Posts by life is to short

11

Does watchtower pay any workman's compensation or retirement funds for CO's

by wannaexit in

jw
friends

years ago there was a thread about rumors that society was paying into a retirement fund for circuit overseers.

could any recent ex-bethelite confirm or deny.

here is the old thread:.

life is to short

Magnum

I feel the say way. How could those CO tell you young ones to not worry that the end was so close yad, yad, yad.

If I had been allowed to follow my heart instead of pioneering, going to Bethel, living on nothing for years and years. I would have gotten a decent job and I would be retired now myself. Instead I listened to them and now it looks like I will have to work until I am 72 at the earliest to retire.

I just do not understand how they can sleep well at night knowing what they did.

LITS

25

"Don't you love Jehovah anymore then ?"

by Phizzy in

mrs phizzy ran into a jw lady from a neighbouring congo who has known us since we were teenagers, before we married, sometime in the pleistocene era lol.. during the conversation said lady asked if mrs phizzy was going to the r.c, to which mrs phizzy replied, "oh you haven't heard, we no longer go to meetings".. the jw lady then came back with the question in the thread title, which mrs phizzy handled well.. the point of this is though, what a god-awful, stupid, cult-minded question to ask !.

did she think we woke up one morning and thought "we don't love god anymore" ??

would that happen to anyone ?.

life is to short

I had a elder's wife ask me once when I was coming back to Jehovah? I looked at her puzzled and said I never knew I left Jehovah? I don't understand what in the world you are talking about. If you are wondering when I am coming back to meetings that would be when pedophiles are not allowed to go door to door any more and not hold children and interact with everyone the way they are now without parents being warned to at the very least watch their children.

She just said you need to wait on Jehovah and not jump ahead like you are. I swear you can not get through to these people. I just told Jehovah would never harm children like this and I am not jumping head by taking a clear stand especially when I was demanded by a CO to take a level 3 sex offender door to door, so you can believe what you want but not only is it morally wrong but even the law says that child molesters should not go door to door and I just do not have the money to pay if I got sued over it. I have to make a stand for what is right and to be true to myself that is what Jehovah is asking of me and that is what I am doing. I am sorry you feel that I have left Jehovah but I have not.

She just looked at me blankly and changed the subject.

LITS

21

Sam Herd’s comment on the 2001 Dateline expose

by Londo111 in

im going by memory, so not an exact quote...i believe this was around 2002, at the crownsville assembly hall (now sold from what i understand)..

he said basically: some people watch an hour show and give up the faith that theyve had for decades..

the impact of this show was like a canon being shot into a swimming pool.

life is to short

I did just want to add one more thing to this.

Barbara has been so wonderful, beyond wonderful. She is so caring and really put herself out. When this show aired I was a really true believer. I had been abused by my parents who were quasi JW's and I rationalized that no one knew because it all happened behind closed doors.

The night this Dateline aired I had been having issues with my elders about my needing to take care of my parents and I had mentioned that I had been abused by them. Little did I know that I was touching the tip of an iceberg. I was finding it hard that my elders seemed to be siding with my parents, I was so hurt and confused. Here I was an elder's wife, pioneer, been to Bethel, etc and yet I was not being believed.

When this show aired we did not have even a computer in our home. This is so long ago now but it seems just like yesterday. I went to the local library which has free computers to use. I looked up silent lambs. I was shaking so hard and so afraid that someone would see what I was doing in such a public place. Man that seems so long ago now. I was shocked by what I saw. Just writing this is making me cry, I was so scared and hurt at that time it was unreal.

My mom died in 2003 and my dad in 2005. They were the worst years of my life in some ways,but I was still a very hurt but devout JW even though my elder husband and I switched halls largely due to how hurtful the elders had been to me over my parents. Finally in 2007 we had a pedophile move into the hall we were attending. I could no longer hide from myself that my case was just a fluke.

I wanted to get a hold of Barbara but did not know how. We had finally gotten a computer in 07 and I knew nothing about how to really use them. I somehow contacted Bill Bowen. He was so rude to me and hurtful. I had asked for help to get a hold of Barbara and he just went off to me in an email. Bill pushed me right back into the JW's.

It took me another two years to figure out how to reach Barbara. She has been so kind and wonderful.

The last thing someone needs who has been sexually abused is to be talked down to and belittled. It's just been such a hard road. I thought I had made some friends here who were ex JW's. They had not been sexually abused they left over the 587, 607 thing.

It is like we came from two different worlds, all they wanted to do was talk about 587 for hours and hours and hours and send me tons of prints outs on it. All I wanted to do was talk about the pedophiles and how unjust it is being handled.

Everyone leaves for different reasons and different hurts. Bill Bowen I just do not understand, even now thinking back to that email he sent it still makes my stomach flip. It took me so much courage just to contact him through silent lambs and for him to get so angry with me? I wish I had printed it out to keep but we did not even have a printer at the time and that email is lost.

I am just so glad that there are kind ones out there like Barbara. Because I know only two well how hurtful words can drive someone right back into the arms of the WT.

There is a saying that I just love and it says "people may not remember what you said or did but they will always remember how you made them feel."

LITS

21

Sam Herd’s comment on the 2001 Dateline expose

by Londo111 in

im going by memory, so not an exact quote...i believe this was around 2002, at the crownsville assembly hall (now sold from what i understand)..

he said basically: some people watch an hour show and give up the faith that theyve had for decades..

the impact of this show was like a canon being shot into a swimming pool.

life is to short

Thank you so much Barbara. I will never forget the night this was on. We had just come from the meeting and I just stumbled across this by accident while flipping through stations. Though I did not leave the religion at the time this dateline story never left me and when I faced it in my own hall I knew it was true my world just crashed in on me. What I find amazing now is how many ex JW's do not want to know or hear it or talk about it. I was forbidden to even mention it to some ex JW's. I just do not understand why people want to bury their heads over this but I am so thankful for ones like you who speak out.

All I can say is thank you so much for all you do and all that you have helped.

LITS

116

You Tube Video Ex-Betheliite Ex-Walkill Worker Layed Off!

by cha ching in

i am not sure if this guy is really from bethel, or walkill, but if he is....this poor guy really tells it like it is from the heart.

he was surprised.. at the 'oh so fast, pack your bags, get your stuff outta here' layoff !.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk1xh1egjcu

life is to short

Thank you mille.

116

You Tube Video Ex-Betheliite Ex-Walkill Worker Layed Off!

by cha ching in

i am not sure if this guy is really from bethel, or walkill, but if he is....this poor guy really tells it like it is from the heart.

he was surprised.. at the 'oh so fast, pack your bags, get your stuff outta here' layoff !.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk1xh1egjcu

life is to short

Dave also feels you should not see the inside of a restaurant unless you work there until you debts are paid off. That would be impossible for most JW's I know as they feel eating out is their God given right.

LITS

116

You Tube Video Ex-Betheliite Ex-Walkill Worker Layed Off!

by cha ching in

i am not sure if this guy is really from bethel, or walkill, but if he is....this poor guy really tells it like it is from the heart.

he was surprised.. at the 'oh so fast, pack your bags, get your stuff outta here' layoff !.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk1xh1egjcu

life is to short

Millie

Dave Ramsey is totally against debt and credit cards. He makes a ton of sense as far as I am concerned. So many JW's live on the edge and always complain about money and how they are broke, etc.

When my husband was an elder we had ones all the time come to us begging for money or for us to help them with bill's etc, most elders would not do it and they would dump the needy ones on us. I was just amazed by it. Even when I was single and just a young sister in the hall I was dumped on to help single mom's and young ones go out in service. Here i was working two to three part time jobs and there were these two elder's wives who berated me and guilted me into taking this single mom to the assembly and having her stay in my room. It was the first time in my life I had ever stayed in a hotel and I paid for the room for my sister and I totally by myself with out anyone giving me a dime. I told this elder's wife NO over and over and over and meeting after meeting after meeting she just wore me down. Here I was just 19 years old and so poor myself. These two elder and their wives were very well to do. I still to this day do not understand why they dumped this single mom on me.

It was hell, the single mom was rude to me, demanding and spent the whole time yelling abusing her four your old son. The little boy broke a dresser in the room and I was so freaked out I was going to have to pay for it. The mom trashed the room, wore a pair of my shoes that I had saved up for and ruined them. I never got a thank you from her nor the elder's wives.

Dave Ramsey is totally against doing that to people, he feels that they should help themselves and uses the Bible a lot. I do not totally agree with everything he says but probably about 80%.

He feels husband and wives should have a equal say in a marriage. That is totally against what it was like in the "truth". I had no say what so ever. My husband felt so sorry for so many and he give and give and give even when it meant us going without. That was so unfair and it really hurt me.

I do not mind helping but when it takes away from the family or the ones you are helping are rude to the mate than the helping needs to stop.

Dave Ramsey says the husband and wife should be united. I just totally agree. I used to turn the ringers off on the phone so we could at least have some time together as the congregation came first in our marriage and I was always second. That is just not how it should be and Dave really points it out. He is on the radio and I listen to him as often as I can. I just really love his way of reasoning.

LITS

116

You Tube Video Ex-Betheliite Ex-Walkill Worker Layed Off!

by cha ching in

i am not sure if this guy is really from bethel, or walkill, but if he is....this poor guy really tells it like it is from the heart.

he was surprised.. at the 'oh so fast, pack your bags, get your stuff outta here' layoff !.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk1xh1egjcu

life is to short

Just one more point a couple of years ago, I had just recovered from surgery and my husband and I went out for breakfast, it was my first time out of the house in a week and I was really enjoying just being out and my breakfast and in walks this JW elder and his wife who preceded to sit the next table over from us and loudly complain how expensive it was to eat out and how unfair it was that they could not do it more often. I mean they just went on and on and on. I was so frustrated and just upset. It totally ruined my meal.

I wish I had been listening to Dave Ramey back than because I would have thrown out what Dave says back to him as loudly as he was talking. I just sat there totally embarrassed hoping no one was listening, I was to polite back than I now realize.

LITS

116

You Tube Video Ex-Betheliite Ex-Walkill Worker Layed Off!

by cha ching in

i am not sure if this guy is really from bethel, or walkill, but if he is....this poor guy really tells it like it is from the heart.

he was surprised.. at the 'oh so fast, pack your bags, get your stuff outta here' layoff !.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk1xh1egjcu

life is to short

There was something else that really bothered me at them time we were at Bethel. There was a natural disaster somewhere in the world and during morning worship the GB who conducted tried to guilt all of us Bethelites into giving just one dollar each to the disaster out of our small amount of money that we had just received.

I remember just being shocked and very hurt. My husband and i were not privileged to get green hand shakes and we had no family to help us. The small stipend that we received was all we had and it truly did not go far. A dollar to the GB I am sure meant nothing but to those of us who had to make 90 dollars last all month with driving to meetings, buying toiletries, etc it was hard to make it. We never bought cloths it was the hopper for us. I remember one sister, when I was in the 50 building going through the hopper looking down on me like I was scum and telling the bother who was walking next to her that she would never stoop so low as to go into the hopper.

This was coming from a sister who's family had MONEY and she dressed in designer cloths that cost a fortune. She also had an office job, no working in construction for her in 90 degrees and no AC with all the widows closed and paint fumes installing closets like I had to.

I remember feeling so hurt and so belittled that day as she walked by looking at me with pure disdain.

We just never had any money but I never made a big deal about it, I never talked about money. So many were always talking about how poor they were and then they put me down for living like I did. I was just amazed at how rude they could be. Like that sister really, what was I doing that could make her that mad at me? I was not in her way or telling her she had to use donated cloths but she knew I heard every word she said and she just glared at me. Why? I remember a brother who spent money like water one time put me down because I said I could not afford to do something that they were, usally it was buying a ton of junk food for breaks. I just could not waste my money on the stupid junk food that most of the pioneers sucked down. A lot of them were fat and then they got mad at me for not being heavy like they were. I never asked anyone to pay for me, or tell them that they should not do it, I just told them I could not afford it or I was not hungry. But many of them would just berate me for being cheep. Why is it cheep to admit that I could not afford something instead of going into credit card debt like so many pioneering JW's were doing. Then they file bankruptcy and feel its OK. I think that is rude and uncaring to expect the stories and society to pay for their bankruptcy. I know of a couple of elders who have filed bankruptcy and its like its no big deal.

Anyway I am getting off the point of how stupid and hateful this religion can be and how money truly is a big deal to most JW's and to ask bethelites to give up a dollar is just so wrong on so many levels.

LITS

116

You Tube Video Ex-Betheliite Ex-Walkill Worker Layed Off!

by cha ching in

i am not sure if this guy is really from bethel, or walkill, but if he is....this poor guy really tells it like it is from the heart.

he was surprised.. at the 'oh so fast, pack your bags, get your stuff outta here' layoff !.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk1xh1egjcu

life is to short

Oubliette

It was for shipping our stuff out west. We did't have a lot but since we had so long of a drive it was easier to have it shipped than stuffed in our car for a week. We had it sent to the assembly hall in Oregon on one of there semi trucks. It was that and a few other things we had gotten right when we left. Nothing that big and the bills were not that much but still it was just that they tracked us down that amazed me even back than because they knew we were jobless.

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