Hello. I am a christian and I will openly say that I do not know anything about Jehovahs wittnesses. With that being said, I have a few questions. There are two girls that attend an elementary school that I substituted at today. During the valentines day party which consisted of the students making ice cream sundaes and just enjoying themselves, the mother came up, ripped the ice cream out of the girls hands and stormed out with them. Apparently that is against their religion?!? Will someone please explain to me what is wrong with having an ice cream sundae with your classmates? I really am curious about this religion and the beliefs associated with it. Thanks.
valentines day
by bamateacher 8 Replies latest jw friends
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zeroday
Jehovah's Witnesses believe they are the ONLY TRUE CHRISTIANS on earth today and are the only avenue of communication with God and his followers thru the Faithful and Discrete Slave class and Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses in Brooklyn NY...as such they are taught that TRUE Christians do not partake in any wordly holidays or celebrations at all not matter how small it may seem. The children were probably to small to understand but the parents knew to check on their children and removed them keeping them from participating in Valentines celebration...These children will be stigmatized and scarred their entire lives by such actions...
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Quandry
Thank you for your question.
I work in an elementary school and can assure you that this mother had ample notice that this party would take place at this time. Why in the world didn't she keep the girls at home or at least come and pick them up well before the party? I'm sure this looked very dramatic, was very traumatizing for these children, and perhaps unsettling for you as well as for any other parents present.
I was a JW mother. I kept my child home on party days so that she would not have to deal with the issue. (I was a very obedient witness)
Why can't the girls celebrate? Every holiday is either considered to come from false religious backgrounds (SAINT Valentive) or is nationalistic. As the other poster declared, JWs feel that they are the only true religion and everyone who is not a JW is "worldly" and will die at Armagedon, the war spoken about in the Bible's book of Revelation.
The reason I am not a witness today? Well, another practice that JWs have is called disfellowshipping. If found guilty of an infraction, a person can be totally shunned by friends and family for a period of time, usually a year, but lasting much longer-say a lifetime, if the person does not sufficiently "repent" and request to be reinstated.
My sixteen year old teen daughter did some normal teen stuff. She was called in to sit before five men, who humiliated, berated, demeaned her, accused her of fornication and when she would not admit it, called her a liar, and applied a scripture to her that God viewed her as filth, deserving to destroyed everlastingly with the devil and his angels. They then disfellowshipped her.
This was too much. Can you imagine the impact on the self-worth of a sixteen year old girl? Needless to say, she was in therapy for quite some time. B@$t@^&$ !!!
If you have any further questions, feel free to ask.
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Layla33
^^^What she said.
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cognac
They say that since it has pagan origins, people shouldn't have anything to do with something that has associations with any other god but the Almighty God.
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yknot
During the valentines day party
The Valentines Day Party participation was the problem. Ice cream sundae was not.
As a teacher you may encounter children with different lifestyles and beliefs then your own. Being courteous and knowledgable is always appreciated by students and parents alike. I think it would be best if you put yourself in the mother's shoes. She mostlikely has passed on a brochure explaining the prohibitions of said holidays and made clear her child was not to participate. This is her parental right. She comes in to retrieve her child and finds her participating in a holiday she deems 'pagan, and against her instructions'. As a Christian ( and many JWs will defend themselves as Christians) I am sure you would not want your child participating in the Wiccan Oimealg (Feb 2), should public schools ever start to expand it's holiday calendar to include other religious holidays.
Personally as a JW parent I wouldn't have sent my child to school, but many do not have my luxury of being a stay-at-home- mom.
As a former JWkid, I dreaded every holiday not because of my being sent to the library or reading a book on the corner bean bag. I dreaded it because my teachers designed their entire yearly curriculums around holidays.
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jaguarbass
We are mainly rebellious ex JW's here who for the most part have nothing good to say about the Wac Tower magazine and tract publishing company..
I have been out since 83. To the best of my memory. The Jehobers Witnesses are against any holliday that was invented by American Greetings or any other rival publishing company.
So they would be against mothers and fathers day also.
They pretty much only want their flock to buy printed material that they publish and promotes their holliday the memorial.
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loosie
Even when I was in I allowed my daughter to pass out candy during the valentine's day party. That mother could of handled it in a much better way. She is being dramatic.