My parents just got back from a long vacation in Hawaii. So it was at the Lanaii City congregation that they heard the news. When my parents got back, my dad phoned me to see how I was doing, this is not uncommon, he'll usually make a "shepherding call" ever few months anyways. His words were "well I uh just phoned to make sure that you are well. So I have to go now." I realized that even for him he was behaving extremely distant, he's an elder so he will often give me news about how near the end of the system is. But this call was cold, shallow and brief... it seemed as though he was calling out of duty and nothing more. Anyway before he hung up I said to him, "so I hear the bookstudy is being cancelled". His comment was "Yes, I have to go." and he hung up. The interesting thing is that I previously heard from my Aunt (who was also with them in hawaii; she's not a witness) and she said that they were going on and on about how near the end of the system is because the society is making these changes. She said they were extremely excited and carried on about it for some time.
So what do I gather from all this... the witnesses, my parents included are bucking up, getting ready for the great big tribulation. No more bending the rules. Contact with a df'd person only out of strict duty, nothing futher at all. I bet that you will see a lot of witnesses in the short term really spending a lot of hours in the service, never missing a meeting, dropping out of college, and following all the rules. Because if they cancelled the bookstudy that means armageddon is almost here! Superb logic...
I know this post is a little catty but it just pisses me off.
Moxie
