What COULDN'T You Do Because You Were A Jehovah's Witness? (page 2)

SuzieQ

Great Question! Learning about all the small regular daily life things we were forbidden to do was like being in a room with ever shrinking walls around you. Until you barely had a few inches to turn around, with everyone watching you, waiting for you to make a mistake. As a child: no flag salute, no birthday cupcakes in the classroom-sent to the principles office to wait while all other children had their cupcakes., no valentines exchanges at school- I would stay home on that day to avoid the left out feeling., upon return from Holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas, at school, we had to write about our experiences at home- I never had any- always got a bad grade on this writing assignment. As a teenager: No dating, no prom, no parties- just get-to-gethers with crowds of JW teens in the extended area or skating, bowling with all parents in attendance. No extra activities at school, no joining of clubs, bands (music), no concerts, no R rated movies, never going anywhere alone but always with a chaperone. No trendy clothes, no short skirts, no long skirts, no ragged jeans, no spiked hair, not too much makeup, no cussing, no fighting, no excuses. As an Adult: Missionary sex position only- no experimental stuff. No orgasm. Didn't now what an orgasm was! No drinking alcohol-much, no parties where silliness and fun were present, no R rated movies, no expressing opinions in mixed company with elders etc., no tatoos, no multiple piercings, no trendy hair style, no flirting, no associations with anyone in KH who did not have the elders approval. There's lots more- I think I missed my entire life. I still can't even use my real name here although it would feel great. I did get guilt and lots of therapy. SQ Calif. USA

nvrgnbk

Soaps were out as they encouraged immorality.

Ok.

Thanks for inspiring me to recount a true story I've wanted to tell here for sometime.

I was afraid telling it would out me. Now I don't care.

A sister got herself in a "little trouble". She was a single-mother. Attractive but suffering from horribly low self-esteem.

In the course of discussing things with her, the self-righteous prick Presiding Overseer stumbled upon the fact that she watched soaps.

Ahaaaaa! The root of her disgusting immorality laid bare.

He very skillfully shared with her an article detailing the dangers of soaps.

Time passed. The emotionally crushed sister was eventually publicly reproved. Thank Jehovah, Satan, and Zeus that I wasn't on that committee.

Another elder and I took an interest in helping her and her young daughter to "get back on their feet". We included them when we could with our family activities.

One day we all went out together in service. First we stopped to get pizza.

The asshole P.O. reprimanded us for it. He said we shouldn't eat with her. In fact, he informed us, he and his wife rejected an invitation from the daughter, who studied with his uptight wife, to eat in her home as the evil soap-watching fornicating mother would be there.

We called him on his stupidity, pointing out that the Bible warned against eating with disfellowshipped ones, not one in her situation. He never did like being challenged and said he would write about the matter to the branch. Dumbass did. To their credit, they so much as said he was a dumbass too. LOL!

The story is about to get good.

Both he and I had speaking assignments at the Elder/MS school, whatever the hell that's called. LOL!

It was at that school that they really slammed porn, like never before.

He gave his talk for the elders, but was absent the following day to give the same talk to the servants.

Smelled fishy.

Turns out his conscience got the best of him because of a 20 year-long pornography addiction.

But remember, soaps are bad. LOL!

FadingAway

martial arts, made you a violent person.....

I was involved in the martial arts for about 6 years prior to getting baptized. It was the best thing I had ever done for myself because it gave me the self confidence and esteem that I sorely lacked as a child. I have seen firsthand the effects martial arts training has had on children and adults, it made them a better person both for themselves and for society. I was fortunate to train with a good instructor who stressed self improvment over how to kill a person with one blow. I never was fully sold on the Society's view on martial arts training because they always presented the other end of the spectrum of why it was bad, i.e. spiritism, meditation, violence. But I was convinced of a Paradise earth and gave it all up, biggest mistake I ever made.

minimus

Ha! Soaps are bad! But porn addiction is not soooo bad. What happened to the PO? Did he get the boot???

nvrgnbk

Sure did, min. LOL!

Now he's chompin' at the bit to get his throne back.

I don't fault the guy for looking at porn.

I fault him for his hypocritical heavy-handed approach to the "flock".

No R-rated movies for him either. But X-rated was ok. LMAO!

WTWizard

(1) Have a nice big block of time to do whatever without having a big fat meeting or a big fat block of field service in the middle of the way.

(2) Go to a record store and pick out a record because of my liking it. It always had to be "clean", and no matter how clean it was, someone is going to find (or create) a problem with it.

(3) Work evenings without having to take Tuesday and Thursday nights off. Those are usually the nights when you are needed. And it is usually easy if you are a dishwasher--which is a low paying job as it is.

(4) Listen to the Christmas carols and enjoy them. Ditto enjoying the Christmas lighting and tinsel.

(5) Watch R-rated movies. I had a number of them taped before becoming a Witless, and they wanted them all thrown away (at least I didn't have titles on the tapes, making it extremely difficult for them to find them). That also went for shows that featured magic. Certain quiz shows were questionable too since they had the element of luck: Press Your Luck, High Rollers, and the like come to mind.

(6) Find a job programming computers. That would have had me keep up with computers, allow me to make good money, and had the risk of getting stuck programming for the military.

minimus

WTW, wasn't it unreal that we had to look over a shoulder if we even looked at an album cover?

daystar

I didn't know it at the time, (because that is all I knew, being raised in) but there was hardly a decision I could make for myself. So much had to be dictated by the publications, the GB and the WBTS, that I had to learn, as an adult, how to make life decisions on my own merit rather than always running to some publication or some programming from the publications that had embedded itself in my character.

So, I guess I'd say I could not make my own, my very own, decisions in many cases because I was a Jehovah's Witness. But, again, were someone to have told me that when I was a Witness, I would have protested strongly. Hind-sight, huh?

nvrgnbk

Great point, daystar.

ARE YOU STILL HAUNTED BY SELF-DOUBT POST-CULT?

free2think

I couldnt be myself, i knew that if people saw the real me they wouldnt like/accept me.

What COULDN'T You Do Because You Were A Jehovah's Witness?

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