by JH 29 Replies latest jw friends
I remember a brother telling me many years ago, that he could have bought a beautiful fur coat to his wife, but he didn't want others in the congregation to be jealous. That was the mentality back then. No one wanted to be a stumbling stone.
Gee, today you see Acuras and expensive cars all around the Kingdom hall parking lot. I guess the word stumbling stone doesn't matter anymore.
In the late 90s, I bought a used Pontiac Grand Am. The BOE said I was materialistic. Yet within a year of that one of those frauds elders bought a Lexus. Some how he wasn't materialistic.
I think it depends on the individual congregation. I know my old cong still has the mentality that nice cars and clothes are a "showy display of one's means of life." However a more recent cong I attended was like the who's who of JW's. Lot's of Mercedes, Jags, and other cars that would require 6 figure incomes. I personally received some flak when my business took off back in the 90's. During the book study we were into the revelation book and when the topic of big business came up I would get stares.
You should have heard the Pharisees bitch when I finally got the courage up to drive my a$$ kicking black 911 onto the kh parking lot.
It really does depend on the area I think, where I grew up, it is still considered "worldly" to have a really nice car, and if its not four door, boy, you are so un-theocratic! Gag.
I forgot about the 4 door car rule. I bought a Firebird back then and yes, I did get the un-theocratic vehicle choice stares because I couldn't use it in service.
Decent principle inconsistently applied.
Typical of the organization.
Sad.
I have learned that the ones at the hall's with the biggest mouths, had the biggest everything, cars, houses etc. They were the ones who said we should not be materialistic. HYPOCRITES!
LINDA
P.S. we even knew family in Maine who told us in 1980 not to buy a house. They owned one.
Jealousy...that's all it is, JEALOUSY!
LINDA
What MadTiger & Linda said!
The elders will use their authority to come down on you for any little thing if they don't like you. They can be such nitpickers, when it comes to OTHER people. Power trip !!
