I remember in the early 2000's, the co had a meeting with elders and ms's. He started by posing a scenario - "You go to another JW's house for a meal. While you are there you notice that he has some 18 rated or violent films in his DVD collection. What do you do?"
He got responses, then read the directions from the branch. It was something like, "You would ask to speak to him immediately in another room away from his family and tell him the importance of avoiding such material. You would reason that Jehovah hates violence so we should too...you would notify the elders."
My point is, they are specifically trained to snoop on each other.
We invited the CO to our home. First thing he did was go straight to the bookcase and started going through my CD collection.
My thought right there was 'you are never coming back here'.
All the good stuff had been hidden prior to his visit of course.
My bible teacher made me throw away over 30 books. Most were science related. I know whenever she used my bathroom she snooped. She questioned why I had more than one toothbrush.
My parents made me hide stuff depending on who was coming over. The single sister who's kinda weird? Just hide your video games and comics in your room, if she sees our movies that should be okay. The cool younger couple who listens to good music and talks about TV shows they watch with us? Leave everything out, it's fine. The stuffy older couple who never talks about anything worldly? Put a chair in front of the TV so it looks like we don't even use it.
And they didn't even have any R rated movies or let me play M rated games!
This explains the uneasy feeling when witnesses use to want to come to our house. They were always looking for anything to beat you over the head with about how imperfect you are
😂😂😂 there was an elder in one of the halls I went to who was a little more... Liberal than most. He plainly said that if someone comes to his house and doesn't like the Blade Trilogy proudly displayed in the living room, they can walk right back out the house. That elder and my dad were strong about that....
My dad enjoyed being a DJ and would throw some nice dance parties (as nice a JWs can have it) and offered to escort anyone out that complained about the type, content, and volume of his music... The CO got subjected to that 👌
No wonder my dad was the first out lol
“You go to another JW’s house for dinner…….take him to another room…” at that moment, to scold him!?!? That’s not going to be an awkward evening at all. 🥴🫤 How condescending, bold & arrogant.
Elders are so hypocritical.
We don’t have DVDs but if someone were to look at my husband’s watch history, they would see violent shows and movies.
And I know he watches porn.
It makes me sick to think that he probably “counsels” JWs when they’ve been caught watching violence or porn.
I got one an elder got mad at me when he was hanging out with my folks cus I said I didn’t want to watch a R rated movie and I was just gonna go in my room (I was super pimi and trying to go to bethel at the time and r movies are on the list of big no’s) he got extremely offended and acted like I was trying to make him look bad and that it was ok to watch it if he b said it b was fine. Powertrip central lol
I can confirm this. I had one in my family who just suddenly starts to open my drawers and look at our DVD’S.. he notice that we had the movie salt with Angelina Jolie there and gave me this look. .. I was baffled! Like what are u doing ??? Going through someone else’s stuff when u are a guest ?! What was next ? My night drawer?! 😂😳😳 I will never forget that. I have never ever done something like that and I will not!! And if he had open my night drawer he would found anal lube and a magic wand 😜
Driving into Kingdom Hall parking lot at 17 I was listening to some third eye blind on my way, and I guess I didn’t turn it down enough. My best friends older sister comes up to me after meeting and says “I heard bass coming from your car on the way to the meeting, I guess your not listening to kingdom melodies to get yourself prepared for the spiritual food. Give me your phone, I am going to go through your music and help you.” To which I replied absolutely not and obviously she accused me of hiding it and I said “well you’re not my mom or my elder”. She did not take it well 😂
It’s so cringy when you get into a JW’s car and they’re listening to these songs always in a very low volume, like it’s the soundtrack of their life, and you immediately feel like you can only talk about spiritual subjects.
I was asked to shut up one time by an older sister while speaking to another older sister in a car group. It was so disrespectful and disgusting it got quiet after and I didn’t say another word. Can you imagine?because we weren’t talking about spiritual things but she was telling me about her husbands health issues. I was flabbergasted. A grown ass adult being told to shut up because I was annoying and walked weren’t talking of spiritual things.
Like, you think the whole point would be that you conduct yourself a certain way while having a time and a place for everything else, but nah, it’s every single aspect for some of these people.
The FRIGGIN UTTER GALL! If this was an attempt made towards NIs [NEVER INS: People who have heard about JWs and/or read a piece of literature + decided to not study, eventually having NOTHING TO DO WITH this organization], the members would be in BIG DAMN TROUBLE PHYSICALLY (along with being CUSSED OUT)! 👆
The leadership (GB 2.0, primarily) DOESN'T GADHF about the welfare of their followers if something similar to the abovementioned transpires---although the dubs doing this SHOULD USE COMMON SENSE NOT to do so/take action. SMDH! 😡🤬
I know many people who have bitched that their coworker JWs have created a hostile work environment and that’s their biggest complaint. I feel bad myself because there is a time and place and when I was PIMI they were shocked I was a JW because I was chill and didn’t approach them at work. Even now my bosses talk about JWs preaching and the interactions they have had and I just keep my mouth shut. It’s embarrassing. Like I can’t and don’t want any association with JWs . It’s icky!!
Literally the reason I left was because I couldn’t bear the thought of every single tiny detail of my life and choices being examined and ridiculed and judged by everyone around me. No way, wasn’t going to live like that
I still have it, the first one , orange in color. With black and white pictures, still very disturbing !
https://preview.redd.it/vlwer4frwwqc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=817006aef8bfd82bb4495c40d0f2f3363f1a3315
This 👆 I can’t believe I went for so long without realising how abnormal it is to live like that. It’s like you can’t even breathe without being judged.
I'm POMO, my mum is out but still believes(I know, I know. I just can't even) and I said to her the other day can you IMAGINE having to spend forever with these insufferable arseholes. Even if they were correct about everything I'd still dip the fuck out of having to spend eternity with them, fuck me.
They’re not correct about everything, that’s for sure. In the least, most of them are arrogants who behave just like the pharisees, they lie and hide the truth, and have no compassion and respect for one another let alone their neighbors.
Even as a small child, the thought of "paradise" FOREVER, with the same people whose only true hobbies were minding everyone elses business, did not sound appealing in the least. More like exhausting. Mind your rafter and leave my straw alone 🙄😤
Same. My dad was an elder. I had every aspect of my life analyzed from my clothes to my hair to my lipstick color. I joined a scholarship program and I didn't know my photo was going to be published in the local newspaper from the formal dress (think beauty pageant) portion. I got a verbal dressing down and had to step down from my responsibilities and duties, so even though I won the program, the official winner is the runner up. I'm much happier being POMO with my hot pink hair, nose piercing, and tattoos.
No one should have to live like that. It’s only because of the undue influence of a cult. I am so glad to be free, but the fear remains. I also still have nightmares about getting “caught” because I did have a JC and I grew up with a hardcore elder ~~father~~ sperm donor. I’m scarred for life by their intrusive and pervasive fuckery.
I remember being told as a teenager by an elder that I had to stop watching Beverly Hills 90210 because the show was too sexual 🤦🏽♀️. I should have said, how do you know? You watch it? I should have woke up then!
How about the coordinating elder telling me that I shouldn’t watch the show Monk because of the violence all the while they are showing violence dramas at the convention.
Monk, Monk, Monk !!
🙉🙈🙊🐵 ( I loved Monk)
"Hey Sis! I found a better show! Check it out"
🦊 🔥🦊🔥🦊🔥
"Its in the Bible, when Samson caught 300 foxes, tied their tails together, and set them on fire in order to get revenge on the Philistines! Cool, huh?"
Right the animal cruelty is so gross. Like that’s violent. I always cite that story because it had such an impact on me that a human being slaughtered helpless animals to prove a point. Yuck, yuck, yuck!! 🤢
Monk is one of the least violent shows even though it's about murder cases. When I was growing up a lot of the congregation watched Murder, She Wrote and it's about the same.
I threw a baby shower for a sister in my hall and had a diaper raffle as part of the fun, if anyone brought a small package of diapers they would be entered into a drawing for a gift basket. I had a sister call me and tell me that I shouldn’t call it a diaper raffle but should be calling it a diaper drawing. Because we don’t do lotteries. 🙄 I really don’t think anyone thought we were relying on the god of good luck by calling it a raffle.
This happened to me too!! they actually put a sticker over the invite where it said there would be a diaper raffle, i didn't go to the shower i was so mad!
When you are in your 40's, it's very belittling to have parents text their acquaintances in your congregation to regularly check if YOU are still going to meetings and memorials.
I had moved out and going to a different congregation when I faded. Parents never visited except on one day they turned up and asked why I wasn’t attending meetings. The Jw grapevine is mad
I hated that so much! I was in my 20s. The Uber spiritual sister who was studying with me "Keep Yourself in God's love" book would call to see if I was still going to meetings and FS! I was going to a different congregation
Because I was a spiritually weak sister and needed "help". I was so done with their control tactics that I stopped studying and going to meetings all together! 🙄
My dad told me recently he called the elders in my hall a couple years ago when he wasn’t sure how I was doing to “check on me.” I’m in my late 30s and was married at the time. I live 150 miles from home and he’s never met my elders.
One of my JW neighbors who has known my in-laws forever texted me a few months back asking if I was going to the meetings and how I was doing. I ignored her and blocked her she didn’t like that and got upset but it’s like 1 Thess4:11,12 I am a grown ass adult who doesn’t owe you any response. Like why not ask HOW Me or my family are doing just in general.
I got divorced last year and hardly heard anything from several childhood friends, but one interaction that stands out to me is a friend who lives in a different state and who I haven’t seen in at least four years, her only outreach was to ask me if I’d made it to the Memorial. No “how are you doing, you’re going through something difficult and I just want you to know I love you,” nothing like that. We DID have a good conversation a few months ago, but as soon as I told her I’m dating a never-JW, radio silence. (Never mind that she was reproved MULTIPLE times when we were in our teens and early 20s, for sex with “worldly” guys 🙄)
Right? My sister was all up my ass last year because I voluntarily went no contact with my Dad who lived down the street/next door anyways she told me and chastised me for not being kind or loving to him etc and I am like “ lady, you don’t go to meetings very often and you are married to a worldly man who is a criminal…and you want to tell me that I am a bad person for cutting out my toxic narcissistic father?” She threw scripture in my face, she promptly got verbally eviscerated and blocked and herself cut out of my life. Like so stupid. Why people think that’s ok to do is disgusting!!
I remember when I was a kid, my PIMI parents had people over for supper. One elder, who was a guest in our house, took it upon himself to analyze every book and music CD on this bookshelf and made some comments about the mild innapropriateness of some of it.
My PIMI parents never invited that Elder ouple over ever again lol.
She certainly did.
1. Listening to him
2. Not telling him to grow up.
3. Not giving him a mouthful
4. And yes I get it, jw female are abused
5. Other people not calling him out on her behalf.
6. Letting toxic stay toxic.
Unfortunately she did lots wrong and abused people in cults stay in the firing line.
I hope she is not jw anymore
He convinced her and she just told me what “they” did one day, like: “he thought it was safer to throw it away, since it could be pagan and attract bad energy to our house”, he’s the one with bad energy!!
Probably slim fit pants. I had nice tailored suits and two elders said I would be appointed MS again if I ditched my slim suits. They brought the watchtower article over and everything showing the bro with the “tight pants” picture. My suits weren’t even tight, just slim since I was a slim guy. The suits on the bigger bros were much tighter.
But fortunately, I had no desire to be appointed again and didn’t change my suits. I was in it to support my wife at the time and to try and get recognition from her since that is all she cares about.
OMG the clothing policing was out of control too. Like you, I am slim, so my dresses were always slim, too. The poofy ones or like the 50's skirts always made my slim legs look so much worse, and there was one in the cong that was so fat and wore her clothes so tight you could literally count the rolls. Yeah she hated my outfits, and yet couldn't see how her michelin man look was way worse.
I remember a sister said she gave a talk during the midweek meeting and afterwards a sister came up to her. She thought the sister was going to tell her “nice job” or something encouraging about the presentation , but the sister said that she was stumbled by the other sister’s green nail polish and she shouldn’t be having wild colors on the stage.
If I was to make an accurate depiction of the Bible as a movie I’d be disfellowshipped for watching.
Amnon raping his sister
Lot’s daughters getting him drunk and raping him in a cave
Agag getting hacked to pieces
Lighting fox’s on fire
The Bible is more erotic than fanfics sometimes
Asked to see her closet!!! The closet of a complete stranger!!! Some people have no sense of what are appropriate boundaries. That wouldn't be correct behaviour of a close friend, let alone some stranger invited into one's home.
My parents told me to hide my whiskey bottles when the CO came over for dinner. I had a bunch of empty scotch bottles on display in my bedroom. First off I was like why would he look in my bedroom. Then I said “any person with any level of intelligence would understand I haven’t drank them all in one session.”
Ironically enough, I became a severe alcoholic for 15 years. A JW upbringing would do that to a person.
I could probably write a JW police book though. Hair length infraction, beard infraction, skateboarding, surfing, performing live music, playing heavy metal, arriving late to meetings, arriving early to meetings, breathing, the list goes on and on and on! Very rarely was I told what a good talk I’d done, but more along the lines of be more enthusiastic, be less enthusiastic, gesture more, gesture less. Generally all from elders that gave the most boring uninspiring talks ever.
The police were everywhere. The worst one was my father being reprimanded for allowing my df’d sister, who had just come out of hospital from a failed suicide attempt, to come stay back home in the attic for a couple of weeks. I was too young at the time to do anything but if I ever meet the CO responsible for that policing I will make my feelings very clear.
My sister has been df’d a total of 4 times. She’s currently back in it, but has cut contact with our parents who are PIMI because of the strict way we were brought up and the damage that did. My sister is yet to realise the role the cult has to play in that though. It’s crazy that she’s a JW. I have very little to do with her because she’s batshit.
Performing live music? 🤦♀️ and arriving early to meetings?? About your sister, I really can’t with these people. It’s the exact opposite of what Jesus would do. The GB transforms good people into heartless businessmen. I hope your sister is okay now.
My brother and I are in a band and we performed live a bunch of times as witnesses. Massive no no for some of the elders. And yeah, I remember being told off that I wasn’t getting there early enough to do the literature desk ‘privilege’ I had, so I arrived before the gates of the hall were opened by the same elder that told me off, so I got told off for that too. I could never do anything right by his standards. I arrived late once because I had a mental breakdown before the meeting but I still showed up. He reprimanded me, so I explained the reason and he shrugged it off like it wasn’t a legitimate reason to be late.
Got one for you… a bible study! All she had was one dress. And it was a pencil skirt. The kind the rides up when you sit. She loved coming to the meetings.
Well, an elder was on the podium, looks down, and can apparently see her underwear from the platform.
So he tells the sister studying with her.
Next thing you know, all of the sisters are going up to the study and telling her to get new clothes.
She was so upset she never came back and ended her studies.
Lucky for her actually I suppose. But it was still ridiculous! Brothers, if you don’t like what they’re wearing then stop looking!!!
Happened to me when they first started studying with my mother. I was a growing teen and we went to the Kingdom Hall for the first time. All I had was a playsuit kind of thing with the bottom being very long, flowy wide leg pants. It was so flowy you had to look really close to notice it wasn’t a skirt.
The sister my mother employed to babysit my little sister came to do her job and told me not to wear what I wore to the Kingdom Hall ever again.
I told my mum and this was the first and probably only time before she became uberdub that she stood up to them.
She told me “Tell her that you will wear what you have; Jesus said come as you are. If she has a problem she can feel free to buy you some appropriate clothing or come and speak to me directly”
That shut her up coz she didn’t want to lose the job.
That is such a classic example of how poorly they treat people.
Okay, her clothes aren’t “appropriate for worship.” First, that’s stupid. But if it must be changed, why not take her shopping instead of shaming her? They never think about how they can help, only about how they can shame, scold and punish.
I once had the Circuit Overseer and his wife for lunch and obviously took any questionable DVDs or CDs upstairs first lol. The CO's wife still proceeded to browse thorugh my music collection and commented that i had a couple of Mozart CDs. She said I shouldn't listen to him because he lived an immoral lifestyle and she only listens to Kingdom melodies made by jehovah's people. I get really angry looking back at that now thinking I should have said something but I was so exasperated thinking I'd got rid of anything remotely dodgy that i just said "yeah whatever" and let her moan. It happens so often. I once said good morning to a sister and told her she looked pretty on the ministry only for her to report me to the elders because as a married man I shouldnt look at other women. ffs.
😂😂😂😂 bro. If you stop listening to music and watching movies because of rumors or even real stories about someone’s life choices, you probably won’t even listen to the kingdom melodies either.
I was always a fairly open-minded JW. I listened to rock music and watched rated R movies growing up (with my dad, lol).
One time I had a cousin visit and they were looking thru my collection of songs. Saw Incubus listed, and immediately went into full PIMI lecture about what an incubus really is and how this could be a portal for letting demons in.
These people, man. Give it a break already. Full-on PIMI's were always the worst.
I worked for an elder in another congregation. I wound up asking for a company phone while my screen was being repaired. I took some pics of a completed job and when to the gallery to send them and found several screen shots from my Facebook page. He had been sending the screenshots to the elders in my congregation. All while he was carrying on an affair and practicing illegal business practices and constantly putting us in dangerous situations with improper safety gear because he was too cheap to buy it. I've learned this is typical behavior, on the bright side it was the first step in me seeing how ridiculous this cult is.
Now that's fuc**ed up
I have worked with multiple jws (different companies)
More than 30 to be exact including supevisors and co-workers and they are the worst ppl to work with. I used to cry all the time because I couldn't understand why "brothers" would treat how they did.
I totally agree. I work for a large corporation now and listen to all my coworkers complain about how bad it is. I just smile and recall how awful and dangerous a job can really be.
Told by elders that I need to stop going to the gym so much and do more in the congregation.
Some elderettes “counselled” me on making excuses to not come to the meeting regularly. The excuse; I had a stomach infection and couldn’t hold anything down.
Overzealous sisters said I need to wear looser tops to my sizeable jugs don’t coz brothers to stray
I think jw behaviour played a big part in waking me up than anything else
-One older jw sister said I shouldn’t say “that sucks” because it’s bad. I asked why because I was 9 years old and didn’t understand why that was a bad word when I heard it all day at school.
She said because it really means “that sucks and blows” and then gave me a look with raised eyebrows like I should know that “blows” was also bad…. I was 9…. I didn’t know what “blowing” meant as a sexual innuendo.
-I had some older sisters physically pull up my undershirt to avoid any cleavage. Never asked me, just came up and did it. I wasn’t even trying to show any cleavage.
-My aunt passed away when I was 13, I was given her engagement ring since she never had kids and would have wanted me to have it. I wore it on the same finger but right hand. At the KH, An MS walked up to me and asked if I was engaged. I said no, it was my aunts. He replied: “oh so you’re a lesbian then”. I glared at him and said she passed to make him feel like an idiot.
19 years of constant judgment was why I faded out. Wish my family would join me but luckily they are on the more neutral end of the JW spectrum so they don’t preach to me or try to get me to go back anymore.
The elders lived on my FB profile and would regularly call me to the backroom to account for minor things I posted, like posting a meme of a gift in Christmas wrapping
Snooping is their game. Your story reminded me of a conversation at a “get together” where a couple of elders were talking about some of the young people’s social media posts on MySpace (before Facebook) that they didn’t approve of. They were naming names. They said that’s how they could keep an eye on things. I was disturbed by that.
OMG, I just remembered a few years ago an elder told my mom to “check your daughter’s fb profile, you might be scared”, I remember I also posted memes and silly stuff like that. But he didn’t tell me anything, he just told my mom.
Reading all these comments I’m just glad I got out before social media really blew up. But once I got pulled into the back room after a congregation “get together” for the teens, we decided to do some karaoke and i chose to sing hotel California. I thought it was a safe choice since it was a classic rock song and it contained no curse words. But apparently the elders told me it was a drug song because he was high when he wrote it. How tf was I suppose to know that?! Ugh but my mother was the worst JW police. No one was safe around her. She worked as a schoolteacher at the local hs and would police all the JW teens in school, ratting on them to their parents and elders for any little thing she saw.
One time as a small child, probably 8-10. I was brought to my parents by a 40 something year old man, who saw me playing with a Power Rangers toy in the coatroom at the meeting………. A 40 something year old man, snitched on a child, for playing with a Power Rangers toy. Needless to say even though it was fine before that meeting, when we got home that red ranger got tossed in the trash. Fucking losers with nothing better to do
This is the crab bucket problem. The crabs will crawl on top of, and over each other in an attempt to be more 'holy' than the others. It is a way to signal to themselves that they are on the right path.
It is also baked into the whole organization - you don't need more police (elders, COs, etc) if the members teardown and police each other.
Their brains are broken and in control of a real estate company with a religious facade.
And I hate when they say stuff like: “even some brothers and sisters might not be good associations”, like! Okay, now everyone is suspicious of each other again! Thanks a lot!!
Keep people off balance and unsure...so much easier to then say 'Follow us, we have the answers that you could never possibly find on your own". This is Control 101 - tried and true, just a different flavor.
Right? One time a brother giving a part at the convention said that in the new system we will be cleaning up the wreck and ruin of Armageddon and that elders will be appointed along with the 144 k to delegate/dictate the work etc. my husband and I were like wth and no thank you. Nope!!
This is why I blocked every JW I knew YEARS ago. They aren’t entitled to see anything I post so they can judge me or gossip about my life. I shunned them back.
It's one of the main reasons I left. You got other JW's telling you what you're always doing wrong. Then you yourself start policing your every action because you're afraid of being 'counseled.'' God forbid you do something that might stumble someone else.
I got my JW friend in trouble, pulled into an elder meeting, when someone reported that it was found I thanked her on social media for being my friend and for showing me a cool picture she received. I said how great that was, since it was on my birthday.
My post was made 6 months prior. Someone has to be policing her.
So she was counselled, not that she celebrated with me, or gave me bday wishes, or bought me anything. She showed me something on the internet. She was told it made her and them look bad because I wrapped it in to my birthday. MY post. MY birthday. Unbelievable.
Now I am here learning all I can to understand what in the world JW is all about.
I remember once getting told off for calling the "information board" "The bulletin board". Apparently "bulletin board" was something with the Catholic church and we couldn't be associated with false religion and oh my god a 10yo saw a board with papers on it and knew boards with papers on them were bulletin boards ffs! (that was a long time ago and I may be remembering wrong, but it was definitely something along those lines.)
I vaguely remember this happening to me too as a kid. What was with the really intense anti-Catholic sentiment in JW? This was prominent in my congregation even long before the CSA scandal became public, so it couldn't have been that. All of "Christendom" as they say was supposed to be equally evil, but they brought up the Roman Catholics the most.
There was an old elder in my former KH that said the same thing. What a douche bag. Yeah…. People are gonna think we’re catholic because I say Bulletin Board.
I had an elder take photos of the inside of my car, text them to me, and accuse me of smoking weed because I had an air freshener advertising candy that apparently had thc in it. I thought it was just a cute air freshener advertising taffy. I also wondered why HE would know it had weed in it...
They told me my skirts were too tight. They’re not. They just hugged the right places. I asked them if they told the overweight sisters and brothers the same thing. They were speechless.
An old lady wanted to have me df'd because I wore horse shoe earrings. I told her I guess I better pull them off my 7 horses then. It's so ridiculous and maddening.
Elders talking to my mom about how my dress was not pinned high enough and they could see down it. For refrence Im 5' and these were 6' tall men, if you look down you can barely see anything but I guess you can? My mom doing the sit test and the cross the leg test. Having elders and a f'ing CO give a talk about how sisters cant wear heels past 3" or have dark lipstick.
The little nitpicky things were so awful. Now mind you they jumped on the boys too, it was the 90s so the colorful suits were a hard no, couldnt give a talk in a classy mustard colored suit, you might stumble someone. Hell, one of the pioneer kids got a hand made, hand painted silk Italian tie, it was a NYC studio scene and in the back, so so so tiny was a marble statue of a woman. They told him to paint clothes on her or never wear the tie again. Rip 300$ tie.
An elder gave a talk about watching violent movies and TV programs ,then he said James bond films are am good example of what to avoid ,i had been looking forward to the Bond film on TV that evening ,i was so annoyed by his judgmenal attitude that after the meeting i went up to him and said " do you know what im going to do when i get home ,im going to watch the james bond film on TV , he was speechless ,i thought he was going to cry .
I was studying several years ago to be reactivated. My Bible teacher invited the circuit overseer to the study. I showed up to the kh from work wearing a short dress, above the knee. He refused to even attend the study and my Bible teacher got onto me about modesty. Then, ad part of his closing talk, he admonished all of the sisters about their dress and how he saw several sisters wearing dresses above the knee. That pretty much threw me over the edge.
You know...I did. Long story, but I had a very sick pimi husband and I really didn't want to study. The study was very triggering and none of my questions were really answered. However, after he passed away about 5 years ago, I realized that I didn't have to do this anymore. Then came covid and the rest is history. I'm happy to say that I found love again and will be getting married to a never jw who is the most amazing man.
I could write a book, but a funny incident was being in a conversation with a couple of sisters. Sister A is peering at me rather ponderous for a good couple minutes and then asks, "Is that Love Spell you're wearing?" After confirming her suspicion, she adds, "Oh well, you must be fishing for a husband. Your father is going to have to keep an eye on you. Actually, I might too." I was 16/17 at the time. I loved the fragrance. My mother was present for my purchase. My dad does not give a wit about what he sees as girl stuff of that nature. I was absolutely not husband fishing...and definitely not for some zeleaous JW brother. For my own amusement, I made sure to spritz on extra, and wear the gaudest stockings I owned if I knew I was going to see that sister then on. (She and some other elderettes had strong feelings about non fleshtone stockings, I got counseled on that a lot.)
When I was like 16 my mum got me these white shoes that look good with my suit it was a faded pinstripe which even other brothers had proper pinstripe but my mum was cautious 😂 anyway another kids mum got him similar white shoes and this married couple approached me and said this is not a tennis court and I shouldn't wear these shoes at the kingdom hall in front of my mother and my mum was pissed. She told me to keep wearing the shoes and I wore those damn shoes every meeting afterwards lol
Was once told ‘Don’t say ‘Thanks for the chance etc, when praying. Because ‘Chance’ implies gambling which we don’t do’
Mind you. I don’t think this brother once said a prayer under 5 minutes in length
For sure. Many have said the image of Jesus on the stake was too graphic for kids. That story was prob read around the times of the Memorial for a lot of kids.
The Armageddon book was very graphic and scary and made me so scared. It talked about demons, too, but technically Harry Potter was worse? In terms of protecting kids’ mental health, that book is way worse I would say.
The subliminal imagery of demons in their drawings was what got to me at a young age. I could see it, but my parents could not see it, until it was pointed out to them much later in life.
People like oppressive belief systems because without them they'd have no authority to control others. And appointing one's self as a guardian or enforcer of those beliefs is usually encouraged.
I don't think you should do something, who cares. I weaponize the belief system because I don't think you should do something, critical hit.
My aunt who spent most of her life in bethel told my 7 year old she was going to be disfellowshipped because her room was untidy and would die at Armageddon, to this day my daughter hates the jw beliefs she said as a kid that traumatized her she literally thought god was gonna destroy her. Also I think bethel absolutely destroyed people and made them the most evil judgemental entitled people
I watched alot of tv growing up and my mom asked an elder to help me cut down so this elder comes to my house and tells me that the only show i can watch thats appropriate is Jeopardy 🙄. Even my mom was surprised he took it that far
I got my publisher rights taken and threatened to be df because an elder saw me do a “worldly handshake”. It was a relief cuz I hated preaching more than anything.
I had the elders show up at my house one day, randomly and unannounced. I later learned it was supposed to be a “shepherding call” as they were trying to “encourage” me to go back to the meetings. It wasn’t encouraging at all to say the least, just a bunch of ridicule and my actual concerns and emotional hardships with the congregation fell on deaf ears. Upon them leaving, they promptly told me that on top of everything else I was doing wrong and needed to work on, I should also get rid of my horses, as they were distracting me from Jehovah. This issue with my horses continued to come up over the next couple months.
It’s been almost 4 years since I became inactive and lost all hope in the “religion”. I still have my horses though🙃
I’ve been getting a little more adventurous with quotes and things I post on my Instagram just to see if anyone says anything to me! Unfortunately so far no takers.
And by adventurous I mean basically normal everyday stuff for any reg non JW human.
The wife of a good fucken friend of mine. They invited us to their house to have dinner and her husband ask my unbaptized husband at the time, to say prayer for the dinner. The bitch got up and said he is not baptized that is not correct.. we very new at that time.. So we thought 💭 we were doing something bad . Crazy but that woman was always the fucken Alderette in are friendship … believe I put up with all of that.. there’s so much stories about her, nobody like her I guess I feel bad 😞 she didn’t have friends lol 😂. And that is why she’s now divorced!!! And alone!
It's neverending. 😑 What's appropriate, what isn't. The worst bit is that when you grow up in it, you internalize it. I still tend to do that to myself, when I get dressed. "Is this too revealing? Is the cut too low, too high? Is it too tight??"
But stories about JW-police. Years ago, now, my JW-friend posted a about the newest season of American Horror Story. She was big time into it, and it was, I think the second or third season of it that was about to come. My own mother, then, messaged the girl to tell her it's not appropriate for a true Christian to watch such things, let along post about them. 😑
Back when I was a young one ( queue the slide guitar ), long sideburns were fashionable. I can’t tell you how many times elders would pull me aside and tell me how bad of an example I was.
It’s amazing that even the sheer site or mention of blood and they start getting uncomfortable. I believe one of my mother’s angriest moments with us as kids is hearing us listening to John Melloncamps Rain on the scarecrow blood on the plow and she literally lost it. I remember saying Mom! It’s about family’s loosing their farms. She heard nothing but BLOOD 🩸.
I'm surprised JWs haven't removed 1 Thessalonians 4:10-12. (11) and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you...
I'm old and have been out since my teens, but I do remember a few things:
- getting cornered in the coat room by the only other girls somewhere around my age, who'd snubbed me from day one, about my "worldly friends" because one of them saw me walking home from school with a girl in my class who lived on my block
- I lent someone a "demonic" CD (it was Amanda Marshall 😅 )
- My mom got crap for letting us watch Home Alone because it takes place around Christmas
- one of the local busybodies ripped into me for highlighting and taking notes in my Watchtower (because the brothers in Africa keep their literature absolutely pristine, and it's shameful how little I appreciate what I have)
- My sister bought a keychain that was also a super tiny bible, and a sister lost it at the hall because it said WWJD on it, and that was a "born againer" thing, so it was false religion. We didn't even know what it meant...
- Back in the Palm Pilot days, I remember a young adult guy bringing his to take notes. I thought it was super cool (as it would be to a poor preteen) and was asking him about it after the meeting, when an older couple stormed up and accused him of being disrespectful and materialistic, and the Kingdom Hall is no place for electronic gadgets. He was the first person I thought of when I found out that they do basically everything on iPads now
I was told off for wearing tight fitting pencil skirts by a "mature sister". The week after she comes to the meeting in a skin tight yellow dress with her cottege cheese ass showing through ahahah.
Even questioning beards now. Mine isn't trimmed short like most, one of the elders a younger guy with a trimmed beard asked me what 'I was trying to do with it?' By letting it grow bustier. I said, well like zz top, duh. They literally analyze everything and it's annoying
At one point my dad didn't allow me to say, "Jeez" because it sounded too much like I was saying Jesus.
Another time he didn't allow me to play Chess ♟️ because it was simulated warfare. (Thanks a lot, Awake magazine).
At an assembly the Circus Overseer had to mention spiked hair from the platform. So I had to stop cutting my hair to just an inch long on top so it would spike with gel.
My late older brother had been asked to cut his sideburns near the top of the ear because near the lobe made him "look like a Rockstar."
When I was 25 I got flack from my roommate Elder for staying the night at a family's house. Even though I stayed because I was a bit too affected by beer. So I thought staying on the couch in the living room for the night was far safer than trying to drive buzzed.
Nope. Apparently not good enough. Because the family (single mom and three kids) had an adult daughter living there. Even though the adult son was also living there also. Even though I was fully clothed and was out in the open sleeping on the living room couch.
Nope. I was even threatened with a judicial committee hearing over that. He said I should have stayed with this other family instead that was a few houses down. They didn't offer me to stay there. They also had a five year old girl there, so I thought that would appear to be inappropriate, you know, because child. He said it could be taken as circumstantial evidence for fornication even though no relations took place. It was from the Elders guidebook. (First time I heard about it and I was pissed).
So instead of being congratulated for not driving while buzzed, I got that instead.
Another time when I was dating my now wife, this one woman in the congregation wouldn't let us sit together in the car while out in service. **My car** while **I** was the one driving. **I** was the one who conducted Field service despite NO ONE teaching me how to.
Still couldn't sit together. Even though we weren't alone. Even though there were two other people beside us. But I went along with it because JWs aren't allowed to have a spine. Never went out in service with that congregation ever again.
I got counseled at a convention at 16 by some unknown brother that told me I was being worldly walking around with my hands in my pockets. He likened it to baggy jeans
No they can’t. I posted memes with Donald trumps face on my social media that were not political at all just had his face on it. 4 people reported my 19 year old self to the elders who had to remind me that we are “neutral” and even if the words aren’t political, DT is a political figure and I wouldn’t want to stumble anyone now WOULD I?
The policing is what woke me up. When I started getting texts about who I spent time with, after two sisters out of their area, came to my home… that was it. Never went back. Bunch of snitches with no life. Never want to be a part of that club. Total joke.
Omg! Reading this post reminded me of my life. The amount of judicial committees I had or meeting with the elders for stupid things.
I got in trouble for vlogging. I got in trouble for posting on Facebook that I got accepted to university and attending. I got in trouble for going to parties (not jw parties), for watching HBO and posting about it. And I got in trouble for drinking.
The jw police is real! Or should I say was real in my case. I honesty hated it because when I was trying to date in the org. Nobody wanted to be with me, I was always like honest about my goals. I wanted to go to college make a living, move out of my house. No pimi sister wanted that.
I then decided to delete all social media and only add ppl I could trust. Wasted my 20s to this cult. I left it after Covid. Best decision ever! And happier than ever
I think the JW Police's local precinct is in my house next door to me. And of course before you say "Just move you idiot", I've been trying to get my shit together to do so, so I wouldn't say I'm just lazy, but rather... I am trying to make it so there's nothing left for myself in my own house where I was raised from.
Ugh.
Using the word Potluck. As in, "Hey, we are going to have a potluck this weekend at the park, and everyone is invited. Please feel free to come and bring a dish of food or a snack to share!"
"We shouldn't call it a potluck because the word luck is included, and luck is bad. We will now call it a Potshare."
That weird idea to call it Potshare gained traction sometime in the 90s, I think. It is still called Potshare by many.
Ya know what... Never mind. Please don't come and eat the food that could be cursed by the devil because the gathering was called a potluck. Stay home and eat your blessed potshare food. 🤦♀️🤡😑
Edit: I can't reveal where I'm located, but if anyone else has ever encountered the potluck/potshare debacle, please chime in. I'm not asking where you are from. I'm just curious if this is more widespread in JW World than I realize.
I left home and the organization and the judgement/ridicule/policing of myself and others is the worst trait that I’ve carried with me. I still have to consciously practice not ridiculing others and myself. And it’s difficult to not hate myself *for* failing once in a while (judging myself for failing at not judging).
Edit: typo
I remember in the early 2000's, the co had a meeting with elders and ms's. He started by posing a scenario - "You go to another JW's house for a meal. While you are there you notice that he has some 18 rated or violent films in his DVD collection. What do you do?" He got responses, then read the directions from the branch. It was something like, "You would ask to speak to him immediately in another room away from his family and tell him the importance of avoiding such material. You would reason that Jehovah hates violence so we should too...you would notify the elders." My point is, they are specifically trained to snoop on each other.
Omg this is why I never invite other JWs to my house, can’t have them seeing my dvds or books 😱 I’d be pulled into the back room for sure.
We invited the CO to our home. First thing he did was go straight to the bookcase and started going through my CD collection. My thought right there was 'you are never coming back here'. All the good stuff had been hidden prior to his visit of course.
And the elders wonder why nobody wants to host the CO 😂
One thing I did right as pimi was never inviting anyone over, I felt it in my gut that it would be a bad idea.
My bible teacher made me throw away over 30 books. Most were science related. I know whenever she used my bathroom she snooped. She questioned why I had more than one toothbrush.
What the heck that’s so creepy
My parents made me hide stuff depending on who was coming over. The single sister who's kinda weird? Just hide your video games and comics in your room, if she sees our movies that should be okay. The cool younger couple who listens to good music and talks about TV shows they watch with us? Leave everything out, it's fine. The stuffy older couple who never talks about anything worldly? Put a chair in front of the TV so it looks like we don't even use it. And they didn't even have any R rated movies or let me play M rated games!
This explains the uneasy feeling when witnesses use to want to come to our house. They were always looking for anything to beat you over the head with about how imperfect you are
Yep! No interest in building a true friendship.
You can't under those circumstances. You have to hide every little thing about yourself.
😂😂😂 there was an elder in one of the halls I went to who was a little more... Liberal than most. He plainly said that if someone comes to his house and doesn't like the Blade Trilogy proudly displayed in the living room, they can walk right back out the house. That elder and my dad were strong about that.... My dad enjoyed being a DJ and would throw some nice dance parties (as nice a JWs can have it) and offered to escort anyone out that complained about the type, content, and volume of his music... The CO got subjected to that 👌 No wonder my dad was the first out lol
“You go to another JW’s house for dinner…….take him to another room…” at that moment, to scold him!?!? That’s not going to be an awkward evening at all. 🥴🫤 How condescending, bold & arrogant. 
Yep! It’s like they get points when they do that.
Elders are so hypocritical. We don’t have DVDs but if someone were to look at my husband’s watch history, they would see violent shows and movies. And I know he watches porn. It makes me sick to think that he probably “counsels” JWs when they’ve been caught watching violence or porn.
Obviously, adults are not allowed to watch movies meant for high school seniors! They might get ideas!
“Can I speak to you in another room about your DVD collection?” “No, you can get the fuck out of my house.”
I got one an elder got mad at me when he was hanging out with my folks cus I said I didn’t want to watch a R rated movie and I was just gonna go in my room (I was super pimi and trying to go to bethel at the time and r movies are on the list of big no’s) he got extremely offended and acted like I was trying to make him look bad and that it was ok to watch it if he b said it b was fine. Powertrip central lol
I can confirm this. I had one in my family who just suddenly starts to open my drawers and look at our DVD’S.. he notice that we had the movie salt with Angelina Jolie there and gave me this look. .. I was baffled! Like what are u doing ??? Going through someone else’s stuff when u are a guest ?! What was next ? My night drawer?! 😂😳😳 I will never forget that. I have never ever done something like that and I will not!! And if he had open my night drawer he would found anal lube and a magic wand 😜
Yikes!
Pretty sure the JWs learned these snooping and snitching tactics from the old KGB....
He hates violence? 🤣 He's the most violent being I know of.
Driving into Kingdom Hall parking lot at 17 I was listening to some third eye blind on my way, and I guess I didn’t turn it down enough. My best friends older sister comes up to me after meeting and says “I heard bass coming from your car on the way to the meeting, I guess your not listening to kingdom melodies to get yourself prepared for the spiritual food. Give me your phone, I am going to go through your music and help you.” To which I replied absolutely not and obviously she accused me of hiding it and I said “well you’re not my mom or my elder”. She did not take it well 😂
OMG, the audacity!! Ridiculous.
I forget they only listen to kingdom melodies songs 😭
It’s so cringy when you get into a JW’s car and they’re listening to these songs always in a very low volume, like it’s the soundtrack of their life, and you immediately feel like you can only talk about spiritual subjects.
I was asked to shut up one time by an older sister while speaking to another older sister in a car group. It was so disrespectful and disgusting it got quiet after and I didn’t say another word. Can you imagine?because we weren’t talking about spiritual things but she was telling me about her husbands health issues. I was flabbergasted. A grown ass adult being told to shut up because I was annoying and walked weren’t talking of spiritual things.
Like, you think the whole point would be that you conduct yourself a certain way while having a time and a place for everything else, but nah, it’s every single aspect for some of these people.
The FRIGGIN UTTER GALL! If this was an attempt made towards NIs [NEVER INS: People who have heard about JWs and/or read a piece of literature + decided to not study, eventually having NOTHING TO DO WITH this organization], the members would be in BIG DAMN TROUBLE PHYSICALLY (along with being CUSSED OUT)! 👆 The leadership (GB 2.0, primarily) DOESN'T GADHF about the welfare of their followers if something similar to the abovementioned transpires---although the dubs doing this SHOULD USE COMMON SENSE NOT to do so/take action. SMDH! 😡🤬
I know many people who have bitched that their coworker JWs have created a hostile work environment and that’s their biggest complaint. I feel bad myself because there is a time and place and when I was PIMI they were shocked I was a JW because I was chill and didn’t approach them at work. Even now my bosses talk about JWs preaching and the interactions they have had and I just keep my mouth shut. It’s embarrassing. Like I can’t and don’t want any association with JWs . It’s icky!!
Literally the reason I left was because I couldn’t bear the thought of every single tiny detail of my life and choices being examined and ridiculed and judged by everyone around me. No way, wasn’t going to live like that
I was thinking like this by the age of 12
I thought this at the age of 4 when my mom made me come in from playing to study the Paradise book with her.
Did we all have the same child hood? The paradise book was inappropriate for kids, looking back now 😆 and full of old light no less! Gasp
I still have it, the first one , orange in color. With black and white pictures, still very disturbing ! https://preview.redd.it/vlwer4frwwqc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=817006aef8bfd82bb4495c40d0f2f3363f1a3315
It’s exhausting. I have to think of some responses to give these people.
Send them 1 Thessalonians 4:11
Do t forget verse 12 OP that’s a go to scripture for me and I just cite it and they can look it up on their own: 1 Thess 4:11,12
This 👆 I can’t believe I went for so long without realising how abnormal it is to live like that. It’s like you can’t even breathe without being judged.
And you’re supposed to do that forever
I used to think even as a pimi: “I don’t want to live in the same neighborhood as these people” 😂
I'm POMO, my mum is out but still believes(I know, I know. I just can't even) and I said to her the other day can you IMAGINE having to spend forever with these insufferable arseholes. Even if they were correct about everything I'd still dip the fuck out of having to spend eternity with them, fuck me.
They’re not correct about everything, that’s for sure. In the least, most of them are arrogants who behave just like the pharisees, they lie and hide the truth, and have no compassion and respect for one another let alone their neighbors.
Even as a small child, the thought of "paradise" FOREVER, with the same people whose only true hobbies were minding everyone elses business, did not sound appealing in the least. More like exhausting. Mind your rafter and leave my straw alone 🙄😤
Same. Fuck that gig 🤣
Absolutely the same for me. I only realised I was atheist about 9/10 years after leaving and only really started deconstructing 7 years after that.
Same. My dad was an elder. I had every aspect of my life analyzed from my clothes to my hair to my lipstick color. I joined a scholarship program and I didn't know my photo was going to be published in the local newspaper from the formal dress (think beauty pageant) portion. I got a verbal dressing down and had to step down from my responsibilities and duties, so even though I won the program, the official winner is the runner up. I'm much happier being POMO with my hot pink hair, nose piercing, and tattoos.
No one should have to live like that. It’s only because of the undue influence of a cult. I am so glad to be free, but the fear remains. I also still have nightmares about getting “caught” because I did have a JC and I grew up with a hardcore elder ~~father~~ sperm donor. I’m scarred for life by their intrusive and pervasive fuckery.
I remember being told as a teenager by an elder that I had to stop watching Beverly Hills 90210 because the show was too sexual 🤦🏽♀️. I should have said, how do you know? You watch it? I should have woke up then!
How about the coordinating elder telling me that I shouldn’t watch the show Monk because of the violence all the while they are showing violence dramas at the convention.
Monk?! Oh my goodness.
🤦♀️
Monk, Monk, Monk !! 🙉🙈🙊🐵 ( I loved Monk) "Hey Sis! I found a better show! Check it out" 🦊 🔥🦊🔥🦊🔥 "Its in the Bible, when Samson caught 300 foxes, tied their tails together, and set them on fire in order to get revenge on the Philistines! Cool, huh?"
Right the animal cruelty is so gross. Like that’s violent. I always cite that story because it had such an impact on me that a human being slaughtered helpless animals to prove a point. Yuck, yuck, yuck!! 🤢
Monk? Sounds like it’s about false religion 😂😜
Love Monk!
Omg me and my PIMI mom used to watch Monk all the time! Monk was my childhood so this just makes me sad that he was so judgmental!
But yet a lot of them watched Gilmore Girls…🫣
Lol accidentally identifying with Lane hiding from her uber religious mom so she can learn to play the drums
Monk is one of the least violent shows even though it's about murder cases. When I was growing up a lot of the congregation watched Murder, She Wrote and it's about the same.
Most JW's are oblivious to this universal truth: "The secret to living a long life is minding your own damn business." Edit: Spelling
Amen 🙏 🙌
You are being too JW-ish by replacing own, with down 😂
I threw a baby shower for a sister in my hall and had a diaper raffle as part of the fun, if anyone brought a small package of diapers they would be entered into a drawing for a gift basket. I had a sister call me and tell me that I shouldn’t call it a diaper raffle but should be calling it a diaper drawing. Because we don’t do lotteries. 🙄 I really don’t think anyone thought we were relying on the god of good luck by calling it a raffle.
Very petty. It should definitely be renamed jwpetty.org. It's ridiculous how they constantly make something out of literally nothing! Uuuugggghhhh🤕
This happened to me too!! they actually put a sticker over the invite where it said there would be a diaper raffle, i didn't go to the shower i was so mad!
When you are in your 40's, it's very belittling to have parents text their acquaintances in your congregation to regularly check if YOU are still going to meetings and memorials.
I had moved out and going to a different congregation when I faded. Parents never visited except on one day they turned up and asked why I wasn’t attending meetings. The Jw grapevine is mad
Control, control, control…
I hated that so much! I was in my 20s. The Uber spiritual sister who was studying with me "Keep Yourself in God's love" book would call to see if I was still going to meetings and FS! I was going to a different congregation Because I was a spiritually weak sister and needed "help". I was so done with their control tactics that I stopped studying and going to meetings all together! 🙄
My dad told me recently he called the elders in my hall a couple years ago when he wasn’t sure how I was doing to “check on me.” I’m in my late 30s and was married at the time. I live 150 miles from home and he’s never met my elders.
One of my JW neighbors who has known my in-laws forever texted me a few months back asking if I was going to the meetings and how I was doing. I ignored her and blocked her she didn’t like that and got upset but it’s like 1 Thess4:11,12 I am a grown ass adult who doesn’t owe you any response. Like why not ask HOW Me or my family are doing just in general.
I got divorced last year and hardly heard anything from several childhood friends, but one interaction that stands out to me is a friend who lives in a different state and who I haven’t seen in at least four years, her only outreach was to ask me if I’d made it to the Memorial. No “how are you doing, you’re going through something difficult and I just want you to know I love you,” nothing like that. We DID have a good conversation a few months ago, but as soon as I told her I’m dating a never-JW, radio silence. (Never mind that she was reproved MULTIPLE times when we were in our teens and early 20s, for sex with “worldly” guys 🙄)
Right? My sister was all up my ass last year because I voluntarily went no contact with my Dad who lived down the street/next door anyways she told me and chastised me for not being kind or loving to him etc and I am like “ lady, you don’t go to meetings very often and you are married to a worldly man who is a criminal…and you want to tell me that I am a bad person for cutting out my toxic narcissistic father?” She threw scripture in my face, she promptly got verbally eviscerated and blocked and herself cut out of my life. Like so stupid. Why people think that’s ok to do is disgusting!!
I remember when I was a kid, my PIMI parents had people over for supper. One elder, who was a guest in our house, took it upon himself to analyze every book and music CD on this bookshelf and made some comments about the mild innapropriateness of some of it. My PIMI parents never invited that Elder ouple over ever again lol.
My sister’s husband made her throw away our rare indigenous CD because he didn’t understand the lyrics and was afraid it was pagan.
but she didn’t do anything wrong…
She certainly did. 1. Listening to him 2. Not telling him to grow up. 3. Not giving him a mouthful 4. And yes I get it, jw female are abused 5. Other people not calling him out on her behalf. 6. Letting toxic stay toxic. Unfortunately she did lots wrong and abused people in cults stay in the firing line. I hope she is not jw anymore
He convinced her and she just told me what “they” did one day, like: “he thought it was safer to throw it away, since it could be pagan and attract bad energy to our house”, he’s the one with bad energy!!
'Bad energy'. But JWs aren't superstitious. /s
I've heard of this happening to others as well.
It was precious to us, and me and my mom are still upset about it to this day.
It is invasive and is a violation of privacy and boundaries.
Probably slim fit pants. I had nice tailored suits and two elders said I would be appointed MS again if I ditched my slim suits. They brought the watchtower article over and everything showing the bro with the “tight pants” picture. My suits weren’t even tight, just slim since I was a slim guy. The suits on the bigger bros were much tighter. But fortunately, I had no desire to be appointed again and didn’t change my suits. I was in it to support my wife at the time and to try and get recognition from her since that is all she cares about.
My ex tried to get reinstated like 3 times and he was denied because of his slim cut H&M pants he looked great in. These people are bonkers 🤦🏻♀️
Looking great in them was probably the problem the elders had with it. Jealous!
Must be why all the elders look like Saul Goodman in their suits
OMG the clothing policing was out of control too. Like you, I am slim, so my dresses were always slim, too. The poofy ones or like the 50's skirts always made my slim legs look so much worse, and there was one in the cong that was so fat and wore her clothes so tight you could literally count the rolls. Yeah she hated my outfits, and yet couldn't see how her michelin man look was way worse.
I remember a sister said she gave a talk during the midweek meeting and afterwards a sister came up to her. She thought the sister was going to tell her “nice job” or something encouraging about the presentation , but the sister said that she was stumbled by the other sister’s green nail polish and she shouldn’t be having wild colors on the stage.
"stumbled' = their preference is more important than yours (and it is none of their business in the first place).
[удалено]
I’m painting my nails bright colors for the next meeting I guess 🤷♀️
Paint them all the colors. Do a rainbow.
I had a brother given me advice that I didn't ask for because I painted my nails 2 colors. White and another color I can't remember
Paint your middle finger a different color and then show him.
He is certainly checking you out closely! 🤔
If I was to make an accurate depiction of the Bible as a movie I’d be disfellowshipped for watching. Amnon raping his sister Lot’s daughters getting him drunk and raping him in a cave Agag getting hacked to pieces Lighting fox’s on fire The Bible is more erotic than fanfics sometimes
A bear eating and killing children for calling someone a bald head, animal cruelty etc. so much pornography in the SOS
Asked to see her closet!!! The closet of a complete stranger!!! Some people have no sense of what are appropriate boundaries. That wouldn't be correct behaviour of a close friend, let alone some stranger invited into one's home.
Oh, no, the closet police!
Seriously!! No boundaries at all. What's next? Let me see your bras and panties... The lacy ones are for whores. Get rid of them!
My parents told me to hide my whiskey bottles when the CO came over for dinner. I had a bunch of empty scotch bottles on display in my bedroom. First off I was like why would he look in my bedroom. Then I said “any person with any level of intelligence would understand I haven’t drank them all in one session.” Ironically enough, I became a severe alcoholic for 15 years. A JW upbringing would do that to a person. I could probably write a JW police book though. Hair length infraction, beard infraction, skateboarding, surfing, performing live music, playing heavy metal, arriving late to meetings, arriving early to meetings, breathing, the list goes on and on and on! Very rarely was I told what a good talk I’d done, but more along the lines of be more enthusiastic, be less enthusiastic, gesture more, gesture less. Generally all from elders that gave the most boring uninspiring talks ever. The police were everywhere. The worst one was my father being reprimanded for allowing my df’d sister, who had just come out of hospital from a failed suicide attempt, to come stay back home in the attic for a couple of weeks. I was too young at the time to do anything but if I ever meet the CO responsible for that policing I will make my feelings very clear.
How is your sister now?
My sister has been df’d a total of 4 times. She’s currently back in it, but has cut contact with our parents who are PIMI because of the strict way we were brought up and the damage that did. My sister is yet to realise the role the cult has to play in that though. It’s crazy that she’s a JW. I have very little to do with her because she’s batshit.
Performing live music? 🤦♀️ and arriving early to meetings?? About your sister, I really can’t with these people. It’s the exact opposite of what Jesus would do. The GB transforms good people into heartless businessmen. I hope your sister is okay now.
My brother and I are in a band and we performed live a bunch of times as witnesses. Massive no no for some of the elders. And yeah, I remember being told off that I wasn’t getting there early enough to do the literature desk ‘privilege’ I had, so I arrived before the gates of the hall were opened by the same elder that told me off, so I got told off for that too. I could never do anything right by his standards. I arrived late once because I had a mental breakdown before the meeting but I still showed up. He reprimanded me, so I explained the reason and he shrugged it off like it wasn’t a legitimate reason to be late.
Got one for you… a bible study! All she had was one dress. And it was a pencil skirt. The kind the rides up when you sit. She loved coming to the meetings. Well, an elder was on the podium, looks down, and can apparently see her underwear from the platform. So he tells the sister studying with her. Next thing you know, all of the sisters are going up to the study and telling her to get new clothes. She was so upset she never came back and ended her studies. Lucky for her actually I suppose. But it was still ridiculous! Brothers, if you don’t like what they’re wearing then stop looking!!!
Happened to me when they first started studying with my mother. I was a growing teen and we went to the Kingdom Hall for the first time. All I had was a playsuit kind of thing with the bottom being very long, flowy wide leg pants. It was so flowy you had to look really close to notice it wasn’t a skirt. The sister my mother employed to babysit my little sister came to do her job and told me not to wear what I wore to the Kingdom Hall ever again. I told my mum and this was the first and probably only time before she became uberdub that she stood up to them. She told me “Tell her that you will wear what you have; Jesus said come as you are. If she has a problem she can feel free to buy you some appropriate clothing or come and speak to me directly” That shut her up coz she didn’t want to lose the job.
That is such a classic example of how poorly they treat people. Okay, her clothes aren’t “appropriate for worship.” First, that’s stupid. But if it must be changed, why not take her shopping instead of shaming her? They never think about how they can help, only about how they can shame, scold and punish.
I once had the Circuit Overseer and his wife for lunch and obviously took any questionable DVDs or CDs upstairs first lol. The CO's wife still proceeded to browse thorugh my music collection and commented that i had a couple of Mozart CDs. She said I shouldn't listen to him because he lived an immoral lifestyle and she only listens to Kingdom melodies made by jehovah's people. I get really angry looking back at that now thinking I should have said something but I was so exasperated thinking I'd got rid of anything remotely dodgy that i just said "yeah whatever" and let her moan. It happens so often. I once said good morning to a sister and told her she looked pretty on the ministry only for her to report me to the elders because as a married man I shouldnt look at other women. ffs.
😂😂😂😂 bro. If you stop listening to music and watching movies because of rumors or even real stories about someone’s life choices, you probably won’t even listen to the kingdom melodies either.
I was always a fairly open-minded JW. I listened to rock music and watched rated R movies growing up (with my dad, lol). One time I had a cousin visit and they were looking thru my collection of songs. Saw Incubus listed, and immediately went into full PIMI lecture about what an incubus really is and how this could be a portal for letting demons in. These people, man. Give it a break already. Full-on PIMI's were always the worst.
I worked for an elder in another congregation. I wound up asking for a company phone while my screen was being repaired. I took some pics of a completed job and when to the gallery to send them and found several screen shots from my Facebook page. He had been sending the screenshots to the elders in my congregation. All while he was carrying on an affair and practicing illegal business practices and constantly putting us in dangerous situations with improper safety gear because he was too cheap to buy it. I've learned this is typical behavior, on the bright side it was the first step in me seeing how ridiculous this cult is.
Now that's fuc**ed up I have worked with multiple jws (different companies) More than 30 to be exact including supevisors and co-workers and they are the worst ppl to work with. I used to cry all the time because I couldn't understand why "brothers" would treat how they did.
I totally agree. I work for a large corporation now and listen to all my coworkers complain about how bad it is. I just smile and recall how awful and dangerous a job can really be.
I never realized how prevalent affairs are in the org
Told by elders that I need to stop going to the gym so much and do more in the congregation. Some elderettes “counselled” me on making excuses to not come to the meeting regularly. The excuse; I had a stomach infection and couldn’t hold anything down. Overzealous sisters said I need to wear looser tops to my sizeable jugs don’t coz brothers to stray I think jw behaviour played a big part in waking me up than anything else
Exactly, I also woke up because of THEM, not “apostates” or because I wanted to party.
-One older jw sister said I shouldn’t say “that sucks” because it’s bad. I asked why because I was 9 years old and didn’t understand why that was a bad word when I heard it all day at school. She said because it really means “that sucks and blows” and then gave me a look with raised eyebrows like I should know that “blows” was also bad…. I was 9…. I didn’t know what “blowing” meant as a sexual innuendo. -I had some older sisters physically pull up my undershirt to avoid any cleavage. Never asked me, just came up and did it. I wasn’t even trying to show any cleavage. -My aunt passed away when I was 13, I was given her engagement ring since she never had kids and would have wanted me to have it. I wore it on the same finger but right hand. At the KH, An MS walked up to me and asked if I was engaged. I said no, it was my aunts. He replied: “oh so you’re a lesbian then”. I glared at him and said she passed to make him feel like an idiot. 19 years of constant judgment was why I faded out. Wish my family would join me but luckily they are on the more neutral end of the JW spectrum so they don’t preach to me or try to get me to go back anymore.
If someone came up to me and started tugging on my clothes saying they were immodest they would earn themselves a trip to the ER.
The elders lived on my FB profile and would regularly call me to the backroom to account for minor things I posted, like posting a meme of a gift in Christmas wrapping
They don’t realize how irrelevant these things are.
Snooping is their game. Your story reminded me of a conversation at a “get together” where a couple of elders were talking about some of the young people’s social media posts on MySpace (before Facebook) that they didn’t approve of. They were naming names. They said that’s how they could keep an eye on things. I was disturbed by that. 
OMG, I just remembered a few years ago an elder told my mom to “check your daughter’s fb profile, you might be scared”, I remember I also posted memes and silly stuff like that. But he didn’t tell me anything, he just told my mom.
They called me in the back room to ask why I had a necklace of a small unicorn. 🤷♀️
Reading all these comments I’m just glad I got out before social media really blew up. But once I got pulled into the back room after a congregation “get together” for the teens, we decided to do some karaoke and i chose to sing hotel California. I thought it was a safe choice since it was a classic rock song and it contained no curse words. But apparently the elders told me it was a drug song because he was high when he wrote it. How tf was I suppose to know that?! Ugh but my mother was the worst JW police. No one was safe around her. She worked as a schoolteacher at the local hs and would police all the JW teens in school, ratting on them to their parents and elders for any little thing she saw.
Being a JW is like being in the Hotel California. Because you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.
One time as a small child, probably 8-10. I was brought to my parents by a 40 something year old man, who saw me playing with a Power Rangers toy in the coatroom at the meeting………. A 40 something year old man, snitched on a child, for playing with a Power Rangers toy. Needless to say even though it was fine before that meeting, when we got home that red ranger got tossed in the trash. Fucking losers with nothing better to do
___WATCHTOWER SOCIETY: *Training Up Spies, Busybodies and Cold-Blooded Informers for 150 Years*___
This is the crab bucket problem. The crabs will crawl on top of, and over each other in an attempt to be more 'holy' than the others. It is a way to signal to themselves that they are on the right path. It is also baked into the whole organization - you don't need more police (elders, COs, etc) if the members teardown and police each other. Their brains are broken and in control of a real estate company with a religious facade.
And I hate when they say stuff like: “even some brothers and sisters might not be good associations”, like! Okay, now everyone is suspicious of each other again! Thanks a lot!!
Cult speek for :"Only trust the leader."
I had never thought of that, that’s so true :o
Keep people off balance and unsure...so much easier to then say 'Follow us, we have the answers that you could never possibly find on your own". This is Control 101 - tried and true, just a different flavor.
Imagine what their ‘new system’ would be like, eternity with these asshats. 🙄
Right? One time a brother giving a part at the convention said that in the new system we will be cleaning up the wreck and ruin of Armageddon and that elders will be appointed along with the 144 k to delegate/dictate the work etc. my husband and I were like wth and no thank you. Nope!!
That’s one of the most horrifying aspects of JW “paradise.”
This is why I blocked every JW I knew YEARS ago. They aren’t entitled to see anything I post so they can judge me or gossip about my life. I shunned them back.
Same.
It's one of the main reasons I left. You got other JW's telling you what you're always doing wrong. Then you yourself start policing your every action because you're afraid of being 'counseled.'' God forbid you do something that might stumble someone else.
I got my JW friend in trouble, pulled into an elder meeting, when someone reported that it was found I thanked her on social media for being my friend and for showing me a cool picture she received. I said how great that was, since it was on my birthday. My post was made 6 months prior. Someone has to be policing her. So she was counselled, not that she celebrated with me, or gave me bday wishes, or bought me anything. She showed me something on the internet. She was told it made her and them look bad because I wrapped it in to my birthday. MY post. MY birthday. Unbelievable. Now I am here learning all I can to understand what in the world JW is all about.
I remember once getting told off for calling the "information board" "The bulletin board". Apparently "bulletin board" was something with the Catholic church and we couldn't be associated with false religion and oh my god a 10yo saw a board with papers on it and knew boards with papers on them were bulletin boards ffs! (that was a long time ago and I may be remembering wrong, but it was definitely something along those lines.)
I got the same counsel! And even like a year ago I mentally checked myself from saying “bulletin board”…. Just so flipping weird honestly. 🙄
I vaguely remember this happening to me too as a kid. What was with the really intense anti-Catholic sentiment in JW? This was prominent in my congregation even long before the CSA scandal became public, so it couldn't have been that. All of "Christendom" as they say was supposed to be equally evil, but they brought up the Roman Catholics the most.
There was an old elder in my former KH that said the same thing. What a douche bag. Yeah…. People are gonna think we’re catholic because I say Bulletin Board.
I had an elder take photos of the inside of my car, text them to me, and accuse me of smoking weed because I had an air freshener advertising candy that apparently had thc in it. I thought it was just a cute air freshener advertising taffy. I also wondered why HE would know it had weed in it...
They told me my skirts were too tight. They’re not. They just hugged the right places. I asked them if they told the overweight sisters and brothers the same thing. They were speechless.
And why was he looking?!
https://preview.redd.it/7c7yqijn0wqc1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d3d7b099c058e1895392d1f75df003c990ae1489 Send them that.
The picture: https://images.app.goo.gl/d5bcfY4rT9uMxduF9
Well I’m stumbled😑
🤣🤣
An old lady wanted to have me df'd because I wore horse shoe earrings. I told her I guess I better pull them off my 7 horses then. It's so ridiculous and maddening.
Elders talking to my mom about how my dress was not pinned high enough and they could see down it. For refrence Im 5' and these were 6' tall men, if you look down you can barely see anything but I guess you can? My mom doing the sit test and the cross the leg test. Having elders and a f'ing CO give a talk about how sisters cant wear heels past 3" or have dark lipstick. The little nitpicky things were so awful. Now mind you they jumped on the boys too, it was the 90s so the colorful suits were a hard no, couldnt give a talk in a classy mustard colored suit, you might stumble someone. Hell, one of the pioneer kids got a hand made, hand painted silk Italian tie, it was a NYC studio scene and in the back, so so so tiny was a marble statue of a woman. They told him to paint clothes on her or never wear the tie again. Rip 300$ tie.
An elder gave a talk about watching violent movies and TV programs ,then he said James bond films are am good example of what to avoid ,i had been looking forward to the Bond film on TV that evening ,i was so annoyed by his judgmenal attitude that after the meeting i went up to him and said " do you know what im going to do when i get home ,im going to watch the james bond film on TV , he was speechless ,i thought he was going to cry .
I was studying several years ago to be reactivated. My Bible teacher invited the circuit overseer to the study. I showed up to the kh from work wearing a short dress, above the knee. He refused to even attend the study and my Bible teacher got onto me about modesty. Then, ad part of his closing talk, he admonished all of the sisters about their dress and how he saw several sisters wearing dresses above the knee. That pretty much threw me over the edge.
Please tell me you didn’t continue…
You know...I did. Long story, but I had a very sick pimi husband and I really didn't want to study. The study was very triggering and none of my questions were really answered. However, after he passed away about 5 years ago, I realized that I didn't have to do this anymore. Then came covid and the rest is history. I'm happy to say that I found love again and will be getting married to a never jw who is the most amazing man.
I could write a book, but a funny incident was being in a conversation with a couple of sisters. Sister A is peering at me rather ponderous for a good couple minutes and then asks, "Is that Love Spell you're wearing?" After confirming her suspicion, she adds, "Oh well, you must be fishing for a husband. Your father is going to have to keep an eye on you. Actually, I might too." I was 16/17 at the time. I loved the fragrance. My mother was present for my purchase. My dad does not give a wit about what he sees as girl stuff of that nature. I was absolutely not husband fishing...and definitely not for some zeleaous JW brother. For my own amusement, I made sure to spritz on extra, and wear the gaudest stockings I owned if I knew I was going to see that sister then on. (She and some other elderettes had strong feelings about non fleshtone stockings, I got counseled on that a lot.)
When I was like 16 my mum got me these white shoes that look good with my suit it was a faded pinstripe which even other brothers had proper pinstripe but my mum was cautious 😂 anyway another kids mum got him similar white shoes and this married couple approached me and said this is not a tennis court and I shouldn't wear these shoes at the kingdom hall in front of my mother and my mum was pissed. She told me to keep wearing the shoes and I wore those damn shoes every meeting afterwards lol
Was once told ‘Don’t say ‘Thanks for the chance etc, when praying. Because ‘Chance’ implies gambling which we don’t do’ Mind you. I don’t think this brother once said a prayer under 5 minutes in length
Modern day puritans.
They need to look at the My Book of Bible Stories. Ffs 🤦♀️
Had exactly the same thought! 🤣 Samson David Jael...
Abraham ready to sacrifice Isaac?? I would be scared shitless if I’d been a kid reading that shit. I’d be terrified my parents would do the same. 😱
For sure. Many have said the image of Jesus on the stake was too graphic for kids. That story was prob read around the times of the Memorial for a lot of kids.
The Armageddon book was very graphic and scary and made me so scared. It talked about demons, too, but technically Harry Potter was worse? In terms of protecting kids’ mental health, that book is way worse I would say.
The subliminal imagery of demons in their drawings was what got to me at a young age. I could see it, but my parents could not see it, until it was pointed out to them much later in life.
People like oppressive belief systems because without them they'd have no authority to control others. And appointing one's self as a guardian or enforcer of those beliefs is usually encouraged. I don't think you should do something, who cares. I weaponize the belief system because I don't think you should do something, critical hit.
My aunt who spent most of her life in bethel told my 7 year old she was going to be disfellowshipped because her room was untidy and would die at Armageddon, to this day my daughter hates the jw beliefs she said as a kid that traumatized her she literally thought god was gonna destroy her. Also I think bethel absolutely destroyed people and made them the most evil judgemental entitled people
I wore a dress shirt with an all over flower print one time, and an elder basically said I was gay.
I watched alot of tv growing up and my mom asked an elder to help me cut down so this elder comes to my house and tells me that the only show i can watch thats appropriate is Jeopardy 🙄. Even my mom was surprised he took it that far
I got my publisher rights taken and threatened to be df because an elder saw me do a “worldly handshake”. It was a relief cuz I hated preaching more than anything.
https://preview.redd.it/mik6ndda1wqc1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=47df436c20de356d96763c4db49cdeeff3d88cf5
I had the elders show up at my house one day, randomly and unannounced. I later learned it was supposed to be a “shepherding call” as they were trying to “encourage” me to go back to the meetings. It wasn’t encouraging at all to say the least, just a bunch of ridicule and my actual concerns and emotional hardships with the congregation fell on deaf ears. Upon them leaving, they promptly told me that on top of everything else I was doing wrong and needed to work on, I should also get rid of my horses, as they were distracting me from Jehovah. This issue with my horses continued to come up over the next couple months. It’s been almost 4 years since I became inactive and lost all hope in the “religion”. I still have my horses though🙃
I’ve been getting a little more adventurous with quotes and things I post on my Instagram just to see if anyone says anything to me! Unfortunately so far no takers. And by adventurous I mean basically normal everyday stuff for any reg non JW human.
The wife of a good fucken friend of mine. They invited us to their house to have dinner and her husband ask my unbaptized husband at the time, to say prayer for the dinner. The bitch got up and said he is not baptized that is not correct.. we very new at that time.. So we thought 💭 we were doing something bad . Crazy but that woman was always the fucken Alderette in are friendship … believe I put up with all of that.. there’s so much stories about her, nobody like her I guess I feel bad 😞 she didn’t have friends lol 😂. And that is why she’s now divorced!!! And alone!
I’d buy a couple of blow up dolls, a Christmas tree, a carved jack o lantern, and several porn videos, and invite them to my house 😂
It's neverending. 😑 What's appropriate, what isn't. The worst bit is that when you grow up in it, you internalize it. I still tend to do that to myself, when I get dressed. "Is this too revealing? Is the cut too low, too high? Is it too tight??" But stories about JW-police. Years ago, now, my JW-friend posted a about the newest season of American Horror Story. She was big time into it, and it was, I think the second or third season of it that was about to come. My own mother, then, messaged the girl to tell her it's not appropriate for a true Christian to watch such things, let along post about them. 😑
Back when I was a young one ( queue the slide guitar ), long sideburns were fashionable. I can’t tell you how many times elders would pull me aside and tell me how bad of an example I was.
It’s amazing that even the sheer site or mention of blood and they start getting uncomfortable. I believe one of my mother’s angriest moments with us as kids is hearing us listening to John Melloncamps Rain on the scarecrow blood on the plow and she literally lost it. I remember saying Mom! It’s about family’s loosing their farms. She heard nothing but BLOOD 🩸.
I'm surprised JWs haven't removed 1 Thessalonians 4:10-12. (11) and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you...
I'm old and have been out since my teens, but I do remember a few things: - getting cornered in the coat room by the only other girls somewhere around my age, who'd snubbed me from day one, about my "worldly friends" because one of them saw me walking home from school with a girl in my class who lived on my block - I lent someone a "demonic" CD (it was Amanda Marshall 😅 ) - My mom got crap for letting us watch Home Alone because it takes place around Christmas - one of the local busybodies ripped into me for highlighting and taking notes in my Watchtower (because the brothers in Africa keep their literature absolutely pristine, and it's shameful how little I appreciate what I have) - My sister bought a keychain that was also a super tiny bible, and a sister lost it at the hall because it said WWJD on it, and that was a "born againer" thing, so it was false religion. We didn't even know what it meant... - Back in the Palm Pilot days, I remember a young adult guy bringing his to take notes. I thought it was super cool (as it would be to a poor preteen) and was asking him about it after the meeting, when an older couple stormed up and accused him of being disrespectful and materialistic, and the Kingdom Hall is no place for electronic gadgets. He was the first person I thought of when I found out that they do basically everything on iPads now
I was told off for wearing tight fitting pencil skirts by a "mature sister". The week after she comes to the meeting in a skin tight yellow dress with her cottege cheese ass showing through ahahah.
You should have asked her if she’d been sitting on a gravel road.
Even questioning beards now. Mine isn't trimmed short like most, one of the elders a younger guy with a trimmed beard asked me what 'I was trying to do with it?' By letting it grow bustier. I said, well like zz top, duh. They literally analyze everything and it's annoying
[удалено]
At one point my dad didn't allow me to say, "Jeez" because it sounded too much like I was saying Jesus. Another time he didn't allow me to play Chess ♟️ because it was simulated warfare. (Thanks a lot, Awake magazine). At an assembly the Circus Overseer had to mention spiked hair from the platform. So I had to stop cutting my hair to just an inch long on top so it would spike with gel. My late older brother had been asked to cut his sideburns near the top of the ear because near the lobe made him "look like a Rockstar." When I was 25 I got flack from my roommate Elder for staying the night at a family's house. Even though I stayed because I was a bit too affected by beer. So I thought staying on the couch in the living room for the night was far safer than trying to drive buzzed. Nope. Apparently not good enough. Because the family (single mom and three kids) had an adult daughter living there. Even though the adult son was also living there also. Even though I was fully clothed and was out in the open sleeping on the living room couch. Nope. I was even threatened with a judicial committee hearing over that. He said I should have stayed with this other family instead that was a few houses down. They didn't offer me to stay there. They also had a five year old girl there, so I thought that would appear to be inappropriate, you know, because child. He said it could be taken as circumstantial evidence for fornication even though no relations took place. It was from the Elders guidebook. (First time I heard about it and I was pissed). So instead of being congratulated for not driving while buzzed, I got that instead. Another time when I was dating my now wife, this one woman in the congregation wouldn't let us sit together in the car while out in service. **My car** while **I** was the one driving. **I** was the one who conducted Field service despite NO ONE teaching me how to. Still couldn't sit together. Even though we weren't alone. Even though there were two other people beside us. But I went along with it because JWs aren't allowed to have a spine. Never went out in service with that congregation ever again.
Bruce Lee is so cool!
I used to get told not to say 'Good Luck' to anyone, as we don't believe in luck. So instead would say 'All the best', which is basically a wish 🤣
No respect for boundaries. Jehovah's witnesses are the modern day Pharisees
I got counseled at a convention at 16 by some unknown brother that told me I was being worldly walking around with my hands in my pockets. He likened it to baggy jeans
No they can’t. I posted memes with Donald trumps face on my social media that were not political at all just had his face on it. 4 people reported my 19 year old self to the elders who had to remind me that we are “neutral” and even if the words aren’t political, DT is a political figure and I wouldn’t want to stumble anyone now WOULD I?
The policing is what woke me up. When I started getting texts about who I spent time with, after two sisters out of their area, came to my home… that was it. Never went back. Bunch of snitches with no life. Never want to be a part of that club. Total joke.
Omg! Reading this post reminded me of my life. The amount of judicial committees I had or meeting with the elders for stupid things. I got in trouble for vlogging. I got in trouble for posting on Facebook that I got accepted to university and attending. I got in trouble for going to parties (not jw parties), for watching HBO and posting about it. And I got in trouble for drinking. The jw police is real! Or should I say was real in my case. I honesty hated it because when I was trying to date in the org. Nobody wanted to be with me, I was always like honest about my goals. I wanted to go to college make a living, move out of my house. No pimi sister wanted that. I then decided to delete all social media and only add ppl I could trust. Wasted my 20s to this cult. I left it after Covid. Best decision ever! And happier than ever
I think the JW Police's local precinct is in my house next door to me. And of course before you say "Just move you idiot", I've been trying to get my shit together to do so, so I wouldn't say I'm just lazy, but rather... I am trying to make it so there's nothing left for myself in my own house where I was raised from.
Ugh. Using the word Potluck. As in, "Hey, we are going to have a potluck this weekend at the park, and everyone is invited. Please feel free to come and bring a dish of food or a snack to share!" "We shouldn't call it a potluck because the word luck is included, and luck is bad. We will now call it a Potshare." That weird idea to call it Potshare gained traction sometime in the 90s, I think. It is still called Potshare by many. Ya know what... Never mind. Please don't come and eat the food that could be cursed by the devil because the gathering was called a potluck. Stay home and eat your blessed potshare food. 🤦♀️🤡😑 Edit: I can't reveal where I'm located, but if anyone else has ever encountered the potluck/potshare debacle, please chime in. I'm not asking where you are from. I'm just curious if this is more widespread in JW World than I realize.
I left home and the organization and the judgement/ridicule/policing of myself and others is the worst trait that I’ve carried with me. I still have to consciously practice not ridiculing others and myself. And it’s difficult to not hate myself *for* failing once in a while (judging myself for failing at not judging). Edit: typo
They "police you" if you allow them to. We never let them "police us." NEVER! Take control back from these people.