i am suspecting the pharisees at 9:00 are the GB...
talk about going beyond what is written
At a 2 day assembly ...the point that the brother spoke about that drove me mad....."don't hug your husband, wife or child during prayer".
by crazy2try 80 Replies latest jw experiences
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chickpea
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man in black
Holding hands / no, patterned shirts / no, my God what has this religion become.
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cult classic
Well the witlesses refuse blood for their loved ones and watch them die, right?
Well obeying these instructions should be a piece of cake!
Cult Classic
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ziddina
Yet another method of driving home the message that active JWs' primary connection should be to the Watchtower Society, and that family comes second - a very distant second, at that...
As so many others have also posted, it's all about control, control, control... Getting it into the good lil' JW minds that NOTHING is more important or valuable than the Great Organization Mother - the WTBTS...
Besides, it's a form of practice for when you have to SHUN your beloved ones because "Mother" says so...
Zid
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ziddina
"If we were before the President or King or Queen of our respective country I don't think we would feel the need to hug each other when thanking them or asking for there help...."
Yeah, "FINGER" (great handle, that... seems to express your whole attitude towards any ex-JWs dissenting the WTBTS 'mind-control'... You MUST be from Bethel, or a bored elder...)...
BUT - Presidents and human Kings and Queens don't make the claim that they "are LOVE" like this Johnny-come-lately Middle Eastern god of the bible does...
If "god" REALLY IS "love", then he'd WANT his followers to demonstrate it, ESPECIALLY during prayer!!!
Yeeesh... Whatabunchahypocrites... Zid
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MinisterAmos
OK, I get it, touching a loved family member during prayer MIGHT offend sombody.
But talks discussing anal and oral sex presented before gradeschoolers and toddlers is A OK!
Because the GB approved those talks of course; they do not however approve that you hold your wife's hand.
If I was truly evil, I would get invited to the newly minted Boy-Elder's house after one of those BJ talks for the kiddies and go into great succcculent detail discussing the finer points with his little wife. The problem is that they feel armored by Holy Spirit or something when they read from the WT and have no idea who might be offended or even why.
Wipe their noses in it
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ziddina
Ana_Dote! I just got to your reply....
You GO, Girl!!! You TELL 'em!!!
Zid
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Mad Sweeney
The crazy changes and new rules they've implemented these last several years are with one purpose in mind: weed out the nonconformists. I think the borg honestly believes there is some serious stuff on the horizon that will require the rank and file to unquestioningly OBEY some wacky orders they have in mind. They want the greater percentage of the members to be fully indoctrinated when that happens. They would rather have one million members willing to drink the kool-aid than ten million members but most of them still capable of independent thought.
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miseryloveselders
ana_dote- In regards to the hugging thing - BULLSH*T and I'll tell you why. According to the JW's/bible/whatev....marriage is a THREEFOLD CORD. Man + woman + GOD = marriage. By a married couple joining together by hands or a general embrace, it is acknowledging and initiating that special bond that should exist among the THREE. Besides, even if it's true that prayer should be a holy moment between an individual and God alone, aren't married people supposed to be ONE FLESH? By respectfully embracing, they are showing their respect and recognition of the unique bond they share with God.
Good point.
Blondie-We can illustrate this in the matter of dress. The Bible requirement—God’s requirement—is that a Christian’s clothing must be neat and clean, well-arranged and not betraying a lack of "modesty and soundness of mind." (1 Timothy 2:9; 3:2) Obviously, then, the elders in one congregation went "beyond the things that are written" a few years ago by requiring every public speaker in their congregation to wear a white shirt, even though pastel colors were generally acceptable in that country. Guest speakers who showed up with a colored shirt were asked to change into one of several white shirts kept in the Kingdom Hall for just such emergencies. How careful we have to be in order not to impose our personal taste on others! And how appropriate Paul’s counsel: "Let your reasonableness become known to all men"!—Philippians 4:5.
If you would have told me this was taken from a WT, I would have called you a liar. SD-7 couldnt have wrote it any better. I can't believe they printed this. Nowadays, CO's and DO's still verbally request require you wear white shirts during assemblies and conventions. I've helped out on stage work for assemblies, and I've seen brothers get removed for not dressing conservatively enough. Translation: their shirt twas not white.
I was planning on blowing off my next Circuit Assembly, but I'm dying to go now!! Just to see what nonsense is going to spewed from the platform.
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Crisis of Conscience
I almost joined this forum when the Watchtower article was discussed at the hall.
Then wouldn't you know it, a few weeks after, as I sit down after the opening prayer, an elder from across the aisle whispers to me loudly, "PSSST, PSSST (To get my attention)" And then still whispering loudly and doing a shame on you sign with his fingers says, "You shouldn't hug your wife during the prayer. It's not proper." I gave him a look of disgust and mouthed, "What!! What are you talking about!"
Amazingly enough he didn't say anything to me after the meeting.
Boy did that piss me off! I told my wife about it and how ridiculous that is. Now here is the thing on how I feel. Of the X amount of years that I have been married to my wife, I always put my arm around my wife and she does the same to me during the prayer. Never once in the past was I talked to about it nor was it considered a sin. I went as far as looking up the word the article used, 'embrace.' A word involving two arms around a person, which I'm not doing, but there is nothing wrong with.
Are you FREAKIN' kidding me!! An elders interpretation failed to even grasp what the word means.
Needless to say I haven't stopped doing that nor will I. It wasn't a sin in the past nor is it now! Saying a prayer while being that close to my wife has always been intimate for my wife and I. And I highly doubt I have offended God by doing what I've done all these years. But the GB hath spoken, so let it be done, so let it be written.
Now that I'm done ranting, this next bit is probably TMI. But for some reason, when I first got married and I was a good little JW, every time I studied the Watchtower with my wife, it was on like Donkey Kong. Meaning somehow our clothes came off and we ended up in the bedroom. We aren't that kinky so we never used a threefold cord (no pun intended)!