What was life like for you as a JW teenager?

highdose

in the WT's illistrations they portray jw teenagers as happy, together group. My experinace is that the JW teenagers in the cong were some of the bitchyist backstabbing arse holes i'll ever meet.

It was unheard of for us to engage in group "wholesome activity" as show in the WT's illistrations. The competition amongst the girls for the handsome, sane and elders sons were cut throat. The boys in turn played the girls like pianos, reveling in the attention.

The older people in the cong constantly told us off for everything. especailly they looked out for any sign that you might be developing a personality/ mind of your own... and quickly acted to nip that in the bud!

the kudos of meeting attendence, answering up, bible studies, pioneering, TMS, MTS etc were all used as whepons in the war of "whose the most spritual"? This in turn scored bonus points with the opposite sex, in fact that was the whole and entire motivation. The JW equivilent of wearing a mini skirt to attract attention.

Being a teenager was misrable due to having all the impluses of a adult and not being allowed to act on them. Instead knowing you would have to go through the whole scene of courting then getting married before you could do anything. Either that or you lost everything.

NomadSoul

I think the only fun activity I remember doing once was playing tackle football with kids from another congregation. It was hell of fun. But didn't last too long before the elders put a stop to that.

Then there was that water balloon fight where some teenage sisters were involved.... lol

Besides those times, it was pretty much dull.

undercover

I think the only fun activity I remember doing once was playing tackle football with kids from another congregation. It was hell of fun. But didn't last too long before the elders put a stop to that.

Then there was that water balloon fight where some teenage sisters were involved.... lol

LOL.... were you in my hall?

We used to have weekly football games in the fall and weekly basketball games in a rented gym during the winter, early spring. Each of those were constantly hassled by the stick-in-the-mud elders or snoopy older dodgy folks.

And I remember getting in trouble for a water related incident with a well-endowed sister when we were all about 15-16. It was a congregation picnic and we got to horsing around with empty chicken buckets filled with water. She got me first...I chased her and got a full frontal blast of water on her white t-shirt. Oh, it was nice... but I got in trouble but good.

And there was the time I got to take the girl of my dreams home from a picnic. Just me and her in the car... ALONE! OMG! I about couldn't stand it. But - nothing happened. Oh well... so much for that JW idea of leaving two single people together falling into lustful sin at the drop of a hat. I was looking forward to it.... but it just didn't happen.

But by and large, life as a JW teenager was BORING. Until I got my license and got to get out a little more I was stuck at home, except for meetings and service. There were no family outings, other than a once a year vacation. Going out of town meant going to a convention.

There was more freedom when I had a car, but with heavy curfews and not really fitting in with the popular cliques, I got to where I cherished my time alone with music more than anything.

charlie brown jr.

Well In High School I was.......

Yep that JW people didn't mind hanging out with......

See me and 3 other JW's hung out and DID have the Double Life....

Drinking ...Weed... trouble.....

Then Stupid me ......

I took it seriously.... and got Baptized!!!!!!

We got away with Lots!!!

I took it serious my Senior Year.......

Band on the Run

Utter horror. Unlike others, there was very little socialization in my KH. I lived in a very different neighborhood. The isolation was so keen. College and the Beatles were my raison d'etre. Much had to do with my father but the Witness culture is also present. Atrocious.

It is normal to flirt, dance, date. How does anyone go into a decent marriage unable to stand on your own two feet and at such a young age. My cousins married at 14. Pregnancy was the reason. If you counted the time to baby's birth, the child was conceived out of marriage. The elders looked the other way. My opinion is that if teenagers were able to do slightly supervised teen age things, social skills would be developed. An education and a job would connote maturity. I cried b/c they seemed to skip all these years. The truth is they did not skip them to be more mature. B/c they never had to go through what I endured, they stayed at a juvenile age. Grown ups should marry, not children. Pregnancy is a very bad reason for marriage.

Jadeen

Oh yeah, I remember the competition for the guys attention. There was one guy in particular in our congo that I got along with. We had a similar, dry sense of humor. We weren't attracted to each other, but we were buds. One of the girls set her sights on him, and after meetings, I could count down how long before she pulled him away from me- in the middle of a conversation!

Her goal was to get married at 18 and to be the first in our age group to tie the knot. Someone beat her to it- ha!

I thought that their behavior was embarrassing. I wasn't attracted to the guys in my hall; they just didn't seem genuine, acting one way at the hall and another way outside. Of course, we weren't allowed to show our true personalities; we all had to act "spiritually minded".

charlie brown jr.

There was one guy in particular in our congo that I got along with. We had a similar, dry sense of humor. We weren't attracted to each other, but we were buds.

they just didn't seem genuine, acting one way at the hall and another way outside.

Kristen?????

Just Kidding LOL

straightshooter

I had fun as a teenage jw back in the 70s. There were lots of gatherings, games, dancing, and music. I remember several of the elder gatherings where card games were played, good food, and alcoholic drinks. There were multi-cong park gatherings of vollyball, baseball, and picnic food. Then about twenty years ago, the fun-loving elder body passed away and the younger elder body placed all sorts of restrictions on gatherings. Now I feel sorry for the teenage jws today.

undercover

Now I feel sorry for the teenage jws today.

I dunno...

While we see evidence of the WTS becoming more and more cultish, I see evidences that everyday dubs are less zealous than before (which is why the WTS is reacting so cultish). I see JWs actually living more like the world around them. They shun holidays, politics and hope to never have to face the blood issue, but aside from those few things, most of them are pretty normal living folks. They're sending their kids to colleges. Maybe not an Ive League school or anything, but they're getting them higher education. They're buying homes and cars. Taking trips and enjoying life and what the world has to offer in the ways of entertainment and culture.

I'm sure there are some hardcore dubs that hold to the party line, but it looks like from the dubs I still have contact with that, generally speaking, today's JWs aren't holding their breath for Armageddon. They're living and planning their future in this world. As they have less zeal, then their kids are going to have even less. And they're going to start breaking the taboos that we didn't. Worldly association. Entertainment. Sports. Dating. Traveling. Education. Careers.

d

I went to a few gatherings when I was younger but overall they were dull. Young Jw's can be very weird.

What was life like for you as a JW teenager?

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