I heard audibly Psalm 9 then I began to dream. I grabbed my bible in the dream and was going to read the passage but it was time to go to church so some family and friends loaded up in to a caravan and went to church. It was a church I had never been to and their customs were unfamiliar to me. In the dream I was wearing combat boots and they were very heavy making it difficult to trudge around. The church was lavishly decorated with comfortable seating, a very relaxed environment. People were roaming about and not really gathered together. The first part of the church service was over and we went down stairs for the second part of service. When we got downstairs they were putting people into pens. They reminded me of pig pens with a fence and a gate around the enclosures but again they were lavishly decorated with comfortable seating. We are separated in to small groups. No one who came with me was in the group I was put into. In my group there was an young black boy about 8 years old leading the group. He gave us a page to open to in our bible. I realized at this point I had forgot my book upstairs so I hurried off to get it. It was taking forever because I was still wearing these very heavy combat boots and I felt like I was trudging along through thick mud. Once I finally made my way upstairs I saw several very nicely bound bibles laying everywhere but I didn't see my bible. Then I heard an elderly woman almost shouting " Who brought this piece of trash in here? " I look over and she is tearing up my bible so I run over to her and tell her it is mine. I take it away from her and start putting it back together and it becomes whole again. She says to me " Where did you get this ugly book and why did you bring it in here?" I tell her I bought it at the thrift store for fifty cents, what's the big deal. She is still yelling about it as I walk away. I stopped to think about what could this woman have against my bible and it occurs to me I'm in a Jehovah's Witness church and they go by a different doctrine than do Christians and that must be the issue. At some point I had taken off my boots so I could get around faster. I decide I had better go and get my friends to tell them we are in the wrong church and we have to go. When I get back downstairs there is a swimming pool and kids are playing and having fun. There are stores set up all around the pool but every store is a candy store. I get my friends and we leave but I realize my two oldest sons are not with us. The driver refuses to go back for them and tells me they will find their own way home. That is the end of the dream. I posted a video on youtube which has the first part of this dream (which I left out because it was seemingly unrelated to this) and my interpretation of what this dream means though it may be self explanatory to most of you. Here is that link if you are interested...
https://youtu.be/r1OAKrwDU54
(Several years later... this came up in "Similar Posts")
I've known a few J.W.'s, and it's hard to get a grasp on how their temple treats them.
They were all determined to live out their faith well. Afraid to celebrate holidays or appear to.
One was shunned for getting divorce from an abusive man; she was required to attend services, but people were not allowed to speak with her. "Disfellowshipped."
I knew an 8-yr old boy like that, who had to keep explaining to his teacher that he wasn't allowed to celebrate holidays and birthdays, including his own. It was frustrating for him, as teachers would require projects related to holidays. He taught his classmates how important his faith was to him.
The pens in the dream stir up empathy -- seeing that devout believers (of JW) try so hard, are expected to show they are set-apart... which distances them from considering more scriptural doctrines.
As others brought out heresy -- it tends to be accompanied by pride in belonging to the "right" way. Temptation seems to always start there. People seek solutions, find something promising, then latch onto it too snug-ly.