Posts by hijosdelawatch

11

Why don't they adapt to other cultures? (an American religion?)

by hijosdelawatch in

jw
friends

i guess the majority of you haven't noticed that being an american, canadian, british, australia... (being involved in the anglosaxon culture) but there are situations in other cultures that make jws seem a bit bizarre.. since the watchtower is quite rigid and bureaucratic, it's reluctant to adapt to different cultures.

so sometimes even the brothers feel very uncomfortable adopting all this "watchtower culture" and even not knowing what to do in some situations.. for example, here in spain women keep their maiden names.

but for some reason, it's the watchtower culture to adopt a particular system.

hijosdelawatch

Cagefighter says:

Los hermanos y hermanas in Espana.... Just keep sending the org your peso or whatever they use in Spain. We will tighten the noose, uhh.. I mean the light will get brighter in the near future... Armageddon, is tommorrow so no time for questions. Back to work, look busy. ;)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We use €uros and yes, the WTBTS likes them exactly the same way they love dollars, yens or pounds.

There are some cases here... don't know if someone has posted before but in the Spanish board there are ex-bethelites who are doing a good job. In fact they won a case in the courts against the WTBTS over social security when some of them were fired from Bethel.

11

Why don't they adapt to other cultures? (an American religion?)

by hijosdelawatch in

jw
friends

i guess the majority of you haven't noticed that being an american, canadian, british, australia... (being involved in the anglosaxon culture) but there are situations in other cultures that make jws seem a bit bizarre.. since the watchtower is quite rigid and bureaucratic, it's reluctant to adapt to different cultures.

so sometimes even the brothers feel very uncomfortable adopting all this "watchtower culture" and even not knowing what to do in some situations.. for example, here in spain women keep their maiden names.

but for some reason, it's the watchtower culture to adopt a particular system.

hijosdelawatch

I guess the majority of you haven't noticed that being an American, Canadian, British, Australia... (being involved in the Anglosaxon culture) but there are situations in other cultures that make JWs seem a bit bizarre.

Since the Watchtower is quite rigid and bureaucratic, it's reluctant to adapt to different cultures. So sometimes even the brothers feel very uncomfortable adopting all this "Watchtower culture" and even not knowing what to do in some situations.

For example, here in Spain women keep their maiden names. But for some reason, it's the Watchtower culture to adopt a particular system. For example, if the sister Elena Rios marries Daniel Perez, she will be called "Elena de Perez", when her name in the ID card is still "Elena Rios".

There's also a lot of confusion about non-religious traditions with no American equivalent. For example, I've known brothers that really liked bullfighting and it was approved by their elders while in other congregations it was dissaproved. Obviously, there was nothing written in the magazines about that.

We also have traditions like the "Feria of Abril" in the south that are not religious but where you can dance and drink until the next day. Some elders dissaproved that but as we haven't nothing written about that it has become a tradition for the Witnesses to go there even from other parts of the country to enjoy this party. Even is more bizarre when it sounds songs about (Catholic) virgins and sisters don't stop dancing. But as always, there's nothing written.

Have you experienced things like that?

38

''I love the organization''

by punkofnice in

..........said mrs punk!.

this was how she justified screaming abuse at me an slamming doors when she overheard me tell a bloke who was about to get baptized why i quit the meetings.

in fairness i wouldn't have said a thing but he asked me.

hijosdelawatch

Don't know if you have heard that, but in the country I live (Spain), I've heard from different brothers: "Even if all this stuff is false, I will not regret being a Jehovah's Witness". In fact, I heard that from a CO's wife.

That's the idea behind my nickname. JWs are "sons of the Watchtower".

17

In a funeral... or when the JWs want to show they're different

by hijosdelawatch in

a couple of days ago i went to the funeral of an old age brother in his 80s.. well, that was the typical jw funeral although his daughter and the rest of his family are not witnesses.

as you know the brothers don't wear black clothes nor they show lot of sadness as a "prove" they believe in resurrection.. the problem this time is some of them went too far.

two sisters had red clothing and at the entrance a group of brothers were literally laughing.

hijosdelawatch

The problem is that some brothers NEED to feel different.

It's true, it only happends some times (fortunately) but the problem is that the Borg want to alienate JWs from their native culture and traditions. Are all traditions bad or even satanic? I don't think so.

In fact, it's so fanatical to take advantage of someone's death to preach that I have no other word to describe it.

17

In a funeral... or when the JWs want to show they're different

by hijosdelawatch in

a couple of days ago i went to the funeral of an old age brother in his 80s.. well, that was the typical jw funeral although his daughter and the rest of his family are not witnesses.

as you know the brothers don't wear black clothes nor they show lot of sadness as a "prove" they believe in resurrection.. the problem this time is some of them went too far.

two sisters had red clothing and at the entrance a group of brothers were literally laughing.

hijosdelawatch

A couple of days ago I went to the funeral of an old age brother in his 80s.

Well, that was the typical JW funeral although his daughter and the rest of his family are not Witnesses. As you know the brothers don't wear black clothes nor they show lot of sadness as a "prove" they believe in resurrection.

The problem this time is some of them went too far. T wo sisters had red clothing and at the entrance a group of brothers were LITERALLY laughing. When a relative came to find out what was happening a sister told him they expect to see him in the New World and tried to start preaching him.

It was sooo embarrasing!!! A lot of us were ashamed but some were happy to show that disrespect to feel apart from the world.

Have you experienced something similar?

43

What was life like for you as a JW teenager?

by highdose in

in the wt's illistrations they portray jw teenagers as happy, together group.

my experinace is that the jw teenagers in the cong were some of the bitchyist backstabbing arse holes i'll ever meet.. it was unheard of for us to engage in group "wholesome activity" as show in the wt's illistrations.

the competition amongst the girls for the handsome, sane and elders sons were cut throat.

hijosdelawatch

I was in a congregation with few young people. We were 5 friends but we all were boys. A very boring congo.

Three of my friends quit the Borg when they turned 18. The other one is the typical perfect JW, who was appointed MS when he was 19.

From the WT perspective, they have a very BIG problem with that if they want to keep the number of members in the long run. 80% of the congos are not a good place to be in.

63

The Control is simply amazing

by outsmartthesystem in

at the kind advice of so many of you (and hassan) on this board....i ceased attempting to discuss doctrine/failures with my wife many months ago.

but unfortunately that does not prevent her from grilling me from time to time.

during one of our infamous "discussions" she said she was going to "investigate" this supposed "proof" that is out there regarding 587bc.

hijosdelawatch

Once an elder wanted to speak with the young ones of the congregation on spiritual matters. Someone asked an elder how is it possible that in nearly 1900 years there were no God's servant on earth. He didn't answer.

I also asked about the infamous 144,000. I told him that if we subtract to that number the annointed in our days since the end of the 19th century, we could have the number of christians in the first 19 centuries of christianity. So I said I couldn't understand the small number of truly christians in the past. The majority of first century christians were dissaproved?

And finally, a logical doubt. If you do something dissaproved in a certain time but then it's approved by "a new light", should they revise your case if they DFed you?

It makes no sense. He just said: "Don't think too much. We just can obbey the instructions coming from the GB".

Thereafter, he just speaked with us about sports.

86

A little example of how severely the contributions for the Society are drying up

by sir82 in

jw
friends

just a little tidbit from the congregation i attend..... the congregation has approximately 120 publishers.. well over 1000 magazines per month are picked up, not to mention all the books, brochures, and tracts that are picked up.. there was a "local needs" part on the service meeting recently, asking for more contributions.. it seems our congregation has averaged just about $300 per month contributions to the "worldwide work" over the past year.. .

assuming 1500 magazines / month, that's just 20 cents per magazine - and that completely ignores all other literature that is picked up.. the last price the magazines had, 20+ years ago, was 25 cents per issue.

with inflation that would have been about 50 cents each now.. just another sign of how severely the contriutions to the society are drying up..... .

hijosdelawatch

Exactly the same in my congregation.

But well, I think they can live with their investments pretty well. Do they also need contributions?

In my area they even receive the ground when a new KH is needed. Of course, they receive the money as they have to sell the old KH but the congregations need to give more money to build up the new one. Why can't we use the money from the selling? We all know the answer.

18

a new one

by hijosdelawatch in

jw
friends

i'm still inside because of family, friends... all my life is there.

i used to have doubts (one year ago) but now i only have certainties about the org.

another reason for staying, at least for now, is i'm living at home with my jw mother and she allowed me to go to college.. i seem to everyone in the congregation a normal witness but when i sit down in the meetings i do know 99% what i listen to is just the same failed prophecies and doctrines repeated always in the same way.. i'm now being "persuaded" to accept my appointed as a ms. though i'm not doing nothing special to get it, i'm serving in a foreign language territory simply because i couldn't hold on with the pressure of my family and elders from my congregation.

hijosdelawatch

Hello hijosdelawatch and welcome to the forum! I think there are many people hiding within the walls of the Kingdomhalls, but getting a count is impossible at the moment.

4 out of 9 of the friends I have since I was a child left the "truth" in the past, 3 of them faded. I also know some friends from other congregations with doubts.

I was a very convinced JW before and even aux pioneered the months I could. I think the brothers can't imagine how I think now.

18

a new one

by hijosdelawatch in

jw
friends

i'm still inside because of family, friends... all my life is there.

i used to have doubts (one year ago) but now i only have certainties about the org.

another reason for staying, at least for now, is i'm living at home with my jw mother and she allowed me to go to college.. i seem to everyone in the congregation a normal witness but when i sit down in the meetings i do know 99% what i listen to is just the same failed prophecies and doctrines repeated always in the same way.. i'm now being "persuaded" to accept my appointed as a ms. though i'm not doing nothing special to get it, i'm serving in a foreign language territory simply because i couldn't hold on with the pressure of my family and elders from my congregation.

hijosdelawatch

Hi everyone!

I'm a new one here. I'm still inside because of family, friends... all my life is there. I used to have doubts (one year ago) but now I only have certainties about the org. Another reason for staying, at least for now, is I'm living at home with my JW mother and she allowed me to go to college.

I seem to everyone in the congregation a normal witness but when I sit down in the meetings I DO know 99% what I listen to is just the same failed prophecies and doctrines repeated always in the same way.

I'm now being "persuaded" to accept my appointed as a MS. Though I'm not doing nothing special to get it, I'm serving in a foreign language territory simply because I couldn't hold on with the pressure of my family and elders from my congregation. So I decided to move to a more "liberal" congo.

I can speak the language better than some local MS & even elders and they haven't a lot of brothers to choose from because this kind of congregation (at least in my area) are full of women.

Do you think are there a lot of similar cases of brothers not believing but still inside?