Congregation get-togethers (page 3)

els

The congregation I grew up in had get togethers all the time. Every Sunday afternoon all summer (after service of course) we'd go to the state park at the lake to swim, play softball, have a cookout. We had several congregations that had square dances together. We went roller skating one night a month and had ice skating parties in the winter. My family had a huge hill by our house so we always had the best sliding parties and we always had people over for cards and board games. We really did have a great time together which I am reminded about every time I run into a witness I grew up with. They seem to think that the fun we had should have been enough to keep me in. The fun just wasn't enough to cover up the bad stuff. els

wednesday

Actualy, i complained once about lack of get to gathers for the whole cong. and was told it was not the WTS responsibility to provide us with a social life. There are lots of parties around her-but only for special groups. if u ever get on the s**t list you'll never get invited again to another gathering.

So they bring u into the truth, but u are own your on after that. If u do't fit in-like there was a young couple few years back that studied with a prominent couple, and even they could not make it b/c they were poor, lacked education and generally just did not fit in the prosperous Dallas area. They eventually quit coming and moved. hope they found somewhere they fit it.

A lot of it is the area u live in. The south/southwest is a strongly contollled Bible belt and the witnesses brring that into the org with them. my husband is from the midwest and he said they used ot have lots of cong. parties with drinking and DANCING-which is not done in this bible belt area. So that really explains a lot of the differences i read in cong. They are affected by the area they are in. Lots of texas area is dry-those baptists hard at work again. Very irritating to have to drive 15 miles to get a beer.church of christ and assembly of God are just as bad-everything is bad. But they are better at church socials than witnesses. i repeat -THE WTS SAYS THEY DO NOT OWE US A SOCIAL LIFE.

U can't win , is the way i see it. if u are in the "group" u can do any darn thing u want to and still be forgiven-and invited to all the parties. If u don't fit-you'll never get to any parties.

Vitameatavegamin

I learned to make my own fun. I have friends who will come over just because they like me for me, not based upon how many

meetings I attended last week.

Vita

Room 215

Wednesday, et al.

This Brooklyn-mandated put-down of organized social events is another tragic miscalculation of the ``Faithful and Discreet Slave."

The boys at Bethel lament the lack of a sense of real, familial community spirit among JWs yet fail to understand that their deumanoizing foster ithis sense of being disenfranchised. Ask yourself: how many JWs in your congregation treat others in the same hall as close friends? More likely, at least in my experiece, that the majority of brothers and sisters tend toward polite, correct aloofness rather than real friendship with their peers.

I'll never forget how one CO reproved us elders because at the Service meeting he attended, one of us made a birth announcement, on the grounds that ``the Kingdom Hall is not the place for personal or social announements.''

Room 215

Wednesday, et al.

This Brooklyn-mandated put-down of organized social events is another tragic miscalculation of the ``Faithful and Discreet Slave."

The boys at Bethel lament the lack of a sense of real, familial community spirit among JWs yet fail to understand that their deumanoizing foster ithis sense of being disenfranchised. Ask yourself: how many JWs in your congregation treat others in the same hall as close friends? More likely, at least in my experiece, that the majority of brothers and sisters tend toward polite, correct aloofness rather than real friendship with their peers.

I'll never forget how one CO reproved us elders because at the Service meeting he attended, one of us made a birth announcement, on the grounds that ``the Kingdom Hall is not the place for personal or social announements.''

SYN

Room 215: Yip, sounds like the good ole weenus swinging contest one would see every night at the Kingdom Hall as the "ordained men" (sic) fought for greater "priviledges" with the "approval" of the Holy Spirit. It was a truly saddening thing to see men so crazy with power that they figured any rule they made had to be obeyed, and no BUTS.

Dia

You can't have close friendships, you can't have relaxed social events, you can't have FUN in a religion where TATTLING is exhaulted into a God-ordained DUTY of every member.

joannadandy

Dia- I COULDN'T AGREE MORE! You had to always look over your back, and wonder if arranging a trip to to the mall for all the younger sisters to go hang out is far too "wordly" for sister old fart who sits in the front row and gives the longest answers sunday morning.

But I think as far as frequency and allowance of congregation get togethers I think it depends on which hall you went to.

My congregation used to have quite a few get togethers. Rollerskating, Talent Shows, (I have the video if anyone would like to see...HOOO-GOOD TIMES!) Softball games, bonfires, etc. etc. However it slowly faded away. And I know our hall was pretty tame compared to the epic parties some of our city counterpart brothers were throwing. (WITH DANCING EVEN -oh my!)

However, I moved and the new hall NEVER had get togethers. It was weird. In two years of attending mettings there no one could ever remember my name. Nice, huh? Meanwhile they would give talks about how we should really get to know our brothers and sisters, so to inspire that they actually announced from the platform a picnic they were going to have. (I don't ever remember that being allowed--I thought it kinda werid) I guess it was a success. Drat I didn't go--oh poo! (I was on my way out already) But my parents went. And apparantly there hasn't been another one since. Hahaha! Oh well, they tried.

Edited by - joannadandy on 4 November 2002 11:1:20

ChakkaConned

AMEN Dia!

Pleasuredome

some of the young single JWs in england have what the WTS would see as an undergorund network. when i first started going to meetings this was exposed because they started to meet up in a night club owned by an exjw. this came out in most of the congs around my area, as the main organiser/s were from leicester. just an example of the youngsters trying to have a good time, only to be foiled by the the control system.

Congregation get-togethers

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