Views of worldy folk as a witness

by fifi40 25 Replies latest jw experiences

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  Bonnie_Clyde

  The WT changed their understanding of the parable of the sheep and the goats a few years ago. When I started out as a witness, we were told that our preaching working was doing the separating, and I would often here dubs in our car group refer to a person who rejected the message as a "goat." A few years ago, they stated that the separating of the sheep and the goats wouldn't occur until the tribulation. Don't remember the year, but I believe that's when most witnesses stopped calling people goats.

  Want to hear something really bad? In the early 50's, the "sister" who studied with my mother-in-law took her out in service for the first time. When the householder rejected her message, this woman said, "I'll clean up your bones after Armageddon." I wonder if that could have been a throw-back to the Rutherford era.
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  Marcel

  i think most ex-witnesses feel about the whole story very emotional.
  
  in fact the wts doesnt really teach we should hate anybody.
  
  BUT:
  
  - its taught that we should hate "the world"
  - its taught that we should avoid worldy people (expection: service)
  - its taught that we should avoid and put under emotionally pressure (for their own "good")
  
  that implies the following thinking:
  
  - all worldly people are dangerous to us... as long as they are not believing.
  - we need to be very friendly to them because we need to convince and save them. they need to think we "love" the individual.
  - you're completely fine as long as you say "yes" to anything. as soon as you say "no" it may becomes hard. for some people it isnt as hard as to others (depending on self-esteem and social dependance). so to the individual it may seem to be like throwed to the mud and spitted on with hate. shunned, avoided from family and friends, alone, marked with the "wrongdoer" sign (always not in right). just because he may changed his mind on a question noone can fully answer. and that all in the phase when the shunned is in a bad mood because of its own doubts about his acting and he would need the love of his loved ones.
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  jgnat

  I remember the very first time my JW boyfriend (now husband) used the word "worldly". My head whipped around and I responded, "You make that sound like a dirty word." He laughed. But he still makes it sound dirty.

  People seem to forget that the "scape-goat" earned his freedom and lived. The perfect sheep were slaughtered and eaten.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scapegoat
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  mia_b

  i was taught that "although they may SEEM nice, but they have different morals and belief and you may be tainted by them"

  essentially they may seem ok but really they're bad.

  i was encouraged to not have any worldy friends or to attend any after school activities or clubs becasue it was unnecessary association. i had one friend at school and was encouraged not to spend time with her outside of school.

  its sad because i ended up having no real interest in people - i dont know whether that fault was mine but it sure wasnt helped by being told they were bad associations. i feel v guilty that i took so little interest in ppl when i was younger, i could hav been a much nicer person.
• 

  RubyStevens

  I was afraid of "wordly" people mostly. I didn't hear "goat" very much at all, but Bad Asociations Spoil Useful Habits was a biggie. But even so young (we left when I was 12) I wondered how could we serve two masters? How could we be the bestest, godliest, love oozing out of our pores organazation that loved our brother but at the same time despise wordly ones and view them of use only as someone we could con into reading a checklist of WTS literature and come to meetings?
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  knock knock

  Not only did they have to watch out for the goats on the outside, they had to be wary of the wolf in sheep's clothing on the indside. It really was / is a zoo. Just a thought though, were all goats classed together? Mountain goats? No chance for them I suppose? And what of the cute little pygmy goats? Goners as well?
  
  Goats: (Capra hircus):
  --Unlike sheep, goats easily revert to feral or wild condition given a chance. In fact, the only domestic species which will return to a wild state as rapidly as a goat is the domestic cat. --
  
  I suppose maybe we are goats after all but it's those damn domestic cats that we have to be careful of. :)