by run dont walk 15 Replies latest jw friends
I agree with Aunthill. It´s largely a matter of control. They want to be different, not because what they shun is necessarily bad, but for the sake of being different. If everyone in the world decided short hair and no beards was cool, all JWs would have long hair and beards by the next convention. Controlling the smaller details of one´s life goes along with the larger scheme of controlling a JW´s mind.
Ron
This beard issue was indeed the straw that broke the camel's back for me. When the elder's told me that the ban on them was up to the conscience of the local body of elders, I rather angrily wanted to know what right they had to substitute my bible trained conscience with their bible trained conscience. No answer. And with that I was gone.
"R"- rated movies are a major no-no in the U.S. If you are caught watching one you can lose your privileges, etc.
When I was a kid I didn't really think about it, but as I got older I met witnesses from other countries who watched movies that the U.S. rated "R" because their country had a different rating system or no rating system at all. It burned me up as a teenager/young adult because it seemed so bogus and unfair . I remember being really mad that a friend of mine from the U.K. went to see Good Will Hunting and I couldn't go. My husband and I watched the Terminator movies and Alien movies on VHS - it was our deep dark secret (he was an MS at the time), hee hee. That's so funny now - to think I let people tell me what movies I could see!
Hahaha, thats so funny that you should mention the Alein movies dobby, they were my favs and mum and I used to secretly watch them all the time .. my god we broke the rules in those days, rebels. The sad thing is looking back at it today it seems so lame.
Surely we can all make up our own minds what we can and can't do.
monk3y
Blondie wrote:I was told that things get more regulated the closer the congregations get to Bethel (USA).
I've heard that... not sure it's true, however. I lived in NY for several years, and in most congregations, things were a lot more liberal than in the Midwest.
Most of the Bethel elders I've dealt with were good organization men; IOW, they were relatively smooth and polished. They could definitely be very controlling, but they didn't display the sheer reactionariness (is that a word?) found in a lot of rural congregations.
m0nk3y - LOL
I am picturing you, your mum and me and my husband huddled around a TV watching Aliens in the dark, listening for a knock on the door from the elders coming to bust us.
TOO FUNNY!
