There have been some commenters on this blog who argue that long hours are part of many jobs like General Motors and Ex Jews for Jesus people should stop whinning about the 80 to 100 hour work weeks that we worked in Jews for Jesus.
Before going on JFJ staff, I had a job where I was on salary and worked long hours too. It was common for me to arrive at work at 6:00 AM and leave at 9:30 at night!
One difference between that experience and the experience I had with JFJ with long hours was that my days off were mine. No one from my company called me and asked personal questions on my days off or even while I was working, no one regulated who I spent my days and evenings with, or required me to do more work for the company in my off hours.
No one called me on my day off and asked me to read the bible with them or do some errands for them. No one controlled how I dressed or how I lived. No one told me who I could marry or when I could start a family. No one forced me to seek counseling when I couldn't handle the long hours. No one punished me.
When I left that company, I gave two weeks notice. None of the past employees of that company have banded together on the internet and written websites and books about the long hours they worked; they just found companies that paid them better wages and gave them more freedom and went on with their lives.
There are no similarities between the long hours that JFJ required (which was ABUSE) and the long hours required in many organizations. Comparing JFJ to any other business (except another abusive cult) is like comparing apples and oranges.
http://exjewsforjesus.org/
http://exjewsforjesus.blogspot.com/
4 comments:
Jews for Jesus did ask you to do stuff for them on your days off. I lost many days off writing required Jews for Jesus donor post cards.
It's funny. I suspect the people who comment, "lots of good companies are demanding" either never worked for JFJ or are such JFJ loyalists that they can't remember working in the "world".
It is completely unheard of for a manager to humilate a co-worker or fine one without pay for minor offenses. In hard-working America, this is not tolerated.
JFJ management, taking advantage of the loyalty inspired by calling, pushes people beyond what is legal or acceptable.
It was sad for me to see after leaving JFJ that unbelievers were treating one another with more respect than in the ministry that I had come out of.
I don't do numbers. Besides, did you not know about sorties before you came on staff with Jews for Jesus? Was this a hidden surprise?
By the way, I didn't have to do sorties in my jobs. Maybe a couple when we all would go out for a day to do them, which I absolutely loved. I certainly didn't have to go out with the summer campaigners. I did them because I wanted to. I love people. I loved watching God work through me, through my fears of confrontation, but mostly I loved that I believed in Someone so much that I would come out of my comfort zone to tell others. And guess what? It is for young people. It's physically and emotionally stressful. I don't use my health as an 'excuse'. Again you are rubbing salt in the would and I personally resent it.
That doesn't mean that people who didn't fare well with sorties are failures or weak in any way whatsoever. Everything isn't for everyone. Period. I stunk at Dome. I really did! I couldn't even get the hang of reading a map, let alone setting missionaries up on tours. And yes, for a while there I thought I was a failure, total failure. But quite honestly, no one there made me feel like a failure, I just convinced myself that I was a failure. But that feeling of being a failure didn't start with JFJ, believe me. It was there long before I even knew about JFJ.
I think that's a problem with some people here. Some of you think of yourselves as failures and you blame JFJ for making you think that way. Maybe some did have you feeling that way. I told you, I worked for and with some jerks. But if you're still hanging on to that mindset about yourselves now, then you can't blame JFJ.
We all have things we're gifted for and we all have things we just aren't very good at.
I've seen David on sorties, Susan all of them. No way would I question them. They paid their dues, boy did they pay their dues.
Again, the question, why did you ever even consider going on staff with Jews for Jesus knowing full well what was involved, including hours, sorties, postcards, stress, etc. and why do you still sit in this mire of misery blaming others for your life choices? You don't have to have these answers for me or anyone else but yourselves. Think about it.
"They paid their dues"
Good comment.
Whose "dues" did they pay? That is the real question.
Was it the dues Jews for Jesus wanted them to pay, or the dues Jesus wants them to pay?
It is easy to confuse Jews for Jesus with God in such cases, if you are in a Jews for Jesus mind-set.
Those 100's who have recovered or are in process of recovering from Jews for Jesus have no such allusions. They understand that they paid "dues" to Jews for Jesus, not to God.
Post a Comment