30 Minute Public Talk-CONFIRMED

by stillajwexelder 112 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  neverendingjourney

  If they are going to leave the outlines unchanged, it confirms my suspicions that this arrangement is about cutting out the individual speaker's input into the final presentation of the talk. The speaker is going to be forced to cut out his own personal anecdotes, stories and analogies to get in all of the information on the outline. They're tightening the reigns, folks.
  
  Forty five minutes allowed for a significant amount of personal freedom for each speaker to structure the talk in their own unique way. Thirty minutes per talk is going to ensure that the talk that Speaker A and Speaker B give using the same outline will sound almost identical.

  This new arrangement is in line with the instructions Watchtower conductors received a while back telling them to cut out their own use of additional study materials that were not included in the article. They were told to stick to the information as presented in the Watchtower magazine only. This 30 minute talk thing is just another step in that direction.
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  willyloman

  I don't mean to go slightly off topic, but this reminds me of something that happened in my old hall:

  The CO visited and in his instructions to elders on Friday night made a big point about not going overtime on meeting parts. He said it irritated the publishers and demonstrated a lack of preparedness, which reflected poorly on god's organization.

  The next service meeting, there were three parts. The announcements were a little long, the middle speaker turned his 25 minute part into 35 minutes and the guy with the last part, a 10 min Q&A on some article in the KM, gets up to the microphone, smiles, looks up at the clock on the wall, and says: "OK, let's all stand and sing song number...."

  The PO was extremely PO'd that night.
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  4JWY

  Lengthy negative introductions about the state of the system of things/deep last days etc are to be heavily curtailed

  Sounds like someone has finally gotton a clue. My comment to elders several years ago was that,

  "if I hear one more talk of death, destruction, and judgement, I'll go running and screaming out of the kingdom hall!"

  Oh, how my father delighted in proclaiming their messages of negativity until he finally killed himself with the bound volumes surrounding him. I wonder how he'd take this news.
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  neverendingjourney

  The next service meeting, there were three parts. The announcements were a little long, the middle speaker turned his 25 minute part into 35 minutes

  I remember these meetings all too well. It seriously pissed me off. Then the elders than ran over time would "counsel" any brother that dared complain about it because it showed that you weren't "appreciating Jehovah's spiritual food." It was the typical higher-up JW mindset. They'd excuse their lack of preparation and blame it on the publishers for not wanting to spend an extra 10 minutes "enjoying the spiritual banquet."

  One elder in particular hardly ever prepared for the service meeting. He'd never have people ready with presentations, so he regularly snatched people that showed up early to the hall and gave them the "privilege" of preparing on-the-spot demonstrations that night. It seriously pissed me off. If you told him no, he'd get mad and lecture you about the importance of not rejecting the opportunity to "serve Jehovah." Before I left, I was almost at the point of hating that particular brother. He was such an ass and he'd always have a fake smile on his face. God, I'm glad I don't have to stare at his ugly face anymore.
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  stillajwexelder

  Went to another congregation meeting tonight. Letter read out but in the announcements. Reconfirmed. Read out again the negative comments about the state of the system would be severly curtailed or removed. Speakers discretion to reduce each section by a few minutes to get down to 30 minutes. Using existing outlines. Up to the elders to adjust meeting times posted at the front of the Kingdom Hall
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  horrible life

  Zack said:

  This is all in line with Christendom. In Touch Ministry, Joel Osteen, Dr. David Jeramiah, Crystal Cathedral---- all have 30 minutes "messages"

  I agree with Zack and Auld. The ministry's above are all very feel good. I have been to the Crystal Cathedral a couple of times on vacation. It was the first "church" I had ever been to. Church is not an appropriate word. It was a beautiful glass auditorium, with a positive speaker, that made you glad you were alive, and love for God, and your neighbor. You smiled with renewed joy every Sunday.

  I still pause for awhile, when I am channel surfing when I see these guys on TV. These ministries have BIG money.

  Lengthy negative introductions about the state of the system of things/deep last days etc are to be heavily curtailed

  Is New York going to be the new feel good religion? If they are, they are smarter than we thought. Remember, they got new blood in the board room.
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  cabasilas

  I'd be really interested in seeing a copy of this letter. I'm puzzled as to the point about the "negative" comments about the state of this system. What exactly is their point? It wouldn't make sense that they are backing down on their view of the nearness of Armageddon. So, what do they mean?

  Anyone able to post a scan of the letter?
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  TheListener

  Maybe allowing birthdays is next. You know, for the kids.
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  stillajwexelder

  I will start a seperate thread but there was also read out a letter about the New Public WT and Study Edition. Somebody predicted it would be linked to the KM -and that was stated
• 

  jah1914

  I can confirm as well. The letter was read in our congregation this week. The public talk is 30 minutes. The watchtower stays the same. The explanation was that it would allow for more time to 'fellowship',participate in field service, and reduce contention among congregations that share a single hall. This reason falls apart for several reasons: 1. Fellowship - most people fellowship(if at all) after the meetings. Shorting the talk really doesn't do anything for that especially just 15 minutes. 2. Participate in field service - Again what does 15 minutes really do in that sense? Does it really save that much time? 3. Reduce contention among congregations sharing a hall - Everyone knows that the BOE have some freedom in establishing meeting times. If congestion was a problem the elders at the local level would simply adjust the time, like ours did by 30 minutes. I think the real reason is that they are trying to force the brothers to stick to the outline and not add material\illustrations. The 'good' brothers try to spice these boring talks up, but that naturally leads to interjection of personal interpretation and not Service Desk(where the talks are written) interpretation. In fact it was specifically mentioned that no 'new' outlines are currently being provided and that the brothers should reduce their talks by cutting out lengthy introductions and conclusions and to share the main scriptual points. Also, I think they are further trying to show that the Watchtower study is the main point of coming to the Sunday meeting. I've had brothers tell me before that the public talk was just 'filler' time and if you had to choose between the Watchtower or Public Talk the watchtower wins. We also had a letter on ordering the new watchtower(Public vs Study Editions). The cover won't change on the Study Edition other than the list of study articles will be on the front.(Much like the current large print watchtower edition), except I suspect they will have some pictures and illustrations. After the meeting I asked one of the elders if since the Watchtower - Study Edition was meant for "baptized witnesses and those making spiritual progress"(the letter words, not mine), would we after the meeting be asking for the general public to leave? Is that why the small change of viewing the two as a seperate meeting with the watchtower conductor being asked up on the stage before the song is happening? He didn't give me an answer, he just said, "Big changes, big changes." Although big changes with this organization is always relative. Here is my theory, nothing to back it up. I think that this will happen only in the U.S. and European countries where attendance is low and "apostasy" and leaks abound. I say that because the letter about the watchtower changes said that not all countries would have separate public and study editions. I see in the future where the Watchtower study will be broken into its own meeting on a separate day. The public meeting will consist just of the 30 minute talk, since that is the average person's attention span, and that will be it for Sundays, or maybe they will move the book study to Sunday. I do tend to ramble. Sorry if my post is confusing.