Posted by ANDY on March 23, 1999 at 08:22:49 {MW/LNVTaZvKZ2}:
In Reply to: *****What JWs do for fun posted by followthelamb on March 23, 1999 at 04:02:20:
Hi followthelamb:
Excellent post. When I was a active JW I was bothered by some of the same things you mentioned.
I would hear those talks about how much better we were than those "wordly" people, and wonder if something was wrong with me because I was not feeling this way. My wife and I both felt that we just didn't measure up to the societies high standards. This caused my wife to become very depressed. The advice from the elders was to get out in service more, and of course don't miss any of the meetings. She ended up seeking proffesional help with her depression. When either of us talked about seeking proffessional help, we were told to remember that what happens in the congregation should not be discussed with "worldly" counselors.
I agree with you 100% about publishers cards. The amount of hours has nothing to do with what a person is like inside. What is in your heart has nothing to do with time cards.
As far as doing things all I can say is that the congregation I belonged to didn't do a lot of things other than go to assemblies, meetings, and feed the speaker on Sunday. If you missed one of these gatherings someone was always asking you why. So it really wasn't a case of wanting to go, it was more of a case of feeling guilty if you didn't go.
I am sure ther are congregations that are different. I am sure that JW's in other congregation probably do have more fun than we did.
All I can relate to is what I went through.
We were no better than the rest of the world.
ANDY: