by Inquisitor 32 Replies latest watchtower bible
Hi everybody
I didn't attend the meeting today and I haven't spoken to any fellow witnesses about the study yet. Anyone care to share how their meeting went? Any interesting comments made for or against the WTS policy on higher education? Anyone barfed or chanted with banners and bandannas? Burned any effigies?
INQ
Inquisitor - must be reading my mind, I was going to start a thread on this...
Well we had to go to meeting yesterday, and it was truly horrific to sit through this study. You had your usual commenters like "anyone in THEIR RIGHT MIND wouldn't choose college over Jah" or "we really need to be good CHRISTIAN parents, and save our kids from the dangers at school!" UGHHHH>>>> THen there were a lot of comments from those that did go to college and how hard it was to get to meetings, service, and all that stuff.
Anyhow, one funny thing happened at our meeting that is worth repeating.... Me and ITIS (my hubby) were sitting in the back row in the corner, underlining all the stupid ideas, and drawing mustaches and such on the pictures in the study. THe guy that was handling the microphone by us, about half way through the study, looks at us and says kind of under his breath but loud enough for others to hear - " the counsel is NOT to go to college, but it seems like most everybody here HAS gone to college!" This guy is NY Italian and very outspoken. He also has a great teenage daughter who is pioneering and going to school to be a teacher. She is really an exceptional kid! But the poor kid has to defend her decision all the time. Anyhow, me and ITIS started cracking up. He walked away shaking his head and it truly seemed like he just wasn't buying it....
So....I wonder how many others sitting there - just aren't buying that direction any longer? Let's hope the majority don't buy it, and they get wise enough to send their kids to college!
Not time yet here, as if I would go. Do you think after several years of not going that I could call in on the phone hookup?
Thanks for sharing freedomlover!
I'm curious if those in your cong who did go to college and remarked that it was hard to get to meetings etc... were they telling the congregation that it was something they had to work on as Witnesses (the way other witnesses have struggles too)
or
were they saying that it was a reason not to choose college?
That bit about the bro with the microphone made me smile. The truth, uncomfortable as it may feel to some, pops out easily from the mouths of vocal ones doesn't it? lol
The congregation with which i'm formally associated (nearest to my campus) still clings to a tradition of sending youths to learn a trade. So there are still clusters of anti-college die-hards.
INQ
I usually take my father to the meetings, but I made an excuse not to go today.
I took the advice back in the 1960 not to go to college. I had taken college preparatory courses in high school and averaged between an A and B all the way, could easily have qualified, but decided that I should not go to the local University because of the usual witness reasonings. I was only 17, so thought that it would be a good idea to attend a local business school that had a two-year degree and I would study accounting. I picked up an application to enroll.
Boom! One of the elders (then called servants) was at our door, and convinced me that I should not go. What never occurred to me at the time was that he himself was college educated. So I secured a job as a secretary at the local University, making low wages, but it gave me more time for Kingdom interests. Later I spent two years pioneering--what a waste! This advice has hurt me immensely, but I won't go into detail.
All I can say is that the material in that Watchtower sucks. Maybe this will be the breaking point for a few people, but I can only imagine the anguish this is putting our young people through--maybe not so much now, but in the years to come as they struggle to make ends meet.
Hi bonnie-clyde
You said, "One of the elders (then called servants) was at our door, and convinced me that I should not go. What never occurred to me at the time was that he himself was college educated"
I know an elder who was college educated too. Went as far as obtaining a doctorate... all this during the yester-years when the WTS was vehemently opposed to any "higher learning" outside of Gilead Missionary School. Naturally, this elder had to forfeit certain priviledges of service in the congregation. From PO to "peasant".
Anyway, you'd think someone with that sorta background would today be singing a more liberal tune, but NO.... having returned from exile, the "re-instated" dr. elder gladly warns young ones today that they are bound to be tempted by the world if they choose this path (Mmmmm much pain and suffering for you younglings i see!). And the odds are not on their side. They would never come out of it unscathed.
Of course he naturally forgets to mention the need to re-climb the theocratic ladder (as he had done) or the unfriendly glances one would acquire for the duration of the said enterprise. Cos those disadvantages do not reflect badly on tertiary education per se. It gives the witnesses a bad name too.
He has no qualms about dispensing this sort of advice to youths. In fact he's been proudly announcing to the brothers that he is actually in the best position to speak to youths BECAUSE he has been well-educated and has seen the world for what it is. I'd be lying if I said I have any respect for this once-a-rebel-now-a-tyrant individual.
Anyway, I guess what I'd learnt from your experience and from what this elder has been doing is that: Witness youths should NOT limit their source of advice about education to the WTS. The Society has been duplicitous on this issue as have some who claim to represent youths' best interest.
Listen to critics of the anti-college camp before deciding on which side the coin of your life should fall.
INQ
INQUISTOR -
I'm curious if those in your cong who did go to college and remarked that it was hard to get to meetings etc... were they telling the congregation that it was something they had to work on as Witnesses (the way other witnesses have struggles too)or
were they saying that it was a reason not to choose college
I believe they were trying to say these were reasons NOT to go to college. Even though, they still went!
Some were more rational in their comments and said things like meditating on our REAL motivations for college....just to get rich or to further kingdom interests. It's so hard for the genuine people who see the wisdom in college yet have the brainwashed idea that college is ALL EVIL!
I haven't been to a meeting in months but i've made a special point to make this one. I don't have my meeting for awhile but when it's over i'll make sure to report back on what was said and how people try and rationalize this article.
Just on a side note, how do you define rich? is rich making a million dollars a year? cause that's what i define being rich, and I'll tell ya something if you get a college degree in history ( not saying there's anything wrong with that just using it as a example ) you're not going to be making a million dollars a year, I'm sure the average college grad will make $40,000 a year or higher that's probably the minimum standard if you want to have a house and a family, but you're not going to need an armoured truck to bring home your paycheck. The fact of the matter is that a college degree is the minimum standard of education that you need nowadays, getting your high school diploma and going to work at the factory just doesn't cut it anymore and this is lost on the entire GB.
Thanks for the clarification freedomlover. I understand now what they were trying to say/do.
Hi JV. Did you pick your nick from the code for Witness literature? ;)
I'm sure the GB is aware of our interpretation of costs of living. They probably think we're high maintenance that's all. lol If we put ourselves in their shoes for a brief second, you see how little it costs to rear the busy bees at Bethel? That's the standard they expect us to aspire to I suppose. Funnily enough, and I know it has been said before, who would support the preaching work and the non-employed volunteers (including travelling overseers and their spouse) if we all became pioneers?
Will we begin to snatch crumbs out of the beaks of birds? Or shall we learn to suck the nectar off the lilies of the field?
Many who join the condemnation of college education sustain their illusion of a simple life at the expense of those who actually earn a living in this all-too-real-and-material world. Wonder if they ever thought about that?
INQ
Hey inquisitor, I didn't take my nick from that, it's a secret. Anyways i'm leaving for the meeting in a bit so i'll report on how it goes, i'll be taking very detailed notes
