How did you visualize Jehovah when you were young?

Matsimus

I was born as a third generation (perhaps even fourth gen. but my great great grandfather never got baptized) JW. I remember that when I was young, perhaps about five years old, I would think about Jehovah as this big black ghost with yellow eyes. To me he was quite frightening, and I was constantly catious not to piss him off. I remember once when the wind was howling outside at night, I asked my grandmother if it was Jehovah speaking. When I heard that Martin Luther was terrified of god when he was young, I remembered how scared I was as a kid.

So if there is a point to this post, it might be that perhaps what is said at KH is not always appropriate for kids? What do you think?

iamwhoiam

no. i was always reminded that "no one can see god and yet live". and that he is in the "spirit realm" which makes him invisible.

Band on the Run

I was utterly confused as a young kid. Despite being bored out of my mind and disassociating to cope, I heard the passage of scriptures about Moses being in some sort of danger if he saw the face of God. Next, someone prayed at an assembly that Jehovah was present in the hall. I took it literally. My eyes starting scanning hidden areas (I did not see him in the main room or on the podium), I check every ventilation grid and similar places. I so much wanted to see Jehovah but I was afraid if I saw him, he would murder me. All the adults applauded so heartily that I thought this was the defining moment in human history.

I could not picture him. He had to be very, very scary. All he ever did was punish people for not complying with arbitrary rules. As I learned more and more OT stories, I felt bad for the humans. I may have told my mom I could not find him. Next, the orange book, From Paradise Lost, entered our house with all the very express pictures of normal people being destroyed through earthquakes, building falling, etc.

Jesus seemed nice. Jehovah was utter terror.

What is wrong with Sunday school and age appropriate teachings. My fear of Jehovah meant I never trusted him. he became my enemy. Armageddon seemed all over the top. Cleaning up all the dead bodies for untold thouands of yeaars did not seem to be Paradise. Many decades later, my brother and I laugh so hard at the terror of the Paradise Lost book. Specific illustrations of terror items remain fresh in my mind. There are so many calming, and utterly beautiful Bible passages. Why could they not balance them? Children are not little adults. Being chained to a seat for a WT meeting when you are a toddler and up makes you resent the religion.

What is so evil about crayon drawings, children's songs, and having the congregation dote on children rather than resenting them.

troubled mind

As a kid I thought of him as an old mean man with long white beard (Gandolf ?) plus the Paradise Lost book was a horrible visual aid for little kids to learn about God . As I got a little older (after the little pink book for kids came out ) I liked the idea of Jesus being kind ,gentle and approachable ,but Jehovah was still always mean .

bigmac

from my teenage recollections--some JW mothers used to fill their kids with dread about jehovah. these days it would be classed as child abuse.

keyser soze

He looked a little bit like Colonel Sanders. I can't explain why.

stillstuckcruz

Well I always knew we didn't know what he looked like. But I usually just imagined him based on what the most current WT magazine portrayed him as.

snare&racket

Jehovah = Bad Cop

Jesus = Good Cop

Faithful Discreet Slave = Nice old men that spend all day in the bible

Elders = A bunch of cocks in a hard place, refuse in the wind

Miniskirted Serpants = Ministerial Servants

Pioneers = Nice young people, though a little too smiley and in shitty clothing

Bethel = Heaven on earth

Bethelites = The most self righteous dickheads on earth

Older Bro's n Hoe's = Somwhere to go when it rained on the ministry

Married Sisters = Saucy eye candy

Single Sisters = Mental or Married

The HLC = Vampire killers

The RBC = Regional Building Cowboys

CO = Travelling comedian

DO= Travelling miserable bastard with a slightly camp way about him

Missionary = Yawn... too many boring stories about being ill with malaria

Londo111

When I was 5, I was obsessed with determining Jehovah's general size. I figured he had to be at least as tall as a tree.

From the Bible Story book, Armageddon looked fun. Jesus and the angels riding horses--I couldn't wait! I didn't really get the death and doom aspect of it. I remember after I stomped a bug how my mother told me that Jehovah could destroy me if I did something wrong. I was shocked and scared.

Oh…and I remember having this idea that the "new system" was like Noah's Ark that floated in the clouds, which inside looked like a Kingdom Hall, but containing all sorts of animals, like lions and tigers and sheep.

highdose

i could never understand why the israelits were told not to make a representation of jehovah, yet the wt prints them????

How did you visualize Jehovah when you were young?

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