When you read the watchtower.....................

by vitty 19 Replies latest jw friends

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  blondie

  I never really paid much attention to the WT until I was living away from home with JW roommates and we starting having a "family" pre-study. We did extra research, looked up the scriptures, and came up with some interesting thoughts. Then the Great Apostasy of 1981 came and such study groups were forbidden. But I had learned that knowing what was in the publications and the bible gave me power to deal with buttinsky elders. Hang them with their own words.............

  The last 15 years or so of my JW life, I reviewed the WT study articles very much the same way I do know. I tried to give a well-placed but not too provocative comment at every WT study (and book study). People today still tell me they miss my comments at the meetings.

  I also learned how to study material that was somewhat boring at college but necessary from my degree.

  Blondie
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  morty

  People today still tell me they miss my comments at the meetings.

  If it makes ya feel better Blondie, I enjoy your comments here....
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  sspo

  I used to enjoy them probably for 29 years and read from cover to cover feeling guilty if i didn't since they came from the "faithful and discreet slave" and from "God".

  I hated when my wife would wake me up at 2 in the morning with an article from FDS how to improve our marriage.
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  Jankyn

  What's funny is that, because I stopped attending in about 1976 or so, I "remember" the literature as being more serious and in-depth that it was--or is. Since I was only sixteen, it seemed pretty "deep"--if not all that well-founded.

  Now, when I pick up literature (I just got a copy of The Bible: What Does It Really Teach? off a street-witness the other day), I'm appalled at how badly written it is. Was it always that simple-minded? I dug out my old Truth book and took a look. The answer: Yep.

  Nothing changes except the dates.
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  Juniper123

  That was me too, as a kid I thought the reason I couldn't get into The Watchtower because it was to serious and "deep" for a person my age. It's only now that when I look back at the odd bound volume I still have I see how simple and patting you on the head it is, "Jehovah is good, Jehovah is nice, the end of the system of things is coming annnnnnnny day now, be a pioneering pioneer who pioneers". When they were still mailed I did like getting them in the mail and looking at the pictures. And I still have a soft spot for Awake, I take a copy if my father has one (he occasionally goes to meetings).
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  choosing life

  When I first started attending the sunday meetings, I always tried to find a way to leave before the Watchtower study because it was sooo boring. I was attending university at the time and was used to some serious study. I couldn't believe these people wanted me to study this article before I came, and then they would read it again at the meeting and then they would parrot answers. I felt like I had been demoted to elementary school. Then they would talk about how "deep" it was. I don't know why I didn't run.
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  Mysterious

  Booring. I skimmed the Awake for the general interest articles and always stopped reading them as soon as they got to the part where they started quoting scripture every couple words. As a benefit I learned how to integrate quotes seemlessly into my writing. I only ever read the experiences and maybe the first page of the watchtower or questions from readers. I saw no point in reading it when we had to study it anyway. Though I made sure they changed locations in the house so mom thought I read them before service.
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  buffalosrfree

  I love Blonde's comments also. When reading the Watchtowers i used to pour over them looking for deeper meaning and coming up with something other than just the stock answers they wanted you to underline. I always went into the background and searched around. Gave comments at the study and when doing so having people look at you and not have an idea in their heads about what you were talking about. most just wanted to have the answers answered for them as in the non-deep paragraphs.
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  OnTheWayOut

  I always had trouble with the cover-to-cover reading. Awake had good general articles about a country, an animal, a food, etc. I would pick and choose that. I would look for a field service topic (takes about 2-3 minutes of searching from the table of contents and skimming). I did read the study articles, but only those many times.

  I learned to love doing research in older publications, but that was something with a purpose. I still enjoy FINDING QUOTES THAT PROVE THAT THEY ARE NOT GOD'S ORGANIZATION. This is very similar to confirming that the organization is RIGHT by deeper study, but it is much easier to confirm that they are WRONG.
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  Wasanelder Once

  As a boy I loved Watching the World. There was always some ridiculous story of rats eating the rice on the ships docked in some third world country where it was sent by worldly charities. (Or whatever) I would always look for the Questions from Our Readers to see if there were any flashes of new light. I would look at the title of the study articles so I would know if they needed any attention before we studied it on Sunday. Other than that I looked at all the pretty pictures.

  Praise the Lord.

  W.Once