Does the watchtower need to loosen up

by jacethespace 11 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  jacethespace

  Do Most Jehovahs witnesses have a problem with having a sense of humor?Or should i say a lack of it?

  I had an intresting experience a while back ive been thinking about after not going to meetings for a number of months and developing my own " independant thinking" and breaking from watchtower control.

  I met with an elder at home and had a chat with him and during the conversation i commented on a funny cartoon sketch i saw about religion.He laughed with that strange programmed laughter i noticed before in the tower and then made a comment which got me really suspicous , He said " yeah we have got a sense of humor in the truth as well and can have a laugh".I remember thinking he had said that after encountering something that he found alien to the truth.From me and my own independant thinking seprate from watchtower control.

  Was really strange the way it was said like he had noticed something good in me thats not in the watchtower and tried to justify himself to convince himself it was nothing.

  Its things like that that make me sit up and question the watchtower.

  And one of my friends in the tower that has been in all his life hes in his forties and i have always found him quite funny beacause he has like this rebelious attitude about him that seems to go against the tower.Hes always looking for an excuse to have a party and have fun and get people together in the cong.And for this people say about him that hes on the edge of the truth.Actually they just dont have a sense of humor and seem to be anti life.Why?
• 

  wha happened?

  I remember in one particular congregation I attended that was strict. Humor was usually explained as one was always afraid that funny comment might be taken seriously.
• 

  caliber

  jacethespace,

  It can't risk loosening up, loosening up means less control, more spontaneous thought.

  In social gatherings you ARE on the edge but its not the edge truth, its the edge of control that your seeing at meetings, field service,

  (regimentation). Humour and social settings allow for more individuality and spur of the moment thoughts to surface; It jeopardizes the control

  and manipulation that you feel. So at this point guilt must creep back in to protect the "bee hive" thinking mold. Though it is natural

  to speak freely from the heart it now feels very foreign. It should be a natural reaction to speak freely, with the exception of being hurtful

  or rude to the feelings of others.

  Caliber
• 

  stillajwexelder

  Absolutely the WTS needs to lighten up - but they are doing the opposite
• 

  caliber

  To the idea of "independent thinking" What is the opposite of "independent thinking' if not " dependent thinking " ?

  Do you not need to use your independent mind to determine what is independent thinking ?

  Caliber
• 

  JK666

  You couldn't pull a needle out of the Borg's @$$ with a tractor!

  JK
• 

  Robert7

  I think this is a case-by-case thing. In my current congregation the brothers and elders are actually pretty cool, and pretty much are loosened up.
  
  I think however this is an anomaly, because most of those 'strong in the faith' that I've seen have a stick up their asses.
• 

  Honesty

  I didn't have time to wait for them to loosen up so I went ahead and cut the chains they had around my mind before they completely destroyed it.
• 

  QUEEN_BITCH_JACQUELINE

  Hmm I was raised in a congregation that on average had about 10 parties a month... and everyone had a great time. But maybe we were a minority.
• 

  WTWizard

  The congregation I used to go to actually tightened things up significantly. Going into the 1990s, things were relatively fun. There were gatherings outside the boasting sessions, and I remember going to a number of picnics in the early 1990s. Children in their teens were allowed to have parties together, with chaperones.

  Sometime around 1995, the curtain came down. Since about then, I have seen absolutely nothing. They have been cracking down more and more on things that made life enjoyable. Pretty soon, there were no more parties or get togethers except the boasting sessions. Children have no fun.

  And, it is going to get even worse. The April 2008 Kool Aid has more instructions to refrain from having any fun. Once they study it, and especially following the Grand and Great Boasting Sessions and hounder-hounder visits after it, they are really going to get tough on fun. Anything that is "too much fun", and they decide what is "too much", will be banned. Some will get even stricter and totally ban anything that is even close to fun. All the time will be spent on field circus, and I can't wait to see the Kool-Aid that bans coffee and warm-up/cool-off breaks and gathering around the car to kill time while out in field circus.

  Yes, they need to totally loosen up. But no, they are not going to do it. There is absolutely no harm to a well-grounded organization or society if people are allowed, or even encouraged, to think on their own. But, when such needs to be banned, something terrible is wrong with it. The Watchtower Society is only going to get stricter and stricter, ruining more lives.