JWs - the Next Generation

Olin Moyles Ghost

My peer group (post-1975 born-in JWs) seems to approach the JW religion in a different manner than earlier generations. Now, these folks still believe the WTS is "the truth" and if you say anything that sounds "apostate" they start freaking out. But, make no mistake, these JWs are not your parents' witnesses. I should point out that these are not fringe JWs...they include Ministerial Servants, pioneers, and other "solid" publishers. Some examples follow:

R-rated movies: Borat, Old School, Wedding Crashers, and the like are favorites among my JW friends
Music: rap, metal, edgy modern rock are not considered a big deal
Holidays: on St. Patrick's day, lots of the JWs I know go to the pubs and "celebrate" by getting hammered on green beer
Drinking: you should see the piles of empties after their parties
Dirty jokes/profanity: worse than the "worldly" people I work with

Anyway, has anyone else noticed this new generation of JWs?

changeling

I agree.

changeling :)

garybuss

Not one thing on your list is new. It all went down in the 50's and 60's too except lots of Witnesses smoked then too. We had smoke breaks between the meetings Sunday and Thursday.

I partied with a visiting speaker one Saturday night and he had to crawl up the stairs to bed, he vomited all over the floor right before he passed out, and Sunday he gave his talk wearing dark glasses. That was 1962.

Every generation thinks they're bitchin' bad. None are. They're just weird different.

Solace1998

ive not met TOO many like this, but yeah it happens, not a major problem to me

DanTheMan

I don't know that this is necessarily unique to the current crop of young adult JW's.

I think that of the 40% or so of born-in JW's who stick with the faith into adulthood, only about 1 in 5 is a real uber-believer (i pulled that number out of my arse but it sounded good). The rest, well, it's just what they're used to, and they don't want to lose their family, and frankly they are not deep thinkers and have no inclination towards making a declaration of independence.

These non-uber-believers were always a source of stumbling™ for me...I was so naive and idealistic when I embraced JWism, and had very little tolerance for the human-ness of it all that became ever more apparent to me over the course of my unfortunate JW tenure.

Lady Zombie

I was born in 1970 and remember the 1975 fiasco, but I suppose I am considered one of the older generation you are referring to.

When we were teenagers, we did pretty much everything you talked about. Maybe the only difference between us and kids born post 1975, is we had to be ultra-secretive about everything and lead the proverbial "double life."

We listened to rock music but had to hide our tapes and records really well. Hahahaha our parents were so horrified at Madonna showing 3 inches of belly. They were convinced that Ozzy Osbourne was a devil worshiper.

We snuck into R rated movies through the side entrances.

Stuff like that.

Olin Moyles Ghost

Thanks for the comments, esp. those with a few more years under their belt.

I'm not sure if I need to clarify, but the "young" JWs I'm talking about are in their (our) late 20s/early 30s. Most are married, many have a kid or 2. So, these aren't just wild 'n rebellious JW teens.

Some other things I've noticed about this generation of JWs:
Even though the WTS has been hammering education for the past few years, they still talk about sending their kids to college.
There are quite a few DINKs (dual-income, no kids)--where the wife may have been a pioneer for several years previous. And these aren't cases where they're struggling to make ends meet. Rather, they maintain a nice standard of living (new cars, vacations, gadgets, etc.)
Did I mention the vacations? When I was growing up as a JW, most of the friends were lucky to get a week at the beach. My generation seems to take a vacation every 2-3 months!

All in all, I don't see much of a sense of urgency in this crowd. Sure, they still believe the WTS is "the truth" and they still go to the meetings and service and shun DF'd people and the like, but I don't see the same gung-ho spirit that I saw in my parents' generation. Of course, this is just one man's impression...

I think it's a result of the 1995 generation change and just a general Armageddon fatigue that sets in when you're part of a sect that's been falsely prophecying the end of the world for 130 years.

betteroffdead

it's all the worldly influences around us in this time of the end. lol

digderidoo

When i went back to a few meetings for the first time in over 10 years i didn't feel this sense of urgency they used to have. You would get the "ooh the end is so close", but it was never backed up.

Paul

tresdecu

OMG said:

Even though the WTS has been hammering education for the past few years, they still talk about sending their kids to college.
There are quite a few DINKs (dual-income, no kids)--where the wife may have been a pioneer for several years previous. And these aren't cases where they're struggling to make ends meet. Rather, they maintain a nice standard of living (new cars, vacations, gadgets, etc.)
Did I mention the vacations? When I was growing up as a JW, most of the friends were lucky to get a week at the beach. My generation seems to take a vacation every 2-3 months!

Yes, I notice the very same thing here in my area. Especially the Vacations (way to go, enjoy life!) and the new cars, gagets, etc...

JWs - the Next Generation

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