I remember the last assembly I went to I almost gagged through every session of the 4 days. Can you imagine double that with longer hours? Eight days of gagging!
What was the purpose having Eight Day assembly?
by VM44 34 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Frog
purpose: to test the "fruitages of the spirit"...particularly the one bout being long-suffering
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Frog
at least back in the day they served up reasonably decent slop in the canteen...and there was always the hope of escape to do "food service"
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luna2
My father remembers his aunts coming to Chicago for some week-long deal back when he was a kid...probably in the 40's. He says they talked about sisters hosting teas in their hotel rooms in the afternoon. Perhaps it was during a lunch or dinner break. Can't imagine that it was considered okay to just blow off the afternoon sessions to have social gatherings, but who knows.
I get the impression that there was more solidarity back in the day. Everything was more intense, the end was more immediate, they were still coming up with new (albeit whacky) light and books that weren't just reworked repeats of previous books were flying off the presses. I can see where the long conventions with tens of thousands coming from all over the country might be kind of exciting...a test of endurance and faith, but also a chance to socialize and meet new people. I'm still glad that I didn't have to attend them, though. The 4-day deals were more than enough for me.
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Golf
It was a 'vacation' a good sleep. I went in 53 and 58. Hey, what the hell else was there to do back in them days?
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Room 215
I'd just love to see them try to schedule one of these today; they know better. Romm 215 (of the ``they-don't make-JWs-like-they-used to" class)
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ozziepost
G'day Roomie!
Things have certainbly changed since 'our day', eh?
Meetings are shorter in length, assembles are scripted by Crooklyn instead of the C.O., no food, one day SAD's (now wasn't that a sleight of hand?) and so on.
All in the name of simplification™ of course!
Cheers mate,
Ozzie
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trevor
Yeah I remember the eight day Twickenham London UK assembly back in the 60’s. Eight of us camped in a field in an old canvass tent - I was just a kid at the time.
My father, a die hard fanatic both then and now explained that we were being prepared for ‘the great tribulation’ when we would lose our home and have to live in tents. This to me meant the end of school, so it was quite an adventure.
Sitting in the stadium for days and days and being force to take notes was hard. My father came to the rescue again. He explained that when we being tortured during ‘the great tribulation’ we would be beaten less because we had learned to stay still. This took the shine off my day but I was a spiritual warrior and hung on with all the tenacity of the battle hardened zealot I was becoming.
Heady days!
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ozziepost
Yeah I remember the eight day Twickenham London UK assembly back in the 60’s.
Wasn't that the one where Freddie Franz released his new tome, the Babylon book? -
James Free
I can't imagine how hard it would be to fill 8 days worth of material without being accused of falling into a cultic tactic of mindless rote and ritual.
The modern day conventions are very different from the older ones. The week long events had many dramas, lots of new books and booklets, even convention booklets. The sessions were very long but there was a feeling of anticipation because talks often included new thoughts giving something to talk about.
Now they are total crap. Friday a.m. - how to stay awake, take notes. Friday p.m. pioneers telling you how good they are blah blah. Saturday - new release and baptism. Sunday, elongated normal sunday meeting.
Nothing new, nothing interesting. The material is so stretched out you could reduce the whole thing to 2 or 3 hours. Glad I don't go anymore. You need to be brain dead to stay awake.