I was talking to someone a few years ago and he said in his congregation they have a rail of white shirts prepared in the cloakroom for if a speaker doesn't have a white shirt on. It was a rule in their hall that all brothers in the platform must wear white shirts when going talks and if the speaker won't comply when asked to change into the shirt they provide an elder in the congregation will do the talk instead. I have never known any other halls do it so it must be a rule the elders have made up without GB input. Does anyone know of other elder made rules that are unique to their hall?
Manmade rules
by Jrjw 33 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Giordano
They are still in the 1950's where a white shirt was the appropriate dress. It's all a part of their corporate image, short haircuts, no beards, no colorful socks. Blend in....... don't stand out.
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OneEyedJoe
I've heard of the exact same thing regarding white shirts playing out elsewhere, I think it was the policy made up by the crotchety old PO at the time.
In some congregations in west texas there were some near-rebellions when a CO insisted that cowboy boots were inappropriate for a speaker. The culture there is such that in many cases a man's boots are, by far, the most expensive shoes (and indeed article of clothing) that he owns and they are thus considered formal wear. In comes a CO from another area and he wants to make up rules to suit his sensibilities...
I had a friend of a friend that got DFed for fornication in his 30s (even though he'd married the girl he had sex with, and she was only privately reproved) because he'd been reproved for fornication a couple times in his late teens/early 20s and the BOE had a 3-strikes rule. Therefore, regardless of his repentance (he absolutely was) he got the boot.
I remember lots of rules about service time and privileges - in various congregations I was in, there were limits of somewhere between 6-10 hours a month required to have any "privileges" including carrying a mic.
I was once told that because I didn't comment often enough at meetings I wouldn't be allowed to read the watchtower because "people might be like 'oh, who is he?' when [I] get up to read." I was told at the same time that my wife would also need to comment more for me to get to read the watchtower at a meeting.
There was once a local needs talk given because an elder got wind of a group (ages ranging from 25 to 33) that went to a twilight movie. Apparently there is no such thing as a "good" vampire, and any fictional depiction of a vampire is to be avoided at all costs.
My mother was once told not to wear a pair of earrings (they were small, hardly noticeable pendants with a sun, crescent moon and a star) because they might stumble someone.
I'm sure there's more. Basically whatever the most pious asshole on the BOE deems to be wrong - that gets banned. Sometimes it becomes a race to the bottom as each elder tries to outdo the others to prove how righteous they are by finding fault and restricting even the most minor things.
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just fine
The entire Jehovah’s Witness religion is man-made rules 😀
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scratchme1010
I have never known any other halls do it so it must be a rule the elders have made up without GB input. Does anyone know of other elder made rules that are unique to their hall?
You brought me back to even before my time. I actually remember when I was just a child, people making comments about the WT having problems with certain colors of shirts. Other than that, maybe that congregation never got the memo.
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Still Totally ADD
On a hot summer day back in the early 1970's a CO insisted the men in our car group wear jackets. It was only 90 degrees with humidity to match. He lasted about one house and the jacket came off. We was all laughing to ourselves. Once a sister brought a vase of flowers from her garden and placed on the piano. She was so happy and proud about how beautiful they were. Within minutes a elder grab the base of flowers and took them outside with her crying behind him while he was telling her flowers distract from the meeting and flowers are not appropriate for kingdom halls. The poor sister was humiliated and emotionally upset. Nothing like a cult to bring you down. Still Totally ADD
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moreconfusedthanever
Yes we had a CO who hated shirts of colour and white socks. Said it made the brothers look like the mafia so only white shirts and dark socks allowed on his watch.
No privileges for brothers unless doing the national average field service.
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neat blue dog
That's very politically correct of you to say "shirts of colour" instead of 'coloured shirts'. 😉 BTW what is the national average these days?
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Lost in the fog
Didn't that whole thing about speakers and white shirts or not, come up in the Watchtower some years ago w89 11/1 30
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venus
God cannot receive anything from humans because everything belongs to Him.
Yet humans began offering sacrifices, which later became a rule.
Sacrifice can be offered from anywhere, yet someone felt an altar would be a good idea, which again became a rule.
Original Passover celebration did not involve wine, but Jesus (purportedly) included wine, which again became a rule.
In the first century, going house-to-house was the practical option to advertise some news, which again became a rule—which some people even today hold dearly as a rule—even though far better advertising modes are available today.
That means anyone can make any rule.