by MMXIV 21 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
I have wondered that also. I think medical issues would be brought up quite a bit and it would be next to impossible to prove someone had an obsession with Big Mac's and that was interfering with their devotion to Jehovah, oh ur erm ,the organization.
At first thought, I think that is pretty cruel, but then again the way that JC are handled is pretty cruel in most cases!
We had a massive sister in our congregation. Mind you she disappeared, not sure if she just started going to a different congregation or not.
When I was a teenager there was a sister who was really overweight. She live on the other side of town but would come to my side hit all the fast food joints and go to a park to eat. Well she ran into an elder from her hall at this park once what were the chances, she had with her KFC, McDonalds, and something else. They public reproved her. She said Jehovah sent the elder to catch her.
LITS
If being well overweight and a 'self confessed lover of cream cakes' is all that is needed to be D/Fed then a District Overseer I knew, and probably many others on here will know, David Carter, would have been out.
George
I knew a brother that was always taking more than his share at social events, stuffing his face, leaving others with nothing to eat...yet, he was not fat, but he was greedy and selfish, they held a JC for him and he mended his ways.
I knew an elder that was always taking more than his share at social events, stuffing his face, leaving others with nothing to eat...and he was one fat fuck that was greedy and selfish. He's still an elder in good standing who has to get his suits made at the local tent and awning company.
Gluttony is mentioned in almost the same breath as drunkeness in the Bible, yet seeing a JW brought to a committee meeting for their eating habits is very rare. Seeing a JW called in on the carpet for drinking is quite common.
The reason isn't Biblical. The reason is about not bringing reproach on the Organization. Presentation and reputation is everything to them. Their followers are (supposedly) clean, moral and of good habits.
Over drinking is more easily detectable than eating too much. And the definition of over drinking is vague even by the written WT rules. It's too easy for someone to pick and choose and create a "rule" of how much is too much. I was counseled as a teen (back when the drinking age was 18) that Christians would be better off to not drink at all. No where is that written I argued, but enough words were twisted to show that a well-trained Christian conscience may decide that it's best to not drink instead of taking chances. That became interpreted as counsel that we shouldn't drink...period.
Drinking has an already built-in stigma in Bible belt areas anyway, so when you add the WT conservative viewpoint it only reinforces the evils of drink.
He's still an elder in good standing who has to get his suits made at the local tent and awning company.
I totally agree gluttony does not equal fat. In fact I am a great example of someone who can and does eat a lot of calories yet I'm very fit. I'm a glutton
MMXIV
"Evidently" not.
They will counsel one who is fat.In my dads notes,{he was an elder for 30+ years} There were many occasions of counseling sister so and so about her weight.Never a "brother",always a woman.Weird.eh?And if they "refused to heed counsel"ie didnt lose weight,they would be privatly reproved.Snd then ,who knows?
They can pick and choose here. If they think you are going to be harmed seriously be being kicked out of the cancer (like, if your whole life revolves around it), they can at their will. But, I have seen plenty of big fat tubs of lard, including one that was a regular pio-sneer despite being so fat that she needed a walker to get around (I am not referring here to people that "could stand to lose 50 pounds" here--but people whose weight was actually interfering with their lives). I believe simple lack of proper exercise, stress, not getting enough sleep, and the poisons put in most fast "food" contribute to that kind of obesity more than the sheer quantity of food eaten.
On the flip side, they can counsel (hound) you to lose 40 or 50 pounds. You went to the doctor, and he told you that you could stand to lose 40-50 pounds. Your eating habits are not out of line with normal--it's simply the crap "food" (the Pio-Sneer Diet), not enough sleep, and not enough exercise that is keeping you fat. But, for that 40 pounds, they will give you a hounding call. Of course, if you cut back on field circus to exercise or eat better foods, they hound you for that ("Let's not allow your field circus to slip to lose that weight"). Then, a few months later, you are unable to lose all the weight. Now, they have their new toy--"Brazen Conduct". They told you to lose weight, you didn't. Therefore, they can now get you for "brazen conduct", even if "gluttony" is not involved.
