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I'm a Jehovah's Witness! Ask me Anything!

Vendor-Lazarus

Arch Disciple
Sanctuary legend
Messages
937
Houseman said:
Every JW-hopeful (not an official term) is taught that one must make a personal dedication, that it cannot be made for you, not by your parents, not by anyone else. I feel that I have made this personal decision.
The only thing more we can do is to force some sort of minimum age requirement, or like the Amish, allow people to go out and see the world for a time before deciding whether or not go commit to this way of life. We couldn't do that, because what if Armageddon comes during this period in a person's life? They wouldn't be saved. Plus, Jesus' disciples once tried to shoo children away, but Jesus reprimanded them for doing that, so we would be spurning our lessons if we were to do that.

No, but before getting baptized I did spend some time on another religion sub-forum for the express purpose of allowing people to criticize my potential beliefs. It didn't change my mind, if that means anything.
If you feel that you have chosen it and even put your beliefs up for target practice (with an open mind?), then that's all anyone can really can ask of you.

Personally though, I think it's "funny" that children often have the same religious views as their parents...
Especially the more strict and select religions/sects/cults/beliefs.

If the first are the Jews/Israelites, and the second are the Christians, then who are the third? I don't consider there to be a third. I consider Christians to be Spiritual Israel, specifically the Christians mentioned in the bible, and then, of course, Jehovah's Witnesses.
The first ones are indeed the Jews, and the second ones the Christians. The third ones are the Muslims!
The fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, etc, etc are all the other spin-offs from Christianity (and there are a lot of them).
Jehovah's Witnesses is a very recent off-shoot from the 1870's. Barely more than a 100 years old.

---

Well, that's me running out of questions.
Thanks for being a sport!
 

Houseman

Zealot
Sanctuary legend
Messages
1,068
Samtemdo8 said:
Are you guys of the Protestant side of Christianity, Catholic, or Orthodox?
Protestant, I think.

Wikipedia classifies us as "Nontrinitarian, Restorationist". I don't actually know the answer to this off the top of my head because I'm not too familiar with all the classifications
 

Guilion

♪El mariachi fennec quiere bailar♪
Messages
57
Why are you guys such bad sports when I tell you that either:
a) I'm not opening my door; or
b) Close my door seconds after you start preaching me how blood transfusions are evil.?
 

Houseman

Zealot
Sanctuary legend
Messages
1,068
Guilion said:
Why are you guys such bad sports when I tell you that either:
a) I'm not opening my door; or
b) Close my door seconds after you start preaching me how blood transfusions are evil.?
What do you mean by "bad sports"?

But if I were to hazard a guess at the root cause of any sort of behavior that could be perceived as being a "bad sport", I would say that because preaching is part of our identity, similar to how one's sports team, political opinion, job, hobby, or lifestyle is a part of one's identity. When that part of us is denied expression, belittled, or mocked, humans tend to get upset.

However, we are supposed to be "good sports" about it, as we knock on way too many doors to be upset about how we are received
 

Xprimentyl

Draxx... them... sklounst.
Messages
14
My girlfriend was raised JW, but stopped practicing at around 19 years of age when she left home. It was hard for her because her mother converted the family (her, her older sister and her younger brother and sister) when they were between the ages of 6 and 13, so they have vivid memories of birthday parties, holidays and whatnot that one day just suddenly stopped. Today, all of her children are great people, but none of them (now aged 38 through 45) are practicing witnesses, and she’s passive-aggressively very bitter about it, like THEY did something wrong. In turn, her kids are aggressive-passively very bitter towards her. It’s very sad. As adults, they still seek the approval of “mom,” but refuse to be crushed under the thumb of her expectations. It’s a silly charade; she doesn’t celebrate birthdays, but will call on her children’s birthdays “just because I was thinking about you.” Christmas decorations (tree and all) had to be all but ripped down in a flurry when we found her mother was in town and she had to explain to her 13-year-old son (who was raised Christian) why Christmas evaporated, because “nana wouldn’t like [everything].” So I guess my question is why the staunch aversion to holidays? Can one not celebrate ANYTHING except God? How does a 5-year-old happily eating birthday cake or opening a Christmas gift at all offend Jehovah? And I hope my question doesn’t offend you, but being on “this” side of a very tense situation for over two years now, I am admittedly biased.
 

Houseman

Zealot
Sanctuary legend
Messages
1,068
Xprimentyl said:
My girlfriend was raised JW, but stopped practicing at around 19 years of age when she left home. It was hard for her because her mother converted the family (her, her older sister and her younger brother and sister) when they were between the ages of 6 and 13, so they have vivid memories of birthday parties, holidays and whatnot that one day just suddenly stopped. Today, all of her children are great people, but none of them (now aged 38 through 45) are practicing witnesses, and she’s passive-aggressively very bitter about it, like THEY did something wrong. In turn, her kids are aggressive-passively very bitter towards her. It’s very sad. As adults, they still seek the approval of “mom,” but refuse to be crushed under the thumb of her expectations. It’s a silly charade; she doesn’t celebrate birthdays, but will call on her children’s birthdays “just because I was thinking about you.” Christmas decorations (tree and all) had to be all but ripped down in a flurry when we found her mother was in town and she had to explain to her 13-year-old son (who was raised Christian) why Christmas evaporated, because “nana wouldn’t like [everything].” So I guess my question is why the staunch aversion to holidays? Can one not celebrate ANYTHING except God? How does a 5-year-old happily eating birthday cake or opening a Christmas gift at all offend Jehovah? And I hope my question doesn’t offend you, but being on “this” side of a very tense situation for over two years now, I am admittedly biased.
We believe that celebrations and holidays like birthdays and Christmas are connected to pagan rituals. To celebrate these would be similar to bowing down to a pagan idol. We want to avoid this.

Birthdays are never spoken of in a good light in the bible. In fact, people are executed in 2 out of 2 of the birthday celebrations found in the bible. None of the "good guys" in the bible are ever described to celebrate their own birthdays either. Beyond that, if you look into the history and tradition of birthdays, you'll find paganism.

Christmas similarly has pagan roots.
 

Guilion

♪El mariachi fennec quiere bailar♪
Messages
57
Houseman said:
Guilion said:
Why are you guys such bad sports when I tell you that either:
a) I'm not opening my door; or
b) Close my door seconds after you start preaching me how blood transfusions are evil.?
What do you mean by "bad sports"?

But if I were to hazard a guess at the root cause of any sort of behavior that could be perceived as being a "bad sport", I would say that because preaching is part of our identity, similar to how one's sports team, political opinion, job, hobby, or lifestyle is a part of one's identity. When that part of us is denied expression, belittled, or mocked, humans tend to get upset.

However, we are supposed to be "good sports" about it, as we knock on way too many doors to be upset about how we are received
The issue is that you guys don't leave. I can think of a couple of examples, the first time it was a door visit, after telling the dude at the door that he had interrupted my masturbation session (Which he had, btw) and that I really wanted to get back to it I closed the door on his face, then the dude starts ringing the motherfucking electric bell every 10 minutes for about the next three hours until it become blatantly obvious to him that I'm not opening the door.

Then the second one was actually one that happened on the street. So, picture this: I'm walking to the subway station dressed in a suit minding my own business when suddenly this woman comes to me asking me if I wanna join her cult blah blah blah, so I tell her that I already belong to a cult and that I worship Our Lady of Holy Death (Which I don't but it seems like my entire neighborhood does). She then proceeds to follow me all the way to the motherfucking subway station telling me a lot of bullcrap about how god is great and whatnot and only stops after I pay the ride at the turnstiles, then she yells something at me along the lines of "Yeah? well enjoy your time in hell!".

That's what I mean with bad sports
 

Houseman

Zealot
Sanctuary legend
Messages
1,068
Guilion said:
The issue is that you guys don't leave. I can think of a couple of examples, the first time it was a door visit, after telling the dude at the door that he had interrupted my masturbation session (Which he had, btw) and that I really wanted to get back to it I closed the door on his face, then the dude starts ringing the motherfucking electric bell every 10 minutes for about the next three hours until it become blatantly obvious to him that I'm not opening the door.
We are not trained to do this. We are told to go away as soon as the conversation is terminated by the householder.
But hey, anything can happen. I, for my part, find this story to be unbelievable.

Then the second one was actually one that happened on the street. So, picture this: I'm walking to the subway station dressed in a suit minding my own business when suddenly this woman comes to me asking me if I wanna join her cult blah blah blah, so I tell her that I already belong to a cult and that I worship Our Lady of Holy Death (Which I don't but it seems like my entire neighborhood does). She then proceeds to follow me all the way to the motherfucking subway station telling me a lot of bullcrap about how god is great and whatnot and only stops after I pay the ride at the turnstiles, then she yells something at me along the lines of "Yeah? well enjoy your time in hell!".

That's what I mean with bad sports
JWs don't believe in hell, so it probably wasn't one of us. Come to think of it, are you sure that the first guy was even a JW?
 

Signa

Libertarian Contrarian
Sanctuary legend
Messages
764
Xprimentyl said:
My girlfriend was raised JW, but stopped practicing at around 19 years of age when she left home. It was hard for her because her mother converted the family (her, her older sister and her younger brother and sister) when they were between the ages of 6 and 13, so they have vivid memories of birthday parties, holidays and whatnot that one day just suddenly stopped. Today, all of her children are great people, but none of them (now aged 38 through 45) are practicing witnesses, and she’s passive-aggressively very bitter about it, like THEY did something wrong. In turn, her kids are aggressive-passively very bitter towards her. It’s very sad. As adults, they still seek the approval of “mom,” but refuse to be crushed under the thumb of her expectations. It’s a silly charade; she doesn’t celebrate birthdays, but will call on her children’s birthdays “just because I was thinking about you.” Christmas decorations (tree and all) had to be all but ripped down in a flurry when we found her mother was in town and she had to explain to her 13-year-old son (who was raised Christian) why Christmas evaporated, because “nana wouldn’t like [everything].” So I guess my question is why the staunch aversion to holidays? Can one not celebrate ANYTHING except God? How does a 5-year-old happily eating birthday cake or opening a Christmas gift at all offend Jehovah? And I hope my question doesn’t offend you, but being on “this” side of a very tense situation for over two years now, I am admittedly biased.
LOL I clicked the thread, not realizing I had been sent to page 3. I read your post thinking it was the OP and I was wondering just why the hell would we want to ask you anything about being JW?
 

Silvanus

Adherent
Messages
43
Houseman said:
I, for my part, find this story to be unbelievable.
Guilion is somebody you have had at least a little bit of interaction with (albeit online). The Jehovah's Witness in the story, however, would be somebody you have never had any interaction with at all-- somebody you've never met in any capacity.

Why would you trust the latter over the former?
 

Houseman

Zealot
Sanctuary legend
Messages
1,068
Silvanus said:
Houseman said:
I, for my part, find this story to be unbelievable.
Guilion is somebody you have had at least a little bit of interaction with (albeit online). The Jehovah's Witness in the story, however, would be somebody you have never had any interaction with at all-- somebody you've never met in any capacity.

Why would you trust the latter over the former?
If my own mother told me that somebody stood at her door for three hours, ringing the bell every ten minutes, I wouldn't believe her. Especially if she told me that a JW was supposed to be ringing that bell, since we're not trained to do this, and in fact, we're trained against doing this. That's an incredible amount of perseverance and wasted time.

Why would Guilion not call the police after the first or second hour?

Not only that, we mostly work in groups of at least two. Where was his group? Did they just wait patiently in the car for three hours? Individuals working alone isn't unheard of, but it is uncommon.

Speaking of police, it's not like each "jurisdiction" gets taught different things. If I were to go to Africa and attend the next meeting, I'll get the exact same curriculum that I would in the US. We make one "master" publication in English and then translate it into over 900 languages in the 200+ lands in which we operate.

I don't know Guilion from Adam, but I'll give any JW a greater level of trust than I would a non-JW stranger, simply because they should have met the criteria for baptism and made a public declaration of their dedication to God by baptism. We should all generally share the same morals. Of course there are exceptions, but I'll presume innocence.

So that's why. I'm presuming innocence on the part of the unknown JW, and Guilion's word alone isn't enough evidence to overcome that presumption, especially since it involves a person standing at a door, ringing the bell, for three hours.
 

Signa

Libertarian Contrarian
Sanctuary legend
Messages
764
Houseman said:
Why would Guilion not call the police after the first or second hour?
I don't have much of a horse in this race, but this line stuck out. He is in Mexico. If half the stories I've heard about Mexican law enforcement are true, then he probably made the right choice not calling them. A person being persistent at your front door is less of a problem then getting the attention of corrupt cops.

Maybe that's not the reason he didn't call the police, but it is a good enough reason to take him at his face value without clarification. Maybe he's just mistaken and they weren't JW or just were really bad at being JW? Seems like a dumb thing for Guilion to intentionally lie about.
 

Houseman

Zealot
Sanctuary legend
Messages
1,068
Signa said:
Houseman said:
Why would Guilion not call the police after the first or second hour?
I don't have much of a horse in this race, but this line stuck out. He is in Mexico. If half the stories I've heard about Mexican law enforcement are true, then he probably made the right choice not calling them. A person being persistent at your front door is less of a problem then getting the attention of corrupt cops.

Maybe that's not the reason he didn't call the police, but it is a good enough reason to take him at his face value without clarification. Maybe he's just mistaken and they weren't JW or just were really bad at being JW? Seems like a dumb thing for Guilion to intentionally lie about.
I didn't know this took place in Mexico. That may explain why he didn't call the police.

Still, I don't believe his story as written.
 

Silvanus

Adherent
Messages
43
Houseman said:
If my own mother told me that somebody stood at her door for three hours, ringing the bell every ten minutes, I wouldn't believe her. Especially if she told me that a JW was supposed to be ringing that bell, since we're not trained to do this, and in fact, we're trained against doing this. That's an incredible amount of perseverance and wasted time.
I find this to be truly quite incredible, if I'm honest; the willingness to dismiss the statement from somebody you trust, just because you don't think a stranger would act in a strange way. People act in strange ways very frequently; there are stalkers, crazy people, flipping murderers in the world. The notion that somebody would not leave the doorstep is not so "out there" as to be utterly unbelievable if a relative says they've experienced it.

If someone I trusted, a friend or relative, told me somebody had acted in a manner like that, I would be quite worried. I'd probably contact the police and would want to ensure it didn't happen again. I certainly wouldn't just dismiss the story because I personally don't reckon anyone would do that.

Strange behaviour-- even stranger behaviour than was mentioned-- is extremely common.

Houseman said:
Speaking of police, it's not like each "jurisdiction" gets taught different things. If I were to go to Africa and attend the next meeting, I'll get the exact same curriculum that I would in the US. We make one "master" publication in English and then translate it into over 900 languages in the 200+ lands in which we operate.

I don't know Guilion from Adam, but I'll give any JW a greater level of trust than I would a non-JW stranger, simply because they should have met the criteria for baptism and made a public declaration of their dedication to God by baptism. We should all generally share the same morals. Of course there are exceptions, but I'll presume innocence.

So that's why. I'm presuming innocence on the part of the unknown JW, and Guilion's word alone isn't enough evidence to overcome that presumption, especially since it involves a person standing at a door, ringing the bell, for three hours.
You assume a greater level of moral, ethical and polite behaviour of every JW, simply by benefit of being from that religion?

What is preventing somebody who does not share those standards of behaviour from joining the JW?
 

Houseman

Zealot
Sanctuary legend
Messages
1,068
Silvanus said:
You assume a greater level of moral, ethical and polite behaviour of every JW, simply by benefit of being from that religion?
Yes.
What is preventing somebody who does not share those standards of behaviour from joining the JW?
The elders of the congregation prevent people who do not share our standards of behavior from joining us. Of course, we don't have any lie detectors, so it's certainly possible that someone could just "pretend" to be a JW long enough to become "official". It's also possible a long-standing member of the congregation could snap. I'm not saying that these things never happen, because certainly they do, but just that I'll start off with a presumption of innocence on their part, and one person's word is not enough to overcome that presumption.
 

McElroy

Outlander
Messages
4
Just came here to say that I liked the version you made on the Escapist back before... yes.


Anyway, what's your favorite Ben & Jerry's ice cream? Or your favorite ice cream flavor in general?
 

Houseman

Zealot
Sanctuary legend
Messages
1,068
McElroy said:
Just came here to say that I liked the version you made on the Escapist back before... yes.


Anyway, what's your favorite Ben & Jerry's ice cream? Or your favorite ice cream flavor in general?
Phish food.

But as for ice cream in general, I like Coldstone. I forget the mix, but they take a bunch of chocolate, chocolate chips, chocolate syrup, brownie pieces, peanut butter, and mix that up. I like that.
 

Silvanus

Adherent
Messages
43
Houseman said:
Well, alright.

In fairness, I'm sure that to some degree, most people presume better of those who share their own philosophy. At least here there's a mechanism in place (albeit not one I would trust).
 

infinityshock

Disciple
Messages
331
i was working under a car that was about two feet up off the ground, on the side of a street one time and three jehobas chicks try to strike up a conversation. the first thing the 'lead' chick said was something like 'oh my, you look so busy...is there anything i can do to help?'...while wearing a knee-length dress which if i had shifted my view a few inches would have revealed all.

my mood at the time was less than stellar due to the problem being a stripped adjuster for tightening a drive-belt which was stripped by a retard who allegedly was a mechanic and who worked at a car dealership. tightening a drive belt isnt the easiest thing to do when the adjuster wont adjust.

i scuttled out...going over several different scenarios in my head over how i was going to verbally fuck with these jehobas retards then saw that they were all attractive chicks wearing their sunday finest which conveniently accented the curves and bulges in all the ideal spots. to make a long story short...after several minutes of her proselytizing and me repeatedly saying i have zero interest in anything religious related, i told her the only reason id go to church was to pick up chicks.

she smiled and said there were many single women that went to their jehobas cult meetings.

the other experience ive had is my ex was a former jehoba and her mother was a practicing jehoba. whenever we were at her house she had an old B&W 1970s television that only showed old TV shows, like 'i love lucy' and shit. one time she was at someones house for a cookout and something was on TV...i cant remember what exactly...but she went off on some crazed tirade about how the show was evil and everyone it is was demons...and we're all going to hell for watching it.

jehobas witnesses are nutjobs and its the literal definition of a cult. theres a reason why the russians banned/arrested them all.
 

Houseman

Zealot
Sanctuary legend
Messages
1,068
infinityshock said:
...she went off on some crazed tirade about how the show was evil and everyone it is was demons...and we're all going to hell for watching it.
Like I said to Guilion, we don't believe in hell.
jehobas witnesses are nutjobs and its the literal definition of a cult.
What makes you think this?
 

infinityshock

Disciple
Messages
331
Houseman said:
infinityshock said:
...she went off on some crazed tirade about how the show was evil and everyone it is was demons...and we're all going to hell for watching it.
Like I said to Guilion, we don't believe in hell.
jehobas witnesses are nutjobs and its the literal definition of a cult.
What makes you think this?
- my ex was kicked out of her house at 16 for having a boyfriend. she was a virgin til 18...but still kicked out
- the already mentioned melt-down over a simple TV show
- no birthdays...no holidays...no celebrations at all. that isnt dedication, thats child abuse
- her sister was ex-communicated (or whatever term those fruitbowls use for eviction) from the cult for marrying a dude who wasnt a jehobas witness. this means no one is literally allowed to talk to her or her family/kids. i found it hilarious at family get-togethers the mother would pretend she wasnt there when they were two feet apart. any time the daughter approached the mother she would flee in the opposite direction. that isnt religious zealoutry...thats a mental disorder
- i have dozens and dozens of stories and examples she told me...i just cant think of them all right now.
 

Houseman

Zealot
Sanctuary legend
Messages
1,068
infinityshock said:
- my ex was kicked out of her house at 16 for having a boyfriend. she was a virgin til 18...but still kicked out
- the already mentioned melt-down over a simple TV show
- no birthdays...no holidays...no celebrations at all. that isnt dedication, thats child abuse
- her sister was ex-communicated (or whatever term those fruitbowls use for eviction) from the cult for marrying a dude who wasnt a jehobas witness. this means no one is literally allowed to talk to her or her family/kids. i found it hilarious at family get-togethers the mother would pretend she wasnt there when they were two feet apart. any time the daughter approached the mother she would flee in the opposite direction. that isnt religious zealoutry...thats a mental disorder
- i have dozens and dozens of stories and examples she told me...i just cant think of them all right now.
Thanks.

This seems localized to one single family. Are you okay with judging an entire religion of over 8 million by your experiences with two or three people?

Speaking only for myself, I have never felt that I missed out on anything as a child due to not being able to participate in certain celebrations. I never felt "abused".
 

infinityshock

Disciple
Messages
331
Houseman said:
infinityshock said:
- my ex was kicked out of her house at 16 for having a boyfriend. she was a virgin til 18...but still kicked out
- the already mentioned melt-down over a simple TV show
- no birthdays...no holidays...no celebrations at all. that isnt dedication, thats child abuse
- her sister was ex-communicated (or whatever term those fruitbowls use for eviction) from the cult for marrying a dude who wasnt a jehobas witness. this means no one is literally allowed to talk to her or her family/kids. i found it hilarious at family get-togethers the mother would pretend she wasnt there when they were two feet apart. any time the daughter approached the mother she would flee in the opposite direction. that isnt religious zealoutry...thats a mental disorder
- i have dozens and dozens of stories and examples she told me...i just cant think of them all right now.
Thanks.

This seems localized to one single family. Are you okay with judging an entire religion of over 8 million by your experiences with two or three people?

Speaking only for myself, I have never felt that I missed out on anything as a child due to not being able to participate in certain celebrations. I never felt "abused".
that was my first hand experience.

people have told me their own stories plus what I've read and heard about...including reading several pieces from jehobas themselves.

there's a reason they're banned from several countries
 

Houseman

Zealot
Sanctuary legend
Messages
1,068
Regardless, thanks for sharing. I'm sorry that you have had a bad experience with us, but I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have.
 
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