Hello, I have a question.

by curious77 5 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  curious77

  I am not a JW, never been, never will be. However, I have a cousin who has been one for a few years. I have read a lot about it online. I watched that old documentary from 1986 on google videos tonight.

  http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2183288529160546808&q=jehovah%27s+witness

  Now I knew there was some screwy stuff going on, I just had no idea how screwy.
  See the thing that I am confused about is just how strict the organization is nowadays. I assume it is just as strict as it was way back when. I know that my cousin attends the Kingdom Hall regularly. But I don't think that he and his family do the "knocking on doors" thing. Or at least I have never heard of them doing it. Also he and his wife are the only JWs in my entire extended family. They come to family gatherings that are not associated with any particular holiday or birthday. His wife goes to baby showers.

  Ok let me get to the point. Are they supposed to be fraternizing with the rest of us at all? When I saw the extremes of that old documentary I was taken aback. Was that documentary completely truthful? Is it still that bad now?

  My sister's sister-in-law, is also apparently a JW. BUT she is not all that involved with the organization that much anymore. My cousin's grandmother passed away two weeks ago. My sister and I were discussing how my cousin cannot attend his grandma's memorial service because it is going to be at a catholic church. My sister said that her sister-in-law told her that exceptions can be made in those situations. ????? Um, I thought they could not go into a church at all. Then I mentioned disfellowship. Again my sister told me that her sister-in-law informed her that exceptions can be made.

  I am freakin' confused right now. Does the JW org tell their followers that they can do things they are not supposed too? Is it more lax than it was before?

  I apologize if this is in the wrong section. I was not sure where to post it.
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  DJK

  Welcome C77. The JWs are screwy.
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  jgnat

  You posted in the right section.

  There are Jehovah's Witnesses who take the society's instructions to use their conscience, rather than follow every jot and tiddle in the literature as from God himself. It sounds like your family is lucky, and your Witnesses are of the first kind.

  JW's are technically allowed to do all the things you mention, though most won't for fear of offending their fellow congregation members. I doubt your Witnesses are completely forthcoming with their fellow congregation members how involved they are with the family. Again, lucky for you.

  I do think that every one of them is involved in door-to-door service, however. They may just be very good at hiding it.
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  curious77

  Thanks for the reply, and the correct formatting. :)

  I'll try to make sure I format it right myself.

  What are the guidelines that JWs are supposed to follow when dealing with non-witness family members? Also does the stuff that happened to those people in that documentary still happen as frequently as it did in the past?
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  still_in74

  it is not uncommon at all for witnesses to attend non-witness family functions. While it is likely they wont attend B-Day and Holiday parties, non-holiday functions are fine, baby showers for example. My father was not a JW so I have attended numerous weddings and funerals in Catholic Churches over my years. This is not worship, rather, a respectable means of closure. JW's would simply not participate in any ceremonial arrangements or prayers.

  Some JW's are more strict regarding this than others, this is their decision. While the WT has never come right out and said you cant associate with "worldly" family there is definitely strong implications toward associating as little as possible.

  As far as what happened in the documentary I am sure those things did happen, but I was raised a JW and have never known of anything like that personally. Most Elders are nice people, the odd one gets carried away a bit. The R&F usually know who those ones are and avoid them.

  I can also asure you they are indeed going "door-to-door"
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  kwr

  This is a propaganda film that I watched a while ago. I have known and worked with JW's my entire life and meet one jerk out of dozens of nice sincere hard working people. I'm sorry that the people in the families have had a break up, but in the secular world families don't talk to each other for all kinds of reasons also.