by kristyann 27 Replies latest jw friends
Getting your ears pierced was okay as long as it was once only.( Although one elder's kids couldn't get them done at all in our hall ) As an attempt to cheer me up out of a depressed state as a teen, my mom took me to get them done a second time. After I left I got them done a third time and also peirced the cartilage in one. That one refused to heal for months and just got nasty so I had to take out the ring and let it heal.
Dams
I remember the elders in our backwater congregation were very vocal about sisters not having more than one piercing per ear. That all changed when a group of us took a tour to Bethel and one of the sisters we met there had two in each ear! The POs wife kept commenting on it. I told my buddy that all the sisters in our cong. would have second piercings with in a few month's time. I was right.
Since leaving, I have gotten two piercings in one ear and a tattoo myself. I rarely wear earrings anymore, but I definately want another tattoo.
CountryGuy
I think they should allow the sisters to get nose rings (and toe rings).
Rebekah was given a nose ring.
(Genesis 24:22) 22
Consequently it came about that, when the camels had finished drinking, then the man took a gold nose ring of a half shekel in weight and two bracelets for her hands, ten shekels of gold was their weight,
I am suprised that the articles didn't go further and just ban the piercing and tattoo! In the congregations I attended, anything other than earings for the girls would not have been tolerated.
Lots of people try to impose their consciences on fellow JWs. I bought a masculine necklace for my preteen son. My sister in law told me that brothers don't wear necklaces. I asked her where she got that info. She said she read in a magazine that a brother was going to be mugged. The mugger asked the brother for his jewelry and the brother said, "I'm one of Jehovah's Witnesses and our men don't wear jewelry." Of course her husband wore a nice wedding ring. This was her interpretation of the experience and she was trying to impose her conscience on me.
I thought this was ridiculous and continued to allow him to wear his necklace. It was one more nit picky thing that made me think.
Memory jog!
The necklace story just awakened a memory from my younger days. I was in my late teens, maybe twenty, when it was fashionable for guys to wear gold necklaces. Not the Mr. T type, but just a small gold strand, usually it stayed under the shirt, only seen when shirtless or wearing an open collar.
A new family moved into the congregation from California and the elder father saw that some of us were wearing these gold chains while at a JW pick-up football game one day. He then went to the other elders and expressed his concern about the brothers wearing these because in the movie industry, according to him anyway, wearing a gold chain was a homosexual identity thing.
Within days, all the younger brothers were taken aside and warned about the "dangers" of wearing a necklace.
Looking back on it now, I can't believe the stupidity of some of the issues that were made out of things. It seems that JWs are lightening up some, but not because headquarters is allowing them, but because people in general are tired of being told what to do, how to do it and when to do it. A revolution is starting to take place. It may take years, but eventually the WTS will have to loosen their grip, allow some independance, change doctrines or they will become less and less of a mainstream religion that they want to be viewed as and revert back to a wacky, cult-like sect with a small following of off-center individuals. The past and current hardline approach will not work. They will have to change or the money will dry up.
Thanks to everyone who replied and contributed to the discussion! It really helped me out... I was always kind of curious about this. Don't worry, I wasn't scared away... sometimes I have limited access to using the Internet and I cannot join in on the discussions as much as I'd like to... plus I have a big lab practical that I am studying for. Talking about Jehovah's Witnesses is a lot more interesting than studying for my lab practical, though, that's for sure!
In the local hall one young woman was told to get rid of excess earrings.Her Daddy was a local elder as as she was still living at "home" She lost the rings but I know she wasn't too happy about it.
Ahh poztate I know of whom you speak. She in fact had 1 (or I believe 2) helix cartilage piercing(s) as well as 2-3 holes in each ear. I always thought it looked really neat. Wore semi heavy rings in them too not dainty little gold things. She didnt get told to take them out directly, but a local needs part pretty much implied the same. Although I am informed her earrings are back in now about 2 years after this incident, not sure what the deal there is. Perhaps pioneering lends some sort of diplomatic immunity.
I also remember a local girl here whose mother forbid her to pierce her belly button and she went ahead and did so anyway with her friends. Ick. I do not recommend DIY piercings at all. Nevertheless when her mom found out she didnt force her to take it out but she never was a model child. Always blamed not having a father in the truth and was a million miles spaced out at meetings.
I got my earlobes pierced when I was younger but was told to put hydrogen peroxide on them, now I know this is pretty much the worst thing you can do to a piercing! No wonder they got inflamed, crusty, sore and wouldnt heal. I ended up taking them out and got kebloid scaring on the back of my earlobes. I got them pierced when I was in high school again. I loved the helix cartilage piercings that everyone seemed to be getting at my school, guys and girls. I ended up wearing a fake ring there to school and around town. I was never allowed to wear it to any theocratic activities though and my mother was never happy with it.
About a week after I left the organization I went and got it pierced having worn the fake ring there for over a year, think I proved that wasnt just a fad. It was my very favorite piercing for a long time. Though I got it done with an ear gun something I most certainly DO NOT condone for cartilage piercings it causes excess tissue damage, increases healing time and leaves scarring and often kebloid tissue.
In college I ended up adding a few more holes to my earlobes and eventually an eyebrow piercing. I love my eyebrow even though neither of my parents is stoked about it. All my piercings to me are personal expressions of who I am and reminders of who I was at that time in my life. Note the eyebrow was done by a professional in what was certainly a most sanitary shop (gloves, single use needles, autoclaved jewelry and disinfectant) and with proper aftercare it healed up nicely (unscented antibacterial soap, salt water soaks, avoiding excessive touching).
