Brother & Sisters, Aunts and Uncles.....husband and wife

by menrov 12 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  menrov

  Was just thinking about the practice in WT (and I believe some other religions as well) to call your fellow female (baptized) JW a sister, a brother if it is a man. Children call older people aunt or uncle. So, at home, I can call my wife by her first name etc. During a meeting, I am supposed to call her Sister xxx. How strange is that?!?!

  A child will call the older woman Aunt xxx or the older man Uncle xxx. But they are not their aunts or uncles. I creates a sort of an artificial family atmosphere. A sort of trust built on the use of these terms. They will hardly see the difference between their real aunts and uncles and the artificial ones.

  I was not raised a JW as child so I cannot share how a child experience the use of these terms, the fact that at home, the father calls the mother by her first name and during the meeting Sister xxx. Does the child think sometimes that his father is married to his sister??
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  pale.emperor

  This is very strange to us here in the UK because we've never done that.

  We dont even say "Brother so-and-so" we just call everyone by their first name.

  As a kid i called people "uncle" or "aunty" but that was just a respect thing.
  
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  konceptual99

  Err.... not sure I agree it's strange in the U.K. Pale... As a child we always called adult witnesses aunt and uncle. Men are brothers and women are sisters. A married brother would called his wife sister in circumstances like calling on her for an answer.

  In conversation in the hall for example we would not use formal terms. Is that what you mean?
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  cofty

  Ditto ^^^
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  smiddy

  I was a JW in Australia for 33 years covering two states and I have never heard of a child calling an adult JW either aunt or uncle ,never.

  It was one of the things that used to bug me about the religion where children adressed adults by brother or sister and then using their first name. E.G. brother john , or sister mary etc.

  I always thought it was disrespectful , if anything I thought they should adress an adult as brother or sister and use their surname but this was never the case.
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  Isambard Crater

  I definitely still hear pre-teen J.W's calling people aunty and uncle at the Kingdom Hall, encouraged to do so by there parents. I even hear people in their 20s calling people aunty and uncle, but when people reach their 30s most then call others by their first names.
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  pale.emperor

  Err.... not sure I agree it's strange in the U.K. Pale... As a child we always called adult witnesses aunt and uncle. Men are brothers and women are sisters. A married brother would called his wife sister in circumstances like calling on her for an answer.

  In conversation in the hall for example we would not use formal terms. Is that what you mean?

  Sorry, i mean in normal conversation. From the platform, sure, they say "brother" or "sister" even when calling on their own family. But in conversation with eachother i've never known anyone to say "brother" or "sister" so-and-so. Even though in the JW videos they seem to do this.
  
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  carla

  Really? Clear this up for me, let's say people are milling about at a kh and husband & wife are having conversation with someone, the husband is supposed to refer to his wife as sister so & so? how weird is that?!

  At the kh they are brother & sister in jah I am presuming? it ends when they leave the kh? then they are back to being husband & wife?

  As for kids calling non family members aunt & uncle that is common and a way to be respectful. We had a few friends of the family and we did the same. They were close to us and it would have been odd to call them Mr. & Mrs like the neighbor down the street. (naturally all non jw folks involved here)
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  konceptual99

  Yes Pale. It would be rare to hear two people in normal conversation, even in the hall, refer to each other as brother/sister. First names would be the rule.
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  freddo

  In the UK.

  The only time brother and sister are used is (e.g) when asking the Q's like during the WT study or when the school overseer (CLAM overseer nowadays) announces you up to the platform or gives counsel.

  Occasionally if for example the visiting speaker (e.g C.O.) wasn't known to you and you were chairman and went up to address him to ask if he would like a glass of water or offer expenses or if he was okay to close in prayer you might address him as Brother _________ especially if you were a young MS acting as chairman.

  Children - in their own KH they call older ones Uncle or Auntie (first name) as a mark of respect. With the aged they may even continue this into their late teens or even their early 20's.