The situation with many old-timers is very, very sad. One long-time Bethelite told me 12 years ago when I was about to leave, "I've invested too many years in the organization to pull out now." Since then he has added 12 years of time and energy and life to his investment, if he is still alive!
The more that is invested, the greater the loss. Old persons who have spent their lives in full-time service have no funds to fall back on. If they're able to get a job, it has to be for low wages. To squeeze by and stay out of debt, they have to depend upon the government or even upon an organization like Catholic Charities! They can count on it that the WT organization won't hand them even a dollar.
The exception, of course, are elderly Bethelites who live in lavish comfort without a care in the world as the organization's doctors, nurses, dentists, chiropractors, cooks and housekeepers look after their every need. When I was a Bethelite, I used to feel ashamed when some outspoken JW would mention this. With mixed emotions I viewed the person as having "a bad attitude," but deep down I knew he or she was so right about the unfairness of it all.
The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the seat of Moses. Therefore all the things they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds, for they say but do not perform. They bind up heavy loads and put them upon the shoulders of men, but they themselves are not willing to budge them with their finger. ... “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you give the tenth of the mint and the dill and the cumin, but you have disregarded the weightier matters of the Law, namely, justice and mercy and faithfulness. These things it was binding to do, yet not to disregard the other things. Blind guides, who strain out the gnat but gulp down the camel!" (Matthew 23:2-4, 23, 24, NWT)
