Posts by NotFormer

20

Did your witness family have a 'Thanksgiving' that wasn't on Thanksgiving?

by SydBarrett in

jw
friends

my family had several elders, ministerial servants, auxillary pioneers etc, so it certainly wasn't one of those 'barely in' families.

but in certain small ways, i think mine were slightly less hard line than some other families i've heard stories about over the years.

one example was the 'fall dinner'.

NotFormer

"Every country has it's autumn celebration. Does the southern hemisphere have a harvest time festival in April or may?"

Not really. In Australia and New Zealand we have ANZAC Day on the 25th of April, but it's not a harvest festival; it's more like Veterans Day.

People have tried to get Christmas in July happening, to have the Christmas style festivities at a time of year when the temperature makes sense. (Have you ever tried eating a hot roast dinner in 40°C [104°°F] heat, with a side of high humidity?)

10

How the JWs Handle a Member Visiting Another Church: What Is Your Experience?

by LauraLynn in

i grew up a jw but my parents were not regularly attending services at a kh.

they used to, and were thoroughly indoctrinated though.

as is the jws habit of visiting non-attenders, 2 sisters came to my mom and dad's door one day to inquire of our well-being.

NotFormer

If that sort of thing can happen, then how can anyone feel safe?

Is there always a background sense of fear in a Kingdom Hall?

34

Jehovah's Witnesses came by today.

by 3rdgen in

this morning i was in our front yard sitting down pulling weeds when i saw 3 people slowly walking on the sidewalk in my direction.

2 of them were young, handsome, clean shaven, wearing nice crisp white shirts and perfectly tailored black slacks.

they could have been mormons except.... there was a 60ish portly woman wearing a frumpy dress and ugly sandals.

NotFormer

Sounds like you got some good points out there without causing her to head for the hills. Top marks! It probably wouldn't have worked out so easily if the two young blokes had hung around. They probably were relieved to get away and let the two "old ladies" talk. Little did they know... !

I guess that it's almost a rule that there can be no more than two JWs at a door; I imagine that would be overwhelming for the householder. When the car group is uneven in number, I guess you'll get a solo witness doing doors, without the "protection" of a second JW ensuring that no honest conversations break out.

75

Would you be able to survive a three day Assembly?

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

the last assembly i attended was over 10 years ago.

the monotone speakers, boring talks, uncomfortable seats, long prayers and nodding off after the lunch break did me in.

i survived the morning sessions, but the afternoon sessions were brutal.

NotFormer

Gorb, what was the chatter like after that momentous event? Were there hushed whispers, or was it more of a humorous nature?

That was back in the days when people could still name the WT president. On boards like this he would be referred to as "Uncle Miltie". The new "future kings" don't get the same level of respect, eg. "Tight Pants Tony". I can't offhand recall the epithet Mr Letts(?) gets.

42

What would happen to a JW for celebrating Christmas?

by Vanderhoven7 in

mark jones writes:.

if they were spied upon and it was reported to the elders they’d be “invited” to a judicial committee whereupon they’d be cross examined in a locked backroom by three men acting as judge and jury to decide if they are guilty.. .

if the elders decide that they are guilty, they’ll then decide if the person is sorry.

NotFormer

mikeflood: "There's like scriptural base when you read it in the Bible, the angels chorus...the rejoicing, etc

"They could spin it by focusing on Jesus, not Santa as nowadays. For example, what a glorious opportunity to give testimony!"

It could be done. Focus on Jesus as the greatest gift, just have a family feast and present giving. Maybe have a special dinner at the KH to which "interested ones" could be invited and a talk given afterwards.

The elephant in the room with this scenario is Jesus Himself. The WT doesn't like Him much, and have always focused their attention away from Him*.

* The new seeming emphasis on Jesus is not about Him at all, but about "his brothers", by which they mean the GB.

54

Covering up bathroom mirrors at the assemblies!!!

by nojudgement in

jw
friends

this was one of the craziest things i remember about the summer conventions.

i would go into the sister's bathrooms and the mirrors would all be taped up with brown paper so that we couldn't look at our reflections.

were were amish or something?

NotFormer

John de Lancie: We are the Queue

42

What would happen to a JW for celebrating Christmas?

by Vanderhoven7 in

mark jones writes:.

if they were spied upon and it was reported to the elders they’d be “invited” to a judicial committee whereupon they’d be cross examined in a locked backroom by three men acting as judge and jury to decide if they are guilty.. .

if the elders decide that they are guilty, they’ll then decide if the person is sorry.

NotFormer

How far would the "my unbelieving spouse insists on observing it" argument get someone?

75

Would you be able to survive a three day Assembly?

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

the last assembly i attended was over 10 years ago.

the monotone speakers, boring talks, uncomfortable seats, long prayers and nodding off after the lunch break did me in.

i survived the morning sessions, but the afternoon sessions were brutal.

NotFormer

"Isn't the very idea of conventions an American concept..."

Possibly. It'd be interesting to look into the history of it all. My first instinct, without looking anything up, is that churches and other religions having remote conventions and church camps harks back to the old "brush arbo(u)r" meetings of the nineteenth century. They would roughly coincide with the time when new congregations like Russell's were forming.

36

Why Is Watchtower (Supposedly a Family Friendly Christian Publisher) Obsessed with Oral Sex?

by Sea Breeze in

if you do a search on the wt website and type in "oral sex", you will get 69 results.

https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/s/r1/lp-e?q=oral+sex&p=par&r=occ&st=a .

why does the wt.

NotFormer

"Fred Franz "lets talk about the Bible" in the sauna with no clothes fests were a no go for me."

How did Bethelites find out that this sort of thing was happening and not question their life choices to date? You obviously did!

36

Why Is Watchtower (Supposedly a Family Friendly Christian Publisher) Obsessed with Oral Sex?

by Sea Breeze in

if you do a search on the wt website and type in "oral sex", you will get 69 results.

https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/s/r1/lp-e?q=oral+sex&p=par&r=occ&st=a .

why does the wt.

NotFormer

carla: "AND NO, Christian churches do not have these discussions around children"

BINGO! I've spent nearly 50 years in mainstream Christian churches* and I don't ever recall explicit and graphic detail of sexual acts being mentioned from the pulpit. And remember, most kids leave the main service halfway through to go to Sunday School or Kids' Church**, where they receive age appropriate teaching and craft activities.

* Anglican, Presbyterian, Baptist, Independent Fundamentalist Baptist, Open Brethren, Uniting Church, Church of Christ, Various Pentecostal denominations. Even non-mainstream sects I've attended, like Christadelphians and SDA never aired that sort of thing in front of kids. JWs seem to be unique in this regard.

** In my experience, most of those featured teachers who were thoroughly vetted and supervised.