I don't think I want to be a JW anymore!

Outaservice

Now let me get this straight Brothers............................

1st, you told me not to wear any sideburns in my short hair requirement.

2nd, you told me that I had to wear white shirts with my suit and tie (no pastel or colored) and if I didn't I couldn't speak at the Hall.

3rd, you suggested a four door car only, for if I bought a two door car then I was not considered too mature.

4th, I had to be to bed early on Friday night, to be fresh for Saturday morning Field Service, and the same thing Saturday night, so I would be fresh for Sunday morning.

5th, you mentioned I could not stay in the hotel I wanted during the convention, but had to settle for some flea-bag one that you arranged for us.

6th, you said I had to attend meetings somewhere even when I was on vacation and probably it would be better if I 'Vacation Pioneered' during that short time I got every year as that would be the best use of my time.

7th ,you called me wanting an explanation if I happened to miss two meetings in a row.

8th, you wanted to know the title and kind of books I read in my own house, to make sure they were approved by the organization.

9th, you hinted not to spend too much time with my worldly 'mother' because the organization was my mother!

10th, you mentioned that I should not stop for coffee or breakfast on Saturday morning, even though I was an adult and free to do whatever I wanted.

Who in the hell do you think you are? Good bye, I'm going back to join 'the human race'!

Outaservice ( for good)

aniron

Some congregation you were in!

1st, you told me not to wear any sideburns in my short hair requirement.

Good job they didn't see a couple of our elders, sideburns like Presley.

2nd, you told me that I had to wear white shirts with my suit and tie (no pastel or colored) and if I didn't I couldn't speak at the Hall.

I NEVER wore a white shirt to any meeting or convention. I gave my first Public Talk wearing a pink shirt and matching tie.

3rd, you suggested a four door car only, for if I bought a two door car then I was not considered too mature.

What is it with Americans JWs and 2 and 4 door cars? No one would bat an eye in Britain if you had a 2 door car.

4th, I had to be to bed early on Friday night, to be fresh for Saturday morning Field Service, and the same thing Saturday night, so I would be fresh for Sunday morning.

Who the hell said you had to?

5th, you mentioned I could not stay in the hotel I wanted during the convention, but had to settle for some flea-bag one that you arranged for us.

I often made my own arrangements for staying over for a convention. No one said a word about using anywhere the WT arranged.

6th, you said I had to attend meetings somewhere even when I was on vacation and probably it would be better if I 'Vacation Pioneered' during that short time I got every year as that would be the best use of my time.

NEVER did that in all my years as a JW. I was on VACATION !

7th ,you called me wanting an explanation if I happened to miss two meetings in a row.

In my old congregation you be lucky to get a call if you missed a months meetings!

8th, you wanted to know the title and kind of books I read in my own house, to make sure they were approved by the organization.

Again never was asked such a question. There again I knew what kind of books some of the Elders read!!

9th, you hinted not to spend too much time with my worldly 'mother' because the organization was my mother!

Again no problem , many others spent time with their "worldly" relatives as well.

10th, you mentioned that I should not stop for coffee or breakfast on Saturday morning, even though I was an adult and free to do whatever I wanted.

Stop for coffee, they be lucky if anyone did more than an hour on a Saturday morning in service.

darth frosty

Okay Thats all well and good, but what the hell am I suposed to do with all the white shirts and four door cars that I got.

lola28

that was good!

lola

lola28

Okay Thats all well and good, but what the hell am I suposed to do with all the white shirts and four door cars that I got.

ebay?

lola

moshe

"I think, therefore I am free" --can't get no better than that, mate.

Honesty

I 'borrowed' this from another poster but it very well fits what your attitude should be if you really loved ~~the Faithful Slave~~ God:

Hi, my name is Bob, and I am a recovering thinker….

It started out innocently enough: I began thinking at meetings now and then to loosen up. Inevitably though, one thought led to another and soon I was more than just a theocratic thinker. I began to think alone, you know, “to relax,” I told myself, but I knew it wasn’t true.

Thinking became more and more important, and finally I was thinking all the time. I even thought at the Kingdom Hall. I knew thinking and my position in the congregatin didn’t mix, but I couldn’t stop. I began avoiding the friends at lunchtime so I could read Crisis of Conscience and other works that challenged my thought processes. I returned to the Kingdom Hall dizzied and confused, asking, “What exactly are we doing here?”

Things weren’t great at home either. One evening I turned off the TV and asked my wife about the meaning of life guided by the FDS—she spent the night at her mother’s.

I soon had a reputation as a heavy thinker. One day the PO called me into the back room and said, “Bob, I like you, and it hurts me to say this, but your thinking is a real problem. If you don’t stop thinking, I’ll have to recommend you be disfellowshipped.” This gave me a lot to think about.

I went home early after my conversation with the elder. “Honey,” I confessed, “I’ve been thinking.”

“I know you’ve been thinking,” she said, “and I want a divorce.”

“But Honey, surely it’s not that serious.”

“It is serious,” she said, lower lip quivering. “You have been a fine window washer all your life and your service to Jehovah comes before the children and I having health insurance or educations.”

“That’s faulty syllogism,” I said impatiently, and she began to cry. I’d had enough. “I’m going to the library to look up what really happened in 607/587,” I snarled and stomped out the door. I headed to the library in the mood for enlightenment, roared into the parking lot, and ran up to the big glass doors—they didn’t open. The library was closed.

To this day I believe Jehovah was looking out for me that night. As I sank to the ground clawing at the unfeeling glass, whimpering for a computer with an internet connection to feed my starving mind, a magazine caught my eye; a Watchtower left in a laundromat. The words “Friend, is heavy thinking ruining your life?” stood out in large letters. You may recognize the line: it comes from the standard issue “Thinkers Anonymous” poster.

Today, I am a recovering thinker. I never miss a meeting . At each meeting we listen to a non-educational, self congratulatory public talk. I am again training my mind to be numb. Then we share experiences about how we avoided thinking since the last meeting. I still have my family and things are a lot better at home. Life just got easier, somehow, once I stopped thinking.

Soon, I’ll be able to be an elder again….

Thanks, Bob

JWdaughter

The more I read these threads, the more I think that the org. works very differently in the US and abroad. I also know that the standards of some things vary greatly from cong. to cong. and region to region in the US. Fashions have changed dramatically also. One of our MS wore the most godawful homemade polyester suits (hideous colors w/matching homemade dress shirts and UGH ties). The homemade part is great, and the wife was a good seamstress. I am thinking though that the hideous colors may have inspired the org.(or more local decision makers) to forbid colored shirts in an attempt to alleviate some of the eyestrain that happened in our (and others, I am sure) congregation.

mouthy

Aniron>>> I NEVER wore a white shirt to any meeting or convention. I gave my first Public Talk wearing a pink shirt and matching tie.

You cant be as old as me & outaservice...That was the rule way back when????
Great post outerservice.....Why did we stay so long????

aniron

Mouthy

I was a JW from late 1960's .

Here in Britain only came across one congregation that preferred its brothers to wear white shirts and then usually only if he was on the platform.

I don't think I want to be a JW anymore!

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