I'm on the Outside Looking In

by prophecor 8 Replies latest jw experiences

  • prophecor
    prophecor

    Before baptism, outsiders are never viewed as having quite made the grade of fully fledged brotherhood, in fact, when greeted in the Kingdom Hall, many of us, especially if not raised in " The Truth", were often made to know this fact merely by the words we were greeted with, or how we were acknowledged in meetings, for instance, when commenting at the Watchtower study.

    "Mr Anderson" as opposed to "Brother Mitchell", was to me a sense of arrogance to be tolerated until having made the final cut from intrested person to non-baptized publisher to baptismal candidate and finally baptized brother.

    Are these word games that can be associated with cultlike phenomenom, that of being JW and the status received after baptism?

    Did anyone else feel pressured into taking the plunge, in order to no longer be be deemed an outsider or an outcast?

  • what_Truth?
    what_Truth?

    i think everyone gets a little bit of that weather you are raised in the church or not. I remember there was always a special honor revered for those that got baptized before age 12. As if suddenly they were more faithful than kids who weren't pushed quite so hard and waited until they were a little older. What else can you expect when the brothers keep preaching about how your unbaptized ass would be heartlessly murdered should Armageddon come before you got dipped.

  • upside/down
    upside/down

    Always rmember, we all like to feel we're "special". The "dubs" abuse this natural feeling to their benefit. Notice you didn't view it negatively till way after the fact. It is rather bizarre how they are so proud to have thrown off the "shackles" of false religion, especially the clergy concept and they even say it's an all VOLUNTEER org., but just see what happens to you when you don't.. a-hem "volunteer".

    Make no mistake about it- it's by design- designed to make it very distasteful sould you ever want to leave. I mean after all you heard about the idiot that swam half way acroos the lake, figured he couldn't make so he turned around and swam back. You don't even realize how far you've gone by the time you're a brother. It's a con job like when Tom Sawyer conned all the other kids into painting the fence for him- he actually had them LIKING and PAYING for them to do his work.

    Don't beat yourself, we've all been there (done that)!

    U/D

  • AK - Jeff
    AK - Jeff

    Or how about the game 'we missed you so much - glad to have you back' after you had missed two meetings? Or the 'privilage game'? - Brother, how would like the privilage of volunteering to work for 8 hours on the landscaping, after you buy all the plants and tools? then next week when the CO gets here we won't bother to mention who did it - to keep you humble - and still get thier kudos?

    Jeff

  • JustTickledPink
    JustTickledPink

    There are also the visual ques... if someone walked in the Hall with a green Bible they were instantly recognized as not being a regular.

    Then came the hardcover black Bibles.

    Then came the soft-covered marroon Bibles.

    Then came the black reference Bible.

    It was if you had a Bible wasn't good enough, you had to have the newest edition that had just been published. I don't know that the newest Bible fad is and I don't care.

  • AK - Jeff
    AK - Jeff

    good point JTP-

    then came the 'special bound bibles' with the imprinted name on the cover - only the real hot shots had them -

    Jeff

  • Incense_and_Peppermints
    Incense_and_Peppermints

    oog...

    all so subtle and... calculated (shudder)

  • blondie
    blondie

    It shows how you have to "earn" life according to the WTS.

    Remember when Peter had to have 2 visions to get him to go and see the Gentile centurion Cornelius. Even then he would not baptize him until holy spirit fell upon him and his family. It shows that it is God who determines who is acceptable not men. Who determines if they have "taken the steps that would identify them as part of God's household."

    Try and find a scripture were the early Christians called each other "Brother Timothy" or "Brother James."

    ***

    km 4/96 p. 7 Question Box ***

    On the other hand, interested persons who have only recently begun to attend our meetings have not yet taken the steps that would identify them as part of God?s household. These individuals would not be addressed as "Brother" or "Sister," since the spiritual relationship of God?s family does not exist in their case. So during the meetings, we would address them more formally, using an appropriate title such as "Mr." with their last name.

    Notice how the WTS sidesteps the question but gudgingly admits there is no example in the NT.

    ***

    w62 6/1 pp. 351-352 Questions from Readers ***

    ?

    Why do the witnesses of Jehovah address each other as "Brother" and "Sister"? I have never found any Scriptural authority for it. Jesus always addressed his disciples as "Peter," "John," and so forth, but never as "Brother Peter" and "Brother John."?E. J., United States.

    There are valid reasons for dedicated Christian believers to refer to one another as "Brother" and "Sister." It is true that, with few exceptions, these terms when used in the Gospels and in the book of Acts refer to flesh-and-blood relatives. However, Jesus did use the expression "brother" in a general sense for fellow believers when he said: "Look! My mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, the same is my brother." Also, "If your brother commits a sin, go lay bare his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother."?Matt. 12:49, 50; 18:15.

    The apostles and disciples of Jesus used the term "brother" in an even more direct sense. And so we repeatedly find such expressions as these occurring throughout their writings: "Quit mixing in company with anyone called a brother that is a fornicator," said Paul. Ananias, the faithful disciple, referred to the persecutor Saul, who had repented, as "Saul, brother." Later, Paul himself spoke of "Sosthenes our brother," "Apollos our brother," "Titus my brother," and "our brother Timothy." So also Peter referred to Paul as "our beloved brother Paul." And in Acts 21:20 we read: "They said to him: ?You behold, brother, how many thousands of believers there are among the Jews.?" Surely in view of all these examples there can be no valid objection to it when Christians refer to fellow believers as "Brother" and "Sister."?1 Cor. 5:11; Acts 9:17; 1 Cor. 1:1; 16:12; 2 Cor. 2:13; Heb. 13:23; 2 Pet. 3:15.

    The use of a family name as well as a given name, which was not the practice in the first century, has also made it advantageous to use the expression "Brother" with the family name as is now done. It helps avoid both the extreme of undue familiarity and that of undue reserve. To address an adult by his given name today indicates a familiarity that may not always be fitting, especially not on the part of youth toward adults or on the part of strangers to one another. On the other hand, to use the formal term "Mister" would savor of a lack of friendliness, a reserve that does not prevail among the members of the dedicated Christian community. Therefore "Brother" and "Sister" appear to be the logical as well as Scriptural designations to use, since dedicated Christians view one another as members of a spiritual or religious family.

  • outoftheorg
    outoftheorg

    This double speak and the word games and labels are to keep a person from inowing that

    it is even worse to be on the "inside looking out". With longing.

    Outoftheorg

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