Questions about Athletic Activities while a JW

by AjaxMan 36 Replies latest jw friends

  • nytelecom1
    nytelecom1

    once again we see the reasons that so many dubs hate antis...pure
    lies and b.s...

    no the WTS does not frown on sports.
    what the WTS does warn against is bad association...back
    in my high school the football tean and Bball team was notorious
    for getting drunk on the way back from away games....gee i wonder why
    a christian org would ever warn against this

    and going to a gym??....hahha...i smirk and laugh at you antis and
    your lies...i am well known on this board for my demand of physical exellence which can only be gained by lifting....

    the double standard you assume isnt one at all..I know a few dubs
    who are in community leagues, whatever choice a dub makes is between
    him and the almight JAH

  • Escargot
    Escargot

    nytelecom1: You are mistaken! Refer to the School Brochure and it states that Jehovah’s Witnesses do not participate in School activities such as sports.

    Also, you cannot serve if you are in martial arts.

    Double standards are right! When I was an elder, I was approached about a son of a PO in another congregation that was captain of the foot ball team in high school. This PO was a “Big Shot” contractor and a supplier of the Kingdom Hall building projects. No one would touch it!

    However, I saw others “talked to” for the same offence. Now my son is in wrestling and my daughter is in soccer. They love it, best thing we have done for our family.

  • FreeFallin
    FreeFallin

    I seem to recall an Awake or Watchtower about children in Japan who were required to take a martial arts class or fencing. Witness children refused.

    Perhaps someone knows the article I mean.

    Freefallin

  • AjaxMan
    AjaxMan

    nytelecom1:

    If it is pure lies and bs, then what is your take in regards participating in any of these 3 activities?

    Would you do it or do you have to contact your elder for permission to do it (where is the freedom in there?)?

    Also, if dubs are in community league, doesn't that goes against what the society says: "Instead of spending time on that, they should spend time more on field service" ?

    Feel free to answer.

    BTW, everyone who had been a JW: Are any choices that you made regarding these activities between you and Jehovah? or Between you and the elders/WTS society?

    Ajax

    Ajax

    "Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things and the best things never die." - The Shawshank Redemption

  • Nathan Natas
    Nathan Natas

    Hi Ajax -

    Choices a person makes are between him and the jehovah sock puppet operated by the WTS thru the local elders and local petty gossipmongers.

  • Mulan
    Mulan

    I think it depends on your elder body. In our area, gyms are very popular, and lots of dubs belong and regularly workout, including elders and pioneers. Martial arts are a no-no. In the elder manual, it clearly says that an elder, whose children are in martial arts, cannot continue to serve. Our youngest son was in Tae Kwon Do, to give him confidence. He was bullied in school, and was pretty passive about it. We couldn't find anything in the WT or Awake, saying they couldn't do it, so we let him enroll, but just kept it quiet. Then my husband found it in his elder manual. We still let him do it. School sports are frowned on but I know elders, whose kids did it, including our second son. He was 18, when he was a senior, and didn't need our permission, so he did it. We went to his games too, and so did others in the congregation. Who can figure?

    So much for worldwide unity, eh?

    Marilyn (a.k.a. Mulan)

  • Preston
    Preston

    To be fair, nytelecom1 is right in correctly stating that "WTS does not frown on sports" or "bodybuilding". What they do frown upon are certain types of sports like boxing and karate. As for playing sports in school, any extraciricular activities carry a lot of conditions, including chorus, band, sports. The presiding overseer in my congregation, who was originally from Denver, never passed up the chance to ridicule Football, which he regarded as a pagan sport and the cheerleaders "temple prostitutes". He'd recount stories about his old congregation where vast numbers of elders had to give up their positions because they stayed at home watching the Broncos on Sunday rather than attend meetings.

    So, in reality, despite popular belief that Jehovahs's Witnesses forbid everything they in fact allow members of the congregation to play sports.

  • Darkhorse
    Darkhorse

    Interesting point Mulan brought up regarding gyms being popular in her area; they are also very popular in my local.

    I have a question to Mulan or anybody else. In your area, are the the JW's who attend the gyms "instructed or do they receive guidance from their elders" on how to interact with the "worldly" population that also attend these facilities (curious as worldly people are considered "bad associations" according to JW beliefs?

  • nytelecom1
    nytelecom1

    note:

    during one moring worship brother losch gave a comment
    regarding football and how it is a violent sport and gave comment
    about it and comments of a football player who's goal it was
    to shove the nose of the opposite side into his head...
    "should a christian enjoy such activities?"

    anyone who has served at bethel know the superbowl parties br.
    sylik enjoys..and that winter bethelites could still be seen
    playing fball during lunch.....

    contradiction?...hypocricy...?...no one mans opinion and
    one mans consience.....

  • Room 215
    Room 215

    Hi gain Telecom... I guess your boss ain't lookin' over your shoulder right now, so... you post this...

    ``once again we see the reasons that so many dubs hate antis...pure
    lies and b.s..''

    No, telecom, the reason JWs hate antis is because they're among the most intolerant people on earth. An it ain't jsut antis'' they detest: it's everybody that isn't one of them and even that ``other half'' of their own kind who slacken the pace on meeting attendance and field service.

    You're quite right about the dangers of bad associations, but there are more constructive ways to deal with it than adopting a monastic lifestyle. Whether it's on the football team, in school, in on the workplace, young JWs are eventually coming to have to come to grips with interacting with people who don't share their views of life and religion.

    Your high school football team may well have goten drunk on every return bus trip from an away game; that certain hasn't been true with any of the teams my sons have played on. Sure there were some bad apples and wild types; but generally goal-oriented, sensible, well-brought-up kids with self respect know how to deal wih that, as do the coaches who are put in charge.

    Furthermore, the misguided anti-education policies of the WT virtually guarantees that when underqualified young JWs enter the workplace, it's exactly the trouble-making goobers on the football they're likely to have to work alongside.

    And my experience is that kids who decline to take part in irrespnsible drinking, wild sex, or other misconduct are as often likely to be respected and held up as role models as they are to be ridiculed.
    In my town-- and it's one whose high school football team has won several state championships and been nationally ranked -- would ride any coach out on a rail if he tolerated any of teh behavioir you describe.
    As I said, parental involvement and awareness is the key; the JW policy of forbidding every request by your kid to participate in a non-Witness project or activity and hop that he/she quiescently accepts , is the lazy way to keeping kids in line doesn't work -- and the Society's current hemmorhaging of children proves it.

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