Brought up a Jehovah's Witness AMA

[lightonthewater]

I was brought up a JW and left when I was 14. Ask away.

Hi! Can I ask about Christmas? Did you do anything at all? Did you feel left out?

Sorry to make assumptions, I have only known one JW and he wouldn't respond at all if someone said 'Merry Christmas' to him.

Did you go door to door evangelizing with your parents? How were you able to leave so young, did you leave as a family?

We didn't celebrate it at all. Yes I did feel very left out . I hated Christmas as I had to go back to school with everyone talking about what they had been given. I used to make things up. My father was not a JW and used to get in a really bad mood at Christmas because he wanted to celebrate it and my mother didn't. (She was the JW).

Yes I did go out on the 'house to house work' as they called it. I wanted to leave before I was 14 but my mother said I couldn't until I was 14. The minute i turned 14, that was it. The rest of the family carried on going to meetings etc but i didn't.

Oh littleLight

Do you have DC now? I hope you have wonderful sparkly Christmases these days

i am actually surprised I was allowed to leave at this age as in many 'Congregations' as they are called, if a family member leaves, the rest of the family are often encouraged not to associate with that person.

Yes, I do and Xmas was always made to be a huge big deal and we spent far too much as I was trying to make up for all the lost years!!

What is the JW reason for not voting?

We're just moving this over to the AMA topic.

Oh sorry! The reason for not voting Forall is that the only authority they recognise is that of God. They consider all earthly things to be 'Worldly'. So they take no responsibility for or interest in anything to do with the Government, nor do they recognise the Queen or stand for the National Anthem.

Do you have siblings and, if yes, are they JWs still?

How did it work having one JW parent, is that unusual?

Panda, yes I have two siblings. Neither are still JWs. It isn't unusual for one parent to be in and the other out, but more usual for both parents to be JW. My father went to meetings and studied the bible with the JWs so he wasn't anti them . If he had been actively opposed it might have been different. However divorce is not allowed for JWs unless under exceptional circumstances.

DS had a really good friend at primary school whose mum was a JW. It was really sad when he couldn't join in with things like Xmas celebrations at school. Given that they all used to join in with celebrating events from different religions I really couldn't see the harm.

Apparently he wasn't allowed to celebrate birthdays either - is that right? I'm afraid we once persuaded his mum to let him join ds and a few other friends on a trip to a theme park and deliberately kept quiet about it being a birthday outing.

No, JW's don't celebrate birthdays either. They don't celebrate anything apart from the 'Memorial' which is to mark Christ's death around Easter time. It's a grim religion! I wasn't allowed to go to Assembly at school either.

I was friends with two girls who were JW in the late 80s at school. They weren't allowed to do further education and were expected to marry after leaving school. One of my friend's was super bright. I wasn't allowed to be friend's with them outside school because I wasn't JW. Has that attitude changed now? Is it accepted that girls can go to university and not just marry and have babies?

How do they view the LGBT community?

The knocking on doors ..don't they realise it's futile and annoying? Do they get annoyed when people avoid answering the door?

No one is really encouraged to go into higher education because it serves no spiritual purpose . All young people are expected to marry young, and women are considered as 'helpers' to men who make all the decisions. It is very patriarchal. All the Elders who are the decision makers are men.
Sex before marriage is not allowed, so getting married is considered a safe way of channelling 'appetites' that are otherwise to be repressed.

Homosexuality is considered to e a sin by the JW organisation. It is considered a perversion which can be cured by the right attitude and prayer.

There is more of a move towards 'witnessing' as they call it in town centres now. I am not sure whether this is because the door knocking is not very effective, or for safety reasons. You have to be pretty fit to climb stairs and walk up and down streets to knock on doors, and many of them are elderly, so perhaps it's with this in mind too. You would think they would get discouraged, but no, they just consider they are doing Gods work.

Also , it is not encouraged for JWs to associate with non JWs because of the danger of being led astray.

Is the door-knocking effective? You say it's not, but it must be to a certain extent, or why bother?

Why do JW think people will be persuaded to sign up to a life with no birthday celebrations, Christmas - and of course much worse - no blood transfusions, medical intervention, etc, when all this has previously been their norm?

Well The Dowager, they do sign up. I think the sort of people who are converted are very often immigrants, people who are vulnerable, without a support network etc. They find the weak and vulnerable and they cling to the religion like a life line. It gives them a set of rules which makes them feel secure. If you believe that celebrating these festivals is wrong, they accept it. I'm sorry if I implied it isn't effective. I really don't know how effective it is these days . I am speculating that there may have been a choice made that the town centre evangelising reaches more people more effectively.

The reason for not celebrating Christmas and birthdays is that Christmas is based on a pagan festival and not celebrating the actual day of Christ's birth. Birthdays are not mentioned in the Bible as something worth celebrating, and they take the Bible very literally. Easter is also originally a pagan festival.

I think I'm writing this too fast so sorry if it comes across as a bit garbled!

How do you feel about God / organised religion now?

I was raised in a cult environment (not dissimilar to the Amish / Brethren communities) and left when I was 15. It took me years to work out what I felt / believed and I'm still going now.

Whilst I have a strong faith in God and it shapes my life, I really struggle hugely with church and religious groups because of the control and sexist domination I endured with men being above all and women somewhere below their feet peeling potatoes and having babies. In many churches I've been to it doesn't feel all that different today with men still being so far "above" women and I can't reconcile myself to it. Do you have similar struggles with the sexist attitudes that seem to thrive in these cultures (thanks to taking a couple of bible verses completely out of context!).

Yes Snow, I am with you 100 percent. I do believe in God , but certainly not the God the JW's or most organised religion believes in. I believe God is truly a God of love, not judgement and punishment. I think nearly all religion is dominated by a male agenda which does not serve women in general.
The JWs spout on about love all the time , but they are not loving. They are judgemental, cruel and cannot think beyond their own doctrine. It is a system of brainwashing and mind control.