by hoser 28 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
This is a video on jw broadcasting to quit your full time career, sell your house and belongings and start a window washing career.
I agree with some of what is presented but not all. It is good to live within your means as presented in this video.
It is short term thinking to sell off your assets (house) and go back to manual labour.
What will you do when you are too old to work and too poor to pay rent?
It all works fine for witnesses in their 20s and 30s, who are in good health. Run your own little cleaning business, with the added benefit of keeping a lot of that earned cash off of the governments radar. I'm sure we all knew plenty of JWs who under reported income.
But all good things come to an end. Exactly as you state Hoser, once you hit your 40s things start to break. No retirement accounts, no home ownership and you are at the mercy of your housing market which could really put you in a bind. And of course come retirement time all that unreported income back in the day means lower social security checks here in the USA.
Truly the best way of life!!
Such short-sighted guidance!
Along with that, the witnesses are expected to donate, donate, donate to the society and its kingdom!
But when witnesses get older and have no money to support themselves in their old age, will they be given anything back from the society? Hmmm? Didn't think so.
Instead, they will be counselled for "not counting the cost" and for "becoming a burden on others".
Hoser - What will you do when you are too old to work and too poor to pay rent?
Stuckinarut - Such short-sighted guidance!
A lot of lives have been wrecked by that type of thinking.....financial insecurity is probably one of the lesser killers that religion leaves in its wake, though......childless elderly...deaths from bleeding out...mental illness, anxiety, panic...paranoia, persecution complexes, and on and on.....family disintegration...it is a very dangerous religion to mental and physical health...and to society in general because they feel entitled to use and abuse the system while never giving back.
I pioneered with a brother who had a very good job with a credit union; he sold his house in the early 70's, lived off the cash and pension he cashed in.
When he ran out of money, he became a house painter (this is a guy who was high up in the credit union).
After 20 years of that, he got his old job back at the credit union, and retired with money to spare.
Another brother in the same congregation also quit a very good job with the state, bounced from crappy job to crappy small business, ran out of money, lived in a veteran's community for a while, and eventually his grandchildren took care of him.
There are no strong enough words to describe how damaging this kind of advice is that the WT is dishing out, just to cover their backsides.
They know, all of them, that Armageddon is not coming, the end is not coming.
But it is essential to their business model that they create a sense of urgency.
OP:
Can you provide a link to the video?
I watched this video with my wife the other night we had a good laugh - flipping ridiculous !!
WGO
Not surprising at all.
I remember when a few months ago, I told one of the "sisters" at one Kingdom Hall that I'll be going to university once I finish high school (just finished it and going to university after summer.) Her reaction? She said something to the effect of, "What's wrong with people today? They're all going to those universities!"
I was really surprised at the time that she said it to my face. It was outrageous. But well, what can you do? I just ignored it and lived on.
I'm so happy that, about a week ago, I started watching the ARC and how it proved that JWs do not actually take the child abuse issue seriously. It convinced me that I was half-brainwashed. It convinced me that not all "apostates" are actually apostates, which is why I joined this forum just a few days ago. (I was half-brainwashed because I could still think independently, despite believing in JW dogma. By the way, if you're reading this, Anders Andersen, thank you for "preaching" about the ARC on one of the educational websites that I joined a few months ago. Without that, I would not have learned about the JW policies.)
I'm also happy that I started reading what leading scholars like Bart Ehrman have to say about the New Testament... Now, I'm in the process of leaving the JW cult, and religion in general. I was, though people at the Kingdom Hall still believe I am, an unbaptized publisher. Because I was never baptized, nobody ever (except for that one "sister") encouraged me not to go to university. Undoubtedly, once I got baptized, they would start jumping all over me, saying how wicked universities are. (Of course, all those Watchtowers we have studied at the Kingdom Hall made me feel guilty about the idea of going to university.)
Just as the OP, I also agree with one thing from the video, though I never saw it: living within your means. It's incredibly important. But selling your possessions and leaving your job? Come on...!
By the way, it was mentioned that the video was from JW Broadcasting. Was it this month's broadcast? Or was it some other video? I'd like to see it and have a laugh about it. (I hope Stephen Lett is not in the video. The guy creeps me out. I mean, seriously, no human talks like that!)
I remember reading something like this in the late 60s.
Went something like this. I'll quote it, but this is about what it said
"We heard of some brothers selling their homes to be able to preach full time. Certainly this is a great way to mark these final days"
What a disgrace the WTS is. How it cannot stand up to truth, yet calls itself the Truth
