my mother is a jw.
i studied for several years and ultimately could not digest what was being served.
for the last 20 years my mother has done nothing to prepare for retirement.
I suspect that many younger JWs (40's and under) are towing the organization line about the end being SOOOO close while at the same time quietly putting $$ into retirement accounts, working on a degree part-time or online, and otherwise taking care of business.
I want to add--the only reason my husband and I have any retirement savings is because I got a degree (then another one, then another one) and now have a great job with benefits. Totally NOT what the organization says to do.
newspaper stated that the highest jw.org lawyer handles the dutch court case.
so the highest level is involved.. the report of trouw, nationwide newspaper:.
the way jehovah's witnesses deal with sexual abuse is traumatic for victims.
@newsheep Ha! How did you know that's what Shane Brady used to be? I also knew him when he was a waiter in the dining room. Cold fish, even then.
a few weeks ago i had an really interesting conversation with three male jws who were loitering around a trolley at the west end of princes street in edinburgh.. i managed to completely avoid giving any hint about my jw past and focussed on why they thought the bible was a reliable moral guide.
i used the subject of slavery to illustrate my concerns.. one of the three was in his early twenties, knew a lot about his own beliefs but nothing about the real life and it was difficult to get through his thought-bubble.
the second one was in his 60s and not very bright.
That's the same answer they give to the question as to why God allowed polygamy in the OT. Women, including wives, were chattel.
i just got back from field service.
i haven’t been out in a few months so now we don’t keep any written records and we don’t know which houses are do not calls.
i also noticed i was the only one with a book bag.
I was at the Savannah airport passing through on business the other day and saw a JW couple sitting in a very quiet (nearly abandoned) nook near the car rental desks with a "JW.ORG" sign beside them. No lit, no cart, sitting on a bench about 20 feet back from where travellers would be walking, with this dumb blue square sign, about 12 inches by 12 inches. And counting time. Wow.
aren't they tiring out from saying this now?.
a jobo pimi-lite i know has a terminal illness (no names, no pack drill), was told, 'hold on, the end is so close.
the pimi-lite said they will need to hold on to their 'go bags(tm), then!.
Believe it or not, they even have a music video called "Just Around the Corner" that would be heartbreaking if it wasn't such clear propaganda. One of the last district conventions (regional whatever) I attended featured the term "imminent." Every talk used that term to describe how close the big A was. That was back in around 2009 and I remember asking my elder husband, "So what does imminent mean, exactly? Two months? Two years? Can't be more than five years or they'd be lying, right?"
...Right!
i was raised in it.
there were questions, but the psychological abuse prevented me from ever really getting answers.
i am naturally a logical thinker in spite of my decades of indoctrination, and my brain just never could get passed things that were glaringly huge issues.
Doesn't it, though? Welcome!
the watchtower doesn't hold out any hope for us ever seeing our beloved animals again.
i find it very difficult to believe that god -- a god of love -- would refuse to resurrect an animal that we had become so attached to.
over the years i have bonded with no less than four (4) dogs, all of which were/are like family to me.
Well, I no longer believe in a resurrection or any of that but even if I did, our planet is not big enough to hold all the resurrected dogs and cats!!! Yikes.
latest news in the netherlands press.
jw.org doesn't understand that this will blow their image more and more.. jehovah's want to stop publication of critical report on abuse.
jehovah's witnesses the netherlands wants to prevent the publication of a report on abuse within the community in summary proceedings.
I'm alarmed that someone can be convicted of raping a minor and only get 9 months.
currently reading : 30 years a watchtower slave.
cannot put it down.. this book pre-dates ray franz book "crisis of conscience", written from early 20th century, shortly after the jehovah's witnesses were formed.
the author describes the original true background of the watchtower society as a multi-million dollar publishing company.
I have not read it but just want to add that Franz in CoC doesn't come across as bitter or angry at all--in fact, his mild and logical tone was very impressive to me, particularly in contrast to the horrible vitriol that WT speakers reserve for so-called apostates.
i'm 43 and a divorced mother of 2. in january 2019 i met the man i thought i could spend the rest of my life with.
we were happy and even though our relationship wasn't perfect (like all relationships) i thought we had a chance and were building a life together with our young kids.
background on me - i've been divorced since 2012 after 12 years of marriage.
Becky, I am so sorry for your pain. The religion can have a powerful hold on people. You have identified the situation quite correctly--he wants to re-connect with his family, not necessarily God. JWs shun, as you know, and in this case, the shunning is working. My suggestion? Pick up your life and move on. I cannot imagine how difficult or painful this will be for you, but unless you are willing to become a JW hook, line and sinker, there is probably little alternative.
