by Skepsis 63 Replies latest jw friends
"I guess what I'm saying is that even if you have doubts as to god's existence, they will not DF you, and they will be perfectly willing to have you "step down." However, if you express doubts as to the BORG, you're out."
It's interesting in WT land that you can question the existence of God and nothing happens but as soon as you question the org...you're out. Really tells you a lot about this cult!
Congratulations Skepsis on both getting your degree and new job.
I am going to repeat that - CONGRATULATIONS. That is something you will not hear at the kingdom hall or from a JW. You worked for it and you earned it!
Lots of good advice here. (wish I had this forum back in the day)
Ask the Body of Elders to help with your finances and see what kind of response you get. lol Tell them you can remain a pioneer and continue with your responsibilities IF they help support you.
Also ask, will they help with finances if you get sick? What about a retirement plan if you give up your career and pioneer? Mention those bethelites who are getting layed off after giving years of service.
I was told I wouldn't need college as Armageddon would come before I even graduated. That was in the 70's. I put it off way too long and finally got my degree at age 35.
So well done Skepsis!
Hi Skepsis,
Many of us here have stepped down from various positions within the Organization. I was an Elder, on the RBC, a School Overseer, two public talks a month and and lot, lot more ... so I can sympathize with your feelings and the pressures you've had to endure. As a consequence, my advice to you, is to slowly drop responsibilities over time, according to your own timetable. Getting burnt-out isn't fun and believe me when I say, it takes a long time to recover ... so look after your own health, whatever it takes. And If people try to make you feel guilty, just remember that if the shoe was on the other foot .... if you were no longer valuable to Society ... you'd be dropped like a hot potato. Just like the DO's, Special Pioneers and the thousands of sacked Bethelites; on the road without a penny to their name.
Well done skepsis.
I note you have a PM from The Searcher. He's good. Very good.
I'll send you a pm too.
Skepsis, the congregation has been teaching you that being an MS is a privilege and that you are "special", "important" and doing a "good work". They also tell you that saying "no" is disloyalty to God. That pressure is still squeezing your mind. Call BS on it, see it for what it is. You have an education now and can see the futility of little men pretending to be important. There is no future in it. Use your mind and act on what you know. If you delete yourself of all responsibilities in the Cong some other ignorant zealot will step in. Don't let them flatter you, janitors do that work. The pressure will pass when they see that you are unwilling. You have a brain in use now! Congrats on not wasting time or gas anymore.
SKEPSIS:
Congratulations on your very sensible decision! It's best to have fewer conversations with Witnesses about your business.
The people telling you to keep pioneering: are they also pioneers? OR are they comfortably well-off with their situation? I noticed the total hypocrisy with people in cushy lifestyles telling somebody ELSE (usually some young gullible fool) to pioneer! No, that poverty was not for them, just somebody else.
And what if you kept on pioneering, living on the edge of poverty, no college, etc.- what about YOUR future and retirement??? The years DO fly by....Is your family well-off and are you going to inherit a business?? Never mind anybody's garbage about the end being so close, these people are not interested in what happens to you....If you ended up poor in old age, are THEY going to support you??? Hell no....To be perfectly honest, when I was there I NEVER gave money to pioneers since I was criticized for working.
I could write a book on all the nonsense said to me when I was a young woman (and by older people who were in a cushy situation w/pension etc.).. Thankfully, I never listened to these Jehovah's Witness idiots and had NO intention of following in the footsteps of other stupid single women in the hall.
The "price" I paid was that I was hardly invited and considered "not spiritual". But, that's okay because I'm retired now.
Wow boc
More sacred than God!!!
It's going to take some time to absorb this
Thanks
:0)
Wow boc. . . More sacred than God!!! It's going to take some time to absorb this - TEPIDPOULTRY
It took me a while as well. . . . about four years, actually/unfortunately.
Skepsis
Now I have more time for me and a perspective of a better life here, not in the Paradise coming just around the corner.
Congratulations for your degree and the new job.
I heard the same lame "stories" 30 years ago - and in only a few years I will be a retiered worker (pensioner).
In 1968/69 I was a teenager, when the Awake promised me, that I will not grow old in this system and I should not go to the university.
BOLD LIE.
You've done everything right so far and the next step will come - if you are ready.
I made little steps for my fade - take all the time you need.
Best luck for your happy future.
Go Skepsis Go! Run, be free!
Really - I have nothing else to add to all the great advice you've been given, but don't waste any more time on the cult. Go live your life. There will be ups, downs, good jobs, possibly bad jobs, family times good and bad..... because that is really the stuff a well lived life is made of. You are young and at the door of the best times of your life. Don't waste it being brainwashed by a bunch of stale people.
BOC, I'll remember your advice if anyone every bothers to ask me what my issue is, that is just..... amazing. As a atheist, I can express doubts about the existence of God quite sincerely.
