@carla: this is exactly true. Iâm moving from atheist to agnostic/cultural Christianity, not baptized in the church nor member, and the pastor shook my hand today and congratulated me on my being accepted on a church committee. This would NEVER happen in JW-land.
@elderberry: what you call JW lite is not new. It is the position of almost every single elder with family or every single rich JW Iâve ever known over the past 40 years - rules for thee but not for me.
Iâve known people that have worked with Michael Jackson and reportedly MJ and his mother and a lot of the Jackson family was raised if not baptized JW, as are the Williams sisters as well who not so long ago posed nude on a retail magazine. Iâve known an elder 20 years ago, he owned a huge road construction and equipment rental business you may have heard of, had a contract with the US RBC. Iâve visited with the Vogel family who have a huge retail homeopathy empire (and are all JW, source their employees from to the local branch office in the Netherlands).
Guess what was common with all those people: they were rich, they all had fancy cars, them or their kids all got positions as elder or branch/circuit overseer, them or their kids rarely went in service (and donât think about using their 9-seat SUV for service, no, it was me in my rusty â97 Buick), their visits to the KH were sporadic at best (like you and me wouldâve gotten counseled), and they took the rules rather unserious, if you were on the âinâ at least their pool party get-togethers were not even moral by âworldlyâ standards, they were like Hollywood depictions of college frat parties, their daughters got unexpectedly pregnant etc. But they never get into trouble because they were rich and thatâs what it is all about when you go deeper into the cult, just like the Scientologists or the Mormons.
I have been âdeepâ in the organization, as you can see from some of my leaks I did a long time ago. I pin the blame on the JW organization because their policies are the cause of many issues that continue hurting people to date, including myself and my family, that is not a subjective reality, I can quote you the things I was told, I have published here the âProtecting children from the misuse of bloodâ handout that the WTBTS denies the existence of in court. What youâre basically saying is that Jews just wanted to pin the blame on the Nazis for their troubles during WW2, âthey may be rightâ - like WTF, youâre tone deaf.
Iâm not calling you out on your belief, it truly doesnât matter to me whether you believe the explanation of the Bible verses, thatâs irrelevant. Iâve changed my position on that many times over the years. Iâm calling you out on your actions or lack thereof which speaks to your objective moral depravity which may not be your fault, you were shaped like that as well by the organization, but you have to recognize when something is wrong, and then do something about it. You donât seem to be mature enough to understand the damage caused yet, but youâre an elder, you are legally going to be held responsible for your congregation, be very careful if youâre going to continue pursuing this lifestyle.
You can read my history, including my recent history, Iâm now in a position where I would be rich and an elder as well, I couldâve done what you do and shut my mouth and raise my kids in the same way as some of the elders I have known over the past decades. But I could not live with myself, once the handout âProtect your children from the misuse of bloodâ was given to me, I was told by the elders the various âoutsâ to the rules - have your child removed from your custody, say it was a lapse of judgment, just donât tell anyone etc. Iâm not sure if you ever had to do the spiel with any new expecting parents, but I could not live with myself doing that. I was counseled once for trying to console a mother who had just lost her baby and uterus, but she was poor, she was reprimanded for ending the pregnancy. I tried to do the right thing and got called out for it. Thatâs why I tell you: try to do the right thing for once and see how far you make it. The JW org is not about helping people, itâs about controlling people and itâs about power and money, unlike most churches.
And all the above is why I say: JW Lite is not new, itâs just what elders and higher ups consider JW to be, but like a pyramid scheme, you need a vast majority of underlings (there is ~1 elder to 20 âlower levelâ true believer people) that suffer and pay up with their assets and their life for you to be so cozy.