I, on the other hand, found any possible way to skip going to meetings. Got my fanny beat to a pulp many time for skipping out , but it never succeeded in motivating me to want to attend. carmel
What lengths did you go to, to not miss meetings?
by exwitless 29 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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WTWizard
I have had plenty of times when I had to work until 6 in the morning Saturday night, then have to go to an afternoon boasting session at 1:00 PM. Then I had to work that Sunday evening from 6:30 to about 1 the next morning (and they had the nerve to want me out in field circus the following morning at 9:00 AM).
One time, I got out of work at 6 in the morning on a Saturday morning, and had to go to the Great Boasting Session that day. Then I had to work that evening, and that was when we still had the regular boasting sessions when we had Big Boasting Sessions. Obviously, I would not recommend doing that, even if they tell you that only dying will be grounds to miss one of those wastefests (no, hounders, I will not disclose the year or the dates of those boasting sessions--you are going to have to earn your dinner this time!)
As of about 1996, after that 4/1/1995 Puketower article played out, I would start finding flimsy excuses to blow off boasting sessions. I "forgot" to buy a $10 umbrella, so the slightest chance of rain would be an excuse for me to skip. I also frequently "forgot" to set my alarm to go off in time for the evening boasting sessions. And I occasionally intentionally rigged it so I would have to stay late on Sunday mornings (that wouldn't work now) so I could blow it off. "Forgetting" to request the time off for the bigger boasting sessions really worked nicely, too. Now, I could as easily be ordering more Christmas decorations and miss one of those boasting sessions.
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martinwellborne
i am so messed up that i did not realize, until now when i am gone 6mths how tired we all were, stressed, ill, tortured, chewed up, used and spat out.
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Cicatrix
Well, since I was forever being counselled on missing meetings, I don't think I actually qualify, lol. I would have times where I would be a diehard attender, then I would get worn out and just not attend at all for a long time.
During the diehard attending days, I used to get home after working on the road twelve or so hours on Thursdays, and yell like crazy to get five children dressed, get the bookbag packed, and get us all out the door on time (well, at least the ones I could corral, lol, they got better at scattering as they got older). We often wouldn't have time to eat before we left, so I would hit the drive-through of a fast food joint and buy them dinner after the meeting. My kids thought that was the ONLY good part, lol.I remember listening to their stomachs growl during the meeting. GRRRRR!!! I'm the one growling now when I think about it.
I look back now and shudder at how much I used to yell. The "better to live on a roof than with a contentious wife" scripture used to guilt me to death-only in my mind I always replaced "wife" with "mother". It's only been since we left that I've realized how unbearable the pressure of trying to "be it all" was causing most of that. I was basically a married single mother.My husband thought anything remotely related to children was women's work, and any sign of his interest in church disappeared shortly after the ink on the marriage license dried, even though he'd attended quite regularly with me when we were dating, and even though I had told him that having a husband who would attend church with me was extremely important to me (that's part of the reason I got involved with the JWs. He quit going, I couldn't drive then, and the JWs would come right to my house to study with me).
Some of the younger gals at the hall tried to help out with my children,but they were usually told flat out by the elders they couldn't do it- that it was my job to keep five squirming, healthy, active children quiet and in their seats by myself.I was counselled that I needed to spank my children more. I was counselled that I needed to use something other than my hand to spank my children with.
One time when my children were all very young, I had to nurse my newborn, so took all of my children back to the library with me. The elder conducting the meeting actually STOPPED THE DARN MEETING TO ASK WHERE I WAS. Then shortly thereafter, there was a special needs talk about "not using the B school for a nursery." GRRR!!!! THEY couldn't make up their own minds whether they wanted me to watch all of my kids myself or not. Guess I was just supposed to let my newborn scream from hunger through the whole two hour meeting (this particular child had to nurse every darn hour-probably because I was so stressed out all of the time).
When we quit meetings altogether, I spent about two months just laying in my hammock in the yard after work on meeting nights.Often, one or more of my children would join me there, and we would just rock, slap mosquitoes, and enjoy the silence.
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bite me
I have a question:
What does one mean when they say "I will get into trouble if I miss another meeting" ? This is coming from a grown adult. What kind of trouble and why?
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exwitless
Now I realize how many people were just like me before the meetings - hungry, exhausted, grumpy, yelling at the kids to get ready, rushing around trying to find a pair of pantyhose without to big of a run in them, etc. Sometimes by the time I'd get in the car to go to the meeting, my heart would be pounding like I had just run a race. I'd say busting my butt to get to the meetings definitely brought out the 'not-so-good' parts of me.
I have a question:
What does one mean when they say "I will get into trouble if I miss another meeting" ? This is coming from a grown adult. What kind of trouble and why?
It means the elders DO notice if you miss meetings, and when they notice, they start hounding you wanting to know why you're missing meetings. They can and will take away "privileges" from you like mic handling, counting the contributions, reading at the WT study, etc. if you miss for reasons they don't approve of.
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bite me
aww, no mic holding? Cant count the money? And no reading aloud? Geez, they take a lot a way? What a shame! NOT!!
Sounds more of a type of control. I think they just want to know a persons business. -
flipper
EXWITLESS- I really feel we all lived in fear of the elders - not Jehovah. I had to rush to clean my commercial offices in my janitorial business from 5:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M. and take my meeting clothes with me to change into - it was a royal pain in the a$$ ! Rushing around when I served as a ministerial servant for 6 years and having to open the magazine room , too much stress ! I can honestly say - I love not going to meetings ! Peace out, Mr. Flipper
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knock knock
37' 9 3/4". Any farther than that and I simply couldn't make it.
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AlyMC
Cicatrix, what a sad situation :( Any single mamas I knew with multiple kids- us sisters would always help with them during meetings. It was actually encouraged. What a horrible experience for you.
I got the spanking thing a lot... and it would make me livid every time. It got so bad that I actually kept a typed up "report" of articles and scriptures in paper and disc on the topic of spanking in my car to hand out to anyone who got on me to spank. And the funny thing is, I left when my oldest was 3 and she was a very quiet kid. It was my BABY who was loud and they were suggesting I spank. blech.