Do they try too hard to be 'normal?'

by LDH 20 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  LDH

  Hi right back atcha Tina!
  Java, I'm so glad you chimed in, I was wondering where you were/how've you been. Thanks for your gracious insights.

  Joel, ha ha ha, now you've got the right idea.

  Jurs,

  over the years of being a JW i found that people seemed less strange and that there were fewer weirdos. my guess is, is that i was becoming a little odd myself and that is why others seemed less so

  Amen brother. And now, the farther away I get, the LESS normal they are.

  I think Joel and Bigboi are right, they are just people, but they are told so convincingly how 'special' they are...And when it comes down to it they want to just be seen as normal by everyone else.

  It is no secret that most JW are embarrassed by their restrictive beliefs. Just read my thread call "my husband embarrassed me" and you will see what I mean.
• 

  larc

  Hi JAVA,

  I was just thinking the other day, that at some point in time, you should post that story. Sometimes, someone is in the right place at the right time. I love that story.
• 

  logical

  Im not normal, JWs are more normal than me.
• 

  Flowerpetal

  I bet there are even some kids growing up now who think Disney invented the story of Snow White, The Little Mermaid, etc. I have two volumes of these stories, and what I found, in reading them to my kids when they were little, were the very strong, religious and or Catholic overtones in a lot of them.
• 

  Englishman

  LDH,

  I'm right with you on this one although I think that Heineken is nats pee.

  The best one in the UK is the "Being one of the lads by pretending to swear" sketch.

  You know how we use the "Bloody" word? Well, its just about acceptable in polite society if used sparingly, although one would avoid it if one were having afternoon tea with HM at Buck Pal. Amongst JW's however, its a whisker short of the dreaded F word.

  So what they do, is to replace it with a version of the mild epithet, "Ruddy".

  'Course, its too obvious using an old-fashioned word like that, so they sort of blur "Ruddy" and "Bloody" together in the hope that the hearer will be deceived whilst Jehovah will not be offended.

  The resultant "Bruddy" is so hilarious, that is reminiscent of a waiter serving in a Chinese restaurant: "You want bruddy birds nest soup? Nest from swarrow bird you bruddy iriot!"

  Englishman.

  ..... fanaticism masquerading beneath a cloak of reasoned logic.
• 

  Lindy

  Dear LDH,

  You said:
  "This same phenomenon happens at Christmas, when worldlings are told that our children get 'gifts all year long.' Now this is a blatant lie."

  I have to take exception to this. There are many JW's who give their children gifts all year long. I was one of them. I made occasions to give my children things. They got more stuff all year long than most celebrating Christmas got. I am glad I did it, because they got things all the time in clebration of the things they achieved and it raised their self-esteem. Our congregation had others who did make sure the kids had a lot of fun. Costume parties and lots of other things. Although I hear that the Society has gotten very strict now on activities outside of meetings. To bad. Glad I am not still in and glad my children never "took" as far as accepting the faith they were raised in!
  
  But of course, all the gifts didn't matter entirely for my children because at Holiday time when all the kids were getting them all at once and everything is decorated. It was still hard. And how about how we were supposed to tell our children that all the lights were not beautiful and that they were like Satan, making him self pretty as an angel of light! What bunk! I told my children that the lights and such were indeed beautiful and we had other reasons for not celebrating. I would not tell my children to deny their feelings and their own senses.

  I always hated how JWs denied the obvious. It twists the young minds.
  "Service is fun and is a "joy". "Christmas lights are evil and ugly" "College will turn you into a sex maniac and a drug dealer." "Worldly music is evil and has hidden messages that will draw you away from Jehovah." "Dancing to close or wildly will make you have sex and get prgnant." "Watching TV and videos above a GP rating will cause you to be violent and murder people." "Reading literature other than JW stuff will cause you to leave the path of righteousness and rot your mind." Going to the Prom and other dances will make you want to leave Jehovah because you are associating with "worldly" people because they are all doing drugs and alcohol." "After school activities are out, you might think thoughts that will draw you away from the "truth", because you are getting to much "wordly" influence and the time is better spent out in service and they take away precious study time." "Can't date. If you do it better be a JW, and you had better be a group date or else chaperoned, or you will be drawn away from the "Truth" and die at Armagedden."

  And the list goes on and on and on.....All things to keep you and your families roped and tied.

  Lindy
• 

  Farkel

  Anyone who thinks dubs are even close to being normal, ain't normal!

  Farkel
• 

  JAVA

  Hi Tina,
  

  Did the attorneys at least buy ya a cuppa joe for that info? I hope so. With admiration and Hugs,Tina who bets that Java can be found in the hospital coffee shop/cafeteria

  I've known the legal staff at the hospital for years--they love to bill, but can't figure out how to pay off informants. You bet, I usually have a cup of coffee with me during meetings at the hospital and college. Our college president calls me "the coffee dean," and I'm sure a few see me in the cafe with a cup of java, too.

  Hey there larc,
  

  Sometimes, someone is in the right place at the right time.

  As a little follow up, I didn't know about this hospital program of religious groups addressing their needs as patients. As you know, I'm usually at the college, but had a meeting at the hospital that day. While on the way, I saw three guys that looked like JWs in a hallway, and was fairly sure I recognized one of them when I gave talks at his congregation years ago. They went into the hospital auditorium, so I followed behind to see what was happening. (Couldn't help myself.) About a 100 people were already there, and I asked one of the doctors I recognized what's going on. (I never made it to the department hospital meeting.) You're right, I was in the "right place at the right time" or in this case, the wrong place at the right time.

  --JAVA

  ...counting time at the Coffee Shop
• 

  LDH

  Bringing this up to the top for Glode, and hoping JT will stick his head in too.

  Lisa
• 

  ianao

  I think they do try to be normal. I can't say I blame them either.

  About 3 1/2 years ago I met a man. I will refer to this man as T.

  T was a nice fellow who loved sports, a good joke (clean joke), and a good drink every now and then. He also enjoyed a good looker and helped right along with us egotistical fellows eye-out a foxy lady every now and again.

  Fast forward 3 months later after knowing/working with this fellow on a regular basis...

  T was a nice fellow who loved sports, had no sense of humor, and never drank with anyone else besides people he only spoke of but would never introduce us to (from his own admissions). He also heartily avoided looking at the opposite sex, let alone making "guy-talk" oriented comments.

  All this happened AFTER he informed us that he was a witness. He was born into the religion, and an active part of it when we met. It was only by accident that we discovered he was a witness when a "friend" of his came over to our table at a restaurant one afternoon and started asking strange questions about "the next study", etc. It turns out he was talking to what he later admitted was a bible study he was conducting.

  After this change, talking with T was a quite boring and superficial experience. He never went into any great depth on anything unless we brought up the topic of religion. Of couse, he no longer took the stance of: "Everyone has the right to their beliefs, as long as it doesn't hurt others" rather he adhered to: "We witnesses have the only true religion on earth today!"

  What was he ashamed of? Or is that stupid question!? ROTFL.