if you went to someones house as a guest and they asked you to take your shoes off..would you?..would you be offended?....
does anyone know if this is proper etiquette?.
didn't know where else to post this........ my daughter was invited to a neighbors house and they requested people remove their shoes!...she never had anyone ask her that before.
Golden Girl,
It is getting pretty common to be asked to remove your shoes now. Some of my friends have babies/toddlers and they are always crawling on the floor. Imagine what your shoes bring in and what these little ones are crawling in. I have never been offended by this when asked. I never ask people to remove their shoes when they come to my house though - I just remind them to wipe their feet on their way out!
xxR
did any of you hear any of the urban legends that jw's used to scare people into being deathly afraid of demons?
for example i remeber hearing that a child brough a smurf doll to a meeting and upon hearing the name jehovah uttered it got up and walked out.
got any j-dub urban legends?
These stories are hilarious - I haven't laughed so much in ages.
xxR
did any of you hear any of the urban legends that jw's used to scare people into being deathly afraid of demons?
for example i remeber hearing that a child brough a smurf doll to a meeting and upon hearing the name jehovah uttered it got up and walked out.
got any j-dub urban legends?
I've heard this one repeated a few times:
A sister on field ministry knocks on a door and a man comes to the door with his hands covered in blood. The sister is taken aback but carries on with their presentation (????). The man doesn't want a magazine and slams the door. The sister is worried and reports what she saw to the police. The police break the door down and find that the man has stabbed his wife to death. When the police ask the man why he didn't do something to the JW sister as she had seen what he'd done, he said "I would have killed her if she'd been alone, but there was this big, burly guy standing behind her watching me" Apparently, this was an angel looking after her on field service.
The people that told me this really believed it.
xxR
back off will ya?!!
or at least try picking on someone else for a change...i actually happen to agree w/wednesday about people who serve being at least be able to communicate with you as the customer...i don't speak laotian, chineese, vietnameee, any african language, and just enough spanich to get me in trouble or slapped eheh... yesterday i went in to get a postal stamp from 7-11...well the poor soul (he looked vietnameese probably just started and he couldn't get was i was asking for whatsoever...i asked about three times then just smiled and walked out...i went accross the street where the guy from lebbanon knew exactly what i wanted and gladly sold me stamps...i actually like going there better cuz its his store and not another corporate tool...(i want to be my own corporate tool) eheheheh.
i deal with it every day and lemme telll you sumpin...people who want to learn english and thrive here will, those that don't will keep serving you at thankless jobs all over the country...almost all of my foreign students gladly take esl classes (notice: english as a second language) that's right...they learn the other language to make their learning experience easier, which includes interacting and being a part of our culture, and existence in our country better...not only does it make their lives better/easier, but it makes my job and existence easier.
In my local paper this week, approx 30% of the jobs advertised required you to be able to speak an Asian language. I thought I was qualified for some of them, but I can't speak Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi, Gujerati (sp?) etc etc. Many, many jobs in schools, social services, youth services, job centres, other civil service posts etc require you to be able to speak one of these languages or you just don't get a look in.
I wouldn't mind learning another language if I was going to work in a foreign country, but I live in London????
It's a funny world.
xxR
wow.. a serious post from animal... who woulda thought..... anyhow, we discussed something last weekend that needs more discussion.
it involves people born into the jw cult versus those that made an adult decision to join it.. my thoughts were:.
anyone not born into the cult have no idea of the mental anguish involved in being brainwashed, from birth, with all the cultisms.
I think you are being very hard on those of us that joined as adults.
Where was the information 15, 20, 30 or so years ago? I'll tell you what outside info I had - diddly! I couldn't have known half of what I know now when I first became a JW.
Do you REALLY think I was told about DAing, DFing, shunning policies, the elite (elders, MS, Pioneers, Bethelites etc) and the untouchables (ME!!!) , the down-treatment of women etc etc?????? Do you think the sister I studied with told me all the bad things? Of course not. I was told that this was the one true religion, they had the answers to everything, I could see the world in beautiful conditions one day, I would see my dead loved ones again. I was vulnerable and sick at the time. I was even sicker when I became a fully-fledged JW. Some of us have lived through nightmares. JWs don't have the monopoly on shitty lives, you know. My life was crap as a child and didn't get much better as I got older. Other people and religions have their problems too - JWs are NOT the ONLY people on this earth involved in creepy, cultish practices.
Some of us were stupid enough to go from the frying pan into the fire. I was one of them. Please don't crucify me for it - I have enough remorse to last me a lifetime.
xxR
for decades the watchtower corruption and lying corporation (hereinafter
referred to as "the cult(tm)" has successfully prevailed in court over their destruction of lives and families due to their disgusting and perverted disfellowshipping policies.
what they've done in effect is to argue that their first amendment rights must prevail, so they can then turn around and use that right to deprive all of their members of that very same right and liberty that comes with that right.
What I find so awful about this whole case is the way it makes me feel like a slug that crawled out from under a stone.
When I was first baptised, I thought those who were DF'd or DA'd were demonised in some way. I was so completely brainwashed it really makes me sick to the stomach. How could I have ignored them?
Eventually I came to my senses and could not go on ignoring people who had done me no harm and who were probably better people than I was. I started talking to the DF'd ones who were relegated to the back of the hall. I was hauled into the back room on numerous occasions for "acting inappropriately" and for "being presumptuous" because I always chatted with DF'd ones. One poor lady had been through hell and back and was only DF'd because the elders in her own cong were biased, uncaring and unchristian. I was told that my behaviour was holding my husband back from 'reaching out'.
Now I hardly ever go. They have treated so many people so badly, including my own family and friends. I am thoroughly ashamed of myself for ever thinking I had the right to shun another decent human being. I hope the ones I shunned can forgive me - I can't.
This whole organisation stinks to high heaven and I am sorry I was ever a part of it.
xxR
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now that you don't practise any kind of religion anymore, do you feel a certain emptyness as far as your spirituality is concerned?.
have we become like animals, without any spirituality?.
I feel empty too.
I used to be worried in case I was making a big mistake in leaving the organisation. Now I feel empty because I don't know what to believe anymore. I thought I had all the answers - eg. why we are here, why there is so much suffering, what happens when we die, what our future holds etc etc. Now I don't know anything anymore - I even doubt the Bible which I never did before. I've been thinking about looking into other religions but I don't have the energy for all that - being a JW sapped all my energy.
xxR
as a jw, i was always on the outside, looking in.
i never belonged and boy, did they make sure i knew it!!!.
all my life i have been an outsider.
The people on this board could really show the powers-that-be at the WTBS a thing or two about real love.
You are all so kind to share your stories which makes me feel less of an oddity - bless you all.
I wish I had known there was a way out years ago. I am so privileged to be part of something so special.
xxR
as a jw, i was always on the outside, looking in.
i never belonged and boy, did they make sure i knew it!!!.
all my life i have been an outsider.
Thanks for all your replies.
It's funny, but as someone mentioned, you try so hard as a JW not to get involved with family or work associates that are not JWs. All I ever seemed to do was 'watch my association'. I got so good at putting up a guard that now it is hard to bring it down. Maybe I'm just different and will never really fit in with most people. I know my life as a JW caused me to have some pretty warped beliefs. I was always like two people - half of me wanted to be a JW and 'fit in', the other half hated it and didn't believe a word. The cruelty I experienced wasn't loving or christian and some bros and sis used to go out of their way to make me feel like an outsider. I know I will feel better as time goes by.
Thank you all for caring.
xxR
as a jw, i was always on the outside, looking in.
i never belonged and boy, did they make sure i knew it!!!.
all my life i have been an outsider.
It is so easy when you are a strong person - I have never been strong and I always feel as if I will be at the bottom of the pile.
Thank you all for making me feel better
xxRoz
