Full time ministry Joy--or Lack Thereof

by WTWizard 16 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • WTWizard
    WTWizard

    I can remember all the while I was in the cancer that they would trump up the value of pious-sneering. One of those was the "joy" of serving Jehovah full time. They would always have these fantastic stories about how they had obstacles that they foolhardily disregarded, or that they got all these people into the cancer.

    This is full of rubbish. First, when you have stories about the "joy(??)" of helping someone else doing the same work you are doing, are you really benefitting yourself? What do you gain when you bring someone into the religion? Does doing so make Jehovah more eager to actually do something for you? Rather, does it make him tend to expect more out of you? I believe that it simply makes Jehovah do nothing except laugh while you are getting nothing, then point out some stock example in a Washtowel rag or the LIE-ble and expect you to do the next level. Do that, and expect nothing.

    While I was in, I would see the pious-sneers showing up usually 15 to 20 minutes late. And not because they had secular work that let out late, either. Because they are struggling to get up. Some would already have been out since 6 in the morning, after having a boasting session the previous evening. They don't feel like being out there, but they have their damn cup of coffee that they rely on to get going. I think coffee should be because you enjoy it, not because you need it in order to carry on a schedule this draining.

    And never mind screeching around. I have seen pious-sneers that were capable of walking 6 km/h doing less than 2, in fair conditions. There is more wasted time waiting around "gathering things", errands, and so on than time spent knocking on doors. And when they do knock on doors, most of them are hardly eager to talk. Usually they will knock twice, then take off. How many times I got past this point and the householder yells out a second story window "Who is it?". That always pxxxed me off, unless they retorted "Not interested!". True, they have call books full of calls and potential studies--that usually advance 5 or 6 lessons before they are perennially not home or lose interest, or bumble on for the whole book only to not have them show up at even a single boasting session. Hardly "joyous"--and even if they were all getting baptized, again it comes down to "How am I going to benefit? Remember, there is no point in doing this if you are not going to benefit personally.

    Then there are those fancy book bags I have seen advertised. I read some of the reviews that said "This bag gave me a whole new zeal for field service". Now, I don't see how that could happen. Usually, you get the feeling of relief when a product solves a major problem. Usually, the problem isn't the messy book bag. It is the mechanics of door to door, and if everyone's bag was perfectly organized, there would be so much less wasted time that most pious-sneers (and everyone else) look forward so much to. I, for one, would rather waste 15 minutes fumbling for my rags and call books than spending that same 15 minutes talking to someone that is spitting blood into a mayonnaise jar the whole time.

    In the end, there is no joy either. You do full time service to Jehovah, and you get nothing. Most pious-sneers that have been doing it for a long time are destitute and in relatively poor health. You get to be about 85 or so, and realize that most of what you were doing was a complete waste. People you "brought" in are out. Or, you started maybe 500 studies and not even one got past the middle of the book or saw the inside of the Kingdumb Hell. Financial troubles are plentiful, and you are struggling with health issues. Yet, in your old age, the congregation looks down on you once you become useless to them. You produced no value, and are now reaping.

    Perhaps as bad is what happens if you wish to stop. Suppose you dedicated your soul to Jehovah (your life, same thing in their eyes), and fully intended to do all you could for him. You got baptized and started pious-sneering to uphold your dedication. Some time later, Jehovah fails to fulfill his promises to you. What happens when you decide you no longer wish to pious-sneer? People develop health and money issues, too, that cause them to reasonably and prudently stop pious-sneering. Not to mention the danger that, if you wish to later dedicate your soul to Jesus (or Satan, as is the case more of recently), it is not available because Jehovah has full control and will not relinquish your soul. Right on this life, you get hounded when you stop pious-sneering. Adjust your schedule so you can keep pious-sneering--that is the stock advice. Rarely to never does it work.

    And for what? I never saw the potential for joy in pious-sneering. I got enough doing 20 hours a month, and that was not exactly joyful. To me, pious-sneering would only amplify the problems I had with 20 hours a month, and more than 3 times worse. As I saw it, you are not doing anything new--you are doing more of the same old thing. Not joyful.

  • fakesmile
    fakesmile

    eww. blood in a mayo jar. only in field service. sometimes i wondered why i was sticky when id leave a nasty house

  • perfect1
    perfect1

    I think some find joy in spending their lives in this kind of activity- each door, territory, RV is one step closer to the end of this wicked, wicked world.

    HA!

  • Heartofaboy
    Heartofaboy

    A pioneer I knew had to give up pioneering because of ill health.

    Did he get a letter of thanks from the borg for all the many years spent doing their bidding?

    Like hell he did!

    The letter he received was not full of love & thanks but more of condemning him for given up.

    And though he remained faithful to Jehovah in the way he understood, it was a real eye opener to him & all that knew him of how hard & unloving the WBTS really can be.

  • cobaltcupcake
    cobaltcupcake

    I pioneered for a year with a car group full of elderly people who did nothing but complain about their health, tell the same stories over and over, and not really do any field service.

    Everyone had a magazine route, so two weeks out of the month were spent doing everyone's magazine calls, stuffing the mags in the doors and driving off to the next door.

    It was a year in hell, let me tell you. And I was made to feel like spittle on the sidewalk when I quit.

    http://scottleblog.wordpress.com

    The Odd Life of Jehovah's Witnesses

  • Heartofaboy
    Heartofaboy

    An hour of H2H on Sunday was hell for me, I cant imagine doing it full time for a year.

    I did try to boost my hours to pioneer when I left school in the late 60's & I recall I hated it then..............ut it wasn't worth having a career in the world if it was going to be gone in 60 months was it??

  • Theocratic Sedition
    Theocratic Sedition

    I'll never understand the logic behind pioneering considering they're not accomplishing anything, and that's in harmony with 2 Timothy 4:5. These territories, at least where I'm at, are 99% apathetic to JWs. That said, if an elderly publisher in a high rise is given the ok to turn in 15 minutes as her field service time for the month, is it really any different from the regular pioneer putting in 70 hours a month? They both accomplish the same exact thing..........that.........being.........nothing. So what's the point? Why encourage it? I can only imagine they encourage it because it's busybody work. So how can the ministry be a joy if there's no point to it? We knock on doors offereing literature that we don't even find interesting. The householders either ignore you, politely tell you they're not interested, or belligerently tell you to the lost. (my favorte btw, at least it livens things up and gives me something to laugh about later!) Lately I've noticed that the only people who show any interest are ones with possible mental problems. That said, how is 70 hours of all that nonsense joyful? I ain't never been happy to go out in field service, and the only contenment I find after it's over is the very fact that it's over at least until next weekend. I'd rather die than do 70 hours of that crap a month.

    To illustrate the lack of joy in field service, consider this. Our Service Overseer is pushing the field service group overseers to be more active on Sundays. It used to be that there was a list with elders and ministerial servants, and each Sunday one of them would be responsible for taking the group out. Well that changed last year sometime, and now it falls on the group overseer's shoulders. What ended up happening was none of the group overseers would take the group out on Sunday. This new arrangement of letting the group overseers handle it was essentially a loophole destined to give people a day off on a Sunday. Most of the publishers don't want to go out on Saturday, let alone Sunday. So why push for more Sunday service? You're not accomplishing jack shit when doing field service on a Sunday, so why bother? They even had a KM article last year which tried a different method of guilt tripping ones to go out on Sundays. That being old school JWs fought for our rights to go out on Sundays, so we should show our appreciation and be out on Sundays. Again I ask the question, what's the point? They were jailed for their own brash ignorance.

    It's one thing if you can actually help people, give some comfort, assist people practically, or even study the Bible with people who are unfamilair with what's in it, but that's not what's happening. We're peddling literature, and being guilt tripped into continuing to do so despite common sense yelling at you that it's all pointless.

  • breakfast of champions
    breakfast of champions

    You want to see the most miserable, neurotic, sickly, spiritually void people in the congregation? Look no further than the pioneers. I can't even think of one who approaches being normal.

  • rip van winkle
    rip van winkle

    I guess I never knew how zealous my congregation was!!! The pioneers are busy! They are healthy. There's quite a lot of them. The elderly pioneers, although some have health issues (that come with age) are busy in the territory. They are not impoverished.

    What do they get out of it? Well, they feel that they are being "Blessed by Jehovah" for their part in seeking out and studying with those who are "hungry, honest-hearted, and humble." They feel they are doing "good works". And they don't look at the handing out of literature as more important than speaking to people. But, yes, they want to get the literature into the hands of someone who is willing to read it, otherwise, most don't push it.

    I know many who feel this way in other congregations, too. That is the difficult part; the pios think they ARE helping people come to an "accurate knowledge" of the "TRUE GOD, JEHOVAH", when they themselved don't know TTATT.

    On the other hand, most of the elders are the ones who "lack zeal" in the ministry. They are the ones who are eager to unload literature.

  • straightshooter
    straightshooter

    When I was a regular pioneer, it was joyful. Sure I distributed literature, but I felt that I was helping people who promised to read it. I conducted studies and enjoyed seeing them become part of the org. It was fun for me since I did not have any other recreation. I was single and if I was not in the field ministry, then I would be home doing nothing.

    Now I look back and see that pioneering was filling an empty void in my life. Nobody really benefited from the time and effort I exerted in the ministry. Though it kept me out of worldly trouble, it also kept me from an education that my dad so wanted me to have.

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