Well this past weekend was pretty much as predicted, the demonstrations were probably the worst I have ever seen. You know the ones I mentioned on a post last week where in the middle the participant has a sudden epiphany! Here is a sampling of just a few.
- First one was guarding against patriotism, in particular chering for sports teams connected to a Country. Two young men cheering on their olympic sports team when suddenly one of them has his "epiphany" that this wrong and this is not honoring Jehovah. Then amazingly he was able to recall points including several scriptures from a service meeting part a few weeks back. Again just so over the top in how they try to control us.
- Young man is deciding what to buy with his Tax Refund, of course it would be unthinkable to actually use brand names so he decides he is going to buy a new "Cranberry" smart phone and i-Slab tablet computer and a 3D TV( this is where he says, "why I could have ones over from the congregation to watch the society's videos" - gag!) Then he has his epiphany and decides his existing technology is good enough and then in one of the cheapest and sleaziest plugs ever he decides he is going to contribute a portion of his tax return to the Worldwide Work and some to the Kingdom Hall Fund. It was just a disgusting plug to solicit for funds!
- Profiles two families- one is a witness family the other family "has not yet come to know Jehovah". The "wordly" father comes home on a Friday night and is excited about spending some time with his family. All his kids are either on the phone texting or playing video games. Basically all his kids (3) have made other plans and even his wife is off to a class and then for drinks with her girlfriends. He then decides to go to a pub to watch the game with some work associates. Then the "model" witness family; they just finish a delicious meal and then plan their weekend, it consists of a Friday night practice session for their presentations for the ministry for Saturday morning and to do some personal research in the WT to help their teenage daughter come up with a good reply to one of her schoolmates as to why she can't attend her worldly party- this was iniated by the young girl. (yeah right) Then after the ministry on Saturday it is their turn to clean the kingdom hall and all of them are really looking forward to this priviledge. Then after, for their token weekend recreation-it's out to the woods for a fire and marshmellows (of course everyone in the family are so excited). Then on Suday after the meeting they are going to have the speaker and his wife over for lunch and are loooking forward to their experiences. Lastly they are going to invte a couple that was recently on a foreign assignment to come over for dinner to share their experiences. Of course all the children are estatic about this amazing weekend that they have planned.
It was very disturbing that they portray all worldly families as disfunctional and witness families as so happy and content. I know many families outside the org that are very close, more so than many witness families. Their M.O. is always to put everyone outside the organization down. It was an absolutely unrealistic and disgusting portrayal.
The last point that I will share, was a talk that cautioned us on what we talk about. It referenced Luke 6:45, from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. It had another cheezy demo of a brother that spoke only about his new business and then felt sudden regrets. Another epiphany! What was really disturbing is the speaker then goes on to instruct everyone what we can talk about with fellow believers. You know the usual canned response; field service experiences, a point we really enjoyed from our weekly bible reading, etc. Here they are telling us what to talk about with fellow beleivers. So going back to their theme bible text. If we are being TOLD what to talk about with fellow beleiver; how is it that this is suddenly coming from our hearts?
There were many other points, however I don't feel the need to pontificate on all of them; I think everyone reading this post will get the picture. Their control tactics are very much "alive and well".
It was a complete waste of my weekend, if there are others that haven't decided if you are going to attend or not-don't go! This may well have been my last circus assembly!!!!