Contolling the answers at the meetings

Lady Lee

I was busy working on the Best of series and came across a topic which by itself would not be included. The subject goes a little off topic but it is very interesting

Sentinel states: Re: Is The Bible Really All We Might Think?

Thinking back to the days of going to the Sunday WT study. I would study prior to the meeting, and then refer to the question at the bottom of the page, and then underline the answer. Well, during the times when I was feeling assertive, I would raise my hand to "comment". The brothers expected us all to read the answers word for word from the WT, but I would make some other comments, which they didn't like. These were not bad comments, but they were my own.

They would "irritatingly" wait till I finnished, and say "now would someone else in the congregation like to give us the correct answer from the WT". After the meeting they would come to me and remind me of how we were supposed to answer publicly= ONLY FROM THE MATERIAL AS PRINTED IN THE WT.

After awhile, they stopped calling on me to answer. So much for freedom of speech and self expression. It wasn't long after that, that I withdrew from the MS, and simply "called it a day".

I'm sure I'm not the only one who can relate to this.

How about you?

And if you were a conductor of the study how did you deal with comments not read from the paragraph?

Husband says they are supposed to put things in their own words not just read the answer. So how does this really work? Do they simply paraphrase the answer and think that is putting it into their own words?

John Doe

We were always encouraged to answer in our own words, and many would include personal comments and ideas. This was not frowned upon. If someone said something that didn't jive with printed material, the speaker would merely bring out the "correct" idea.

luna2

When I first started attending meetings it seems like they encouraged personal expression. They did want to be sure and hit on what the paragraph said, but it wasn't necessary that the answer be read directly out of the magazine.

In later years it felt like extra commentary was not so welcome. They did like it when someone would use slightly different wording in their answers because it made it appear that they'd actually studied the material and had come up with this super duper comment independantly, but they really didn't want to stray too far from what the FDS had printed in the paragraph. They didn't want real discussion or real independant thoughts, it was simply an exercise in repetition...huge waste of time as far as true learning, but quite useful in brainwashing the flock.

blondie

My experience

The first answer should briefly and directly answer the question; preferably in your own words

Some read directly: new people, children, and people who had not studied. It was painful to hear children read and obviously not understand the words

The second answer could bring out another point in the paragraph, or read a scripture (not done very often).

The third answer could be material not in the paragraph if it addressed the topic directly and was not overly long. Some conductors spent so much time letting multiple children give the same one-word answer they didn't understand or discussing the pictures....

In the congregations I attended, one maybe 2 people obviously pre-studied the lesson and looked up the scriptures and checked other publications.

The biggest problem and it was glaring is that rarely one or two of the elders ever commented.

I had a Bible student ask me when the Bible discussion was going to start. ()

Leolaia

My congregation was different. I could not stomach the verbatim readings and I usually scheduled one or two comments in which I would give detailed Bible-researched comments that went beyond what the article was talking about. And invariably I would be complimented for the insightful, knowledgeable comments, especially from the elder who styled himself as the "Bible scholar" of the congregation (he even looked a tad like Fred Franz). Of course, never did my comments actually toe outside the official party line...but I did try to find something to say that made people THINK...

IP_SEC

I really liked the idea in the creator book with the questions for meditation. It was almost impossible to get thoughtful answers on those questions. The folk are so programmed to answer what is in the paragraph they get brain lock when called apon to do otherwise.

It was a good concept, the sad thing is that they still expect the "meditation" to be on what the WTS says about the subject, so no real improvement.

Narkissos

LOL this brings back memories...

I would never answer from the paragraph. And when I conducted the study I always called for personal comments from the texts. This was usually appreciated. People were usually encouraged to respond in their own words.

But I guess this has changed.

stillAwitness

We're always told to ansewr "using our own words" the young ones my age love to follow this counsel and actually make it sort of a competition during the meetings to see who can give the best comment. One makes a comment and suddenly its a ripple effect.

bull01lay

My ex wife's mum used to come up with some pretty strange answers.... always off topic and rambling. I think she was having some sort of break down... had split up with hubby, returned to Jdubs after 1 1/2 year break, and took to wandering around clutching her NWT.. then started partaking of the emblems.. quite the scandal in my old cong !!

Stilla:

make it sort of a competition during the meetings to see who can give the best comment

We used to play that game too !! lol!

Bull!