Did you feel pushed into pioneering? (page 2)

cult classic

Xan,

I thought I was "volunteering" to pioneer. I now realize how afraid I was not to pioneer. Threats of death due to lack of maintaining your spirituality is a strong motivator.

No one volunteers to be a slave. No matter how much they smile while pleasing the master.

JWs love laying on the guilt in order to strong arm you into servitude. Then, if and when you snap out of the BS, they'll "remind" you that, "it was your choice all along".

Didn't know you had options while you were a faithful witness now, did you? It is such a slap in the face.

- Cult Classic

MrFreeze

Definitely pressured into it and also pressured into not stopping... which is why I left cold turkey.

The last convention I attended, I remember a talk given. The brother said "Are you regular in service, if not, why not? If you are regular in service, can you auxiliary pioneer? If not, why not? If you you are auxiliary pioneering, can you regular pioneer? If not, why not? If you are a regular pioneer, can you special pioneer? If not, why not? All I could think was, what the F do they say to make the special pioneers feel guilty?

It was one of my "aha" moments that year, they didn't care about service, they cared about keeping you guilty and afraid. Could God possibly be so cruel as to expect people to spend their lives in futile, ineffective and demoralizing field service? I couldn't imagine it. I was immune to the manipulations, and saw it for what it was as. If God exists, he doesn't require human sacrifices.

Xanthippe, I am sorry about your husband.

cult classic

MrFreeze - I forgot about the pressure to continue to pioneer. Pioneer meetings are designed specifically to keep you on the pioneer roster.

LisaRose - It is demoralizing, isn't it? And when you're removed from your emotions as any good JW is, you can't recognize that fact.

Jaidubdub

When I left my full time job, the sister who studied me asked what my plans were. I had recently moved to a new city so told her I had planned to go back & visit my friends for a few weeks then come back & look for another full time job. She suggested I pioneered, I told her that pioneering wasn't for me. She asked me how can I really say that since I never pioneered before & gave me a long lecture about the purposes of my baptism & dedicating my life to Jehovah etc. Out of guilt I started pioneering. After a few months I stopped as I couldn't survive on a part time wage & my savings had dried up & I refused to go on welfare as was suggested by other pioneers. I had always wanted to return to pioneering if my circumstances ever allowed me. But after learning TTATT, I flat out refuse to be controlled by them ever again.

Listener

I am sorry to hear of your husband's death at a relatively young age and I am glad that you did end up getting some opportunities to travel. I think you're trying to look at your past with some objectivity. It was your choice even though you did feel pressured into it. Try to keep a focus on the good things that you experienced from your pioneering. It might include learning to live on less, being able to spend much more time with your husband than you would otherwise have had the opportunity to do etc. I remember spending my final school holidays going out into service as often as I could. I was very positive to begin with and thought it would help me grow spiritually and spending time with the other pioneers whom I believed were highly motivated. Neither of those things happened. I found it depressing and new I couldn't keep up any enthuisiam for it. What surprised me the most was the lack of 'sisterhood' amongst the female pioneers. They avoided working with each other and had formed their own very small groups, there was little support between them and I found it very negative. I didn't want to do it and was obviously a disappointment to my 'elder' father but at lease my younger sisters felt they had a choice. As it is, most of us don't make the best choices when we look back on it later in life.

rebel8

I actually was forced to pioneer. Any money I earned on my job was taken away from me, so I could not save enough to escape. I was threatened that if I did not pioneer I would be kicked out of my home. I ended up having to hide cash and take extra shifts while lying about my whereabouts, earning in secret so I could eventually leave.

This is known as financial abuse.

I am posting this in the hopes people will realize how sinister this religion can be.

Julia Orwell

"Lord, lord, did we not Pioneer in your name? Did we not do 70 hours a month in your name?"

And what does Jesus say in reply?

Sammy Jenkis

Xanthippe, I never actually full time pioneered but when I graduated high school I did the auxiliary for about a year straight and did not feel pushed as much as I felt heavily encouraged to do it. I remember this one elder in particular had "encouraged" me to try out for Bethel by starting to pioneer but the thought of moving to NY to work for free didn't sit well with me.

Anyways the pressure of making time sucked, I mean there were moments I didn't even care about what I was telling people as long as I could make my hours. After that I never auxiliary pioneered ever again, I couldn't see where all the joy came from as I was too worried about upsetting Jehovah by not making time or by not pioneering so either way I seemed to be boned. You're so right, life's too short to waste worrying about worrying- hopefully your friend can see your point and take advantage of time before it escapes.

Xanthippe

Wow I got up this morning to all these posts. Thank you very much for all your great ideas everyone, here's a few highlights,

If somehow, with a lot of financial "jiggling" you could pioneer but weren't you were "shirking". - Abbasgreta

Graduating High School and having college closed off and a War going on in Vietnam my generation of JWs were trapped with Pioneering as The Choice. - Designs

Your question brings up bad memories. The easiest answer is of course, yes, but there was so much more to it than that. - Lois

I don't see how anyone could *not* feel pushed into pioneering. It was shoved down your throat at every.single.meeting that if you weren't pioneering yet, you had better be making plans to start - Finally Awake

Relentless prompting from the platform and publications that if you do not preach "blood-guilt" is upon you. Then special articles in the km specially in the school vacation time entitled: "Will you do more in these months?" - T D Joseph

I thought I was "volunteering" to pioneer. I now realize how afraid I was not to pioneer. Threats of death due to lack of maintaining your spirituality is a strong motivator... I forgot about the pressure to continue to pioneer. Pioneer meetings are designed specifically to keep you on the pioneer roster.- Cult Classic

Definitely pressured into it and also pressured into not stopping... which is why I left cold turkey. - Mr Freeze

It was one of my "aha" moments that year, they didn't care about service, they cared about keeping you guilty and afraid. Could God possibly be so cruel as to expect people to spend their lives in futile, ineffective and demoralizing field service? I couldn't imagine it. I was immune to the manipulations, and saw it for what it was as. If God exists, he doesn't require human sacrifices. - Lisa Rose

gave me a long lecture about the purposes of my baptism & dedicating my life to Jehovah etc. Out of guilt I started pioneering. - Jaidubdub

I actually was forced to pioneer. Any money I earned on my job was taken away from me, so I could not save enough to escape. I was threatened that if I did not pioneer I would be kicked out of my home...I am posting this in the hopes people will realize how sinister this religion can be. - Rebel8

"Lord, lord, did we not Pioneer in your name? Did we not do 70 hours a month in your name?" And what does Jesus say in reply? - Julia Orwell

Thinking about my friend and how to help her see TTATT it seems to me that these thoughts are very helpful,

I think you're trying to look at your past with some objectivity. It was your choice even though you did feel pressured into it. Try to keep a focus on the good things that you experienced from your pioneering. It might include learning to live on less, being able to spend much more time with your husband than you would otherwise have had the opportunity to do etc. - Listener

Anyways the pressure of making time sucked, I mean there were moments I didn't even care about what I was telling people as long as I could make my hours. After that I never auxiliary pioneered ever again, I couldn't see where all the joy came from as I was too worried about upsetting Jehovah by not making time or by not pioneering so either way I seemed to be boned. - Sammy Jenkis

This, from Cult Classic, really hits the nail on the head for me as regards my OP,

JWs love laying on the guilt in order to strong arm you into servitude. Then, if and when you snap out of the BS, they'll "remind" you that, "it was your choice all along". Didn't know you had options while you were a faithful witness now did you? It is such a slap in the face.

Brilliant CC that is exactly what my friend seems to be saying to me, it was your choice to work so hard, nobody made you you had options .

If you felt forced to pineer it was all in your own mind. Just like the 1914 thing they step back from all the talks, conventions and magazine articles about pioneering and say, we didn't say that! So if we felt guilty that was our own conscience.

Thanks guys I think I know where I am going with my next letter now, appreciate your help. I echo what Sammy says,

You're so right, life's too short to waste worrying about worrying- hopefully your friend can see your point and take advantage of time before it escapes.

Did you feel pushed into pioneering?

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