Movies and TV Shows You Didn't Watch Because You Were A JW (page 2)

glitter

I'm lost ... what was the reasoning behind "No X-Files"?

Aliens (because Jehovah only created *us*!), ghosts, monsters, voodoo, vampires, werewolves, mind-control, psychics, magic, violence...

xjw_b12

Yeah Bewitched. And then it became even more vilified in reruns, when it came out that Dick Sargent known to most people as "The Second Darrin Stephens." was gay.

maxwell

I'm lost ... what was the reasoning behind "No X-Files"?

Aliens (because Jehovah only created *us*!), ghosts, monsters, voodoo, vampires, werewolves, mind-control, psychics, magic, violence...

Exactly. The show centers around unexplained and otherworldly phenomena. Any otherworldly happenings that aren't attributed to God are attributed to Satan and his demons. So it was basically thought of as a demonic show by some. Of course, as you can see, there was not a lot of consistency in judging shows as demonic or not across different communities or even in my own family's house.

itsallgoodnow

I always watched exactly what I wanted to, R-Rated, "demonic", horror, whatever. I just didn't talk about it with Witnesses. Movies and tv are an art form, the writers and actors are trying to communicate something. You don't have to agree with the statements TV and movies are making, just be aware that's all it is - someone communicating through an artistic media. I didn't see anything wrong with looking at it that way. I did get caught a few times, but what were they gonna do, disfellowship me? Bring it on.

blondie

Whenever some JW challenged me on watching X-Files, I said "aren't the characters in your show committing fornication and it's a comedy?"

Blondie

wheres caleb?

"The Exoricist" -- and I still see no reason to watch it!

One elder was giving a talk about appropriate TV viewing and mentioned the disparity in his own home. His kids video library was filled with Disney movies that feature all kinds of questionable subject matter. ( fairies, magic, conjuring, dragons, et al.) No mention on whether that would change or not.

They would ask the question, "Would Jesus want to watch that?" as a guide to decide what can be watched or not.

I saw E.T. and loved it because it had so much heart. (Something you lose as a JW) They wrote something in the Awake, I think, that talked about the similarities to Jesus. (having healing powers, coming back from the dead) I wasn't sure if I was supposed to feel guilty for watching it or liking it so much.

One of the governing body members mentioned all the excitement and talk about "Return of the Jedi" at bethel when it first came out. He asked, "who is this Jedi"? It was a valid question to him because he never watched any television and had no idea what people were talking about. When people started explaining what it was about, he questioned people's choice of entertainment. He brought it up to the bethel family and you could see elders shrinking in their chairs; I was laughing at how obvious people were reacting. (I watched it and had no problem with it)

A couple of decades went by before it finally corrupted my faith. Doh!

Dan-O

I think it was Wonder Woman who finally corrupted my faith. All I could think about was Linda Carter in that outfit, tying me up with her golden lasso & getting "the truth" out of me.

BluesBrother

Well, it seems that our American brothers had a tougher time in their youth than we did in the UK .

Off limits generally were X rated films featuring real violence and sex.(or The Exorcist) But most of the TV stuff you mention was commonly viewed as OK . Only the most extreme households would have objected.

I do recall a WT campaign against all soap opera's , saying that they were addictive, but I never heard anyone say they had given up watching them . We never missed "Dallas" in our house

Music was another matter. I had real problems with rock music and had to carry a "Guilty secret" for years that I loved to chill out to what they termed "Heavy Metal"

Tatiana

I got my butt whipped for watching Soul Train! Mind you, American Bandstand was OK. But not the evil Soul Train. Got reprimanded by an elder for sneaking with an older "sister" to see "Lady Sings The Blues."

And to show the hypocrisy of it all, was given a stern lecture about "GHOST", but then was invited to go see "ALWAYS". Which was the same damned thing.

Corvin

As a kid, we could pretty much watch anything on regular tv. Mom sometimes even let us watch The Grinch and Frosty the Snow Man. It was only questionable movies on "channel 100" or HBO that she monitered. I remember going to the drive in one night to see The Stepford Wives or something . . . Legend of the Hell House or whatever, and my mom was so upset over one scene that in an effort to get the hell out of the drive in and prevent us kids from seeing anything bad, she pulled away from the stall with the speaker still in the window and CRASH! glass popcorn everywhere, he he.

Now, my fanatical JW-drunken-wino-aunt-mother-in-law to an elder, Esther, on the other hand was really over the top. I use to have to tell my cousin, word for word, dialogue, action sequence, make out scenes from that week's episode of Starsky & Hutch. He wanted so badly to watch Starsky and Hutch, but alas, everything on TV and radio was "demonized" to my aunt and we got beatings with dish towels, skillets, rulers, wooden spoons and enema bags if we were caught watching. Ah, good times, good times.

Corvin

Movies and TV Shows You Didn't Watch Because You Were A JW

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