"Where's your jacket brother"

by jambon1 50 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  tijkmo

  'suits' were the big deal in our congs...and by that i mean matching jackets and trousers (suits and pants in u.s)

  there is a line in the ministry school book that says that a suit coat should be worn if that is the custom in your vicinity. as a result of this the elders ruled that all brothers should wear suits for all platform assignments. i found out that some of the younger bros in the hall (fatherless- orphans etc) were ashamed to join the school cos they didn't have a 'suit'. i decided to show them that this wasn't necessary by doing my next assignment not wearing a suit. man you would have thought i had commited the unforgivable sin.

  they were still going on about it when the next c.o. visit came around...so it was discussed at the elders meeting with the c.o...i endeavoured to show them that the u.s term suit coat does not mean a matching suit but a jacket ..and i had still worn that..i further showed that going beyond what was written was unscriptural, that foricng your opinion on others especially those that couldn't afford it was unscriptural and that splitting hairs was unscriptural etc etc etc but to no avail...the c.o ruled in favour of the majority of the body (ray midgeley - quelle surprise) and i was told to conform or resign.

  irony was that i had loads of suits and loved wearing them - i just hate the unjust enforcing of unnecessary rules.

  i didn't resign ..they weren't getting rid of me that easy...next meeting i toyed with wearing a wet suit. a bathing suit, matching jacket and trouser pyjamas, a boiler suit..even my birthday suit...but i settled on a regular suit with clashing multicoloured shirt and tie.

  i also got done for not wearing a white t- shirt while baptising...a wore a neutral cloured plain t - no slogans and completely modest. for that sin i was not recommended as an elder when moving congs at the request of a different c.o. (who then over-ruled them)

  fun fun fun
• 

  tijkmo

  the tie orgininated in .....

  they already know...evidently despite its origins it no longer has that meaning anymore which is why it is alright for jws to wear them...bit like birthdays then

  ***

  g965/8p.31WhoInventedtheNecktie?***

  Who

  InventedtheNecktie?

  BY AWAKE! CORRESPONDENT IN GERMANY

  AROUND the world some 600 million men wear them regularly. In Germany the average man owns about 20 neckties. Many a man has wondered with some irritation, while putting on a necktie, ‘Whose idea was this, anyway?’ Where did the tie originate?

  Steenkerke, a town in Belgium, claims the honor of having "invented" the necktie. In 1692, English forces made a surprise attack on French troops stationed there. According to the German newspaper FrankfurterAllgemeineSonntagszeitung, "the [French] officers had no time to dress correctly. But without ado, they tied their uniform scarves around the neck with a loose knot and pushed the ends through the buttonholes of their jacket. Voilà, the birth of the necktie in its original form."

  However, the soldiers’ fashion novelty was not exactly unprecedented. Experts on the history of neckties point out that centuries earlier, warriors for the Chinese emperor Cheng (Shih Huang Ti) wore a scarflike cloth folded around the neck, indicating their rank.

  Perhaps the most famous, though, were the scarves worn by Croatians fighting for King Louis XIV of France. During a victory parade in Paris, the French were so taken by the Croatians’ scarves that they called them cravates, from Cravate, a Croat, and began wearing the scarves as well. "From then on," writes the aforementioned newspaper, "there was no stopping necktie fashions, although the soldiers in Steenkerke were the first to make the scarf into a knotted tie."

  During the French Revolution (1789-99), a man would indicate his political inclination by the color of the "croat," or scarf, around his neck. In the 19th century, elegant European society "discovered" this form of attire. It was then that the cravat was elevated from the military and political arena and entered the wardrobe of the male population at large. Today the necktie is more than accepted in many societies worldwide; in certain settings, it is even mandatory.

  [Picture

  CreditLineonpage31]

  Historic

  CostumeinPictures/Dover Publications, Inc., New York
• 

  martinwellborne

  I can remember being a little hard up as a struggling pioneer and buying second hand shirts that were a little too tight to get that top button done up. and the watchtower conductor came up to me about why my top shirt button was undone. not here's some cash to buy a new shirt.
• 

  4mylove

  Deaconbluez

  I don't get the Hezekiah script. Sorry Bible ignorant...

  4
• 

  ssrriotsquad

  4mylove - Deaconsblue is referring to it as it does not exist. Hezekiah is not a Bible book. Regarding coats to be worn (or even available to you) even when you dont have an assignment, the motto is: NO NOTE, NO COAT!
• 

  Frequent_Fader_Miles

  when it came to “brothers,” the Watchtower instructed congregation elders that the men should wear a tie if giving a part from the stage

  Maybe the brothers should take a page out of "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air's" book. Remember how he would wear his uniform jacket inside out? lol Then there was the time he came in with the necktie around his head and proclaimed: "A tie must be worn with the uniform yes ... but it doesn't say WHERE!"

  LOL
• 

  tula

  In the South Pacific Islands it was common for women to go topless, and still is in remote areas. So it was not uncommon to go to a meeting at the Kingdom Hall (usually a very modest structure, and maybe open-air) and see most if not all the sisters without tops on, including the ones giving talks on stage. To be perfectly clear, these women were naked from the waste up. But when it came to “brothers,” the Watchtower instructed congregation elders that the men should wear a tie if giving a part from the stage. Most of these men could not afford shoes and socks, let alone a tie. So it was rather amusing to see congregations where there was one communal tie and when one brother left the stage he would take off the tie and don it on the next speaker. The amusement was not the poverty. Rather it was the madness of a Watchtower policy that put style of clothing above clothing itself. I mean, the biblical model has God himself covering human nakedness, but nowhere does the biblical model don ties on the men.

  Marvin Shilmer

  This has got to be the most amusing comment I've read in a long time. Too bad Margaret Mead was not around to see this. It would have made a great story in a journal on social anthropology. I would love to see a photo of this on Awake mag. Would be a hoot if the photo made national geographic first.

  Thanks for a delightful contribution, Marvin.
• 

  justhuman

  stupid rules from stupid idiots
• 

  Frequent_Fader_Miles

  As a Witness, I was glad to finally find the scripture that backs up the jacket issue, as well as the "white-only dress shirt" mandate for public talks. The scripture: Hezekiah 9:9.

  Don't forget verse 10 also my brother.
• 

  chickpea

  this one may seem a little off topic

  but it speaks to the magnitude of control being exerted over the members

  our district convention was held in an auditorium that had skywalk access to a small mall with a food court..... so for several years during my association with the society, we would take our four kids to the food court..... a nice walk after sitting for hours and an array of palatable foodstuffs ( plus no lunches to make for the harried mom!)...... hundreds of the bothers did the same..... a coffee shop in an obscure corner even set up a more visible and convenient kiosk to handle the crowds

  the first convention i missed at this same facility had annoncements that NONE of the brothers were to go to the food court, but rather remain in the auditorium to eat a lunch they had prepared beforehand ( evidently this was also emphasized in home congregations beforehand) ..... the elderly sister relating it to me told me BROTHERS were at the food court to take the names of errant ones!! and she thought that it was fine enough to have that level of scrutiny of "fellow believers"..... i saw it as insulting and controlling and have not been to a DC in 4 years