What silly rules did your congregation make up? (page 6)

buffalosrfree

I remember those rules, some of them anyway, especially the one about guns, yes our cong tried to also instill a rule about not having a gun in the house etc. i had 41 mag, 270 remingto, 30:30 winchester, 25 Auto, etc. bow and arrows hunting types I know they didn't like it. f em.

young hearts, be free..

Haha, this is a great topic!!!! Jeez, some of the shit they used to start!!

We had to wear jackets when running the mic's, though half an hour up the road THEY didn't :( I ued to get the 'sideways' look from the old boys club, because I'd have my hair spiked, or a ring on my thumb, or a cultural bone carving around my neck.....and I was one of the 'good' young brothers in the congregation :P It got to the point where I'd simply where things or style myself a certain way just to get the reaction from the 'more mature' shephards, god knows they needed some excitement in their lives; or something to clamp down on :D

aniron

I thought some of the petty rules we had were stupid. But American JW's and congregations seem to be going for some kind of record in out doing each other. Boy! Do you have some weird ones.

Could never understand the one about two-door cars ????

Anyway having looked through most of them these caught my eye.

1. Plain white shirts only for men, no patterns or colours allowed.
2. Normal neckties, no bow-ties, cravat’s, pocket squares, etc.
3. No casual style "slacks" with blazer, had to be a matching suit!

1) I never wore a white shirt in all the time I was a JW or went to a meeting. Even gave Public Talks in coloured shirts and patterned ties. Especially when a CO turned up who and wore the most garish ties you could think of.

2) This one to went outthe window when one Circuit Overseer wore bow-ties and pocket squares. Another CO we had wore cravats.

3) Again we had brothers who gave talks went on service wearing Blazers and slacks.

All our elders were concerned about as as long as it looked smart and neat, it was OK.

Rayvin

Two door cars meant you weren't thinking of others ... for field service.

Lilycurly

This is killing me!lol

Seems like my congo was pretty liberal. I never heard of needing to wear nylons or no straps! Brothers wore all kind of colors and some wore mustaches.

I even remember this time where, (God knows why!!?) I decided to wear that black, lacy corset, and I mean, a real, lingerie corset without straps or anything. Sure, I wore something on top of it, a purple blouse, I think, but I left the blouse open and many people saw it, including elders. I wore it with 6 inches pumps and got no elderly comment about it..lol Of course, I cringe thinking about it today...ah! the teenage years.

kilroy2

I Remember to as was posted above, when the article came out saying that a jw would never use a firearm for self defense even if you had to die, the article even went so far as to state that pepper spray was not to be used, I sent several letters to the society and got much bull shit back, still have them, also the brothers in the hall said that I could not travel with any of them on trips if I carried a gun, I told them fine I did not want to travel with them anyways, and would not travel with such unprepared people anyways.

I am very thankful for the article, as it set me on the road to question the society, We also had the article about not hunting for sport,and it was said that only if you enjoyed hunting was it wrong if you were using the meat to support your family it was ok [this was because D schroder, and N guardner were big dicks in the hall and loved to hunt, I hunt to but never pretended to not enjoy it, in fact I used to put the cost up to them that when you put your gun,ammo, lic.and time,gas, ect. your meat cost about 20$ a pound, I was told that the meat was better tasting than store bought meat, I told them that if that was the case then why do you always refer to a good tasting deer, as just like beef you cant tell the diff? used to get the usual bull shit well it is better for you,

I hunt but never sugar coated it. I like the thrill of shooting the animal and getting my own meat, and looking for a big rack to put on my wall, it is a sport, and I never lied about it. did not feel I had to. Just goes to show that when they want something they will bend the hell out of the rules to do it, also when the biker [hellsangles types] craze was on in the late seventies and bikes were looked on as bad, guardner and patton had bike trips and bikes for their bitches and chitlens out west every summer, but this was ok as they like to do it, I have no problem with it but I dam well know that if it was something they did not like they would have dropped a hammer on you like thor

BadPammie

Brothers could not get perms and if they did they could not carry mikes or read the WT let alone give a talk.

I gave my hubby a perm and he looked great. Not weird ya know? The next morning he was supposed to read the WT and the elders told him he couldn't do anything until he let it grow out. He was calling to much attention to himself. What about the elder's wife who just had the same thing done to her hair? I was very young, about 20 and cried and cried because I thought I had put my husbands eternal life in jeapordy. What bullshit.

BTW: My hubby and I just celebrated our 24th Wedding Anniversary. He has a very very long ponytail now. It turns me ON! I want to grab it in both my hands and ride him like a horse.

Ohhh. Sorry. He still does it for me after all these years.

BadPammie!

Cygnus

As for most of these "rules" if you caused enough stink and asserted some chutzpa you could get away with them. Once the WT reader didn't show up so they asked me to read the WT. Then 5 mins. before the meeting started they said, oh you're not wearing a suit, just a jacket and tie, you can't read afterall. I was like, oh well, but I coulda said "Can you show me in writing where it says that?" Sisters were encouraged not to use too many props in their #3 talks and they just sheeply went along with it. Once my dad got counseled for wearing a bolo tie and he basically said, Up yours, I'll wear what I want. Pre- air conditioning some elders would give a Public Talk in just a shirt a tie, no suit jacket. Where's the written rules?, I'd ask now. It must put the elders on such a power trip to make unwritten rules and see the sheep carry them out like good little flocklings. Sad that so many don't stand up for themselves. Once I had to write a talk in haste and found out my counsel point was on dress and grooming and I hadn't gotten a haircut so the school overseer thought he was being helpful by warning me I'd be getting a W before the meeting started, so I said OK, find someone else to give the talk then, cause if I've already been counseled, no sense me giving me the talk. He backed down and I gave the talk and got my G. If people were just tough and told the COs and elders where to shove their rules, or threaten to quit or not participate, there'd be less rule-making. Power to the people!

daystar

Rayvin,

There were definitely rules. You are just one of those unique people who don't really pick up very easily on unwritten, "social" rules, or simply don't care. Always the rebel!

Consider that if you were to have been counselled on any of these unwritten, social, rules, you would have fought against it like a wildcat.

tijkmo

not allowed to watch the lion king

not allowed to wear nike

not allowed to take vacation during the circuit visit

not allowed to take the memorial if your hair was too short

must wear a plain white t-shirt when baptizing...(you know, like john the baptist did)

not allowed to call john the baptist john the baptist cos baptists are false religion...must call him john the baptizer

What silly rules did your congregation make up?

Share this