Posts by life is to short

49

The wonderful things you hear AFTER you step down as an elder!

by redpilltwice in

well, well, that was quite a heartfelt welcome on this site four days ago.

thank you all for the encouraging replies.

one of them was this one from magnum: "hey now, don't just pop your head in and disappear.

life is to short

Welcome and thank you for your insight.

LITS

17

How could i have ever let myself get involved with this cult? pains me when i think about it.

by goingthruthemotions in

when i think about where i am at now in my life, in my marriage, with my kids.

why did i get involved with this cult?

i have brought out the cult personality in my wife and there no turning her back.

i hate my wife for what she has become. when she is her authentic self, i love her with every once of energy, every breath. when she is in cult mode. i loath her. i want my wife back, i want my family back...i want time back,

I can so relate to what you wrote there. I would never have married my husband if he had been in his cult mode when we dated. When we dated I thought he cared about me and my feelings and wants, etc. That we could be a couple, a team in marriage. I bought into the JW'sm but I put my family first and the religion second.

As soon as we got married he was all cult mode, 'you should have never married an elder if you did't want to live this way' was what he told me.

I just never had any clue or indication that being married to an elder meant that I was second at best most of the time third or fourth or firth when it came to the religion. There was just no way for me to know it. Even now looking back I still do not think I could have predicted it.

I just feel so much like I wasted my life, so I totally get where you are coming from I am so sorry. It is the worst feeling.

LITS

46

Bethel layoffs of oldies

by I am a Bible Student in

is this true?

has anyone heard of it?

saw it on my facebook.. "jan. 6 bethel update 108 elderly bethelites getting the boot.. brooklyn, ny.

life is to short

bolndie

You would think that the congregations would want to help them after all they gave up their lives for this religion but that was not the case with that older couple I knew. In fact they sent a letter to all the close by halls asking to help this couple and during the service two elders had verbal war about whether it was proper and one elder said how do we know if this couple is deserving. Maybe because they spent their whole life at Bethel? It was amazing to watch.

LITS

13

Using your car in service and still the GB asking for money

by life is to short in

i listen to dave ramsey while i work.

he is that financial guy who hates debt.

i agree with 90 percent of what he says.

life is to short

Doc

I did't mean anything personally about you and there were a few in some halls who were like you where they used their cars all the time, usually the CoBE and other elders would always go with them in service. There was this one new elder who moved in and had this great well paying job. In all honestly he was really nice guy who I feel sorry for, Looking back I truly think he knew tttatt but was just stuck.

Anyway the way the other elders sucked up to him it was just was amazing to watch. I think a huge part of my problem was that my husband truly believed it was the "truth" and tried to live it and the other elders just did not want to deal with mentally ill people which every hall had, so we got them all. I myself did not know how to deal with them also.

I remember being out in service and spending an hour stuck in the car with a brother who was hearing voices. How do you deal with that? It just took it's toll on me. I was stuck in a no win zone. I totally got where my husband was coming from that these people needed help and needed to feel wanted but taking them door to door was not the answer. It just put more stress on their mental problems.

My husband and I tried to live what we thought was the truth. I look back and so wish I would have spoken up, but it probably would have meant my marriage and everything I had, which I know now was nothing. I have no family outside and I now know a huge part of it was that I just felt stuck.

It's just now hearing the GB ask for money all the time and knowing how broke we were and we never asked for money or talked out our finances so no one knew. I a sure everyone thought we were doing fine.

I just look back with such regret now with how the religion is going and how much I gave up.

LITS

46

Bethel layoffs of oldies

by I am a Bible Student in

is this true?

has anyone heard of it?

saw it on my facebook.. "jan. 6 bethel update 108 elderly bethelites getting the boot.. brooklyn, ny.

life is to short

I know where I live in the about 08 lay off that they had at Bethel a couple I personally knew from who were in their early 60's were let go. This is in the Northwest part of the US. They were assigned to where her sister lived about 70 miles from us.

LITS

13

Using your car in service and still the GB asking for money

by life is to short in

i listen to dave ramsey while i work.

he is that financial guy who hates debt.

i agree with 90 percent of what he says.

life is to short

Oh yeah OG that was the other thing that TOTALLY got to me. Not only was I DRIVING MY CAR but then they complained. Seriously!!!

We always got used cars no way could we afford a new one though it was suggested that we should and just put it on payments. Yeah that would work we were making at the most $600.00 a month and putting $300.00 into gas driving around so yeah a 250.00 a month payment would to totally doable what was I thinking we could pay rent and eat on the ext $50.00 how selfish was I. Seriously! These people just made me crazy with how rude and hateful they were.

So anyway this one car of ours had the knob to the heat upside down but it worked fine. It was a HUGE discussion in every car group that we had, it just bugged most of those riding with us to now end. Why did it matter? I asked and asked for them to stop missing with it as I was afraid they would break it, then one day I got into the car and in all honestly someone had fixed it right, we had tried ourselves and couldn't but it just frosted me that even though it was on right that they had been playing around with it when I clearly had asked them to just leave it alone, it worked was all the mattered and it was just a stupid nob so what if it was upside down it did not matter to us so LEAVE it alone!!!

Then of course because I was just the lowly wife and if my husband was driving and we had any male in the car did't matter what age the male had to sit in the front and I HAD TO SIT IN THE BACK. Just the way it was because of my gender.

This one pompous elder was the one who usually sat in the front and he LOOOOOOOVED it HOT and I mean baking hot. Oh my word it was so miserable with that blasting into the back seat. It did not matter how I felt because men were in charge, I got my feelings so hurt so badly but no one cared, including my husband.

Then we had this car with a broken cup holder in the back and I asked and asked and asked that they not use it so this one time I go to clean the car and the cup holder is just thrown on the floor, I knew who did it. Seriously they could not even apologize?

Don't even get me started on them slamming the doors and letting their kids write on the back seats, etc it was just like we were a free taxi.

I just hated how rude they were. It was just so crazy.

LITS

13

Using your car in service and still the GB asking for money

by life is to short in

i listen to dave ramsey while i work.

he is that financial guy who hates debt.

i agree with 90 percent of what he says.

life is to short

DOC

I get what you are saying about a normal person in the "truth" who has a well paying job or even a so, so job that by going out in service it would not amount to a 10th of your income it would be just a drop in the bucket for you.

But when we were pioneering over half of our income went into field service. And what really got to me was those who did not pioneer and showed up without a car or told us that they could not use their car because it was too low to the ground, it had a rock chip in it, it was not clean enough, they had't gotten paid yet and didn't have money for gas and well since you go out all the time lets just use your car.

I kid you not these are all things that were said to me, no joking. Most of the reg publishers who rode around in our car made 5 to 6 even up to 10 times more money than we did and yet they were more than willing to pile into our car and not even say thank you most of the time when they left. Yet I did get to hear about the great times they had on vacations, eating out, etc. And what really killed me was when they would get into our car and announce that they did't have any money until payday which was always at least a week away but when we went on break and I ordered my small coffee they always ordered lunch or get 5 to 6 six dollars in junk food. Funny how that works.

It's just hard not to be somewhat bitter.

Thank you Magnum you truly understand where I am coming from.

13

Using your car in service and still the GB asking for money

by life is to short in

i listen to dave ramsey while i work.

he is that financial guy who hates debt.

i agree with 90 percent of what he says.

life is to short

I listen to Dave Ramsey while I work. He is that financial guy who hates debt. I agree with 90 percent of what he says. I too feel debt is wrong and to live a debt free life is the way to go. Unfortunately being a JW doses not lend itself to being debt free.

So yesterday he had a caller on that was talking about how she puts between 35,000 to 40,000 miles on her car a year. Dave told her she was destroying her car and that she needed to save for a newer one, not a brand new one but one that would last between three to five years as she would just going to turn them over with her high mileage.

I was thinking back to when we pioneered where the need was great. We put 35,000 to 40,000 miles on our car and that was with 5 to 6 people in it most of the time that treated our car like a taxi. Slamming doors, getting mud everywhere, etc and God forbid ever offering to come over and wash or vacuum it out much less helping us out with gas money. Also we had to take every trial that was there. We treated out 4 door sedan more like a 4 by 4 beating the crap out of it on some of the worst roads you can think of, because after all the angles were watching and you never knew who might live at the end of that cow trail.

But the huge difference between us and the women who called Dave was that she was making $80,000 a year US and was getting a car allowance on top of that.

As pioneers I got nothing but to be told I was not good enough at the doors, etc. There was no way we could afford to replace our car, we just bandaged it and hoped it would last until the new system which was going to come really soon or that Jehovah the sky daddy would somehow drop a better car in our laps if we only prayed more, studied more, and went out in service even more than we were.

I have often wondered what Dave Ramsey would say to a pioneer. Also it just makes my blood boil when I hear the GB begging for more and more money. They all ready put the burden of field service on their members and to ask for money is so unbelievable.

LITS

91

Is the Watchtower organisation facing the biggest crisis of its history?

by slimboyfat in

recent developments make me think they might be.

the problems they are facing are not just lack of funds but also draining authority, and the two could be a heady and explosive mix.

one of the best analyses ever written of the watchtower was a book called "trumpet of prophecy" by sociologist james beckford in the 1970s.

life is to short

I loved you statement here (you just knew that the GB would disapprove of them, if only they knew the details of the situation.)

That was how I truly felt that if only the GB knew they would step in and stop it. I actually thought they would send someone from the headquarters out once they realized that the local elders were sending pedophiles door to door in my congregation.

Than I wrote Bethel and then called Bethel. We were at Bethel I knew some of these people and they treated me like I was crazy and in the wrong to dare to question my elders. I had been trying to tithe because I had always felt guilty when we were pioneering for not having any money to contribute.

After how I was treated that stopped instantly, we had money with the continual donation arrangement I asked for it back and told them because I did not want a dime of my money to go to pay for law suites for the pedophiles. I got my money back in less they two weeks with not one word about my letter.

During this time is when I woke up. I hope what you wrote is right.

LITS

8

Regional Conventions

by life is to short in

wondering if anyone knows when they will announce the regional conventions.

every year they always announced it the first service meeting of january.

i tied in last night by phone as my husband insists on going i do not and never will again but i like to book a room now and i refuse to use their list.

life is to short

wifbanit

Thanks