I thought using the word just all the time was just weird at first. I just thought the prayers sounded robotic that I made a point to just not use the word. Then I just never got called on again to just pray out loud. Is that just full of it or what?
I was listening to an article on the radio this evening and the interviewee said he "just" did this and it was "just" something else and blah blah "just" ... and it felt odd and grating to me.
Then I realized that that's how so many prayers went at twig. "Father, I just want to thank you for just [healing / helping / taking care of ...]"
And this "just" exp​ression was part of TWI prayers not "just" in the country I lived in, but in others, too.
So I was wondering... do you folks who were round way way back remember prayers, "just" asking God to do "just" this one thing for them? Was this really TWI culture, or was it where I happened to find myself living? Was it all the time, or is it a mode of speech that crept in - if so, when? Innies, do fellowship prayers still follow this format?
I've heard it among splinter groups... but only very rarely among other non-TWI folks, who tend more to pray along the lines of "Father, would you please..." or "I pray that you would [do something, heal somebody]". Which also sounds a little odd to my TWI-attuned ear.
Comments, anybody?
Twi wasn't the only group to just pray that way father. I've seen and heard other groups that do the same thing. I think a lot of people used it as a time filler while they thought of something else to add to make themselves look good IMO.
Krys, you just might be right, maybe it was just a filler while folks just thought what to just say next.
It's obviously a habit that's just far more widespread than I'd realized. Not so practiced in my church, but that might be just my church.
Strange, really, when it's not part of most people's normal speech habits.
Can't remember now, but was it modelled on some prayer(s) offered in the PFAL class? I have a dim recollection of VPW "just" praying about something or other though I choose not to reflect too deeply on that nowadays.
Dmiller: musta been just a wild teaching! (LOL)
Tzaia: You just didn't get it, did you?
Waysider: you're saying it just got into God's vocabulary, even?
My experience in this mirrors Waysider's; it was "just" this and "just" that as far back as my first fellowship (1971?). It also started creeping into interpretation and prophesy.
But I have also heard this in the prayers of never-been-way folks as well; not in regular church services, but more so in prayers from evangelical folks.
I had to conclude that the sun shines and the rain falls on the "just" and the un-"just" alike. :blink: :)
When I was a WOW one of my WOW brothers had a habit of not just saying just but adding "Father." "Father, I just want to thank you, Father, for today, Father, for just helping me find a job, Father, and just blessing all of us today, Father, and Father, just....."
Finally, my other WOW brother broke in with complete exasperation: "****, God knows He's your Father, Bro. You don't have to keep reminding Him!"
Well there is the just and then the Ummmmmm just choose your verbal repetitious habit carefully it will permeate all your sentences before you know it.
I pause when I am searching for the right word to say, rather than saying "umm" or some other filler. Unfortunately this encourages people to try and finish my sentences for me :o :blink: :wacko:
The most hilarious use of the word "just" in TWI was when you'd hear someone "interpret" or "prophecy" and "god" would just use the word just like it was just the last word he ever invented. I am the lord they god, just stand strong upon my word and you will prevail, just believe the word and just act on it. Just know how much I the lord they god loveth you. etc etc etc
Don't you think that if it was as the spirit gives utterance then the spirit has a speech impediment?!?!?! WTF is this? A repetitively speaking god?!?!?!
OK - I suppose that was off topic since the topic is "just" and prayer... but I JUST had to throw it in here
Heavenly father gawd, I just want to thank you for .... and father just "thank you" for the way you.... and father "thank you" just for...in this day and time and hour... oh and father just bless.... in the name of ... Amen.
When I heard similar things in the mainstream christian community, I thought that it was because of all the twi people who had left and had found churches to attend. I figured the bad habits traveled with the twi folks and spread from their.
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waysider
AS far back as the early 1970's, it "just" permeated "just" about every prayer and manifestation.
(Just thought I would "share" that.)
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dmiller
"Just" is a four letter word that seems to have permeated the Christian community. I think it's become "mandatory vocabulary".
The more Evangelical/ Pentecostal/ Apostolic a group is, the more you hear the word "just", both in prayer and everyday speech.
There's times I'll JUST tune into Christian radio, and JUST listen to whatever programming is going on over the airwaves.
I hear it used more and more (these days), than ever before. And it was also quite prevalent "back in the day", there in twi.
I remember a branch meeting of the WOW's here in 1979 with Rod Mc@** delivering a directive from Hdqtrs, disguised as a teaching.
He used the word *just* JUST as often as he could, to tell us that we should knock it off. Far as I can recollect, it didn't work.
Tune into any (your choice) bible radio teaching, or go to a church you've never gone to. I'm betting you'll hear *just* said quite a lot.
Twi folks certainly did use it often, but they didn't have the corner on the market (then or now), when it comes to *just*. :)
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waysider
Well, I'm just sayin'----
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Tzaia
I thought using the word just all the time was just weird at first. I just thought the prayers sounded robotic that I made a point to just not use the word. Then I just never got called on again to just pray out loud. Is that just full of it or what?
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krys
Twi wasn't the only group to just pray that way father. I've seen and heard other groups that do the same thing. I think a lot of people used it as a time filler while they thought of something else to add to make themselves look good IMO.
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Twinky
Krys, you just might be right, maybe it was just a filler while folks just thought what to just say next.
It's obviously a habit that's just far more widespread than I'd realized. Not so practiced in my church, but that might be just my church.
Strange, really, when it's not part of most people's normal speech habits.
Can't remember now, but was it modelled on some prayer(s) offered in the PFAL class? I have a dim recollection of VPW "just" praying about something or other though I choose not to reflect too deeply on that nowadays.
Dmiller: musta been just a wild teaching! (LOL)
Tzaia: You just didn't get it, did you?
Waysider: you're saying it just got into God's vocabulary, even?
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Kevlar2000
My experience in this mirrors Waysider's; it was "just" this and "just" that as far back as my first fellowship (1971?). It also started creeping into interpretation and prophesy.
But I have also heard this in the prayers of never-been-way folks as well; not in regular church services, but more so in prayers from evangelical folks.
I had to conclude that the sun shines and the rain falls on the "just" and the un-"just" alike. :blink: :)
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Oakspear
Jargon and speech patterns tend to spread around a group pretty quickly and get entrenched.
In addition to "just", I remember a lot of New Yorkers pronouncing "God" just like Wierwille did, despite the accents being pretty different.
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skyrider
Well.....being a "sonship right" (justification -- just-as-if-you-hadn't-sinned} it does bring poetic justice to light in prayer and supplication.
:B)
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Watered Garden
When I was a WOW one of my WOW brothers had a habit of not just saying just but adding "Father." "Father, I just want to thank you, Father, for today, Father, for just helping me find a job, Father, and just blessing all of us today, Father, and Father, just....."
Finally, my other WOW brother broke in with complete exasperation: "****, God knows He's your Father, Bro. You don't have to keep reminding Him!"
WG
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WordWolf
Now that someone asked,
I recall having had some fun with a lot of repetitive "justs" and "Fathers".
Specifically, I began counting visibly on my fingers when someone would pepper a prayer with
one or the other. :)
I also asked once if people thought God had a short attention span or something,
with someone trying to get his attention every 10-15 seconds with all the "Father" stuff.
Locally, we also got a lot of "any given situation" during mannys, and I for one was certain
the word "given", at least, was added out of habit, as it was a superfluous word, and the
sentence had the same meaning without it.
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leafytwiglet
Well there is the just and then the Ummmmmm just choose your verbal repetitious habit carefully it will permeate all your sentences before you know it.
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Oakspear
I pause when I am searching for the right word to say, rather than saying "umm" or some other filler. Unfortunately this encourages people to try and finish my sentences for me :o
:blink: :wacko:
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Twinky
Yeah, there were a lot of Fathers, too. I used to wonder how many people spoke to their male parent in such a manner.
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RumRunner
The most hilarious use of the word "just" in TWI was when you'd hear someone "interpret" or "prophecy" and "god" would just use the word just like it was just the last word he ever invented. I am the lord they god, just stand strong upon my word and you will prevail, just believe the word and just act on it. Just know how much I the lord they god loveth you. etc etc etc
Don't you think that if it was as the spirit gives utterance then the spirit has a speech impediment?!?!?! WTF is this? A repetitively speaking god?!?!?!
OK - I suppose that was off topic since the topic is "just" and prayer... but I JUST had to throw it in here
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doojable
The typical prayer went something like:
Heavenly father gawd, I just want to thank you for .... and father just "thank you" for the way you.... and father "thank you" just for...in this day and time and hour... oh and father just bless.... in the name of ... Amen.
When I heard similar things in the mainstream christian community, I thought that it was because of all the twi people who had left and had found churches to attend. I figured the bad habits traveled with the twi folks and spread from their.
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