Petty Rules

by HereIgo 19 Replies latest jw experiences

• 

  Tallon

  Not strictly 'rules' however, my pet hate was the ridiculous restrictions enforced upon us at witness 'parties'.

  At the time us young folk ranged from late teens to early twenties - this was circa early 1980's.

  The activities we had to engage in;

  1. Sit down, open your bibles and play bible games.

  2. Play games that were designed for kids under 10 years old

  3. Couldn't play the latest songs on the charts and heaven forbid if it had a beat to it (among other groups, I was into Duran Duran).

  4. Don't even think of dancing with a girl otherwise some grumpy old gits and a few 'holier than thou's' would be stumbled

  5. There were plenty of others but I think I will stop here .....

  PS: ... and some of the Elders and other folk wondered why we stopped attending these 'parties' !!!
• 

  zeb

  men wearing coats in the summer.!!! all the while so many of the sister's are bare foot (almost) and in skimpies.
  
• 

  FedUpJW

  is still a piece of shit. And it still stinks.
  
• 

  Wayward

  rebelfighter, you didn't miss anything. I still despise nylons. I haven't worn them in ten years, the same time I last put on a skirt. They're too hot in the summer and your legs freeze in the winter. For some reason leggings and tights weren't allowed for 'sisters' winter wear.

  Tallon, you grew up in a WAY more boring congregation than I did. I thought mine was stodgy and stuck firmly in the 1890s, but at least our parties were a little more lively. We could play most pop rock and country western, though a few of the older folks would complain. Line dances were okay but unmarried couples dancing together could get a little iffy.
  
• 

  pale.emperor

  I did once attend a witness party where they actually had kingdom songs playing and one guy when to get his guitar. It was all a little "watchtower photo" for me so i got out of there and sharpish and went for a pint with a young girl who'd also left the creepy party.
• 

  Giordano

  The Dogma of the Society recognizes no boundaries. If they are not on your back they are between your legs. Either way they are always staring back at you from your mirror.

  "Dogma an official system of principles or tenets concerning faith, morals, behavior, etc., as of a church."
• 

  Tallon

  "Tallon, you grew up in a WAY more boring congregation than I did " ..... Wayward

  It was pretty much standard in the congregation I was associating with at that time. Granted, not all of what I posted occurred at all of the 'parties' (it depended on whose party it was) however, I'm not exaggerating either. It was so ridiculous that a core of us decided to boycott these 'parties'.

  As soon as we were in a position to make a break from that congregation, we were gone. Some left the Org while others, myself included, moved to other congregations.

  
  
  
• 

  Arthur Others

  Wearing suit coat when on stage or doing mic work was heavy in my old congregation. I remember after I got baptized along with another brother in the congregation, we were given privileges to do mic work. So I did mic work for about two months and then all of a sudden my name fell off the list. So the other brother who just got baptized along side me decides to make it his responsibility to tell me, "Oh the elders got together and found out that they didn't all meet when discussing both of us and mic work and sound department. So we're both not on the list for the time being".

  Then a week or so later, I see his name back on the list for sound department, and I'm still off the list. I never brought it up to anyone. I found it odd though they never "officially" took privileges away, they just stopped volunteering me. I found out months later, that the reason I got taken off mic work was because I didn't always wear my suit jacket to meetings. So I recalled all the times that I didn't wear my jacket and realized that only twice in the summer I left my jacket in my car before meeting and walked in without it, and that was before I was even baptized, and before mic work, so what do they care?! I ended up leaving that congregation.
• 

  blondie

  It is all control, conditioning you to accept that control even it is watching them do it to others. They might call it "training." You can bet that all the elders went through the same process.
  
• 

  sparky1

  PATERNALISM: a system under which an authority undertakes to supply needs or regulate conduct of those under its control in matters affecting them as individuals as well as in their relations to authority and to each other. - Merriam-Webster online dictionary

  ARROGANCE: an insulting way of thinking or behaving that comes from believing that you are better, smarter, or more important than other people. - Merriam-Webster online dictionary

  The Jehovah's Witness religious system is based FIRMLY on the principles of PATERNALISM and ARROGANCE. These principles compliment and reinforce each other so that each individual indoctrinated witness comes to believe that when the organization 'speaks' .........it is 'for their own good'. Blondie has rightly pointed out that this basically boils down to 'control'.