by justice34 7 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Hi there,
Organization and congregation seems to give so much attention to the pioneers and the hours. Encouraging the members to get even the 30h at the month of C/O visit even if they don't complete the minimum of the hours. Why do they give so much praise and attention to pioneers? Even to the point of having seperate meetings now during Covid and give directions through the elders to be leaders on the ministry by letter work.
Please say your opinions what do you think.
If you make someone think they are special, make them think they are superior to others, even though you treat them like festering pig pus, most of them won't notice.
By making pioneers feel "special" about themselves, and superior to "plain old publishers", they won't notice that they are doing utterly meaningless wheel-spinning drudgery. Instead they'll think "Well, the work is pointless and dull, but at least I'm better off than that poor slop who's only a publisher".
It's nothing new or unique to JWs. The Jim Crow laws were not so much pure racism as they were an economic lever against poor rural whites. "We'll pay them a pittance to work in our textile mills and won't let them unionize, but so long as they think they're better off than those g-d n*****s, they won't notice."
This is a business and belief structure that can't stay stagnant in growth, it would financially implode.
To survive financially it needs constant new members.
Members provide two things, money and new members (ministry and having children).
Every young new member has the potential to supply decades of new members, with about half of their indoctrinated future children staying.
Older new members may leave the WT its finances especially with family distancing based on WT doctrine.
Watchtower know their stats inside out, hence all the data they collect from members. They know roughly how many hours ministry = x1 new member.
Bethelites, CO'S, Elders.... don't bring in new members. Pioneers tended to, just for statistical reasons. Watchtower know their business well and that sustaining it's position it is all about the hours of ministry!
Hence Pioneer privilege.....
But.....this will likely decline as 'the ministry' faces data and truth via the internet. Pioneers and ministry grind can't match an informed public.
I can see WT taking a 'new light' approach to ex members. A large source of potential new members. An 'all is forgiven' new light and new love bombing of long lost family and friends. I also can imagine a attempt to maintain retention by altering strict rules and making JW life a little easier.
You must have ranks and levels in any MLM scam. There has to be someone above to shame those below into action.
It’s like the CO in my area said to the Elders, “You are the Shepherds of the sheep. Use the Shepherd’s Rod to drive the sheep into action. They won’t do anything unless you push them.”
Then he talked about making the sheep jump over the rod to enter the fold. I asked, “Why would you ever force a tired sheep to jump something? Why not help them and let them rest. How can making them jump be loving?”
I’m now an “Apostate” of course...
DD
JUSTICE34:
Back when I was in years ago, there was an aggressive push to get everybody to pioneer. Didn’t matter who you were, they pushed it relentlessly.
They fawned all over pioneers and they got invited to special gatherings and dinners. If you weren’t pioneering you were made to feel guilty..But, I could not let this affect me because I HAD to work. I saw some younger people my age who pioneered and lived on the ‘edge’ with various cleaning jobs..They and some older types (affluent ladies with a non-JW husband who let them do their thing) would try to tell me what ‘blessings’ they receive and that I should ‘pray real hard for faith’, etc..It still never moved me to do anything so rash as to quit my decent full time job to pioneer!
In time I noticed I was avoided and not invited anywhere much. I also heard the remarks and hints about ‘materialism’ and ‘lack of faith’. I just plugged along and stayed on the fringes of the congregation.
Now..all these years later: I am Retired but would have been Out of Luck if I had listened..The younger pioneer couples (who would also be Baby Boomers) some might be doing ‘okay’ because at some point years ago they wised up (probably needing medical benefits) and one of them got an office job. Good for them if they did.
But, those older affluent retirees (the Greatest Generation) who were pushing pioneering and poverty for younger people there - have passed away and not even around to help anybody gullible enough to have listened!
pioneers received literature, magazines ( made tax free by slave labour ) at wholesale prices.
I Pioneered for a month. Just not worth it and a big waste of time. In fact the whole JW thing is one big waste of time that only a small few benefit from.
If you are in good-enough standing you can pioneer on 0 hours a month. Although it was not spelt out to me, I told the CO that I could not continue pioneering because I could no longer do the hours or anything like. However the CO did not want me to step down. Whatever I could do was acceptable. For me that was 0 hours. But I imagine I would have been expected to lie or have a plausible excuse every month/year. However no one would have questioned me.
But what happens to your conscience when you lie about something this stupid? You don't have to do it so why do it unless the status is important to you.
I think they main things was that they could get me on the platform and use me as an example. But I wasn't going to mislead others so I stood down.
Also I know of elders and their wives who would REGULARLY have it announced that they were pioneering get the applaus, then they would just not do it and say they had been ill.
