Cliques are everywhere in human nature. Just look at Survivor.
congregational cliques
by chuckyy 48 Replies latest jw experiences
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The JellyBaby
The Edge.....that rings home so much!!
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franklin J
oh yes, very "cliquey".
How theocratic of them.
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bagpuss
In my congregation there were a few families that were the "in" people to associate with. All of these were elders families and while the elders themselves were usually pretty nice to most people it seemed that it was the wives who decided who could join their clique.Anyone from a divided home had to find there own friends and many did - outside the congregation! When I was baptised there were many sisters who were on their own in the cong. One by one they drifted away until I was the only one.One of the last times that I took part in the service meeting was an item about how to help those in divided homes.It felt good to get up on the platform and let them know how it felt to be alone and not included in social activities. I really don't think that anything I said went in. They were more interested in how wonderful the truth is and how they show love to everyone.As far as I know the cliques remain the same to this day,but at least they don't have to worry about those who struggle on their own anymore as there aren't any!
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chok
Yes I suffered the whole clique thing!
I'm beginning to think that it exists on here still too! But I guess this is a board of ex-jw's so its to be expected.
Chok
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kaykay_mp
Yep, whole lotta that going on.
I was regularly left out of everything. But it was mostly the wealthy ppl doing it. It made me laugh when the poor kids would try to act all rich just to get in the cliques. Most of the time it worked and made me feel even more left out. Usually I would object to all the posers, but I was virtually the only one left out of everything. I wasn't poor, just upper middle-class.
I remember the trip to Brooklyn one year for the facility tour. All the rich witnesses would plan to see a Brodway show the last night. I am such a drama queen that I would have loved something like that. I even secretly saved money to buy a ticket because I knew they would go. But then I'd get shot down--"oh, no we're not going to see that" or "oh, no, that's sold out for now."
What gave me a little satisfaction was seeing their downfall after I got df'd a few years ago. The richest family in the congregation had a nasty scandal which involved my cousin (by marriage) seducing the husband, or the other way around, because he wanted to have more kids and the wife really was tired of being a baby mill. She divorced him and took the house, all his assets, and moved to Florida. His construction business went way under.
Ha.
laters
kaykay_mp
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proplog2
I love cliques. It's nice to have all your enemies in a group.
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Kimmee
My mom was very stick on who I associated with and for many years I thought that JWs could do NO wrong. So when my mom said that she did not want me associating with various persons in the congregation and even those in "The world" I could not comprehend. If I could not associate with those in the world then at least I should be able to associate anyone in the congregation. Her reply would be that some in the congregation are "goats" and worldly themselves. So heck I could not have no clique. Thanks mom.
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Incense_and_Peppermints
love cliques. It's nice to have all your enemies in a group.
lol! so twue...
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upside/down
I remember one time my family got invited over to the PO's house for din din and a pre-Wt study. We weren't to keen on this, but NO ONE turned down an opportunity like this. We knew they were inviting us over to "encourage" us. We were fine as a family just not "Theo PC".
Anyway it was all a big DISPLAY, big ass prayer before din din than a big ass prayer before we pre-studied the WT and another BIG ASS prayer afterward. It was pathetic, they treated us like children who had never done anything "spiritual" ever. They would take turns doing the question and answer bit and if someone got the answer "right" the dad threw candy in the air for thme to catch. My kids (though younger than the PO's) looked at me and laughed- they thought it was rediculous (I motioned to just "play along") The PO's family was the type that when we had a congo beach "get together" his daughters (teen & preteen) would sit on the beach and study their WT and read the Bible while everyone else BBQ'd and played. It was pathetic. They were just too "spiritual" for the rest of us.
Till the day his daughters were caught giving "head" to other prominant Dub's sons! Very hush hush of course.
I'm just glad I got my ass out before I turned out like this- my kids and I laugh about this kind of crap to this day!
u/d
