What's the Worst Advice You Heard of an Elder Giving Someone?

by Sea Breeze 48 Replies latest jw friends

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  WingCommander

  @TonusOH:

  You are correct, the UN declared 1986 "The International Year of Peace." Interestingly, the first US-USSR summit between Reagan and Gorbachev were in Reykjavík, Iceland, in October 1986. So this really pushed the hype even further, as October has always had special prominence in JW past lore.

  @LongHairGal:

  I was very young in 1984; 5! But I can still see and remember these issues of the WT literature as clear as a bell in my mind. (though my nearly total recall photographic memory helps, I can even smell memories at times)

  I too often wonder what people back then would think about today. For reference, I'm now 44. My entire JW family that I grew up with? Dead. ALL of them. All of the older ones my parents studied with and adored? That cared for me? Dead. ALL of them. They were kinda elderly then. Add to that, that 9 out of 10 JW youth that were my age have LEFT, never to return and you've got a weird vibe now. Only the most die-hard homeschooled children of Elders & Sister Piosneer Elderette's are the only ones that stayed. Anyone desiring a normal life or just plain fed-up with the hypocrisy, lies, false hope, and two-faced congregation BS, up and left - never to return!

  It's a real shit show now....unrecognizable as the religion I was born and raised in. Always was kinda a cult, but now it's like they're not even really trying to hide it, it's an open secret. And any "worldly" person who MIGHT be interested, soon loses interest after a 5 minute Google search.

  It's so bizarre to look back now after this much passing of time. Like, I pity my poor dead parents for not having the resources at their fingertips we all have now. I'd have been spared this BS and had a chance at a normal childhood and education.
  
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  LongHairGal

  WING COMMANDER:

  You said a lot. I’m sorry you lost all the people you cared about. And, yes, the Witness religion is now unrecognizable. Those JWs must be turning in their graves!

  I know you have regrets about not having a so-called normal childhood and that is understandable. I seem to remember you once mentioned your mom was an RN. So, you at least were exposed to somebody who had a responsible job. I have to assume you are decently employed. At age 44 you are relatively young.

  Just imagine the many thousands of JWs who have now reached retirement age after hardly working at all?.. No preparation whatsoever.. Assuming any of them have any skills at all, how many are getting a job tomorrow? Not many I would wager.. This is a dreadful predicament and I would get ill just thinking about it - and this is why I thank God I was that ‘low hour publisher’ all those years ago!
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  Beth Sarim

  ""And yes the Witnesses religion is now unrecognizable. Those JWs must be turning in their graves!"

  You know something. There are still some very old school JWs from the 1960s & 1970s era who have eaten & drank all the WT koolaid for 5 plus or more decades. Still going strong at it after all these years going for it hook line and sinker.

  You gotta wonder???

  WTF is going on in their brains?????

  
  
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  Beth Sarim

  5 plus decades believing the nonsensical garbage from New York.

  I just dont know how to feel??

  Mad,,disillusioned,,disbelief,,anger or pity,,sad????

  I just cant put my finger on it??

  Numerous flip flops??

  WTF??

  
  
• 

  Rivergang

  Another thing about that bloody lot is the way they seem to think that they can - as it were - " Both hunt with the hounds and run with the hare - all at the same time".

  Just one example of this was during the big push for pious-sneering pioneering during 1980s.

  I can well recall in 1982, when our Circuit Overseer posed the question "Do you really think this system will still be going in ten years' time?" However, in his next sentence, he attempted to somewhat cover his backside, with the escape clause "Please don't go around saying 'The Circuit Overseer said the end will happen within the next ten years' ". (Sorry, Sandy Pannel, wherever you are now!)

  Aside from that, other bad advice which was commonly dished out during those years of the late 1960s / early 1970s was to do with the acquisition of property. Young couples were warned off from buying their own home, being told that they were "better off renting". Later, when things did not develop the way the WTS predicted, many now found that owning their own home was out of reach - when earlier, they might have been able to purchase one. (This is exactly what one can expect when religion pokes its ℲUCꓘIИǤ nose into people's personal affairs).

  Otherwise, how I envy those of you that didn't totally swallow the Kool Aid and are now retired! Now in my late sixties, I am still working full time (though luckily, my job - classified broadly as a "Busted @ss Electrician" - is not that physically demanding that I cannot manage). With a bit of luck, though, I ought to be able to give it way before my 70th birthday (which falls early next year).
• 

  joe134cd

  RN3500: Are you still married
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  joe134cd

  I think Sandy Pannel is living in matamata now.
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  Beth Sarim

  I know of a family who are old school JWs from the 1960's and 1970s era.

  They had their children just before 1975.

  Bought their first home in that time era.

  They even used their company benefits dental plan to invest in their kids dental work.

  Remember,,, these are " old school"" JWs who believed the ""END WAS Imminent"" since the late 1960s thru 1975....and still believe so to this very day.

  Remember,, these are old school full on hard corr believers who believed the "end"" is always imminent...
• 

  Rivergang

  Beth Sarim,

  I notice that those who have remained with the religion are a bit like “Christendom’s” church members:

  - they may give lip service to everything their religious leaders say, while quietly ignoring the more extreme demands of their religion.

  (In gambling terms, I believe it is called “Taking a bet both ways”)
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  Beth Sarim

  Rivergang,

  Hedging your bets & taking your bet both ways .

  You can see it by their actions.