One time when I visited a large Kingdom Hall as a stranger with no advanced notice because I was far from home. I entered in street clothes and changed into my suit in the bathroom. I was used to a small Kingdom Hall with just two bathrooms one for men and one for women. This one had a large public style restroom. While I was changing, Four big gentlemen came in and grilled me with 20 questions about who I was and what I was doing there before I suppose they gathered I was not a threat and let me be. Needless to say after that I didn't feel very comfortable. A few people approached me as if I were some sort of novelty but it was a very different experience I could not believe the sheer number of people, there must have been 120 or so people in the congregation. The congregation I regularly attended at the time rarely exceeded 30 and I had never visited one that had exceeded 60 before. Maybe it was just a country boy in the big city syndrome that made me feel uncomfortable and had nothing to do with being a Witness. It was just one bad experience. I had visited half a dozen other congregations and the experience's were although in some cases shocking not like that. Of course in each of these cases I was at least familiar with most of the faces even though I did not really know them.
Gwydion
JoinedPosts by Gwydion
-
22
In your experience, do JW's show hospitality?
by Gopher inand i don't just mean "formal" hospitality that is scheduled on the announcement board for visiting speakers and travelling overseers.. i mean real, from the heart, love of strangers (xenophilia in greek).
xenophobia (fear of strangers) is the antithesis of hospitality.. when you visited other halls where nobody knew you (and you weren't the guest speaker or the travelling overseer), did people go out of their way to make you feel welcome?
or did they mutter to themselves, "i wonder who the stranger is?
-
-
-
48
The Feminization of Boys..is it acceptable?
by Brummie innothing to do with jws but i thought it interesting anyway: .
the feminization of boysafter viewing 20/20's piece entitled, "a gender straitjacket", i have come to the conclusion that the mass leftist media needs a "sensitivity muzzle" when it comes to the feminization of the male gender.
a 15 minutes segment, filled with a quack named william pollack, telling me that 2 year old boys who paint their nails and play with barbie dolls is a normal thing, was more than my paunch could handle.
-
-
Gwydion
Having read the article I can see where you are coming from though. They were giving extreme examples. By going to the extreme they were making the issue larger than it is in every day life.
-
48
The Feminization of Boys..is it acceptable?
by Brummie innothing to do with jws but i thought it interesting anyway: .
the feminization of boysafter viewing 20/20's piece entitled, "a gender straitjacket", i have come to the conclusion that the mass leftist media needs a "sensitivity muzzle" when it comes to the feminization of the male gender.
a 15 minutes segment, filled with a quack named william pollack, telling me that 2 year old boys who paint their nails and play with barbie dolls is a normal thing, was more than my paunch could handle.
-
-
Gwydion
I do not think that the "Feminization" of boys as it is called is a cause for alarm. The gap between genders has never been closer. Things 100% socially unacceptable 20 years ago are common place now. It is as much the girls acting more like the boys as it is the boys like the girls. We just notice the feminine traits in the boys greater than the masculine traits in girls because it has been so socially unacceptable when we were children. When I was in school the boys ate lunch on one side of the lunch room and the girls on the other. There was no fratranizing with the "enemy" lest you get coodies. 20 years later at my daughters school the boys and girls sit next to each other as friends and compatriots. My daughter has schoool friends of both genders as does my nephew at his school. When I was in school it was not uncommon for two boys to kick the sand at each other and get into a playground fist fight. This was followed by a trip to the principals office and detention. In the schools of today a playground fist fight will result in a lengthy suspension and a law suit. The world has changed and our children are growing up in an environment foreign to us. In the end I think that genetics and nature will take it's course most boys will grow up to be men and most girls will grow up to be women and the same small percentage that falls somewhere inbetween won't be any different than it was 20 years ago it's just that in the world of our children it will be more socially acceptable that it is in ours.
-
38
Do you still believe in the debil?
by Brummie inwould you say the debil is a spirit creature (fallen) or do you think its just a descriptive word for the depravity of man?.
if you dont believe in the debil then you must still believe that humans have inherited sin ...right?
what other explanation is there?.
-
-
Gwydion
no a bunny exists in the non easter sense the Debil is more like a gargoyle or some mythic creature that there is no real counterpart for at all.
-
23
Are you older than dirt?
by Lady Lee insomebody sent me this email.
i thought the older ones would enjoy the memories, and the younger might enjoy hearing about the strange and simple times of their elders.
graylen.
-
-
Gwydion
Whew I remember 5 I am still young just by a hair.
-
40
Will The Pope Just Die Already!
by xjw_b12 inin the newspaper today there was an article on pope john paul's visit to crotia.
this is his 100th pilramage, in his 83rd year.
in 2 weeks he is scheduled to go to bosnia, where i doubt he'll get as warm as a reception as he did in croatia.
-
-
Gwydion
It is true that I am not an authority on popes or the Catholic religion. Of course no two people will be the same and some people have more personality than others and I believe the same can be said of popes. It absolutely doesn't matter to me who is pope just as it matters not to me who is on the JW governing body. or any other religious/cultish organizations for that matter. They are all equals in the eyes of this human being.
-
40
Will The Pope Just Die Already!
by xjw_b12 inin the newspaper today there was an article on pope john paul's visit to crotia.
this is his 100th pilramage, in his 83rd year.
in 2 weeks he is scheduled to go to bosnia, where i doubt he'll get as warm as a reception as he did in croatia.
-
-
Gwydion
It doesn't matter if he is alive or dead. If he dies they just choose another pope clone just as they have done for the past thousand and some years.
-
8
ELASTICA
by RAYZORBLADE inleave it to me to be clearing out my old cd collection.
lo and behold, i find a cd from 1994: elastica's cd (uk).. man, i don't know what the hell they're up to, but man i loved this chick-lead band.. of course, their hit: connection .
....still makes my nipples hard when i hear it.
-
-
Gwydion
The Beatles are timeless.....so I won't go down that avenue. A band that strikes me Violent Femmes. Alternative before Hootie made it Mainstream. The Clash who can argue with that one? and the Dead Milk Men. This list could get very very long indeed if you let me keep going.
-
34
How many children is too many today?
by JH inyears ago, families were huge.
it wasn't rare to see families of 9 or 10 children.
today things are so different.
-
-
Gwydion
I think that for everybody the number is different. I have four myself and think that five would be over the top. Two kids one for each hand is managable. Three is challenging, four is even more so. I am the eldest of five myself. You never really know until your there and you make do with your situation. What's good for one is not good for all. The most important thing is knowing what is good for you, because once a child enters your life there's no turning back. It's one of those lifetime kind of things.
-
48
Ex-JW Meet-Up: How Did Yours Go ?
by RAYZORBLADE injust curious.
for those of you who made it out to the yesterdays ex-jw meet-up: how was it?.
tell us, only if you want to, what city you are from, and your impressions of the meet-up.. the toronto meet-up went off fine.
-
-
Gwydion
Herk,
Thanks for the bit of information regarding the meetups. I think that in time we may introduce "The Destroyers" , but for a first meeting I think it would be best if it were just my wife and I. Besides we never go anywhere without them so it will be nice to get away if just once.