Still no pant suits, for sisters (page 2)

meangirl

Very good points made here. I think if I do go to another meeting I am wearing dress pants and a blouse. I am a manager at work and that is how I dress. I rarely wear skirts. I hope the elders say something to me so I can look them right in the face and laugh and possiby tell them to go f@#k themselves!

FlyingHighNow

On Sundays, where I work, you can spot every JW family that comes in. They are all dressed in second hand store, clearance rack and home made dress clothes. The poor little boys are in the most awful rag taggle ties and poorly fitted suit coats. They all walk with the air of superiority. You can almost see the "forcefield" around them as they try not to rub shoulders too closely with the rest of us, Satan's children. I cringe.

During the week there is this couple who come in. I have talked to them before, asking them if they are JW's. I usually feel sick to my stomach when I see them, but I was able to talk them into buying a bottle of Focus Factore recently, telling them it would help them concentrate at the meetings and conventions. That is when I softened towards them because they dropped their air of superiority and just for a few moments related to me as fellow human beings. It was a sort of moment of epiphany for me. It was a step in healing. I saw the humanity in this couple and really all of the JW's. And I am grateful to this couple for helping to evaporate a bit more of the bitter taste I have been left with, since I drifted away in 91.

Because I had this experience with this couple, when a priest friend of mine asked for me help lately, I was able to give a kinder response. I think I'll make a thread about it. He and his family are Episcopalians. His daughter is the music and chorus teacher at the local middle school. She called him and said, "Oh no, one of my students is a JW. I am worried this girl will not be allowed to sing in the Christmas concerts. What should I do for her, so she can participate more fully?" So he called me and said, "I have a JW related question." He told me the situation. I said, "Well, it depends on the parents and their level of devotion as to what they will allow their child to do. I suggest she arrange to speak with the parents to tell them of her concern. She can ask them what they will allow. Your daughter could consider calling the concerts Winter Concerts and choosing holiday songs that are generic like Jingle bells or sing Greensleeves instead of What Child is This? for the Christmas songs. The parents will probably appreciate Emily's concern, respect and caring for their daughter."

wha happened?

This silly no pants for sisters clause reminds me of another highly controlled religious group. They don't dress like their contemporaries as well. They are call Amish and they look ridiculous. JW's will look the same in 50 years, if they don't already look ridiculous now.

FlyingHighNow

This is the thread I just started.

http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/215395/1/Another-step-in-healing-from-the-days-as-a-JW

The witnesses do not look impressive anymore. They "left behind by the times." They don't know how out of touch they look.

crazycate

I remember when the literature said that the reason men could'nt wear beards was because it didn't look professional. In those days most professional men didn't wear beards, but many hippies did. We were told to model ourselves after professional men and women in business, as people would then respect us as we were showing respect for our God.

But as times changed, the rule didn't change. Many, many professional men have beards, and most professional women wear pant suits. What is the reason for the rule now? Has anyone seen anything in writing?

PenelopePaige

I was recently invited to a convention and I actually would have gone except when I asked if it would be okay if I wore dress slacks, the lady said no and I thought, "I am not putting on a dress and heels to sit there all day."

ziddina

"I remember when the literature said that the reason men could'nt wear beards was because it didn't look professional. In those days most professional men didn't wear beards, but many hippies did. ..."

No, no, Crazy Cate...

Go back another decade or so... To the late 1940's - 1950's...

Remember "beatniks"???

THEY wore beards, too...

And I suspect one could go back even further to other counter-establishment revolutionaries...

Which means the Gov.Bod - Watchtower boys - are trapped even further in the past than we realized...

Zid

Ding

They don't know how out of touch they look.

I'm not so sure.

The GB WANTS JWs to be isolated from everyone else, so they are happy with them looking out of touch.

I also think many R&F JWs take pride in being "different from the world" in this way, mistaking WT legalistic rules of dress and grooming for spirituality.

ziddina

^^ Now, that is a scary thought...

Unfortunately, as Wha Happened said,

"This silly no pants for sisters clause reminds me of another highly controlled religious group. They don't dress like their contemporaries as well. They are call Amish and they look ridiculous. JW's will look the same in 50 years, if they don't already look ridiculous now. ..."

Even back in the 70's - 80's, the Jehovah's Witnesses were beginning to look a bit 'out of touch'. Nowadays, they positively look backwards. I wonder if the Gov.Bod has a clue that nowadays the Jehovah's Witnesses tend to look like clowns...

Zid

crazycate

Ziddina: You are probably right.

Still no pant suits, for sisters

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