social skills and JW's

Descender

It occured to me the other day that many Jehovah's Witnesses have very bad social skills outside of the kindom hall.

My brother, who still goes to meetings but isn't a strong believer, and his wife, who is a 4th generation JW with very stong beliefs and a very self righteous attitude asked my wife and I if we'd like to go for a hike at a local national park the other day. I faded years ago and my wife is not and has never been a JW and isn't religious.

They came by and picked us up and while we were driving up to the park my sister-in-law kept on randomly mentioning Jehovah, the new system, and at one point when my brother was talking about how he couldn't understand how this guy he knew was acting a certain way, she said, it's not so hard to understand, he's part of the world, he's probably being controlled by demons. At this point my wife leaned over to me and said, "she can not be serious, demons ... seriously?"

I thought about it and remembered back to when I was an active witness with only witness friends and I remember that JW speak was a very common occurence. Just in general every day conversation we would mention Jehovah, the new system, demons, satan, etc. If a non-JW got caught up in the mix of one of our conversations back then I would imagine they'd think we sounded crazy just like my wife now thinks my sister-in-law is crazy. My wife can't believe that my sister-in-law could actually believe that one of my brother's friends is controlled by a demon. And I can't believe how crazy I used to sound.

Burger Time

Rarely would a JW ever apply this scripture to themselves in 1 Cor. 14

There are, perhaps, a great many kinds of languages in the world, and no kind is without meaning. If then I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be to the one who speaks a barbarian, and the one who speaks will be a barbarian to me.

Gopher

I agree that JW's, especially those who were brought up that way, can be very insulated and insensitive.

Maybe your SIL thought she was giving a good witness. She just came off as rude, insensitive and out-of-touch.

Some JW's are better at socialization, but that's in spite of their JW training.

Dorktacular

If you're a JW and you have social skills, the rest of the shun you and talk about you behind your back. It's weird.

Happy Harvester

Another thing I wish that I and my family could not relate to.

Oh, well, nobody's perfect, esp. those who "have all the answers."

Finally-Free

I joined the JWs when I was in my mid twenties, and I was astonished at the way they spoke to one another. Where I grew up people got their asses severely kicked for speaking to others so contemptuously.

W

Descender

After I told my wife that JW's sometimes think that demons inhabit things like antiques, old records, and toys she said it might be funny to go to the store and buy a creepy little toy of some sort and send it to my sister-in-law without a return address with a message on it that says, "Hi, I'm a demon."

She asked me what would happen and I told her I bet my SIL would probably run outside and burn it right away. My wife said that'd be great because then she could just keep buying the same creepy toy and conspicously leave it beside my sister-in-law's bed or somewhere in their house everytime she burns one. :)

wha happened?

I came when I was in my mid 20's. Been to college, had a social life etc etc. I did think that when they spoke they used strange terms. Almost like an older form of English from 50 years ago. I pictured an old black and white film from the 20's with a stoic man giving a speech. JW's are fairly insulated when they speak of others because they concept of "putting up with one another" protected anyone from receiving an appropriette response to what they said to another JW. And I believe that with that protection in mind, many JW's use it to be abusive to one another.

I was accused many times of using smooth speech to get my way. Whatever my way was supposed to be. I just felt that if anyone had an opinion they might want to use facts quoted outside the WT magazine.

Gopher

she said it might be funny to go to the store and buy a creepy little toy of some sort and send it to my sister-in-law without a return address with a message on it that says, "Hi, I'm a demon."

ROFLMAO! I like how your wife thinks!!

She asked me what would happen and I told her I bet my SIL would probably run outside and burn it right away.

Except that JW's also believe that demons are able to prevent demonized objects from being burned. That's often how it's told in their urban legends. So the righteous JW would have to go find a place far away from their house to dispose of it, praying to Jehoober all the way that the demons don't invade the car while driving to get rid of the object.

Happy Harvester

she said it might be funny to go to the store and buy a creepy little toy of some sort and send it to my sister-in-law without a return address with a message on it that says, "Hi, I'm a demon."
She asked me what would happen and I told her I bet my SIL would probably run outside and burn it right away. My wife said that'd be great because then she could just keep buying the same creepy toy and conspicously leave it beside my sister-in-law's bed or somewhere in their house everytime she burns one. :)

I know of the perfect toy; however, you might have to get someone to copy the design of it, which might be terribly rude, if not illlegal.

It's a hand-made sculpture of Satan driving a "sinner loader."

Satan is red and naked and has a hard-on for all the little people loaded on his front-loader.

If I can make a picture and link it here, I will.

It's one of my favorite physical objects of all time for the way it makes fun of demonic ideas and hell. It resides in the home of a recovering Catholic, married to an atheist Jew.

social skills and JW's

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