Witnesses and aging

by man in black 22 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  man in black

  Last night my Dad called, (he has become more jw - like since my Mom died two years ago)

  We talked about normal things, relatives, weather, etc. until an opportunity rose up and he started with the

  "well you know that the world is going to end soon" routine so familiar to anyone associated with the witnesses.

  From that point the whole conversation went south:

  "the world will no doubt end sometime within Obama's administration"

  Your retirement funds, why are you concerned? Money will be worth nothing when the big A arrives, which is very very soon.

  Any other religion besides jw's will be destroyed soon, don't get involved with any of that stuff .

  When I mentioned that I have been fiddling around with canning things from the garden he chimed in,

  "well, when armaggedon arrives, people are going to search you out to get the things (meaning food) that you are saving. Let God take care

  of your needs.

  I felt like I had been hit in the head with a hammer after that call.

  I figure that he must be feeling somewhat insecure because the witnesses told him for 30 years that the end was coming, millions now living will never die/ false religion will soon be gone.

  30 years later,,,,, none of these things have happened. There has got to be an incredible amount of strange thoughts running thru his head. And perhaps by laying it on hot and heavy that will somehow make him and anyone who gets crushed by the jw reasoning "see the light".

  I feel that arguing is a hollow thing, he doesn't need to be told that jw's are wrong. So my current mindset is to allow him to spout off with his

  religious thoughts and drop an unsuspecting non confrontational - logic bomb once in a while.

  Nothing is positive or encouraging, doom gloom doom, the paradise earth is the ONLY thing to look forward to

  Has anyone else noticed this of persons who have been witnesses for decades, and suddenly they realize that none of the prophecies have come true and they really don't know what to believe / do, so they go gung ho into the witness mentality ?
• 

  straightshooter

  The ones that I know have become super active because they believe in all the new light revealed at the DC. I remember the past and the new light makes me sick. I was lied to by the WTS. But if I mention how the WTS has always said that the end was right around the corner, most jw look at me in disbelief. Even the old-timers seemed to have had their minds erased from what was said 30 years ago. My spouse believes whole-souled in that the end is still right around the corner, though she became a witness some 35 years ago.
• 

  exwhyzee

  Your poor Dad is afraid....he is trying to reassure himself that he won't grow old in this system by making these statements. Having someone he loves confirm his beliefs would go far in making him feel better about how much time has gone by and about getting old. It's very sad...try to be patient.
• 

  teela(2)

  My parents are both dead. When they talked end of the world , I gave them a particular look and said "I bet you when 1975 comes you will be laughing" I said this up until 2002 when they stopped saying any c***p like that and as they got close to dying there was a saddness never spoken that the big A had never come and they had missed out on so much.
• 

  cult classic

  I noticed that my grandparents had stopped talking about the new system before they died. But many of my relatives are gung ho about the end. They see this generation change as the ticket and say things like "it just can't be too far off now" Still zealous and raising the kids in it to sacrifice their young lives ... I know I stayed in way too long but now I just don't get it.
• 

  Quandry

  "well, when armaggedon arrives, people are going to search you out to get the things (meaning food) that you are saving. Let God take care

  of your needs.

  What? You would still have to buy canned goods if you didn't grow food in your garden. God doesn't miraculously put food in people's pantries.

  Ack! I know I used to sound like that, too! Everything anyone said could be used to witness.....
• 

  WTWizard

  And I suppose Jehovah is going to somehow provide you with what you "need". Of course, that Almighty Lowlife Scumbag gets to decide what you need--and, if he decides you don't need something that it turns out you did, too bad. And he can drag his feet as long as possible to "test" your faith and then refuse to provide at all if you try to get things before he decides you need them (which could well be never).

  True, your money will become worthless the longer Osama Obama and his DUMP-o-CRAPs remain in power. However, this has nothing to do with the approaching end. It could well be another million years, or longer, before we are able to undo what this pig is doing to our country, but that doesn't mean the end of the system of things is going to be here. All the while, you will be wasting whole lifetimes in an "emergency" that could as well last the remaining 4.5 billion years of the earth's life--and still be proclaiming the end is nigh when the sun swallows the earth at that time.
• 

  Mad Sweeney

  "well, when armaggedon arrives, people are going to search you out to get the things (meaning food) that you are saving. Let God take care of your needs."

  This is a common refrain among JWs that has NO BASIS in either scripture or official WT doctrine. Individual JDubs will not be "taken care of" by Jehovah God during the great tribulation. The Borganization will be protected and survive Armageddon but individuals are basically up for torture, death, and hope of a resurrection. THAT is the official doctrine. It is so incredibly horrific that almost NO JW will accept that as their belief.
• 

  Aussie Oz

  Give him a bear hug

  look into your fathers eyes

  and tell him it's ok to be scared, to be afraid of getting older, to be disapointed and to be trying to reassure himself that he has not thrown away his life. Because i too think that is whats going on...

  tell him you love him

  oz
• 

  exwhyzee

  Amen to that Aussie Oz....I am saying this as a father of two sons....if my Sons were to do as you said and then tell me that they loved me and that all I have done in my life is important to them...nothing else would matter to me. All the years I threw away on false hopes wouldn't matter anymore. I know that my boys do feel this now...but someday when I'm an old man and they are a bit older themselves, it would mean the world to hear this from them...it would take a lot of the sting out of getting old in this "system" after all.