Are/Were California witnesses REALLY different?

by TMS 33 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  TMS

  Rumors and urban legends abound with respect to California
  witnesses. My suspicion is that envy and the Hollywood personna
  have contributed to the perception that somehow Jehovah's Witnesses
  who happen to live in California are different.

  In the 60's and 70's I heard so many things about my California
  brothers, usually from the circuit overseers or other elders.

  Just a few:

  Brothers giving talks wearing gold chains or tennis shoes. Elders
  making shepherding calls in Beverly Hills, being handed a martini
  at the door by the butler. Faddish health food diets required by
  circuit overseers for their noon meals.

  Is any of this true?

  tms
• 

  simplesally

  Yes, we all went door to door in limos.

  Ha ha.........

  But yes, we did wear sundresses in service and backless dresses to the outdoor conventions.
• 

  blondie

  I was told that the further away from NY Bethel you got the more relaxed the congregations. But then you find that brothers wear cowboy boots and string ties on the platform out west and that JWs in urban areas are more "stylish" than in the country congregations.
• 

  Leolaia

  In Hawaii, or at least in my cong, you knew if someone was weak in the faith if he wore an aloha shirt to a meeting. Those aloha shirts tended to be found in the back of the hall....LOL
• 

  simplesally

  All kidding aside.....I think that here in So Cal, the people were so busy and the towns so spread out, that the KH was not the 'center' of your life. When I lived in a smaller town, the KH was where we'd meet to go to lunch, it was not hard to get to and it was always a hub. In the congested cities it was harder to get to, out of the way and hard to park.

  But lax on rules? No way!!! All of the CO's and DO's were longtimers, came to California after having much seniority. Many powerhouses down here. It seemed like information came from Bethel to California then to the midwest. More moderate in thinking instead of inbred power.
• 

  TMS

  "But lax on rules? No way!!! All of the CO's and DO's were longtimers, came to California after having much seniority. Many powerhouses down here. It seemed like information came from Bethel to California then to the midwest. More moderate in thinking instead of inbred power." simplesally

  That rings true. I suspect SoCal especially was a "perc" assignment for CO's and DO's. My peers who pioneered for years and eventually went into circuit work usually started in North Dakota. lol! A prominent district overseer, Eugene Brandt let it slip that his "discipline" was to serve us as a circuit overseer in Arkansas. He lasted one round through the circuit and went back into district work.

  tms
• 

  cypher50

  I was told that the further away from NY Bethel you got the more relaxed the congregations. But then you find that brothers wear cowboy boots and string ties on the platform out west and that JWs in urban areas are more "stylish" than in the country congregations.

  So true...I grew up by Watchtower Farms (Middletown North & Bloomingburg congregations) and the difference was startling when I moved to Atlanta in 1998. For one thing, there seemed to be more of a relaxed atmosphere at the congregation but people also seemed to not study scriptures & doctrines as much once you are away from the Bethel sites. It didn't strike me till I was away from that strict Bethel atmosphere how much this religion is more about a slave mentality then actual substance.
• 

  Maverick

  When I was packing to move from Florida to So. Cal. in 1980 the Fla. Bros. warned me about the JWW's or Jehovah's Wild Witnesses. Living, working and being an active JW for six years in California did teach me alot about different cultures, interracial marriage and such but the JW's were basically the same repressed drones they are in other places I have been. There is so much more to do and to be exposed to there and it is problably harder to isolate the minds of the Witlesses there than say Nebraska. There were so many more people to deal with from so many places. I went to the District Conventions at Dodger Stadium and the Sunday attendance would peak 55,000.

  When you would hear of a Congregation somewhere other than Cal. having a bunch of people get DF'd for wife-swapping the friends would be shocked and comment on it. But if that Congregation was in California the friends would comment on that fact first as a sort of proof that in was the LOCATION that caused the problem.
• 

  Mary

  My suspicion is that envy and the Hollywood personna have contributed to the perception that somehow Jehovah's Witnesses
  who happen to live in California are different.

  Why yes, don't you know that you're living in the modern-day city of Sodom and Gomorrah if you're in L.A??
• 

  XBEHERE

  At Bethel one of my buddies called California "Cali-Porneia" I thought it was hilarious. Kidding aside though.. I think in general those areas with nicer climates such as Cali. and Hawaii for example the people tend to be more relaxed anyway and of course that was relected in the congs. as well.