about a week ago.

leaving-jws

One thing I hate about being a JW is all of the competition. I've been actively fading for about several months now. But, to make the family happy I attended a meeting about a week ago.

After the meeting I was reminded about the meeting times and field service arrangement locations and times by a few elders and elderettes. As if I did not already know this! People that hardly ever go the meetings were eyeballing me as if they were better than me as I never go to the meetings anymore.

So here is my question, do you find being a Jehovah Witness is all about competition?? Doesn't it at times feel more like a competitive sport than an alleged religion??