Kingdom Hall Attenders: Consider Stopping the Use of Loaded Language

by OnTheWayOut 18 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  baker

  I started prayin to just Lord and my wife could not wait to wail against me when over, like where,s Jehovah? I said he heard it if he is a god....
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  Wild_Thing

  The loaded language was one of the last things to go for me. It was hard to let go of, and I didn't really even realize I was still using it for a while. Especially the term "the truth". It's such an oxymoron.
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  Esse quam videri

  baker '...I started prayin to just Lord and my wife could not wait to wail against me when over, like where,s Jehovah? I said he heard it if he is a god....'

  " ... thank you, Brother Elders, for meeting with me. I realize that you all want to get home after such a wonderful meeting. I'll just take a few minutes of your time. I am experiencing a serious situation in my family. My wife has started to criticize the wording I use in my home prayers. Particularly she does not like it when I refer to Jehovah as Lord. Imagine how shocked I was when she first complained. Just imagine, complaining about the prayers of the head of the house. Imagine her not wanting me to call Jehovah Lord. I am afraid the Lord, Jehovah, will take his spirit away from my household, if he hasn't done it already. She seems to be getting increasingly critical and being as the Lord has given you the responsibility to protect the congregation from such thinking and to readjust the thinking of those leaving the path, I have to ask that you talk to her to correct her thinking. May the Lord be with you..."
  
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  OnTheWayOut

  Starting Page 1 replies:
  Prologos, sure. Whatever fits for you.
  
  Island Man, while your fictional setting could become real, there's really nothing they could do to a member except refuse to appoint him. And really, that's a good thing.

  Level, so true. Even there, if someone says "trust the brothers" (or more likely "trust the organization/G.B."), you could say, "So you are saying just be obedient and don't think for myself?"
  "Yes"
  "I just wanted to be sure you were saying 'Don't think for myself.'"
  They probably wouldn't even catch it.
  
  Lostwun, me too.

  EyesOpen, excellent suggestion. Just refer to their rock stars as if they are just men. They say they are, anyway.

  elbib, I get that you are hearing that from believing members. But if I said that, I would go even further. I would not say "our." It would be "according to the current teachings of the Watchtower organization..."

  Thanks, TD.

  
  
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  OnTheWayOut

  Finish Page 1 replies:
  
  Pete Z, yeah. Thanks. Maybe use those AWAY from other active JW's. But I like 'em.

  Village Idiot, whatever works for each person. Some want to sound distant from the concept.

  Page 2 replies:
  
  baker, yup. He knows who "He" is if "He" is listening. In reality, we know the "name" is corrupted, anyway.

  Wild_Thing, thanks. It doesn't have to be one of the last things for others.

  Esse, thanks for imagining the outcome.
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  bafh

  I like this post. Language is powerful and shapes the way we think. Inside of language we find culture, social norms, concepts that only exist inside that language, etc.

  It is good to change the way we language things because language shapes reality, including the way we think - which then shapes how we feel and behave.

  Nice post OnTheWayOut!
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  cofty

  Very useful ideas OTWO
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  sparrowdown

  The loaded language is how you tell a true believer from a weak christian. I remember getting counseled by a group of older sisters at the KH becuse I greeted them as "ladies" rather than "sisters" WTH!

  My reply " ok, ok you're not ladies then." Lol.
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  stuckinarut2

  Even the terms "brother ---- " and "sister ----" is so strange to hear once one is outside of the fishbowl!