by teela(2) 17 Replies latest jw friends
Growing old in this system
This reminds me of what my mother would say. She would say she was so happy she would never have to grow old and suffer old age. She felt privileged to be living in this time of the end and know truth.
My parents are in old and have nursing care.
@jgnat yeah I realized. It's one of the reasons why I love Japanese culture so much. A friend of mine's grams is 89 and still runs her own caligraphy busines. It's so fascinating. In the era of download I must say that I don't watch much TV but the only channel I watch regularly is NHK. I'm lucky is broadcasted free in my country. They have amazing programs on the long standing Japanese traditions particularly on how they make stuff by hand, and mostly is elderly people featured.
Traditionally (as a former elder and account servant) the elderly, pre '75 age group were big contributors to the WBT$. This is fast drying up and it is going to be increasingly harder for the org to sustain itself for a large number of reasons, some of which are below:
1) Non-Dub family support will come with the caveat of reduced or eliminated meeting attendance. I have already heard of this happening locally and I witnessed it prior to my departure in 2010. The elederly will attend less and less and rely soley on shephearding calls that will not take place.
2) Children of both the elderly and emerging boomers will assume greater control via power of attorney for finances. Choosing between donation and costs incurred in their homes for taking care of elderly parents will be easy to make. If the non dub children outnumer the dub children that will pose a bigger problem. I believe that a number of dub children are already making wise choices in that charity begins at home.
3) the ratio of incoming vs outgoing is decreasing. Incoming are not as free with their money as the past generations were. They observed the events of 2008 and the fact that reliance on pension plans is a mistake. With the rich elderly gone there will not be enough support from other quarters - expect the org to ramp up about donations, planned giving, etc to be a bulwark against family attrition of assets.
Just some thoughts at lunchtime...
teela(2):It is certainly sad to see elderly JWs despondent because Armageddon has not come.
When I started my "fade" about twelve years ago, the first JW teaching I purged from my mind was the paradise earth and living forever thing. I made peace with the idea of growing old and dying. I don't truly think I believed their paradise teaching all that much but considered it more of a mental exercise. Too many holes in the belief, if you ask me.
It is much more "sane" to live in the here and now and enjoy whatever life and memories we have instead of letting the present life slip through your hands like sand in an hourglass and mentally fixating on a future never-never land. To me, this is so cruel.
Simon Morley:
Your predictions are pretty much what will probably happen.
When that older generation dies off it will be like the golden goose is gone. There is NO way that younger JWs even have the money to give to a religion, assuming they are even inclined to give. If they are struggling to make ends meet and don't have an education, I can only imagine how angry they must be!
When I was young, I remember an elderly couple back in the 70's who were "hanging on" because paradise was just around the corner. They both are long and gone without Armageddon coming. Just last week an elderly elder visiting my wife. He stated that he is eagerly looking forward to Armageddon coming soon because of the generation getting up in age. I mentioned the revised generation explanation that the WTS has now. I could see the disappointment in his eyes, but he will stay will the org until death.
I am 82 with over half a century of waiting for the end and "hastening" it. No problem, I always firmly believed the end was 15 minutes away. That the time thats left for Moscow, Peking, Washington, London and 20 000 other ground zeros after the start of another WW. Rev. 11:18 as read from older bibles. ( if the bible is to be believed).
if not, this life is good enough. blessings
I have an 81 year old mother that just had hip replacement and is particularly whiney about getting old. She goes around saying "I never thought I would get this old" blah blah blah. She is good health and should be around for awhile but that's what is bothering her I'm sure. she still thinks Armaggedeon is right around the corner and "why would people have children in this system of things?" like it's happening tomorrow.
she's also giving her estate to the WTBTS instead of me since she tells me "well you aren't going to live that long so you don't need the money"
Really? Well if Armaggedeon is right around the corner then why does the WTBTS need it? No reasoning with these people!!
Time has proved the die hards wrong and they irrelevant to all.
That's the thing. All the ones who are justified in being royally pissed off are now all old and feeble, and virtually irrelevant in their congregations. Heck, probably half or more are too frail to even go to meetings any more, and are wasting away in nursing homes.
And of course if you don't show your face in the Kingdom Hall, you are forgotten about within a month.
Even old elders are marginalized. "Oh that's old Brother Brittle. He's sort of our mascot, our elder emeritus. We let him sit in on elders meetings and chuckle if he snores too loud."
