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As I recall they would say okay and end it there. But you would probably get a visit from some Elders a few weekends later if the person cared enough to tell them. Shortly after I stopped going I was approached by a kid at a gas station to give his presentation of the Watchtower. I stopped him with a smile and said I was already a witness, went to a congregation further down the highway, etc. We smiled and parted ways and I laughed as I drove away, suddenly remembering I had a fully grown, thick beard and how confused he was. Also, there sure seems to be a lot of former witnesses on the forums. I know this isn't the first time I've seen them pop up in threads and it's not all the same posters (unless their names have changed). 
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Mar 23, 2015 21:16
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Boiled Water posted:Are JWs not allowed to have beards? Nope. No one I ever talked to in three congregations could come up with supporting scripture. Usually it was just associated with cleanliness - the same reason you should be dressed in Sunday best at the Kingdom Halls. Best I can figure this was adopted around the time long hair and beardiness was commonly associated with hippies and drug use. One of the last elder visits I had he pulled a scripture out of his rear end though. Never heard or read it before in all the years I was active. But then that's all they need to start Bible-hopping and put a string of scriptures together to support some nonsense.
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Mar 24, 2015 12:09
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Jacobeus posted:and have basically been areligious since then I remember hearing it touted that JW's who are disfellowshipped or leave very rarely get involved with other religions. It was very proudly held as an example of JW's being the true religion. Though it seems to me that when the corruption and failings of other religions are made so apparent, and once the illusion of JW's being the exception crumbles, there isn't really any alternative left.
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Apr 3, 2015 19:09
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Dr.Caligari posted:Does this really happen with any religion though? I've known people who switch which 'flavor' of Christian they are, but I can't think of many (who really believed it to begin with) who said "this whole thing is BS. Welp, I'm off to find another organized religion" Good point, if they weren't all in to begin with, they aren't likely to buy into any of them. But I think their view of it is - JWs have plenty of incoming converts, but there are no/very few outgoing converts.
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Apr 3, 2015 21:46
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Jack Gladney posted:I know they're too far gone to really care about the truth, but they can't possibly believe that the JWs are growing, can they? Even Methodists and Presbyterians are having trouble keeping the lights on. Every year there is a ... census I guess?, in the Kingdom Ministry that shows all the stats from everyone's field service reports. It has a breakdown of each country and how many studies were done and number of publishers (iirc) among other data. The numbers were definitely climbing in the 90s and 00s.
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Apr 3, 2015 22:32
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DontMockMySmock posted:Sorry if that seemed too hostile, but someone specifically calling all of that "truth" and "logic" (as you did) gets me a little het up. On that note, I've been wondering how long this thread will remain civil. I've seen JW A/T threads come up a few times in the past and people's curiosity eventually pulls a JW in, especially since the people giving answers are former members and tend to have a negative perspective. But the thread always takes a turn when the curiosity becomes "Defend your religion!", which puts them in preach mode, which puts goons in attack mode. And witnesses are certainly not trained to preach to a contentious mob, so shouting one down isn't exactly an accomplishment. Back on topic - Darth, how many congregations have you been to, and how long did you attend? How would you characterize the one you attend now? For example, I went to 3 and visited plenty others when my dad was an elder, and they all had different vibes. The first was friendly, people at the second focused a lot on status (that was the first time I was referred to as "an elder's son", like I was some kind of prince or something), and the last one had a significant wealth divide which played into who went where when that congregation was split. Oh and the Spanish congregations - I've never been, but they are/were notorious for being the strictest of them all. As in, if you have a little stubble or an elder thinks your hair isn't short enough, then you are sent to the back room in shame with the disfellowshipped, the late-comers, and the wailing children. By comparison, the kinder congregations would look past that and just be happy you were able to make it to the meeting that night. Drighton fucked around with this message at 05:59 on Apr 4, 2015 |
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Apr 4, 2015 05:57
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Chas McGill posted:Do JWs have much of a laugh at meetings? Any JW jokes? A friend once showed me a video of Superman becoming a JW, flying around the world converting people, including what was obviously supposed to be a terrorist, complete with that "dirka dirka" bullshit. If that counts as a JW joke. Most of the laughs at meetings were because of a child being adorable or verbal slip-ups. My dad once misquoted a scripture as "a little lovin' (leaven) spoils the loaf" or whatever it is, and that got a chuckle from the audience.
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Apr 7, 2015 16:12
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Phaeoacremonium posted:A couple of years ago, my friends a few blocks up the road got a four-page handwritten rambling account by a JW in their mailbox. I received the same thing a few months later. It must have been some kind of attempt to witness to the unbeliever without having to do the house to house thing. It must have taken ages to write out every individual letter and was more than a little odd. Has anyone else ever heard of this, or is it something unique to the very tiny JW minority in a country where it may be dangerous to go house to house, especially on one's own? Letter writing and cold calling are another form of the ministry and typically done in circumstances where it is unsafe, impractical, or just impossible to reach someone. JWs are told to get creative in where and how they preach, especially "informal witnessing" (I think this was mentioned earlier), which is using any opportunity to preach like segueing a conversation at work or chit-chat at the gas pump into Bible talk. Kids are encouraged to think of their school as their own personal territory. When they started doing campaigns with invitations that are essentially flyers, the goal being to place as many as possible and just get it in their hands, we were told to skip the usual presentation. Having already been phoning it in for years, I had my aha moment and started doing that with the regular work and my placement numbers shot up. The entire time though I'd hear Mitch Hedberg's voice: "Here. You throw this away." Drighton fucked around with this message at 14:46 on Apr 16, 2015 |
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Apr 16, 2015 14:41
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