Are masks actually required to attend meetings?

Dorothea said:
Hopefully Robert will have an answer for you on this. But I just wanted to give my perspective and hopefully that's okay. I believe you might have to lie to get reinstated. The only reason I'm not disfellowshipped is because almost nobody knows what I really believe. If the elders were to find out, I'm sure they would give me the boot. I'm in a precarious position because if anyone point blank asked whether I believe that the GB are "God's channel" and teaching nothing but the truth, my conscience would not let me lie. So I'm lying very low.
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Same here- I have been pimo for 12 years, I kept quiet in the hall even while being active for the first 6 years. I've attended churches, gone to Easter plays, celebrated birthdays (obviously I was going through an atheist phase) sent my dear friend a letter outlining my concerns with jw child abuse, my husband told an elder that I attended church once and the elder told his wife and sil and they refused to speak to me after that, we were close friends. The wife then ended up leaving her husband and three children for another guy she met at the gym! Husband told his sister I had a blood transfusion and didn't want to be jw anymore, she still visited to help when I was recovering and was super happy when I posted pics of us going to memorial.

With all that, I've never once been confronted, never called into the back hall for counsel etc despite the terrible experiences I've read about with others. Somehow I've been able to stay under the radar.
 
A B said:
Dorothea, if you never say anything out of line it will never happen. But to give you an idea if this is something you worry about..if you have been a witness for a while did you ever really believe the resurrected ones would not remarry? Probably you didn't. Nor did most people. If you for some reason ever get cornered just say 'I never believed the resurrected ones wouldn't marry and I didn't talk about it. If I have any beliefs that differ from current understanding I don't talk about it' and just let that be the end of the matter.
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that’s the main thing about WT- i posted this in another thread- with WT it’s about image not necessarily always about the opposition to its (fill in the blank) or whatever wrong-doing someone committed: How many know, and who are they? If a tree falls in a forest and nobody hears or sees it, does it in fact fall? Image. That said, i do believe the elders today are more purist than those in the past.
 
Asadour said:
that’s the main thing about WT- i posted this in another thread- with WT it’s about image not necessarily always about the opposition to its (fill in the blank) or whatever wrong-doing someone committed: How many know, and who are they? If a tree falls in a forest and nobody hears or sees it, does it in fact fall? Image. That said, i do believe the elders today are more purist than those in the past.
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When the whole world is filled with the knowledge of Jehovah we won't have to worry about these who knows what issues but until them there is a go along to get along aspect that exists. Sigh.
 
Dove08 said:
Same here- I have been pimo for 12 years, I kept quiet in the hall even while being active for the first 6 years. I've attended churches, gone to Easter plays, celebrated birthdays (obviously I was going through an atheist phase) sent my dear friend a letter outlining my concerns with jw child abuse, my husband told an elder that I attended church once and the elder told his wife and sil and they refused to speak to me after that, we were close friends. The wife then ended up leaving her husband and three children for another guy she met at the gym! Husband told his sister I had a blood transfusion and didn't want to be jw anymore, she still visited to help when I was recovering and was super happy when I posted pics of us going to memorial.

With all that, I've never once been confronted, never called into the back hall for counsel etc despite the terrible experiences I've read about with others. Somehow I've been able to stay under the radar.
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I hope that will be the case with me. Our congregation is pretty lenient and mostly just leaves us alone. So I think I'll be able to keep my peace and not be bothered.
 
Dorothea said:
I hope that will be the case with me. Our congregation is pretty lenient and mostly just leaves us alone. So I think I'll be able to keep my peace and not be bothered.
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it’s it interesting how congregations taken on personalities of their own? My former cong is purist and militant, by the book. On the other hand, I’ve been in congregations that were lax, easy to get along and they leave you alone. It depends on the elder body.
 
Asadour said:
it’s it interesting how congregations taken on personalities of their own? My former cong is purist and militant, by the book. On the other hand, I’ve been in congregations that were lax, easy to get along and they leave you alone. It depends on the elder body.
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So true. Our last congregation was like yours. That's part of the reason why we left it. The other reason was because I had really bad fragrance sensitivities and that hall was old, poorly ventilated, and attended by three congregations, all of which were full of heavy perfume wearers.
 
Dorothea said:
So true. Our last congregation was like yours. That's part of the reason why we left it. The other reason was because I had really bad fragrance sensitivities and that hall was old, poorly ventilated, and attended by three congregations, all of which were full of heavy perfume wearers.
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i hear ya bout the perfume. Though i don’t have sensitivities like you do, i do have certain revulsions, and it seemed the halls i have been that had probelms with fragrances were because of the brothers wearing too much. One time i mentioned “a little goes a long way. , , «
 
Dorothea said:
Hopefully Robert will have an answer for you on this. But I just wanted to give my perspective and hopefully that's okay. I believe you might have to lie to get reinstated. The only reason I'm not disfellowshipped is because almost nobody knows what I really believe. If the elders were to find out, I'm sure they would give me the boot. I'm in a precarious position because if anyone point blank asked whether I believe that the GB are "God's channel" and teaching nothing but the truth, my conscience would not let me lie. So I'm lying very low.
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Lying low in the tall grass. Thats what I do.
 
Asadour said:
i hear ya bout the perfume. Though i don’t have sensitivities like you do, i do have certain revulsions, and it seemed the halls i have been that had probelms with fragrances were because of the brothers wearing too much. One time i mentioned “a little goes a long way. , , «
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You did Kimmy? Not you.
 
Asadour said:
@Dorothea i understand. i don’t know if i can hide my cringe face. (aka resting bitch face but for me it’s resting cringe face). i would only attend the talk not the WT study.

Aw yes that is something to be proud of.
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Lolol @ "resting cringe face"...I can def relate at times 😆😂😁
 
The Black Sheep said:
Just got back from a meeting. I’m in a new area in Florida and they were all masked. Of course I was not wearing one, and I was also sporting a beard. No one spoke to me. It was like I was viewed as disfellowshipped.
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it’s so weird that they’re that way about beards. it’s just bizarro. i think that’s another throw back from Rutherford. or one of them gov boobs of older times.
 
Asadour said:
it’s so weird that they’re that way about beards. it’s just bizarro. i think that’s another throw back from Rutherford. or one of them gov boobs of older times.
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Yup, its ridiculous and unscriptural. Just a Pharisee-ish control measure. I lived in Ecuador for 3 years and the native Quichua brothers were allowed to wear their traditional garb and long hair with ponytails. This is a photo i took at an assembly. The attendees sitting in front of me were mother and son (on the left).
The brother giving the talk wearing traditional garb and long ponytail. This is their everyday garb.
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