What Things Were YOU Counseled For? (page 3)

journey-on

Two things: Skirts too short and asking too many speculative questions.

dissed

Irr. same thing for me.

A single Elder, who claimed to be of the annointed, who oftened threatened to hit you with lightening bolts in the new system, if you ever made fun of him, said this to me.

"If you want to be an Elder, you need to take control of your headstrong wife."

I asked why he thought she was headstrong? "Her comments at the meeting. She is way too smart. She needs to comment on sister like things, the more simple ones."

Some of you are thinking, that has to be impossible. But that's what this primadonna said in words and tone.

He later became a CO and still is. Honestly, I won't be surprised to see him on the GB some day.

His name, so I can get credit for the GB prediction?lol Joel Barton

I joined JWD/JWN about 2 years ago. I started including TONS of outside quotes and references in my talks. They were relevant and accurate but always included some tidbit to promote free thinking. I got counseled by ONE fellow elder for not sticking closely enough to the assigned material. The other elders thought he was full of himself and told me to keep up the good work. So I did for about a year.

Then I decided to change my strategy and become a crappy speaker. So I applied his counsel. For some reason I'm not getting nearly as many assignments these days.

Praise Jah!

om

minimus

OM, you're an elder, still?

garyneal

Wow, sounds so much like the Independent Fundamental Baptist preachers I use to listen to in church.

Keep your hair cut short guys and don't wear earings, and wear suits if you can afford too.

Ladies, wear long dresses for heaven forbid a pretty girl with nice legs would cause a man to stumble. (Though I would have to admit there is some truth to that. ) Don't even think about wearing jeans to church.

My mom attended church with me several years ago when I was still going to this type of church. My mom found the best dress she could find but it was a not a 'little house on the prairie' type of long dress. The preacher spoke about dress code and my mom felt like he was talking about her.

Some of the other things I'd hear these preachers say in their sermons: Be careful what you watch on TV and in the movies, and stay away from the Internet because cyberporn is everywhere. Beware of the game Dungeons and Dragons, it's Satan's game. You know that cartoon Captain Planet, it's devil worship because Satan is also about Wind, Fire, Water, Earth, and Heart. (Go Satan, er Planet!) Watch out for those Smurfs, they have a guy named Vanity who is as queer as a six dollar bill. It's also about sorcery and we need to stay away from that. "If you go to college, I recommend a Bible college," says the pastor, "We want our young men to grow up and become preachers someday and our young women to become preacher's wives." As if we don't have enough churches as it is. The large number of protestant churches makes us fodder for the Catholics and the Jehovah's Witnesses.

Thanks to some of that preaching, we were scared of our own shadow (at least those of us who who took him seriously). The rest would just do there own thing and be hypocritical saying Amen in church and doing whatever they pleased outside of it. I remember a friend of mine told me about this guy who after the preacher would give a sermon about drinking alcohol and all of its ills, at the close of the sermon this man would get in his truck and drink his bottle of Jack Daniel's. (Yes, that church was a little country church.)

I suppose these preachers mean well, for we always have to be mindful about the things we do and the entertainment we engage in. I just think they were a little too over the top. One church was so legalistic that eventually most of the people left out of frustration and the church itself was shut down. By then, I had already been gone from that church for a while so I did not even notice. I just noticed about 5 to 10 years later when this same friend of mine began going there and invited me. New pastor, new name and none of that legalistic stuff (though they still believe in a young Earth).

I remember back when I did visit there under the old pastor, he gave a sermon about attending multiple churches (which I had been doing at the time). He said, "If you are a member of one church, and you go visit another church, you're committing adultery against the home church." By then, I had had enough of his preaching (though a great man that he was) and decided I'd become a member of the Southern Baptist church I was attending. I called him sometime after that to see how he was doing. He asked, "So are you attending church anywhere?" "Yes, I am going to this Southern Baptist church now and I just became a member there." "Oh, well that's good, as long as you are attending somewhere," he responded. Then he later said, "Well, I sure would like to see you come and visit us sometime." I replied, "But wait a minute, what about where you said that 'I would be committing adultery against the home church?'" "Weeeellll.....," and he backpedaled big time.

keyser soze

I was counseled for watching Dawn of the Dead. One of the reasons an elder gave me for not watching it was that those dead zombies were played by live actors.

No shit? They didn't use actual zombies?

Open mind

Oh man! I just looked at my "Member Since" date. I've been here 3 years.

Uh yeah. (Drags toe in dust.)

Still an elder.

But making excellent progress on all other fronts. I'd give more details, but it wouldn't be prudent.

om

undercover

They didn't use actual zombies?

They're just too unreliable. Never on time...always dragging their feet...

minimus

Michael Jackson stole all the zombies for Thriller. Now all they have left are real live actors.

skeeter1

Hanging out too much with only two other JW teenagers (who were both girls). Seems the elders wanted me to socialize with ALL the teenagers, even suggesting I meet the boys in the Hall! So, I took thier advice and discovered the JW boys were WORSE than the "worldly" boys. They JW boys all got SUPER drunk, drove drunk, and one had a gun that he brandished at other drivers while we drove to sporting events. I never told the elders about the boys' behavior (I had a sinking feeling they'd blame me somehow or I'd get in trouble for having a beer that the boys gave me), I stopped associating with the JW boys.

Then, the elders "got on me" about my lousy publishing hours. I told them I didn't want to be a publisher anymore. They threatened that "it will be announced." And I said, "ok, go ahead."

What Things Were YOU Counseled For?

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