this doesnt seem quite right to me.

by wonderingkid 19 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  wonderingkid

  my grandmother and grandfather are both jehovah's witnesses.
  i dont understand much about their religion just that they dont celebrate holidays such as christmas.

  well today i went over to their house for a visit since they live 2 hours away and my cousins were there too.
  we were all in the kitchen eating cookies and my brother said that we baked cookies but ours were for santa clause. well then my grandma said that she doesnt celebrate christmas and she doesnt believe in santa. so i say "well i do" and she says "well that means youre naiive and decieved". so then my cousin said "she doesnt celebrate halloween either" and she said "thats right because its worshiping the devil" and i said "well i celebrate halloween but i dont worship the devil" and she said "yes you do". now at this point i just decided to walk out so that i wouldnt get into an argument with her. oh, and my sister had on a santa hat and she was talking about how she shouldnt be wearing that and it just looks like the devil and all this stuff.

  so i guess the thing im wondering is if thats just what they do (call people out and tell them theyre a devil worshiper) or if she was just way out of line.

  it really hurt my feelings what she said and i didnt talk to her the rest of the time. finally when we were about to go i went up to hug her and she wouldnt even hug me.
  
  -just wondering.
• 

  steve2

  Jehovah's witnesses aren't very sensitive to anyone else's beliefs, are they? That can be really hard when you're in their company. I think that their need to push their beliefs is pretty childish of them, especially at this time of year when it wouldn't have cost them aynthing just to keep their mouths shut and let others have this special time.
• 

  BlackSwan of Memphis

  so i guess the thing im wondering is if thats just what they do (call people out and tell them theyre a devil worshiper) or if she was just way out of line.

  Depends on the person. Some are very zealous about their beliefs and talk very openly, too openly to the point that they hurt people's feelings.

  But yes, she is way out of line either way. It was not very kind of her to talk to you like that.

  I think you handled things very well.

  Have you talked with your mom or dad about this? I think they would really like to know.

  If you were my daughter and I found out my mom spoke to my kids like that, then Grandma and I would have to have a talk.

  Merry Christmas!
• 

  avidbiblereader

  It is all a part of the training, trained on what and how to say it. Sad but believable. It all stems from we are better than everyone else and it is our perrogative to look down our noses at you. Keep your head high but not so high so as to become like them with the arrogance. Paul said in Romans "not to think too much of ourselves but so as to a sound mind" Interesting, if we think too much of ourselves, could it be that we are not sound in mind?????

  abr
• 

  What-A-Coincidence

  it really hurt my feelings what she said and i didnt talk to her the rest of the time. finally when we were about to go i went up to hug her and she wouldnt even hug me.

  She didn't say it, she was programmed like many of us were. I HIGHLY suggest

  http://www.amazon.com/Releasing-Bonds-Empowering-People-Themselves/dp/0967068800

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  7 of 7 people found the following review helpful: Important information , May 25, 2005 Reviewer: meticulous reader (Florida) - See all my reviews Mr. Hassan shares extremely important information in his scholarly work. Another more visceral story on how to escape a cult was written by a young woman who escaped from the Kool-aid cult, aka The Jonestown Compound. SEDUCTIVE POISON is a well written, thoroughly gripping first hand account of Life and Death in the People's Temple Cult. When I finished reading it I finally had a sense of how and why young idealists like Mr Hassan and Ms Layton joined their respective groups, from where they garnered the strength to leave and why they would later try to save others by telling their own stories. Excellent summer reading. Dr. KerWACkian ;-)
• 

  oldflame

  Whoa unto them who judge with an un pure heart. I know just how you feel as I have been told some of the same in my past. Yeah it hurts but you know what ? You know yourself that it is not true and thats all that counts. It really does not matter what others think about you it's what you think about yourself that matters.
• 

  lisavegas420

  whatever...I think you should have used your index fingers to signify little horns on either side of your head and flicked your tounge in and out at her a few times. ...then said.."busted!!!"

  But, I'm onery that way.

  Give Grandma a hug.

  lisa
• 

  New Worldly Translation

  Sounds a lot like my grandma too Wonderingkid

  Like has been said it's all part of the programming JW's have to give them the illusion of seperateness from 'worldly' people they see as being under the devil. As I wrote that it sounded preposterous, and it is, but it's what they believe. And I did too years ago.

  Blackswan's suggestion of talking to your mom and dad is a good one. I'm assuming they may have come across this issue in the past and know how to deal with it.

  The way I think of it is that holidays are like full moons to JW's and they go a bit loony. Leave them to their own devices for those days and get back to them when it's finished and they'll be back to normal, or as normal as they can be.
• 

  one

  " You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel", JW are always making big issues out of small things, reacting in socially unaceptable ways, to the point of rejecting friends and close family members. But in many cases doing unethical, illegal and even acting in violation of their own rules.

  It is ok as long as nobody knows, even if some do know it is a "dont ask dont tell" policy,

  rarely you will see shunning (or refusing to hug) because a jw did not pay tax, commited a fraudulent business, did not pay a loan when was able to do it, did not take care of aging parents, waring provocative clothing, watching violent movies etc etc

  It is all about staying clean from "pagan religious practices" and monitoring young jw regarding their natural sexual inclinations... hell if they catch a jw inside another church, for any reason, that is a really big issue.
• 

  jgnat

  It seems you did everything you could to keep it civilized, but grandma forgot. Too bad she didn't hug you on your way out. If she keeps this up, she isn't going to have many more visits from her grandchildren, is she?