The Epic List of Things JWs aren't supposed to do

[Exjw2015deed]

Finally, the Jay Dub mystery explained.... we lived in LA in a very... interesting.... neighborhood... and the Jay Dubs were on our street EVERY WEEK. Our car was stolen off the driveway, twice, and we frequently heard gunshots. Jay Dubs musta thought we were one of of the uneducated lower class that needed saving... LOL, we just lived there... educated and not lower class. Now I know why they frequented us :) Thank you.

Lol, I think it's a fucked up strategy but it surprisingly actually worked. They usually converted easier single young mothers. In their bibles they actually have a paper which track the visits, almost like a CRM. People would feel so special that the pioneer remembered small details and felt they personally cared. They then invite them to a meeting and basically force the kool-aid down and have them hooked.

When I was about 5 they use to bring me and have me ring the doorbell and give the watchtower to people. No one would slam the door and turn away a watchtower to a little girl.

[DaisyD]

I do. All the time. I'm a bitch though. Using children that way passes me off. They might hear "Not interested" as the door closes, over my barking pitbull.

[Fascinated]

Lol, I think it's a fucked up strategy but it surprisingly actually worked. They usually converted easier single young mothers. In their bibles they actually have a paper which track the visits, almost like a CRM. People would feel so special that the pioneer remembered small details and felt they personally cared. They then invite them to a meeting and basically force the kool-aid down and have them hooked.

When I was about 5 they use to bring me and have me ring the doorbell and give the watchtower to people. No one would slam the door and turn away a watchtower to a little girl.

This information is fascinating. I've always wondered if any people are actually converted at their front door, if you will. I can't imagine engaging in a discussion at all, let alone inviting watchtower-wielding strangers into my home to try to convert me. I'm afraid I get really pissed off about it. (I don't go door to door attempting to teach others my godless truths, and I really, really hate this part of organized religion.) I'm amazed that it does sometimes work.

[Exjw2015deed]

This information is fascinating. I've always wondered if any people are actually converted at their front door, if you will. I can't imagine engaging in a discussion at all, let alone inviting watchtower-wielding strangers into my home to try to convert me. I'm afraid I get really pissed off about it. (I don't go door to door attempting to teach others my godless truths, and I really, really hate this part of organized religion.) I'm amazed that it does sometimes work.

It takes months sometimes years to convert someone. They start with "studying", weekly or monthly meetings in an one on one setting. There it's personalized and they give you a publication to read and you study the bible together. It's basically like courting before you commit. Then they invite you usually to a meeting or two then assembly. It's seriously like selling fucking Mary Kay the way they do it. The more converts you have the better. That is one of the main goals of jdubs is to "spread the good news" it's like one of the main requirements.

Just be thankful that they're knocking on your door instead of running for congress like fundies. Jdubs are not allowed to vote or be involved in any politics. That's the only reason why they are a little bit better than fundies. They are not protesting outside planned parenthood or refusing to sign marriage licenses.

[Hane]

This may have been mentioned upthread, but I've always found it fascinating that neither JWs nor Mormons believe in hell. The JWs have a heaven and a terrestrial paradise; Mormons have three levels of heaven (Telestial, Terrestrial, and Celestial Kingdoms--and an Outer Darkness to which only the worst possible people are condemned). I was a little disappointed at the inaccurate way "Mormon Hell" was depicted in "The Book of Mormon" musical, when so many other mentions of LDS beliefs were spot on.

[Fascinated]

It takes months sometimes years to convert someone. They start with "studying", weekly or monthly meetings in an one on one setting. There it's personalized and they give you a publication to read and you study the bible together. It's basically like courting before you commit. Then they invite you usually to a meeting or two then assembly. It's seriously like selling fucking Mary Kay the way they do it. The more converts you have the better. That is one of the main goals of jdubs is to "spread the good news" it's like one of the main requirements.

Just be thankful that they're knocking on your door instead of running for congress like fundies. Jdubs are not allowed to vote or be involved in any politics. That's the only reason why they are a little bit better than fundies. They are not protesting outside planned parenthood or refusing to sign marriage licenses.

Yes, that's very true and I most certainly am thankful for that! Thanks for all of your insights - it really is so interesting! (I am still surprised that anyone goes through this conversion process, though. I would expect people to seek out the religion or belief system that suits them best, rather than awaiting, or allowing, others to show them the way.)

[2xx1xy1JD]

This information is fascinating. I've always wondered if any people are actually converted at their front door, if you will. I can't imagine engaging in a discussion at all, let alone inviting watchtower-wielding strangers into my home to try to convert me. I'm afraid I get really pissed off about it. (I don't go door to door attempting to teach others my godless truths, and I really, really hate this part of organized religion.) I'm amazed that it does sometimes work.

I had some cases where someone would be struggling (mental health issues, failed marriage, etc.) and the JW was sometimes the only person that would come by and listen to them.

[LadyBlue]

One of my (male) best friends in high school married a JW and converted. I don't talk to him much anymore, but I'm FB friends with both of them. Most of my interaction is actually with her. She's a very lovely person and has never tried to proselytize at me despite growing up JW. Most of the time, her posts just read as sweet, maybe slightly dim, and deeply in love with her husband and kids.

Every so often, though, she posts about their services, which is a bit odd for me. The thing she posted once though that made me want to reach through the screen and throttle her, though, was the day she posted about how her oldest daughter preached at said daughter's teacher and how proud she was of her daughter. Just mind-boggling.

Oh, the other thing I wanted to mention is the JWs might have something to that whole "soul is in the blood" thing. I'm sure at least some of you have heard that transplant patients regularly develop new cravings or despise foods they once loved after transplant. Well, apparently the same thing happens to blood recipients, or at least some of them.

My husband nearly died just over 5 years ago and had a bunch of units of both whole blood and various other blood products (I think at the time we figured it was somewhere above 30 units of various types of blood products). Ever since then, he craves cola like crazy and he started liking salt & vinegar chips, which he used to despise. It's really bizarre.

[DaisyD]

My husband nearly died just over 5 years ago and had a bunch of units of both whole blood and various other blood products (I think at the time we figured it was somewhere above 30 units of various types of blood products). Ever since then, he craves cola like crazy and he started liking salt & vinegar chips, which he used to despise. It's really bizarre.

That would be interesting. Pregnant women sometimes crave things they wouldn't otherwise like. It's usually attributed to a need for a certain nutrient. I will say though that while I've never had a problem with oj, when I was pregnant it made my throw up, and my son always seemed to struggle with it as well. He loves it, but sometimes it comes back on him even today. When he was little it was nearly every time.

[2xx1xy1JD]

JW life is especially hard on kids in school. What the friend did was commendable. But the young JW was not exercising his freedom of speech. It is taught via the magazines and meetings not to say the pledge. And some JWs would not have approved of the girl writing the nice notes because it would be too close for comfort to write those notes on a holiday. Heaven forbid if someone thought she was celebrating a holiday! I had a neighbor I was friends with, who was a JW. Our daughters played together. I drove by her house during Christmas season and the windows were lit up. I did a double take… I asked her about it, and she said it was just a winter scene, not Christmas decorations. Another JW friend had a big turkey dinner on Thanksgiving, but it was called a gathering, not a Thanksgiving dinner. She said turkeys were cheap then and people were off work, so why not invite them over for dinner? Interesting. I imagine going against all social conventions was hard sometimes, especially if you had children.

Thanks to an intense belief system and being a minority religion that sometimes goes against the mainstream, JWs have been involved in some of the leading cases on freedom of speech, freedom of religion, abuse of government power, and consent to treatment. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_C ... by_country.

[Peas n carrots]

Prince is the only JW I'd let into my house.

Rumor is he does witnessing with a limo and 4 body guards.

I wonder if he still performs Pussy Control lol?

[Emme]

We used to get JWs sometimes in our neighborhood. My dad got a larger and conspicuous mezuzah for our front door, put a menorah in a very visible front window, and that got them to stop coming to our house.

That stops the JWs, but not the Mormons in my experience.

[MrsAndiAwesome]

That would be interesting. Pregnant women sometimes crave things they wouldn't otherwise like. It's usually attributed to a need for a certain nutrient. I will say though that while I've never had a problem with oj, when I was pregnant it made my throw up, and my son always seemed to struggle with it as well. He loves it, but sometimes it comes back on him even today. When he was little it was nearly every time.

When I was pregnant with my second child, I craved sugar and sweet stuff like I would die without it. Which was hilariously unlike me. I have no sweet tooth and I am one of those people that can only eat cake if I scrape the icing off first. After I had him, my tastes went back to normal but he is a complete sugar hound. He would put sugar on sugar.

With my last, I craved spicy food. My daughter is 3 and her favorite food is spicy chili. Her second favorite is spicy cheese dip. If her nose isn't running, it's not spicy enough for her. Lol. I always found that kind of entertaining.

[melon]

My brother became a JW about 13 years ago.They came door to door..that's how he got into it.He met his current wife at the Kingdom Hall.They get along great.My Dad even called her "Sweetheart" a name reserved for me,his only daughter,and also my niece,his only granddaughter.He never called my other SIL's any thing but their name.

They have never really tried to convert us.

Almost 4 years ago,my husband and my youngest son,26,were in a terrible car accident.Another driver,clipped my husband's vehicle,causing him to lose control..he spun and then flipped 4 or 5 times.They were not wearing seat belts and my son was ejected from the vehicle and he sustained a devastating closed head injury.Because of these injuries,we chose to remove my son from his ventilator(they were having to give him more and more oxygen.)and let him go.His situation was hopeless.I knew he didn't want to live that way.

Anyway,my brother,the JW, and his wife came and visited us.They left our house one night to go to a meeting and called and asked if we wanted to join them at the Kingdom Hall.

I had a Bible Study years ago,but they stopped it because I wasnt making progress.They were talking about me going out door to door.As a lifelong introvert, I can't imagine anything worse.

As far as my pregnancy cravings went:

My oldest son,I loved anything salty,spicy,ice cream and I couldn't get enough gravy.I didn't do it but I once thought about having ice cream and gravy.I don't think it would have been very good.My son loves all of these except for spicy.My other son says Greg would put gravy on anything and salt.

My next son,I loved peanut butter.He loves peanut butter.I couldnt get enough grits,and he loves grits,like me.

My youngest son,I craved Slim JIms(I do not like them now),pickles,and marshmallow pies.He liked all of those.

[Coldwinterskies]

My ex is a JW (he didn't become one until a few years after we split) and he takes our son to the hall which didn't bother me until I found out that he was telling our son to basically try and covert the other kids in his class at lunchtime (he was 8/9 at the time and the other kids were practicing Catholics) and my son made a comment to me about JWs hate Catholics.

At that point I had a conversation with my son about different religions being different paths to God and you had to accept and respect a persons path even if you didn't agree. Also, he was too young to choose to be a JW and had to wait until he was at least 18 to make the decision.

I also had a conversation with his dad about the comment that our son made and his response was that that sentiment is not what's taught at the hall. I did point out to him that our kid had to have heard that from someone at the hall even if that wasn't the official stance and if hate is what our son was being taught then my ex couldn't take our son to the hall. Oh boy did that get reaction.

My ex has really put me through it with this religion :pull-hair: :pull-hair: :pull-hair:

I am so sorry to hear that you are stuck raising a child with a JW. I definitely think you should hold firm on insisting that your son SHOULD NOT be baptized as a JW until, at the earliest, 18. If your son is baptized, then he will have to face the horrible choice of being shunned by his dad and any other JW family/friends if he decides to leave the religion later, so a lot of times JWs will try to get young people (sometimes even children) to get baptized as soon as possible. Obviously, once you're faced with losing your family if you leave, it is a lot harder for most people to leave.

Another thing I hope you are aware of in regards to your ex is that JWs do sometimes lie to non-JWs to make the religion sound less crazy than it is. They feel this is justified if it helps to protect the organization's reputation and avoid making Jehovah look bad. They consider it "Theocratic Warfare" (explained here: http://freeminds.org/psych/whylie.htm )

[Coldwinterskies]

For the real truth about the Watchtower org, read "Crisis of Conscience" by Raymond Franz. He served on the Governing Body, one of the men who set policy and directed members lives. His book is an eye opener. He thought that given the impact on peoples lives, decisions would be made prayerfully after much consultation with the bible. Not so. Meetings of the governing body were much like those of any corporate board, with Watchtower publications being used for reference, not the bible. After fifty years of faithful service he was disfellowshipped because his conscience would not let him continue to see the members hurt by the governing body's lack of consistency and compassion. Excellent book for those interested in the inner workings of the Watchtower organization.

Yes, good suggestion. I know a lot of ex-JWs who left because Crisis of Conscience helped them see that the governing body is no different than any other corporate board.

I HOPE that some other JWs are starting to wake up now that the governing body is becoming more visible with their monthly televangelist broadcasts. None of the current gov bod members come across as particularly intelligent in those broadcasts to me.

[Coldwinterskies]

Not any more, but wind chimes did used to be associated with New Age stuff...I feel like they may have some kind of animist background? For some reason I associate wind chimes with Asian animism but I'm probably wrong!

Coldwinterskies, thank you! Super interesting. What were the differences between the pre-Rutherford and post-Rutherford JWs? I'm fascinated by the various Millerite groups - over here they are mostly of Caribbean origin especially JWs and SDAs, though not so much Christian Scientists (not that you see many of those nowadays) and Christadelphians. Love studying small sects.

One big change is that Charles Taze Rusell was very into pyramidology (many JWs don't even know that his grave has a huge freaking pyramid on it, because nowadays of course pyramidology would not be considered kosher in JW belief) and he thought that the measurements of the pyramid of Giza could be used to deduce a prophesy about when the end times had begun.

Originally, Russell thought that the "last days" had started in 1799, that Jesus began to rule invisibly over the earth in 1874, and that the world would end in 1914.

By the time Rutherford took over, it was clear that the original dates would not hold up so he is the one who shifted the organization to its current belief that the "last days" started in 1914. They still teach that the end of the world is imminent (but they have mostly stopped making concrete predictions of exactly when it will end since being proven wrong several different times).

Most of the organization's modern identity comes from Rutherford - things like not celebrating holidays and aggressively preaching.

Russell was a Zionist, but Rutherford was quite anti-Semitic and anti-Catholic. There are also allegations that he had a major alcohol problem.

If you're interested, there are more details here:

http://freeminds.org/history/rutherfd.htm

and the Wiki page about Rutherford goes into a lot of info too:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Fr ... Rutherford

[Coldwinterskies]

Almost 4 years ago,my husband and my youngest son,26,were in a terrible car accident.Another driver,clipped my husband's vehicle,causing him to lose control..he spun and then flipped 4 or 5 times.They were not wearing seat belts and my son was ejected from the vehicle and he sustained a devastating closed head injury.Because of these injuries,we chose to remove my son from his ventilator(they were having to give him more and more oxygen.)and let him go.His situation was hopeless.I knew he didn't want to live that way.

Anyway,my brother,the JW, and his wife came and visited us.They left our house one night to go to a meeting and called and asked if we wanted to join them at the Kingdom Hall.

I had a Bible Study years ago,but they stopped it because I wasnt making progress.They were talking about me going out door to door.As a lifelong introvert, I can't imagine anything worse..

I am so sorry to hear that you experienced such a horrible tragedy in your family. It is not at all uncommon for people to get involved in the JW religion in the aftermath of a terrible loss, since JWs often feel that grieving people need to hear their preaching as a form of "comfort" and "hope". I even recently saw a news article where a family was quite upset that a JW mailed some preaching material to them after seeing the family's obituary for their daughter, and I have heard of other people being approached by JWs in graveyards.

Anyway, I am glad that you ended up deciding it wasn't for you before things got to the point of being baptized since if you ever left after getting baptized you would have faced getting shunned by your brother. I hope he is still staying in touch with you now and being supportive of you.

[justoneoftwo]

That stops the JWs, but not the Mormons in my experience.

Mormons have weird issues relating to jews, its interesting and I've never quite understood it.

[kb2]

It surprises me how pervasive the JW religion is. There is a pretty big population here, but I kind of live in the boonies, so I always figured it was an "around here" thing, like all the Pentecostals. But then when I travel I see JWs evangelizing in big cities. And so many people here know or previously were JW. It seems like the blood thing would limit most people from joining, but I guess most people don't really expect that there's a high risk of bleeding to death in any sort of near future.

[Vex]

I always thought the guys going door to door in suits here were mormons, but now I think they're probably JWs, because lately they've been assaulting a local shopping center with a massive rack of pamphlets on a daily basis so there has to be a Kingdom Hall nearby. They do it right across from the baptist church, so maybe there will be an interfaith free-for-all one day.

I really wanted to take some of the pamphlets but I refrained because I wasn't sure if the ladies sitting nearby were collecting for charity or were from JW and were going to pounce on me the second I showed interest. Considering there were two ladies and they always do things in same sex pairs they were probably there to go for the hard sell if people took pamphlets.