Jw gatherings

Blindbutnowisee

Do anybody miss going to any JW gatherings? They pride themselves with staying away from worldly people, but they love to dance to music composed by worldly people.

Sassy

not really...

well it used to be fun at the time but that was all we know in our box..

The most fun I had was playing jazz, blues, soul and a little old R&B at anniversaries, weddings, and gatherings. This group had some semi-pro players and ex-professionals in it early on, and later we had a lineup where everyone was an elder or servant, and some of us were pioneers. We had some fun. Some functions were dry, and some weren't.

mrsjones5

Nope

exwitless

Our former congregation was the most uptight, stick-up-the-butt kind of people you'd want to meet. So no, there's absolutely NOTHING to miss about the "get togethers". In fact, I despise the term "get together". They are so anal they can't even call it a party. (Because the word party is obviously synonymous with drugs, sex, and alcohol.) There was NEVER live music at any "get together" we ever went to. OK, once at a couple's going away "get together", we all had to sing 2 of their favorite Kingdom Melodies acapella. God, it was pathetic enough to have made the cover of a WT magazine! But in general, to learn a musical instrument would mean one would have to take a little time away from his bible reading and personal study, and you know what happens next! Apostacy for sure.

The "get togethers" we went to were indescribably lame. It was nothing different than the meaningless and transparent chit-chat we'd have to endure after every meeting. It was kinda funny to see the clothing people would choose to attend outdoor "get togethers". One incredibly anal elder would always wear a suit and tie. Although he might have taken off his jacket to play softball once. One elder probably didn't own tennis shoes or tshirts, because he came to an outdoor picnic with a long sleeve dress shirt, shorts, and black knee high socks and black dress shoes (and yes, his socks were pulled all the way up.)

monophonic

i really enjoyed dancing my ass off and me and a friend went to two wit parties every weekend for a year, even if we weren't invited, we'd sneak in.

that was after i had come back from being inactive and used to go clubbing three to four nights a week.

i liked going to black congregation parties and really getting down, and i could beat most of their asses at dancing, so i fit right in.

if i were to relive it, i'd just continue going clubbing instead of going to wit parties.....at least there'd be some good making out on the dance floor at clubs.

Mysterious

I miss playing hockey and curling. I haven't been in the position to join even a recreational league and have not had access to that many people since to arrange inpromptu pickup games. I also miss the food. Being a starving college student living on Ramen you can imagine what access to a buffet style get together is like. Hell I'd even go for some overcooked casserole about now. I never minded the congregation get togethers until they started to interfere with my video game time in my late teens, but I always hated the gatherings for just youths. They were boring and I hated the kids at them and always wanted to go home, but mom dragged me into going.

Effervescent

Holy cow! I would have never thought Witnesses could have "get-togethers" with dancing! I went to three different halls (a couple others before I was old enought to remember) and we never had anything like that. We had a summer picnic that got nixed after a few years because the Society came out with an article encouraging smaller groups, graduation & anniversary parties, and going away parties. It mostly consisted of eating, maybe some Rummikube, piano playing and singing, and probably my Dad subjecting everyone to his latest slides. Exciting stuff.

ninja

I loved to slip ecstasy into the special pioneers punch....1 hour later they thought they were anointed......muhahahaha

A Pos(itive) (S)tate

First of all -- First time response -- Anyway growing up I witnessed a mix of different gatherings with different levels of stuffiness. When we hosted things at our house, there was a lot of laughter and music; I went to a few weddings where they had NO music, NO dancing, it was SO unbelievably boring--but our family weddings always had music and dancing. We were kind of "rebels" in our congregation. It's no wonder that only one of my 5 siblings remains in the "truth" today, and she and her (former elder) husband have not been going to the meetings in quite a few months. We just had this little spark of life that we could never squash completely to make the elders, etc. happy. I have found that the level of rigidity differs with each congregation. I've known a few fun-loving congregations and some unbelievably unbending groups as well.

As a matter of fact, I was "counseled" once for throwing a slumber party for some of the girls in the congregation -- I was 19 living on my own, and I invited some of the other teens and younger girls to come over and play dress up. We did hair and makeup and they modeled all my old prom dresses and work suits. It was totally harmless but I was told that this was inappropriate. Yet the boys in the congregation were allowed to run around the Hall with toy guns and pretend to shoot people.

As for me now, I'm SO glad that I never caved to the pressure and got baptized. I have one disfellowshipped sister and one disfellowshipped parent and that has caused enough problems over the years. We are all only now connecting and finding our closeness again.