by NotBlind 48 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Witnesses... now had nothing else to do but sit down, go out in service, listen to the canned music, eat the canned food, watch the canned dramas, and read the paperback novels.
Great post. Another thing, all this activity was great for meeting people (especially if you were single) and developed community spirit. Now, nobody gives a sh** about anyone else!
What you said plus the Generation Change was a blow to many
This is an excellent post. Anybody remember "The New World Society"? I haven't heard "spiritual paradise"
mentioned much recently either. They are gradually destroying what was a unique subculture.
The Society isn't finished yet - I can point out that superficial as you may think the magazines have become,
they are now ( this year) getting still worse.
metatron
Very perceptive NotBlind. Great post! Right on the money. I totally agree. Come by more often.
Elsewhere,
What you said is right on too. It always was the same ones doing the brunt of the work. Some never got anything out of the conventions except a bad back, or wet hands from cleaning toilets.
Dismembered
N.B. A really great post and, has already been mentioned, an astute one!
But:
A thought I had daydreaming while at the recent convention
How can you still go when you know it's crap?
Ian
Slimboyfat compared 'simplification' to Perestroika in the old USSR. I never thought the similarities before, but the shoe certainly fits. Malaise and stagnation await the WT. Just wait till they start studying the Revelation book for a record 4th time.
Excellent post! Apathy is a significant problem in the org these days. I remember looking forward to working at conventions, as a youngster, it was field watch, (Yankee Stadium), as an adult, (working in the Telecom industry, I worked on all of the voice communication systems). Actually I burnt out on the telecom stuff, becasue I became responsible for working at multiple conventions, (not just mine), during the summer. That meant leaving work Thursday night going to the convention facility, getting everything working overnight, then going back to work Friday morning.
All in all, it beat the drudgery out of 3 or 4 days of listening to the same old schlep. Although these particular things are still done at conventions, food service, and many other things have been eliminated. I noticed after quitting working at conventions, that I no longer enjoyed them, and began to understand what apathy was all about.
j
The headquarters is micro-managing every little thing so much, that the organization is loosing it's human feel more and more. Everything has become so sterile and business-like, that it seems to feel less and less Christian-like.
Excellent point Arthur! When I get down to it that was a very significant factor which led to my fade.
I used to enjoy working in the kitchen at circuit assemblies and expediting at the district assemblies very much. There, what I could do was much more important than who the local elders decided I'd never be allowed to be. It made me feel useful and appreciated for the willingness I brought to the table. So the assemblies were the highest points of the year for me. When those things were done away with and all that was left were departments where one's connections were more important than anything else to get into, it kind of sucked the joy out of the assemblies for me.
Forscher
Notblind,
Welcome to the forum! I enjoyed this post. You really bring out some great things to ponder. I think the simplification was because as you said many thought of the things they did as worship (music, helping with food etc) and rightly so as the bible says we are given different gifts and not all are teachers. However, the WT started to see that these other gifts would not bring in people or money for them and therefore by design have now sucked all joy out of the conventions and made it a "just sit there and listen" program instead of an opportunity to fellowship and encourage one another. The more people just sit the more they think they can brainwash and control them. And all they ever do is push more service, more meetings, etc. People are burned out today!
In other words, they don't want anyone using any talent or gift UNLESS it brings in money for their corporation. And they do not want to give anything back to the publishers either. With all the money people used to give them you would think they would spring for a low cost lunch. I didn't get why they stopped it because it did not cost anything since volunteers did it all - it would have to be because those assisting with food were "missing out" on the spiritual junk food being served and not becoming indoctrinated enough?
I only got to go to about two of the conventions done the old way and I actually enjoyed them. But later on - it was just like any old meeting. And most I know who still attend hate it. Lilly
I think much of this ‘simplification’, whether the WTS believed it or not, led to the malaise now glaringly obvious in the org.
You're so right bro. I signed up for JWism in the early 90's, which from what I can gather was the tail-end of the good ol' days. Quick-builds were still come-one-come-all affairs, where hot meals were served and Euchre was played into the wee hours. It was a time when you still could feel like there was a little more involved in giving sacred service than just the dismal door-to-door work, which is the ONLY meaning that the word "service" has now among JW's.
"Malaise" is putting it mildly. I attended my last circuit assembly in 2001, and during the program I found myself looking around, studying people's faces, and it was all dullness and resignation. I was out for good not long after.
