by OnTheWayOut 40 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Phizzy, it is worth a try to keep saying it, but they will probably only "get it" if they ask for the connection.
Good question, Carla. Thanks for an answer, lovely.
I agree, garyneal, but I still think they might meditate on it if you tell them how they are similar.
"Electric Amish." Can anyone steal that, UC?
Flipper, I wholeheartedly agree. I have felt that treatment while fading out.
"Electric Amish." Can anyone steal that, UC?
Be my guest.
It would be a cool name for a rock band...
carla: Do jw's knock on Amish & Mennonite doors?
I knocked on many Mennonite doors when I was in my teens. They slammed their doors harder and faster than dyed-in-the-wool Catholics. People who worked night shift ranked third.
I watched a couple of documentaries on the Amish. It was about family members that had 'found christ' and wanted to leave. They are basically ex-communicated (disfellowshiped) and friends and family are not allowed to associate with them. They are shunned by the Amish community. The name of the doccie was.....Losing Paradise - along those lines.
Troubled Mind, great input. If some JW's only see the slightest similarity, they might start to wake up. Others might need more, but whatever gets the ball rolling as in your case. But also, as in your case, I was already on my way out when such things presented themselves to me.
cobaltcupcake, if I were attempting to free Amish from their cult, I might work with that. Thanks.
Heaven, I am so glad I don't know any inbred JW's with genetic defects because of that.
UC, it certainly couldn't be used as a book title. People would expect a story about the Amish. But a rock band:
return of parakeet, I imagine JW's are just lumped in with any fundy modern Christians to them. A JW at his own door would only keep it open to preachers so s/he could count time with the preacher at the door.
"Losing Paradise." I like that title, will take a look. Thanks, LouBelle.
I have many childhood memories of going door-to-door preaching to the Amish. I grew up in Ohio and lived in congregations that covered Holmes and Wayne county, the 2 most populous amish communities in the world.
You never knew what you were going to get at the door. If a woman answered, she'd be curt but polite and insist that you come back when her husband was home. In many Amish communities we went to, only the men spoke English, their house language being 18th century German that has evolved differently than the mainstream language. Many times I can remember briefly playing with Amish children who spoke no or only the most basic english.
Engaging the men was different. You had to be careful of getting sucked into a pointless conversation that would carry on for 45+ minutes, often an Amish man would only be willing to stop work to talk about "The Lord", so he'd be happy to converse about the bible. Like most door-to-door visits, it never went anywhere 99.9% of the time. This was only if they were approached by a man, as being approached by a woman with religious matters was considered a significant insult.
I remember groaning inside getting the same car group as certain brothers with a penchant for long-winded and pointless conversations. Sure enough, every time we'd get their car group we'd go to amish territory and we'd have to stand and be good or stay in the car while brother Obfuscation rambled on and on in a pointless religious discussion that covered the entire new testament and ended each time with mutual disagreement.
We made calls on Amish people and I remember they could get into trouble for taking the magazines but we did have a few who did take them on occasion.
3rd Gen always described JWs as "Amish with makeup" to non-jws..even when she was in. I would now add "make-up and popes."
and most importantly, women were clearly second class citizens just above slaves.
Hackneyed feminist cant. Women in the 19th century were allowed to do lots of things that slaves never were.
The Amish here are still allowed to have association with family members while excommunicated. It's sounding different in many places of what's exceptable and not. We have mennonites that came into the troof and their elderly. He still says the cross and calls the hall church. He'll babble for hours with one of his old mennonite buddies and make absolutely no sense. They refuse to own a tv or radio. They were studied with for over thirty yrs and finally got baptised fifteen years ago. They waited for last kid to leave and then sold their farm and got shunned by the congregation but still go to all their family reunions. He still wears his suspenders, wipes his snot on the back of your chair and when on the platform has his jacket wide open, thumbs in his pockets with his suspenders showing. He gives a prayer and his eyes are wide open looking at everyone. Use to be horse and buggy and went black car with black bumpers no chrome when he came in the troof. She still wears the flower print dresses and hair in a bun.
The women will talk but I have been fore warned that their husbands tell them we are trying to take them captive for they are weak. There's a scripture in the bible about that somewhere. They always took the creation brochure especially when you would ask them does it make sense that god would destroy the earth when it endured the flood from of old and he made it that it would constantly renew itself as well as the creation on it. I remember one time having to step over a dead sow in front of the door to go inside the house on a hot summer day. Another time I had to use their washroom and here it was an outhouse attatched to the back of the house and the shit was higher than the seat. I turned right around and went back out and almost puked. Pretty nasty times.
