Impressions from my first KH meeting

by bohm 25 Replies latest jw friends

bohm


Hey!
I went to my first meeting last week and, well, i guess i want to write some thoughts about how a meeting is for an 'outsider' :-) . My first impression was that everything was very well-kept and tidy. There was a small garden (flowering bushes and decorative rocks) and i doubt I could have found a single stain on anything inside the kingdom hall. The people seemed like a cross section of the population, although much nicer dressed than I would ever hope my family to be at my wedding.
One fun observation: The guys was divided in two groups. The fringe guys who was dressed in black or gray suits, and the “in” guys (it was very obvious based on how they was treated after the meeting) who had gone to great lengths in their grooming and clothes to appear special and 'intellectual'.
The meeting itself consisted of two presentations, both on bible-heavy subjects. The first was about the trinity and seemed to be prepared by the person who was doing the talk
I think the presentation was very simple and effective, and he certainly delivered it flawlessly. Undoubtly the audience had seen many of the arguments before, but he was able to use that to his advantage by playing on the audiences expectation as he presented the various points.
However, if i should point out a weak point, I often found myself wondering why catholics believe in the trinity in the first place, and how they understand the scriptures that he cited. Also I felt the pacing of the presentation was quite slow. I, an unscholared noob, had no problems following the presentation and even read a couple of chapters of ezekiel, and i really felt sorry for people who had studied it for years.
The second part, where we studied the watchtower, was a lot stranger and nothing like i had expected. When he first said "And brother Beard will do the reading" I thought he meant the bible, but he meant that brother Beard would read the ENTIRE article OUT LOUD one paragraph at a time!. And like that didnt kill the pacing enough, the questions at the bottom of the page that i truly before this meeting thought were for repetition was the actual study and people volunteered answering them after Beard had read the relevant paragraph. YAWN.
The conductor never strayed from the formula (i later learned this is how all of these meetings are done), but he did manage to put in a joke or two. However, it was done with a greater focus than i have ever seen in a class at uni.
What struck me half way through was how far back in my time in school i had to go to find a similar class, eg. the reading-out-loud and the questions that could literally be answered by reading out a sentence directly from the article.
The answers seemed to fall in 4 categories: Read directly from the magazine, Insightfull answers drawing in other things (few), the impossible to understand (i will give them that perhaps that was my fault) and the StrangeShit. The StrangeShit was, for example, when a lady said: "Our system is like a broken cellphone, you got to send it to the repairman so he can fix it!". That brought up an image of Dogbert screaming: “Get out, you daemons of stupidity!”.
After that remark, i realized that no matter what people said, the study conductor agreed and say it was a good answer even though it was clearly nonsense. I also realized something else: Things were said by the audience that the WTS would never write because, yet it was given authority.
What was most strange was how effective it was. Your sitting there and the message is written with authority in the magazine in your hand, its being said by authority by the person on the stage (who have studied the matter intensive), and all your friends and family stand up, one by one, and answer questions in a way that make it true that they both understand and agree. More than once I had to remind myself what a shaky foundation it all rested on.
It didnt surprise me that nobody disagreed with the study conductor. What did surprise me a lot was that nobody asked any questions or asked the elder to explain something, or even that the elder didnt ask the audience if they did understood everything and asked them difficult questions to provoke thought. I have never been to a class at uni or even highschool where that was not the case, and it enhanced the feeling of being a little kid in public school again.
After the study a lot of people came over and said hi, that was really the best part. I have heard about love bombing, but I really felt they were sincere. I had hoped to discuss the presentations with them, but it was to damn early on Sunday for me to say something intelligent and they didn't bring the topic up. I would really like to hear how they feel on the form of the meeting.
The one thing I regret is that right at the beginning i walked into the wrong auditorium. The two minutes I sat there the guy managed to say (twice) that “Evolutionists do not have a theory that explains how love developed”. Man I would have loved to play bitchslap him right in the middle of class with Proverbs 18:13, “When anyone is replying to a matter before he hears it, that Is foolishness on his part and a humiliation” and see what happened.
cantleave

Bohm, I suffered this type of torment for 42 years from the time I was born. The public talk you heard was probably "Is the Trinity a Scriptural Teaching?" It is one of the Talks I used to give. These talks are based on an outline from the society. There is some lattitude for the speaker to make it his own but following the direction if quite a prescriptive outline. At least you didn't actually fall asleep.
Will you be going again? Or will find better things to do with your life?
designs

Bohm,
Good observations. Asking questions by the audience at the Watchtower study stopped in the 60's.
wantstoleave

Wow thanks for sharing! It's nice to hear a point of view from someone going for the first time. I think as witnesses, we are so used to how things are done, that we never stop to reflect on it. I thought it was interesting how you mentioned no-one asked the conductor any questions. I had never thought of that before. You'll be interested to know that if you had gone to your first meeting say a year or so ago, they were much longer in duration.
Will you go again?
bohm

CANTLEAVE: man, it never occured to me that the talks themselves was recycled. I actually thought they rewrote it each time like the WT articles. Yes, i will go again. Your right it might be a waste of time, but my girlfriend is in a bit of a spiritual struggle and I feel the more i understand and the more actions i put behind my words the better.
DESIGNS: Well, I often hear you should disregard information from the internet, so i think I will disregard that piece of information as well untill someone tells me it directly ;-) .
WANTSTOLEAVE: Yes, but i doubt i will go on my own and not regularely (unless my girlfriend has a change of heart). While i think there can be many good reasons for selecting one religion over another, and that might be an interesting subjective discussion, what i want to show my girlfriend is that the WTS has a habbit of saying things that are simply not true.
I mean, while it might be true there is or is not a trinity or God, the quote about evolution is 100% false, as can be verified by anyone with a computer in a minute. [ofcourse, the evolutionists theory might be wrong and i can respect that point of view, but that is not the point]. I think that is a very strong statement and that is why i am going: to verify (personally) that the accusation is correct and does not only refer to old practices, and to point out to her that things are somehow simplified to much so that wrong statements are made.
I might be wrong, but based on this meeting i am getting a very nasty feeling that things are said at these presentations that are even more 'out there' than what is written in the litterature...
designs

Bohm,
I was there. Questions were asked and homework assignments were given out and discussed at the following weeks meeting, by 66/67 this faded away.
Keep an open mind like you are doing. Hope things go well for your girlfriend.
OnTheWayOut

What did surprise me a lot was that nobody asked any questions or asked the elder to explain something, or even that the elder didnt ask the audience if they did understood everything and asked them difficult questions to provoke thought.
People in the audience asking questions at the meeting is totally not going to be tolerated. Admitting you don't understand something is okay in private, but it's similar to challenging the information if it were stated. And they used to allow the elder doing the WT study to ask more pertinent questions of the audience to make sure they understood, but as time went by, they wanted them to just stick more and more to the material at hand.
DaCheech

i still go, fear the day when my children might answer those stupid questions
LouBelle

I haven't been to a meeting in 5 years. I remember how they were conducted then. I have to say I would try make my answers a bit more interesting and really tried to add substance to my study...it was that desire that eventually led me out of the faith.
Thanks for sharing.
WTWizard

The apparent "sincerity" is a fake. They are trained to look and act sincerely interested in you. But, once you are suckered in, it will disappear like magic.
If you are studying, I recommend looking through some of the WT Comments You Will Not Hear sections. Start asking questions about why things are written like they are. Many of the "Perhaps" and similar wording in the washtowel articles add to the Bible--yet, they expect you to stake your life on its validity. Ask where in the Bible do they have solid proof. And, every time you run into something like "One expert said", ask why they do not mention the name so you can cross-reference it. If they do mention a name, cross reference it thoroughly and in context (remember, they are expecting you to stake your life on the accuracy of their doctrine).
Now, ask about practicality. They are asking people to pio-sneer. That means committing yourself to putting in 50 or 70 hours a month in the misery--and that's on top of preparing for the boasting sessions. If you commit, you will probably be going out most evenings after work, plus the weekend--or most every day, for 2 hours a day (not including time needed to get ready, go to where you meet, and get to the territory). One thing you should ask is, do you have an extra 50-70 hours a month, plus preparation time, for this? Remember, once you are in, they will hound you until you commit.
Of course, they will not admit to any of the depression and other health issues that are widespread in the religion. But, next time you go (if there is a next time), I would recommend watching how many children are hauled out of the auditorium during the meeting. Are they being hauled out because they have to go to the bathroom or are thirsty--or because they are in "need" of a spanking? Observe them--even if you have to sit near where they are being hauled to. How many threats of "Just wait until we get home" do you see? And for what--notice that I would weight an incident of major misbehavior as less indicative of trouble than widespread spankings and beatings given out for petty things. Chances are, the "offense" is making too much noise or not sitting still--hardly major misbehavior. Bear in mind that these things, done continually, can and do lead to mental and emotional problems.
Also, if you go to the other meetings, you will soon notice that people are not supposed to have real careers or education. How often do they bash college? Ask about going to college--they will tell you that it's a conscience matter. If they give a watered down version of what you hear from the platform (especially when the hounder-hounder is in or on Thursday evening), you may not be given the whole picture of the religion in other areas. What about fun? What about after school? You will probably get a watered down version of that the children are allowed their fair share of fun. Now, notice how often they indicate that children should give up that fun in favor of making time for going door to door. You will probably find that they are not being upfront about it.
And, the evening boasting session usually doesn't end until 9:15 PM. Usually, you (and your children) will be held up another half hour, and usually not get home until after 10 PM on a school night. How good is that?

Impressions from my first KH meeting

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