by gringojj 38 Replies latest jw friends
By the way, one of "the friends" recently did a friendly thing. Their cat was pregnant and they didnt want to deal with it anymore. So they dumped it off on my MIL. It just had 2 kittens and 1 died. Now shes stuck feeding it, has a kitten to take care of, and the cat is now spraying all over the house. I told her they should at least pay to have it fixed so it doesnt spray. She didnt seem to optomistic they would even do that.
These are some great "friends".
Ive gotten away with the "in speak" by using finger quotes whenever I say them to explain part of my former life to my boyfriend. It really does serve to make a nice mockery of everything.
When a group of them gets together, all they ever talk about is "the soceity" this and "the soceity" that.
Totally! "The Society says", "The Society says." I'm so sick of that phrase. They equate the Society with God every time they say that.
why yes!! that was friends university in wichita kansas. i guess i was a witness and a quaker. i prefered being a quaker, for the record.
I keep hearing the phrase"our people." Example: "Our people" really provided for one another during Katrina. The new hospital takes care of bloodless surgeries for"our people" here in Chicago". "Our people know the end is approaching very soon." Bla-bla.
Can someone please tell me when this thing of JW's calling each other "friends" started. Or is it just an "American thing".
In my 30 years as a JW I have never heard anyone refer to other JW's a "the friends" it was always the "brothers/sisters.
Was it in some Watchtower I missed?
They're working hard to get rid of "the Society says" when the subject deals with theological matters. "The Society says" is becoming more restricted to business related activity and recommendations (dictates).
In the early '80s I would hear "the friends" all the time both from the platform and in casual conversation. Just something held over from Russell's time when they really acted like friends to each other. As I mentioned in a post last night, congregations and Kingdom Halls are hardly friendly atmospheres any longer.
Worship, the ministry, field service, "sacred service," kingdom hall projects and keep-up, songs, quick builds, studies, sound and lighting control, non-congregation sponsored get-togethers (which is pretty much all of time), conventions and district assemblies, personal study, etc etc, has all become stale and sterile with no real friendship or feelings of camaraderie or genuine happiness or spirituality easily found in charity groups, secular organizations and guilds. More and more Witnesses just go through the motions until they can get to their real interests - reading non-JW books and magazines, games, internet surfing, shopping malls, home projects, and a multitude of vastly more stimulating interests. Sooner or later the entire Witness regimen will have to be overhauled when enough elders take a deep interest in the flock and inform their COs, who are completely out of the loop and insulated from the common JW. It'll be somewhat interesting to see its evolvement and implementation.
edited to add: a yearbook experience from Africa, shortened for brevity's sakes:
*** g95 12/22 p. 15 A First for Mali ***The friends come running from the hall, others from the house. The neighbors are amazed by it all. The brothers dance in excitement. What a reception the friends receive...
It drives me nuts hearing all the catch phrases out there with the witnesses. Sometimes though, it is amusing. If they could just hear themselves.....
I heard friends from the platform numerous times as parts of exhortations "Friends dont WE want to be the ones proven faithful" etc. I never heard it used in casual speech. It was very much a matter of being "in the truth" instead.
