by BU2B 36 Replies latest jw friends
Clambake - "...according to the WTS and the new understanding of Gog and Magog the end of the system of things will happen when there is a huge migration of Jehovah witnesses to the middle east in the mountains of Israel and they will be attacked by a coalition of nations from Central Asia to Northern Africa..."
Wait, what????
Did I miss something? When did they decide this?
If you look at alot of the older ones they have that WTF look on their face(s).
How many Elders have their kids in college? Are they buying into the "end is just around the corner?" Unfortunately, some still buy into it but not as much as they used to.
We have watched our aging family members have to struggle financially and physically (due to menial labor jobs). They have that WTF look too! They never thought they would be where they are today. We NEVER thought that way. We got some education (not as much as we should have), got married, bought a home and had kids. Thank goodness we lived our OWN lives and not the Watchtowers!
There are those, perhaps the majority, who hang on to "The Truth" more as an insurance policy than anything else:
- just in case that Group of 7 Madmen in New York have got it right after all.
Otherwise, they plan for the long haul "In This System".
Certainly, my daughter and son in law (both in their mid-thirties) are talking retirement and pensions - whereas myself at the same age would have still subscribed to the idea "waste of time, that (elusive!) New System is going to be here before then."
Bill
If there were no consequences for stopping field service, no 'encouraging visits', no "we've missed you's", no CO chasing up elders when people go irregular, no risk of DA, DF, or shunning, and no being looked down on judgmentally and being avoided by people you've known for decades, then half the JW's would walk out tomorrow.
The congregations are held together with peer pressure and fear pressure.
My experience with JWs is similar to the other posters here. I especially get the impression that for most of the younger 2nd / 3rd gen JWs it very much is basically a social club and the "end is nigh" concept isn't really of much interest.
I recall back in the 70's it really was so different , with all the "stay alive till '75" encouragement.
I remember a few years ago a ( former ) very good friend of mine who is an elder JW bought himself a second home and was taking about it as his "pension plan" ( he was about 40 at the time ). His wife is a pioneer & he is the kind of higher up elder who always gives talks at assemblies etc.
I chatted with him later alone over a few drinks ( at that time I was planning my exit & he knew I had doubts ) & asked him about why he described it as a pension plan bearing in mind that it would be 25 years before he retired. He just shrugged his shoulders and admitted that he no longer believed that the end was coming , although he said his wife did. He had no pension plan at all & he had seen many older JWs really struggle in their later years , including his own parents.
I suspect many JWs , consciously or sub consciously , are like this. While they might pay lip service to it, in their hearts they know it might never happen , so they live their lives accordingly.
Deep down in their hearts, probably no jw really believes anymore. It's extremely difficult to admit their lack of belief but reality has set in for most. And of course all they need to do is look at their leaders and see that the gb is NOT preparing for the end, they are preparing to expand jehober's earthly possessions. The only urgency today in the wtbts is survival.
just saying!
eyeuse2badub
Splash - "If there were no consequences for stopping field service, no 'encouraging visits', no 'we've missed you's', no CO chasing up elders when people go irregular, no risk of DA, DF, or shunning, and no being looked down on judgmentally and being avoided by people you've known for decades, then half the JW's would walk out tomorrow."
Oh, I'm pretty sure it'd be more than just half.
eyeused2beadub - "...If all they need to do is look at their leaders and see that the GB is NOT preparing for the end..."
Not to mention that it's (I suspect) getting harder and harder to convince oneself (or others) that this is a worse time to be alive than, say, the Old West, or the Dark Ages, or the First Century AD...
A JW friend of my husbands started writing to me out of the blue after we were out for many years. She said last year her husband, who has glaucoma, should have gone to the hospital for an eye test and the appointment didn't come through when they expected it. So what did they do, nothing. They just left it, didn't contact the hospital. They were 'busy'. Now he has almost gone blind in one eye.
I used to take my father to the hospital for his glaucoma tests, we never missed an appointment! I couldn't believe what she wrote. They are working away on a new KH and also putting up workers in their home, and both having to earn a living after sixty. Sounds exhausting but I would say anyone who missed hospital appointments when they could go blind really believes in the end coming "soon" and thinks working for the WTS is more important than their health.
I said as much to her when I wrote about the convention talk last summer some guys posted on here. It said they have to put the Kingdom first and food, family and health must come second. Looks like they are following that advice.
