It was widely held among the sisters in my area that use of tampons was not proper, especially for single sisters, and those who used them were no longer virgins.
Crazy JW Superstitions...
by Confucious 67 Replies latest jw experiences
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garybuss
Interesting topic, Thanks for starting it!
The whole idea of religion is simply based on superstition and tradition and one well meaning generation indoctrinating the ignorantly trusting next generation. The key to human survival in the past has been carefully following instructions from parents. In primitive times this was vital. A child is taught by it's parents to only eat safe foods, to stay away from danger, and to understand the importance of keeping a clean body and environment.
There's a time when a child is aware the parents are necessary and the child trusts the parent to be honest and dependable. Then the parent teaches the child what the parent's parent taught them about religion. There is an invisible good thing and he has a book and he watches you, even in the bathroom, and he keeps tract of all your behaviors and writes them all down and if he likes you he will give you the reward and if you have been bad, you will get the punishment.
The child relates to the rewards and punishments and she trusts the parents and she believes if the parents believe the story, it MUST be true because the parents knew how to cook rice and how to cross the street. The child rebels against the parent but she trusts and reveres the parent. Theism has been taught and accepted without question.
Fast forward 30 years and the now adult child still has not questioned much of what was taught by her parent. She lives as though the superstitions and traditions are real. Those are her assumptions. Much can be built on those. She subconsciously defends those assumptions because she is so comfortable with them. Basically, the culture that the parent of the child taught the child will be the culture the child operates her life in.
The last assumption for many of us to challenge is the superstition of theism itself. To challenge theism, we MUST challenge our teachers. The teachers have taught us well to not challenge them and most of us never do. So theism waits for the next guru or the next personal crisis.
All religion trusts we have not yet challenged theism. It is dependant that we don't. If theism is found wanting, the sacred writings are not sacred any longer, the guru's have lost their power over us, our guilt is gone, our fear disappears, our respect for our teachers goes in the tank and all our core beliefs become challengeable and suspect.
All religion demands that we stay inside the box. Witnessism is a box, inside the box, inside the box. GaryB -
Obviously Secret
When you pray in tongues (basically babble gibberish), you are speaking a "heavenly language" given to you by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit dwelling in you knows your needs and wants, and prompts you to pray about those in your "heavenly tongue". Because you don't know what you're praying, neither does the Devil, so he won't know what hit him when your prayers are answered! Hooray!
That one made me laugh. Tounges were always stupid to me.
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simplesally
I thought that about praying out loud but when I told the brothers I was falling asleep when I said my evening prayer, one of them asked if I was praying silently or out loud.
I told him I was afraid Satan would hear my fears. Well, he said whenever we pray, we are under God's holy protection....whenever we invoke Jehovah's name or approach his throne, Satan does not want to be there and leaves...Jehovah will not allow him in his presence.
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Gopher
Some JW's believed that you could pray to Jehovah to give you a certain "sign" to help you make some decision that you couldn't come to on your own.. If something did or didn't happen, then that event (or non-event) would be Jehovah's answer.
So they looked for a sign instead of using their own brain and reasoning, thinking that it was somehow "relying on Jehovah's guidance".
But then again, maybe Satan made the thing that they were praying about happen, and he (Satan) was trying to fool them into doing the wrong thing.
So...was the sign from Satan, or from Jehovah? I guess it depends on who they WANTED it to be from.
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Odrade
Yeah, I remember the praying out loud thing too. Was afraid Satan might be listening. I was convinced that only Jehovah had mind-reading abilities, and that the angels and Jesus had to be told what I prayed about. And that Satan and the demonz wouldn't know.
LOL!
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pudd
Some JW's believed that you could pray to Jehovah to give you a certain "sign" to help you make some decision that you couldn't come to on your own.. If something did or didn't happen, then that event (or non-event) would be Jehovah's answer.
Hangs head in shame,
I actually did that! I was taught it during my bible study and every one I knew believed in it sooo......!!!
It still amazes me how I just gave up any rights to my own life, including making basic decisions such as which part time job i would take, or should i visit a non- witness friend (bad association or chance to witness?)
still find it hard to make decisions now.
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gitasatsangha
When under attack by demons, especially at night, turn on the lights. Apparently demons though very ancient and powerful spirits, have an aversion to electric light. I dont know whether this covered both incandescent AND flourescent lighting or not.
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cyber-sista
About prayer...
I remember hearing from the platform that if we fall asleep during our bedtime prayer it is showing a great disrespect for Jehovah. I thought that it was nonsense at the time, but that thought was planted in me and it put me on guard a bit when I was tired and praying.
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