User:Quintessent/Culture of Jehovah's Witnesses

Introduction

The web is filled with information about Jehovah's Witnesses. Much of it is written either to defend or discredit the Watchtower Society and the Witnesses themselves through discussions of their teachings and practices. The Wikipedia articles on the Jehovah's Witnesses tend to reflect this, as various authors sometimes battle to properly represent the teachings and history of the Witnesses. I have decided to start a personal article from more of a sociologist or anthropologist's perspective. The prime objective here is to understand. Much of the content here will come from message boards, where Witnesses speak about issues that are important to them.

My wish is not to offend or misrepresent the Witnesses or the Watchtower Society. To limit exposure of this page to Wikipedia insiders who really are interested, I ask that no links be made from any Wikipedia article to this page (except possibly a user or talk page).

Due to the nature of this page, the views and opinions expressed here should not be taken to represent the official teachings of the Watchtower Society or the Witnesses themselves.

I hope you will leave any comments or concerns about this project on the corresponding talk page.

In the world, but not of the world

As with any group whose beliefs may clash with mainstream society's, the witnesses sometimes face challenges in their daily interactions. Two conflicting forces are at play. First, there is the desire to get along with and fit in with those around them ("In the world"). This is a natural part of being human. Earning a living, avoiding persecution, befriending potential converts, and friendship for its own sake are all motivations for this. Second, the desire to not be tainted by or contribute to the corruption of mainstream society ("...but not of the world"). This is important to support the cohesiveness of the religious group, to keep people from sliding into ever-increasing levels of corruption and sin. It also gives the group a sense of importance and uniqueness. Further, there is a sense of comfort that the fence separating group members from society will protect them as long as they stay within its bounds.

Holidays

One practice that separates Jehovah's Witnesses from the mainstream is that they do not celebrate holidays. The Watchtower teaches that Christmas, Easter, and other holidays have pagan origins and must not be observed by faithful Christians[1] (http://www.watchtower.org/library/w/2000/12/15/article_01.htm).

In this MSN chat excerpt, Trïgger¨Hïppïe explains how she relates with those who do not share her views: "I was a hairdresser for 18 years and although lots of the clients knew i didnt celebrate, not all knew the in depth reasons behind why.........necessity made me come up with what seemed like a hundred greetings and farewells that worked well for every pagan celebration

• drive carefully
• dont drink and drive
• try to maintain some sanity in all this madness
• enjoy the time with ur family
• see you next week i mean next year,
• be good
• diet starts next week huh???
• remember water between wines
• dont let them make u do all the work
• enjoy the break
• etc etc

but the best one was,

• thanx for being a great client this year (of course only to those who deserved it)"

(slightly reformatted)