My mother and I were discussing the fact that she was told by a minister of the Jehovah's Witnesses upon being asked whether mother was going to be attending a book study at her local Kingdom Hall and mother requested whether she could wear slacks she was told that it would not show respect to Jehovah and that women in the Kingdom Hall should "dress appropriately" by wearing skirts or dresses. After discussing this, my mother and I feel that the manner of dress of a Jehovah's Witnesses, whether man or woman is totally irrelevant to respect to Jehovah God. Clearly, even if one were to present themselves at Hall in rags, that person is not disrespectful to Jehovah if his mind and heart are open to God's word. Why should there be an opinion amongst the Witnesses that women in particular would be disrespectful if they were to wear slacks to the Kingdom Hall. Certainly, inappropriate dress (too short of skirts) and skin showing (where an obviously pregnant woman actually appears at the Kingdom Hall with a bare belly showing--this actually did happen at our Kingdom Hall) is inappropriate. On the other hand there is also the question as to when is fashion appearing to be more important than the reason we are there in the first place. Many women are going overboard with fashion, appearing at Assemblies in high fashion, suits, matching hats, handbags and shoes, clearly not humble and obviously wanting to be noticed and get attention. This in itself is highly inappropriate and does not reflect a humble christian attitude in an atmosphere where the word of God is the foremost reason to be attending.
Is manner of dress more important than respect for Jehovah?
by LaurieM 33 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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gordon d
WELCOME to The BOARD!!!
Read your statement... You'll do very well here!
Here's a clip from a "slighted" related position to your topic:
Wow... I was just thinking how powerful these types of statements could be a showing the foolishness of WTS paractices.. and still protecting your "reputation"
Imagine a bookstudy or watchtower discussion where the topic was about how JW attire sets them apart. You could be in total aggreement with the speaker by saying,
"Yes Brother, If we are to truly please Jehovah and avoid disciplinary action be our Elders, we should make certain that our entire wardrobe is chosen with the thought of what is the "approved" attire... While shopping, I like to think, "Would the Brothers on the Governing board give me permission to buy this if they were here watching over me?"
It would be hard not to convey sarcasm but it would sure get my attention!
Eewww... I just threw up a little bit in my mouth! -
fullofdoubtnow
Hi LaurieM, and welcome to the board.
It seemed to me when I was a jw that sometimes appearance was felt to be more important than spiritual qualities to some elders. I think it is all about contol, the wts seems to want to control every aspect of a jws life. It sometimes seems more important to them that their requirements, whether it be dress, grooming or adherence to their rules are respected than the god they purport to worship.
I have been to church just once since I left, to support another ex jw friend on her first visit, and some of the people there were in suits, while others were in casual dress, but no one worried about that. They were all their to worship their god, and that was the important thing to them, not style or grooming.
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mrsjones5
I really don't understand why a women wearing pants supposedly shows disrespect to God
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turbonium
well i was invited to a convention one time (the nov 6th one) and well i was going to bike there (biking is my main transportation) well it was unacceptable for me not to wear a suit or at least dress pants and dress shirt. well i was going to bring kakhis and a decent shirt to go with it because they do not crumple easy in my backpack. but that was unacceptable.
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Honesty
It's all about appearances because that's the what a non-JW first notices about JW's. The they start thinking that people who dress so nice must be nice. Then they are introduced to a 'Bible Study' and have the priviledge os studying one of the thousands of books published by the WTBT$. Then they get thoroughly inculcated into this cult and get baptised so they can go out and preach a gospel that is far different than what the early church preached.
Keep in mind that looks can be deceiving.
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LaurieM
Thank you. I can see that this post is going to take off and bring in many comments. I was just talking to my mom on the phone about how quickly people are responding. She had this comment for me to reply to your post. She said my grandmother had a saying, "many a good heart beats under a tattered coat". She says God looks into our hearts, and does not look at what we are wearing. She said she feels terrible that you had the opportunity to attend a convention and actually wanted to, but were turned away because of your clothing. Someone should have offered to drive you there. Regardless, your clothing was not important, the fact that you wanted to worship Jehovah was the most important thing. We believe that this topic is one that should be being addressed by the Society as obviously individual Kingdom Hall elders are making the dress code that is not in the Bible or God's word. If Jesus were to attend a convention today in sandles and robe, with a beard and long hair, which was the attire for his day, would they turn him away?
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KAYTEE
According to the congregation I last was a member of, the brothers were told to wear suits when on the platform even though you may have smart jacket and trousers this was not acceptable.
I was taken off carrying the microphone because of wearing jacket and trousers.
The night they mentioned this new "scriptural doctrine" Guess who broke that rule one hour later when he closed in prayer, You;ve guessed right an ELDER
KT
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mrsjones5
If Jesus were to attend a convention today in sandles and robe, with a beard and long hair, which was the attire for his day, would they turn him away?
You betcha they would.
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KAYTEE
A brother (elder) who had recently came back from a holiday in Spain said from the platform that when he was helping out on field service he refused to couple up with a spanish brother because the spanish brother was wearing sandles without socks, he said he was ashamed of him!! and wasn't prepared to work with him. And this was in SPAIN
KT