The death of the Watchtower pre-study

by slimboyfat 29 Replies latest jw friends

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  slimboyfat

  Who is old enough to remember when Witnesses used eagerly to meet on a Friday or Saturday night to "pre-study" the Watchtower in groups: reading paragraphs, underlining, reading scriptures (sometimes)?

  What happened to that, does anyone still do it anywhere?

  I think Witnesses are just not as enthusiastic about the "truth" as they used to be. If someone tried to get such a group going in my congregation I think they would think it was mad: "I am too busy", "I'll study my magazine alone so I can concentrate" (says randon last minute underliner).

  Maybe there was some injunction from on high against these groups meeting independently? After all it must be a bit dangerous for the organisation to have people meeting together to discuss doctrines informally where they actually might express themselves freely... It was just such small Bible study groups that caused the problems in Bethel in the early 1980s.

  I think for older Witnesses Watchtower pre-studies are symbolic of what used to be exciting about being a JW when you believed it, and everyone else believed it, it was new, and the new system was just around the corner. Even loyal diehard Witnesses nowadays don't seem to have that kind of happy outlook. Even for the faithful it is more like an endurance trek and test of their stoicism to remain in the "truth" than the joyfull stroll in the sunshine that it seemed to be in decades past.
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  Pole

  :Who is old enough to remember when Witnesses used eagerly to meet on a Friday or Saturday night to "pre-study" the Watchtower in groups: reading paragraphs, underlining, reading scriptures (sometimes)?
  
  Lol. I'm not too old, but old enough to remember that in my country at least. First read the WT on your own, then pre-study, then study, then review and revise. Multiple brainwashing.
  
  I think part of the reason why very few Witnesses would pre-study these days is the decreasing quality of the WT study articles. It's the same stuff on "cultivating loving-kindness" and similarly fascinating topics over and over again. Occasionally there is a "Beware of the voice of strangers" article on apostates, but it's written in such a way that it makes individual JWs to scared to discuss it ;-). The articles I can still remember from the late 1980 and early 1990s at least made a point, however wacky it was.
  Pole
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  Gill

  I believe SBF, that there was 'admonish from on high' that these little groups of Watchtower studiers, should cease and desist as it was possible that they may come to their 'own understanding' of what the 'material meant' rather than the 'proper understanding from the FDS'!
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  trevor

  Yeah! I used to attend an hour long pre-study of the Watchtower.

  It was treated as though we were struggling to grasp some ground breaking advanced scientific formula. In reality, a quick glance through the article was all that was really required to grasp the entire contents.

  The repetitive attention to these articles was a form of brainwashing or hypnosis. When we read and re-read information that we are bored with, the conscious mind cuts out. The information then by-passes the rational mind and lodges itself in the memory of the non-conscious part of our mind.
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  sass_my_frass

  Yep, a good buddy arranged one in the home of a 'widow', so her poor hubby had to make himself scarce from his own house every Monday night. My buddy counted the hours and the study, and expected us all to prepare, but I never did. Imagine going over it three times a week? Geez it's no wonder it took so long for me to get a life.
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  Oroborus21

  I remember doing that as a kid and especially one time when my bro baked cinnamon buns.

  This is just a theory, but during the Great Bethel Inquisition involving Ray Franz and gang part of the suspicious activity was their gathering for their own bible study. I suspect that after that time, gathering in private groups like that, even for supposed Watchtower study, came to be frowned upon.

  After all, such group study would probably be inherently informal (because if it was a formal WT study then it would be viewed as replacing the one on Sunday and thus obviously questionable). In such an informal setting, and with the free flow of discussion persons might begin expressing views which are unothodox or worse from the Society's perspective, perhaps views that challenge the official interpretations.

  Then of course you always have the social aspects, some persons would feel excluded, the whole thing could become cliqueish, there might not be enough adequate supervision of the teens, etc.

  So these are just some of the reasons that the kind of thing isn't encouraged and is probably discouraged.

  -Eduardo
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  dozy

  I don't recall any organised WT study efforts - maybe I'm too young as well , or maybe it just wasn't the done thing in the congregations I associated with. I know that some devout witnesses still study the WT on a Monday , arguing that this follows the pattern of the Bethel. I always thought that this was chronic scheduling as by the time the WT came round on a Sunday , you had forgotten what the article was all about. Also , when were you supposed to do the prep for the Tuesday book study?

  I don't really buy into the "WTS are afraid of brothers studying together seperately" argument - I think it is just another sign of a lack of enthusiasm for studying nowadays. We have a circuit assembly shortly & several people have said to me that it is great to have a Thursday night off and not have to prepare the WT that week. Look around at the next assembly (those of you who still attend) - how many people have studied (or even brought along) their Watchtower?

  Slightly OT , we did have a few pioneers studying the "pioneer book" with some of the younger ones in the congregation. This was clamped down upon , as the elders argued that the "specialness" of attending the pio school would be diluted if the information was widely discussed beforehand.
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  greendawn

  I was going to say wasn't it bad enough having to spend so many hours per week for meetings and preaching and famimy study? I can't recall this pre study being done by ex congo members.
  
  As for the JWs not being as happy is because their hopes for a soon to be paradise were dashed in 1995 with the change in the generation concept. The FDS continues to manipulate their feelings and tell them that the end is near and indeed very near but as of 1995 they know that a generation can be centuries long.
  
  Many JWs have invested much in a soon to be paradise and now that is all lost as they find themselves without savings for their retirement, or a higher qualification that they were capable of obtaining to ease their finacial problems.
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  James Free

  I think part of the reason why very few Witnesses would pre-study these days is the decreasing quality of the WT study articles.

  What's there to study? Two minutes information stretched into one hour of nothingness.
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  blondie

  In this area, it was the death of LARGE WT pre-study.

  One family of 2 parents, and 8 kids could pre-study together.

  but

  10 single individuals unrelated could not

  Two families of 4 parents, and 6 kids could pre-study together

  but

  10 single individuals unrelated could not

  But not more than 2 families....with a view to blocking the possible discovery that the Bible taught something the WT did not

  Actually, 2 individuals of the same gender could get together and study their WT but only about a year after the GREAT APOSTASY (in 1981)

  Blondie