John David and Abbie 6: Flying Off to the Honeymoon

[allthegoodnamesrgone]

I've only known one JW (a work acquaintance), she went on and on about coming to church with her and when I said something about her coming to ours (I didn't know anything about JW at the time) she was like "we don't do that"  and proceeded to tell me what they don't allow. I told her point blank that was the stupidest thing I'd ever heard and if she won't respect my religious beliefs why should I bother with hers? She was not amused and stomped off, she never talked to me again.  It was then I realized just how fucking crazy JW were.

[melon]

37 minutes ago, SassyPants said:

From my understanding, the volunteer time requirement for a JW is like that of a 1/2 time job

It is.My sister in law is what they call a Pioneer.My brother still works,on his days off they go out.

 

7 minutes ago, Knight of Ni said:

I haven’t read it yet but my mom recommended that I read Confessions of a Teenage Jesus Freak. It’s about a guy who grew up in a JW church. She mentioned that he was shunned when he started to ask questions. I need to put it on my to be read pile. 

I'll have to look for that book.

[FrozenSmile]

I dated a guy in college that was raised in a JW home. His parents were still practicing; he was not. They hounded him daily to come back to church. I went home for summer break & he decided to go all-in with the JWs. He never spoke to me again. Oh, except for the one time i saw him randomly at a park, about a year later, when he told me i was a filthy fornicator because i was dating his former friend. ? 

[QuiverFullofBooks]

Michael Jackson was a Jehovah’s Witness. There were a lot of reasons why he was so screwed up, but that was definitely one of them.

If I type a capital J, predictive text pops up Duggar names.

[Knight of Ni]

My great uncle died because he refused a surgery that may have needed a blood transfusion. He was a JW. An absolutely senseless death. 

[MoonFace]

On the JW's :  There was a British Comedy - Waiting for God (centered around living in a senior community)  - sorry to offend any practicing JW's - The lead character (and she was a character!) called them Jehovah WITLESSES.   Used to crack me up. 

[Cheetah]

l just watched the Leah Remini episode about the JWs last night - it was very interesting, also heartbreaking.  She's really doing some good shining a light on the darker corners of these groups.

[SapphireSlytherin]

19 minutes ago, MoonFace said:

Waiting for God

My dad watches that show and LOVES it. lol

 

(It's on PBS in many markets, for those interested...)

[KelseyAnn]

On 11/29/2018 at 12:27 PM, Rio said:

One of my co-workers (who is a truly wonderful young man anyone would be blessed to have for a son) reports that he has just been disowned by his family for leaving the Jehovah  Witness church. Is this a thing? Are they that insular? I have new neighbors who are in it and very nice but am afraid to ask them anything this personal.

 

My Dad's family turned Jehovah when he was 10, and when he married a Catholic they wouldn't speak to him for years. 

Granted, they were right about the character of my mother, but still. 

8 hours ago, Knight of Ni said:

My great uncle died because he refused a surgery that may have needed a blood transfusion. He was a JW. An absolutely senseless death. 

My paternal grandma died because she refused diabetes care on virtue of being a Jehovah. 

[JingerSnaps]

17 hours ago, kiwi said:

I just love that a religion that goes door knocking to recruit new members, doesnt celebrate or participate in Halloween... when regular people knock on doors

We have a JW family in our neighborhood. They knock on our door every single major holiday. They seem to especially love knocking around 11am when everyone is either cooking or getting ready to go to relatives houses. 

[allthegoodnamesrgone]

10 hours ago, QuiverFullofBooks said:

Michael Jackson was a Jehovah’s Witness. There were a lot of reasons why he was so screwed up, but that was definitely one of them.

If I type a capital J, predictive text pops up Duggar names.

Prince was one as well, he converted 2001 he was raised a Seventh Day Adventist. 

[Screamapillar]

There's a JW in our neighborhood who leaves tracts with fairly long, personalized letters in our mailbox a couple times a year. In handwriting that simultaneously reminds me of a serial killer and my dead great-grandmother.

I wish I'd taken a picture of the last one we got a few weeks ago and I would share some of it here. Lots of stuff about the government, nuclear war and end times. It was especially creepy because a lot of the lines began or ended with "Mrs. MyLastName." 

[Mama Mia]

Jehovah Witnesses seem to be the main variety of fundamentalist type religion in my area ( as far as I can tell ) . Our evangelical churches are much more mainstream than the JW’s. ( tons of unmarried couples who live together, have kids etc...and they don’t seem to care ) 

 There have been several JW in my extended family / in-laws. Extremely harsh people, at least the ones I’ve interacted with. Parents not letting children visit grandparents if they have a Christmas tree - with all sorts of nasty explanations about the evilness of the tree /holidays thrown in. I have a set of cousins whose mother became JW, she left my uncle and married another JW and made it VERY difficult for any of our family to see the kids - even though they lived in the same neighborhood.

There were always a few kids in every class in school that were JW. I guess at least it was good there were enough of them to not feel completely isolated during holiday celebrations - but it still must be very difficult. It always made me sad. 

[Tangy Bee]

12 hours ago, QuiverFullofBooks said:

Michael Jackson was a Jehovah’s Witness. There were a lot of reasons why he was so screwed up, but that was definitely one of them.

If I type a capital J, predictive text pops up Duggar 

After Michael became an adult he started celebrating holidays. His kids said they kept a tree up all year round. He had probably wanted to celebrate all the long while growing up.Too bad his dad made them do a Christmas album and he had to pretend like he actually knew about celebrating.

[fluffernutter]

My mom got me mixed up with JW's when I was 13. She thought I was headed down "the wrong path" so she asked me if I wanted to study with her friend's daughter who was my age once a week. I thought she meant like do our homework together. Uhh no. I put up with it for a good year or so- the family was a lot more "normal" than what was going on in my home, I enjoyed hanging out at their house. I would constantly challenge them though with questions. I knew I didn't agree with their beliefs, and when they started wanting me to go door to door I told them I was done. When I think back to it, I really wish my mom would've tried to actually parent me instead of just throwing me to them. 

[bal maiden]

Jehovah's Witnesses prey on vulnerable people as a matter of recruitment strategy, which I find disgusting. They regularly knock on your door, and are friendly and polite to win your trust, and then - oh no, your parent died? your husband left you? etc., suddenly they are there as a regular friendly visitor, sucking you in to their creepy doomsday cult. 

The level of control the Watchtower Society has over their members is astonishing. They keep detailed records of who goes door knocking and when, of who does which forbidden activity and when. Imagine a school report card, but about adults and their church attendance, evangelism, etc. You get a bad grade, by, you know, eating birthday cake, or not going to Kingdom Hall 4x per week, and you are shunned. Then there's the unregulated information that they collect on the general public when they go door to door, which is another issue entirely... They believe the world is evil, and that it is going to end soon. Everything the Watchtower Society says is absolute truth, and no, you may not ask questions.

 Creepy, creepy, organisation, who have somehow convinced the general public that they are just another Christian denomination, who doesn't like birthday cake. 

 

[FundieCentral]

We learned in school that they also really like your money. As in, you should be tithing, financing all of the churches “outreach” activities and sponsor a missionary group or two, to the tune of thousands and thousands a year. Not doing so gets you blacklisted and eventually shunned. That’s how they also keep a lot of control over members and who is and is not allowed to leave the church. If you can’t save up a runaway fund, there’s no way you can move away and leave. Especially as a stay-at-home wife looking to leave her husband. 

[MadeItOut]

17 hours ago, MoonFace said:

On the JW's :  There was a British Comedy - Waiting for God (centered around living in a senior community)  - sorry to offend any practicing JW's - The lead character (and she was a character!) called them Jehovah WITLESSES.   Used to crack me up. 

That was Stephanie Cole. A powerhouse comic actor. 

[CoveredInBees]

4 hours ago, MadeItOut said:

That was Stephanie Cole. A powerhouse comic actor. 

Proper national treasure she is... she's had some brilliant roles over the years. She was fantastic in Tenko. 

[just_ordinary]

7 hours ago, bal maiden said:

Jehovah's Witnesses prey on vulnerable people as a matter of recruitment strategy, which I find disgusting. They regularly knock on your door, and are friendly and polite to win your trust, and then - oh no, your parent died? your husband left you? etc., suddenly they are there as a regular friendly visitor, sucking you in to their creepy doomsday cult. 

The level of control the Watchtower Society has over their members is astonishing. They keep detailed records of who goes door knocking and when, of who does which forbidden activity and when. Imagine a school report card, but about adults and their church attendance, evangelism, etc. You get a bad grade, by, you know, eating birthday cake, or not going to Kingdom Hall 4x per week, and you are shunned. Then there's the unregulated information that they collect on the general public when they go door to door, which is another issue entirely... They believe the world is evil, and that it is going to end soon. Everything the Watchtower Society says is absolute truth, and no, you may not ask questions.

 Creepy, creepy, organisation, who have somehow convinced the general public that they are just another Christian denomination, who doesn't like birthday cake. 

 

I agree, except for your last paragraph. I don’t know where you live but in my country they are (rightly) classified as a cult and the two Christian churches (Protestant + Catholic) are not recognising them as a Christian church. 

The general public was quite aware of their practices but they seemed to have slowed down. I haven’t had them at my door for years. I wonder if this leads to people forgetting about them and forgetting how harmful they can be. There was a good film (I think based on a true story) about one parent leaving JW and was forbidden contact with the children. He or she fought for years. Sadly I don’t recall how it ended or the title of the film.

[EyesOpen]

Has anyone here heard of Tripp Halstead? He was a little boy who had a terrible accident. He died this year. I follow his mom on facebook. She used to write every day about Tripp and now she’s writing about how she’s doing, grieving etc and they still do a lot of fundraising for other kids... they’re whole family is JW. I stay away from door knockers, etc... didn’t know much about them but it’s interesting to read what she writes about what she does with JW... they seem to like it and not think it’s a cult, but it is... 

[Jana814]

13 minutes ago, EyesOpen said:

Has anyone here heard of Tripp Halstead? He was a little boy who had a terrible accident. He died this year. I follow his mom on facebook. She used to write every day about Tripp and now she’s writing about how she’s doing, grieving etc and they still do a lot of fundraising for other kids... they’re whole family is JW. I stay away from door knockers, etc... didn’t know much about them but it’s interesting to read what she writes about what she does with JW... they seem to like it and not think it’s a cult, but it is... 

I know of that child your are talking about. I didn’t realize that the family is JW. 

[JDuggs]

I was wondering if anyone would mention Tripp. I follow him mom too and she very much “normalizes” JW and makes it seem like any other Christian faith. She also drinks and wears bikinis so she doesn’t appear cultish at all.

[BernRul]

There's a JW church (or is it called a temple? I have no idea) near my house. I thought we were going to get bombarded with JWs knocking on our door, but it hasn't happened once. I mostly just see people in suits and dressed coming in and out, and they seem friendly/normal enough. They seem to keep to themselves, actually. 

Whenever I thikn of JW I always thinking of Donald Glover and Community. 

 

[melon]

It called a "Kingdom Hall" not a church,and that's where they have meetings,about 3,if I remember correctly.

Then they have conventions,usually in a stadium because many Jehovah's Witnesses and their "studys", will attend.

Just now, melon said:

It called a "Kingdom Hall" not a church,and that's where they have meetings,about 3,if I remember correctly.

Then they have conventions,usually in a stadium because many Jehovah's Witnesses and their "studys", will attend.

 

20 minutes ago, BernRul said:

There's a JW church (or is it called a temple? I have no idea) near my house. I thought we were going to get bombarded with JWs knocking on our door, but it hasn't happened once. I mostly just see people in suits and dressed coming in and out, and they seem friendly/normal enough. They seem to keep to themselves, actually. 

Whenever I thikn of JW I always thinking of Donald Glover and Community. 

 

They do keep themselves because they are told this world is controlled by Satan and to be "No part of this world".They do seem nice and happy.It's a front or facade.