Dress and Grooming in This Time of the End

by sd-7 7 Replies latest jw friends

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  sd-7

  Here's a great scenario for the stubborn, opinionated, challenger-of-the-channel-Jehovah-is-using-today types.

  Brother attends meeting with full beard and tennis shoes. Elder approaches, puts arm around shoulder to feign interest while simultaneously exerting subtle control by tactile adhesion of fingers to shoulder.

  Elder: "We wanted to talk to you about your appearance. We can't let you handle the announcements tonight."

  Brother Challenger: "Okay. Well, Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount with a full beard and sandals. I'm just doing my best to 'follow his pattern closely'."

  Elder: "Those were different times. Jesus dressed according to the cultural norm of his day, and we need to dress modestly according to the appropriate norms of our day."

  Brother Challenger: "Well, the Bible says that 'Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.' He doesn't conform to the cultural norms of the world. Why should we imitate them?"

  Elder: "We want to avoid stumbling people. Why are you ignoring the counsel that Jehovah's organization gives us?"

  Brother Challenger: "You still haven't answered my question. Just imagine how stumbled I was during the prayer, when I saw Brother and Sister Pioneer HOLDING HANDS!! I thought they were SPIRITUAL, focused on their relationship with Jehovah. Maybe they need to be chaperoned during field service, too, so that their sentimentality doesn't interfere with the ministry that we do in support of the slave class. Now THERE'S a stumbling block."

  Elder: "That still doesn't tell us why you choose to neglect your relationship with Jehovah."

  Brother Challenger: "By doing what, exactly? Charles Taze Russell can have a beard, but I can't? Wow, the organizational apple has fallen far from the tree, hasn't it?"

  Elder: "Um, we're going to set up a 'meeting' with you." [Goes to look for another elder.]

  [Brother Challenger uses the crowds as a distraction and disappears without a trace.]

  ... Okay...I just wanted to try it. Could this happen? I'd love to hear your possible responses to this scenario. Fire at will.

  SD-7
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  minimus

  Brother Challenger will soon be "disciplined".
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  Open mind

  Fire at will.

  If his name was Bill, that's exactly what they would do.

  I think the elder's response in your post was dead on. That's pretty well how it would go down in most K Halls methinks.

  om
• 

  BluesBrother

  Could this happen?

  Sure... I have known it several times . A friend of mine decided to grow a pony tail. It was pretty long the last time I saw him. Others have grown long unkempt beards.

  The elders "counsel" them, they lose privileges at the hall but they cannot be disciplined further They still go in Field Service
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  PSacramento

  WHat if he was dressed as a Ninja?

  Nobody fucks with ninjas !
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  straightshooter

  The elder's response is so real. I remember a CO threatening an elder for having a m ustache. The elder did not remove it and the CO was assigned to a different circuit by the next visit.
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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  Br. Challenger should wear a robe, something modest, below the knee. And slippers, big warm fuzzy slippers.
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  WTWizard

  They can hound and remove "privileges" for not grooming according to the standards. But, once you start questioning the standards (even if Jesus had a beard), you are playing with "loose conduct" and "disregarding the authority of the hounders". And you can get disfellowshipped for that. Not to mention, they can and will fish out "apostasy" from the situation.