Regional JW "Culture" - Did you experience any differences that surprised you?

by Diogenesister 11 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • Diogenesister
    Diogenesister

    So this particular comment on another topic got me thinking about "regional" JW cultures. Things that were acceptable in one area you lived in, that were absolutely verboten in the JW hall/circuit you perhaps grew up in etc. Can anyone think of any?

    never met JWs that cared if people played Chess, and I knew a number of people who did play chess. They even played little magnetized boards on the way to conventions. So... your experience is way different than mine and not JW typical.

    I mean it may be era, to some extent, but there are definately things I've been quite shocked that I've found out folks in say, Canada And north America do, for instance.....fishing! I knew people that literally had to dispose of their fishing gear before they were allowed to be baptised! It was supposedly ok if you were going to eat it but the laws were I lived required catch and release, so fishing to eat was unlikely. And as for guns, well, even one that is supposedly for self defense against animals wouldn't fly in SE UK. Don't know about Scotland.

    Also I certainly remember Chess being very much disapproved. You certainly wouldn't find dubs asking each other for a game, for instance.

    Also we didn't say " the friends"...always "brothers and sisters", which makes me think since the advent of JWBroadcast we may find the culture far more homogenous as the dubs rush to copy those at Bethel.

    Reminds of the middle ages when everyone copied the fashions and manners of royalty.

  • dynamiterose77
    dynamiterose77

    We actually played chess at get togethers, I remember one older person say that it wasn't a good game to play, but no one thought anything of it...

    Now I really need to teach my kids chess...

  • DesirousOfChange
    DesirousOfChange

    The kids at our Cong Book Study played chess after the meeting.

    Damn near everyone here hunts & fishes. Many brothers take a hunting trip together for deer or duck season. Not unusual to bag 3, 4, 5, or more deer

    Line dancing was a popular activity JW couples would do for “wholesome” recreation but in another State where we had close friends the Elders would counsel baptized members for it and threaten that ignoring the counsel and going again could be considered “loose conduct” (this term now replaced by “brazen conduct”) and result in DFing.

    Several Congs banned speakers from wearing.colored shirts. One area Cong banned brothers from wearing boots (aimed at cowboy boots) on stage.

    More than one Cong announced that wearing perfume or cologne would be “unloving” since some (really just Sister Persnikity) were allergic to it.

    Where else are they sooo concerned about straining out the gnat........(you know the rest of the line).

  • smiddy3
    smiddy3

    We attended five congregations in Melbourne Aust. in the 1960`s and they were all very conservative and I mean very.

    We moved to S.E.Qld in the 1970`s and the atmosphere was completely different much more relaxed and more open and liberal .

    Get together`s , camping out and alcohol was no problem groups going out to restuarant`s they were very social events ,and meals at each others places were not uncommon.

    I think it was the social interaction we had in the congregations that made everything else so bearable.

  • the girl next door
    the girl next door

    Wine served for breakfast at the branch in Spain.

    Bearded Sunday speakers in Croatia.

    Circuit Overseer sending a crate of hunting guns ahead of his visit in NorCal.

    Elders and servants swinging in Santa Barbara

    Edibles in Ojai

    Hockey teams, closets of liquor and betting in Brooklyn

    Thong bikinis and Brazilians in Costa Rica

    Midnight skinny dip parties in Belize

    Navel shooters and wet T-shirt’s in Malibu

    I have no idea why I left. Lmao

  • Good JW
    Good JW

    UK:

    Sleep with a boy from school = You're a horrible human being, disgusting tart, sit at the back of the hall and hang your head in shame, maybe a year or two later you can be re-instated.

    Spain:

    Guy gets his sister-in-law pregnant = 6 months later he's reinstated getting high fives and hand shakes.

    LOL

  • Diogenesister
    Diogenesister
    GND I have no idea why I left. Lmao

    Makes me wanna rejoin!

    Actually getting to travel is one of the really positive things about being a jw

  • DesirousOfChange
    DesirousOfChange

    Those folks in California are known for being a bit liberal. Evidently even the JWs.

    (Mental Note: consider moving to Santa Barbara or Malibu.)

  • Room 215
    Room 215

    What did Mark Twain say? "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindededness"

  • truth_b_known
    truth_b_known

    I was born in the northern mid-west of the U.S. and lived there until I was 12. Wearing clothing displaying professional sports teams' logos was just not done. My family moved to the west coast and no one had a problem with it.

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