Encouraging sigleness

do you think is one of the unhealthy teachings among the WT? I mean humans has been created with emotional and physical needs that relationships provide, right?

I think singleness has loads of benefits.  And I think young people would benefit from spending some of their adult years single and free.  Time taken to get to know yourself and live for yourself is invaluable.

But, WT world encourages a weirdness to singleness.  No dating, no flirting, no leaving home or getting an education.  Spend that youthful energy "promoting kingdom interests." 

And that is what makes what should be some of the best years of your life a total dud.

i totally agree, and i meant singleness in the watchtower way too,,, that was the only one i knew :S

i totally agree, and i meant singleness in the watchtower way too,,, that was the only one i knew :S

I think they encourage singleness for several reasons 1) there are not enough eligible (word used very loosely here) brothers for the huge number of single sisters to marry-so WTBTS encourages them to remain single rather than marry a nice 'worldly' guy. 2) If what few brothers there are remain single, then they won't have their own families, homes, and lives to interfere with full time devotion to the WTBTS.

CJ 

I don't understand why they would promote singleness.  Most of their baptised members are born-in.

Nothing should interfere with furthering kingdom interests.

yeah and you remain single, childless,,,, some never experience the intimacy of a partner,,, beautiful!!!

Gen 2:18 And God went on to say, " It is not good for man to continue by himself, so he made a helper for him, as a complement"

The irony is the one who probably wrote the articles encouraging singleness,probably got married before they were 20.  

I tried to resist posting on this thread,but it's a sore spot with me.  I wish I would have went to college out of high school and married a nice,worldly guy. Instead of,wasting it pioneering and watching all my peers get married and have kids.

I thought I had loads of time in the new system for that and life in general,putting my life on hold for the religion has got me nowhere,ugh. 

....making up for lots of lost time. 

How many years did you pioneer, Empty Inside?

I auxiliary pioneered first for a couple of years and regular pioneered for three years.  

Then,I went back to auxiliary pioneering,because I had a hard time getting 90 hours and working.

Yes, that 90 hrs were rough.  I have seen many who waited patiently for a mate and were glad that they waited.  You have to even be patient outside in the world as well.  I work with single women who are finding relationships difficult.  Some have children from diferent fathers.  Their is nothing wrong in waiting for Mr. Right.  

As for this topic.  Singleness, is not too encouraging for many.  We need companionship.  Someone to shop with, to go to coffee with, to play scrabble with, to help with the dinners, and work after.  I have seen to many single minded old men....they are weird in my books, and too set in their ways.  

Well,it's true,I'm glad I didn't settle for one of the men at the Kingdom Hall.  

sad... for me it was 8 years (full-time slaving) down the drain.

spoke to a friend that just called it quits after 17 years fts... just stop and calculate the hours we put in during our most productive years

Like EmptyInside, little bit of a sore spot. I'm sure my dead mom would be so proud that I'm still single at 45(that doesn't sound all Norman Bates, does it?). Getting married was always seen as a last resort. Like you were a failure if you succombed to the temptation of wanting to be with someone. 

I do know one elder who is currently 46 years old, never married that still lives with his JW parents. He never lived away from his parents in his lifetime. His Dad is an long time elder.  The 46 years old guy works at the flower shop for many years, He just cannot afford to live away from his parents. He also spends alot of time in the ministry, He was a regular pioneer for some years, I was told he averages about 30 hours per month for a long time while not pioneering. 

Dudu you have a pm

Their pushing of singleness is disgusting. It's especially bad for the women in the cult. After a certain age, virginity goes from being nice and noble, to being just plain tragic. There aren't enough suitable men in the religion, and they don't want you to get a worldly man, so you are just supposed to redirect all that repressed sexual energy into the pointless ministry. No wonder so many are devoid of any joy.

I think that sigles should be avoided.

Why do you ask?