You wanna talk about a section in the office floor becoming as quiet as a vacant building in the middle of nowhere. It was like a gun aimed at me. Time stopped like the Matrix, it was crazy!! I swear these situations never get any easier. When you hit your teenage years, your worldly homies see that you're hesitating to approach a girl that everyone knows has a thang for you, and they go, "you don't like girls or something?"
I get flirted with occasionally enough at work. It's not cheesy like the picture in last week's WT Study, but I get some hints that make me feel good. At my age, people wonder and then ask me, "Misery, you don't have a girlfriend?" "Don't you want to get married?" I've thought about telling some people I'm gay, just to see how that rumor would spread for my own immature-self entertainment purposes. Then, you have the more inquisitive folks, like the gal who sits across from me. She knows me well enough to know that there's something holding me back from exploring my options with the opposite sex. I've seen her brain working before trying to figure me out. So she put her hand on her chin and said in more words or less, "if you fall in love, and get married, do you have to marry a JW?" I replied, "I don't have to, there's no sactions per say, but its not looked upon kindly if I do such a thing."
The way I put sanctions was somewhat of a half-truth as one would be marked, and lose so called privileges and what not. I just really didn't want to get into it at the time, but she forced my hand. Then she goes, "that's too much. Thats gotta be hard right? How can anybody force you to marry only a JW?" I explained to her 1 Cor 7:39 and "marrying only in the Lord." Trying to deflect attention, I went, "we're not the only ones who do this. Mormons, and hardcore Catholics amongst others do the same." At that point another woman in my unit chimed in, "thats what happened to me. My husband is a Catholic, but I was raised Methodist. He had to get permission from his priest in order for us to get married in the church. I eventually converted to a Catholic." Then another woman in my unit goes, "Misery, are you expected to convert her if you marry her?" I replied, "it wouldn't matter as I would already be viewed poorly in the congregation." Then the women who raised the original question goes, "Wow, I couldn't imagine someone telling me who I can and cannot fall in love with and be married to! I couldn't imagine people looking at me poorly because I didn't marry a JW!" I nodded and told her I agree that it is a bit much, and that I have my reservations about this religion considering subjects such as this.
Still, what an awkward question to answer. Its crazy how something as natural as falling in love and getting married, the WT just has to have their tenticles involved with that too!!! Kanye West has a line that I thought fittingly describes this religion. He said, "if your life's a curse, than mine's an obscenity."
What really surprised me about the whole thing was she didn't ask me whether or not JWs recognize other Christian denominations. I'm glad she didn't ask, because the answer to that question is downright offensive.
You ever been hit with this question, or similar? How'd you tackle it? Was it awkward?
