To belong to a culture is part of being human. Yet, JWs and Evangelicals are told to avoid being contaminated by the secular culture. The Evangelical movement, however, has created a subculture of its own. There is a Christian music industry, Christian social events, dating services, television, etc. There is no corresponding JW subculture in this sense. The JW must fill time with field service, study, and meeting attendance. Any cultural needs must be met by rubbing shoulders with the larger culture which in principle should be avoided. Do you think that the lack of an alternative subculture makes JW life more stressful than it otherwise might be?
Culture or the lack thereof
by Justin 16 Replies latest watchtower bible
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the_classicist
No. I think the "Christian Music Industry" adds stress. To quote Bart Simpson: "All the best bands are affiliated with Satan." Can you imagine having your mind daily impailed by the sound of Christian rock... think of being a poor evangelical teenager, listening to songs that basically talk about Jesus as being the love of your life (almost in the eros sense). Anyways, most JWs take selectively from secular culture anyways, although there are a few uber-jws that view everything as "false-religion" or demonic.
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Incense_and_Peppermints
yes! that's why they are so miserable. they are forced to live, work, and breathe in a world that they can't really be a part of, and forced to shun the pleasures of this wonderful world. i read in too many of their blogs and forums "just WAIT 'til Armageddon, you'll get yours!"... (anyway, i was gonna post this in that "are jw's miserable thread", but this one fits just as well.)
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jeanniebeanz
People in general need to feel that they are normal as judged by society, and the witnesses are not judged as normal. The WTBTS has isolated their people and starved them for social interaction so badly that if they are collectively feeling stressed on this point it is understandable.
Jean
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eyeslice
I certainly agree with the premise that JWs are devoid of culture. I started a thread a while back about JWs having nothing to celebrate; I guess it is all part of the uniformity and control.
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/80630/1.ashx
Eyeslice
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under74
I understand what you're saying but the JWs absence of what you term "culture" is a culture.
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Narkissos
As several posters suggested, a poor subculture is a subculture anyway.
But a subculture is never a culture.
Whoever lives in a subculture knows that there is a wider world around and has to use different sets of codes and references. As JWs we didn't speak and behave with "worldly people" as we did with other JWs. Which means that we were conscious of the main culture and able to adapt to it (although awkwardly sometimes): we actually belonged to it too .
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Satanus
You would think that god's chosen name people would be busting at the seams w the highest imaginable culture, which would be the envy of those being cruely oppressed by satan in the rest of the world. The wt's pitiful cultural situation is another indication of the nonexistence and nonaction of their god, noninspiration of their leaders. But what can you expect from a publishing company's synthetic religion? Evangelicals are bit better off, imo, but still very stiffled.
S
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Euphemism
This drove me nuts when I was a Witness. Culture is something that naturally springs up in any society. Witnesses compose songs, play music, write books, pass around favorite talks, form benevolent groups, etc. And every time they do, the Watcthower deliberately stamps it down. The WTS is determined to prevent the emergence of anything it cannot control.
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Incense_and_Peppermints
hmm, maybe they can go live in Biosphere...completely self-sufficient and insulated from the outside world...it's for sale
Monday, January 10, 2005
Biosphere 2 for sale
The Texas investment company that owns Biosphere 2 north of Tucson, Arizona is selling the place. Billionaire Ed Bass dropped $200 million in the 1980s to build Biosphere 2 as a prototype "space colony." The experiment suffered major scientific and managerial problems and was eventually opened to the public as a tourist attraction. From the Arizona Daily Star: "We're looking at everything from government entities, universities and private schools to church groups, resorts and spas as potential owners," (said Christopher T. Bannon, general manager of Decisions Investment Corp.) "We'd love to see the Biosphere 2 used as a research activity, but we know that may not be the end result."
The Texas investment company that owns