Do Active Witnesses Find Meetings Exciting?

by Band on the Run 53 Replies latest jw friends

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  Band on the Run

  I was a born-in. KH meetings were utter hell. The boredom, particularly for a child, was awful. I feel it was a form of child abuse. A Bethelite handed my mom his belt because my toddler sister was brushing her feet against the chair in front of us. Meetings were agony. The boredom.

  Sometimes I wonder if I just had special temperament problems. I am sometimes bored in church now but, overall, it is very different. Do true believers find meetings exciting? I suppose the very beginning might be exciting when you learn new ideas but the tedium should set in. I just want to check my experience with others. Of course, maybe we are the oddballs for being here.
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  flipper

  BAND ON THE RUN- As a kid being born in and raised - I can say with a certainty I was bored stiff to tears. I colored in my Paradise book and drew moustaches and beards on the pictures of King David and Jesus to keep occupied ! My mom would say something, I'd stop - then I'd start coloring again when she wasn't looking . I slept on the floor on a blanket for Christ's sakes. ANYTHING to stay occupied for almost 2 hours !

  As I got older - the only thing that kept me interested was giving talks and reaching out to be a MS or elder since my dad and older brother already were in those positions. Once I saw the folly of that and what a waste it was - I lost ALL interests in meetings. Started disbelieving the "generation " doctrine . Saw that the " time of the end " was a farce. Then I faded and finally left in 2003. It took time due to all the JW family I still had in. Have real freedom and peace now
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  DesirousOfChange

  A Bethelite handed my mom his belt because my toddler sister was brushing her feet against the chair in front of us.

  She shoulda beat the Bethelite! since his mom evidently forgot to teach him any manners.
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  shepherd

  I remember one elder, Ralph Goddard was his name, he was so bored he would actually sigh repeatedly during his own Service Meeting talks, the sort of 'what the hell am I doing up here trying to make this 2 minutes of info stretch to 20 minutes' kind of sigh. He went thorugh the motions each and every week with the sort of enthusiasm most would reserve for the moment they decide 'all is vanity' and prefer to cut their throats than live another moment...

  I think most Elders are totally bored, and go up on the platform as something to do rather than just sit and stare at the walls waiting for the last song. But of course, no one will ever admit it, for that would show a lack of respect for the spiritual dogfood being spoonfed to the congregation.
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  aSphereisnotaCircle

  They believe that is what exciting is........
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  B_Deserter

  I was never able to psych myself into enjoying the meetings. Let's face it. They were boring. Really. Really. REALLY boring. If they weren't boring, why would they have to constantly tell the Witnesses that they aren't? Why would they have to tell the Witnesses constantly that they enjoy the meetings and are refreshed by them? There's a lot of that manipulation in their methods. They constantly tell the rank and file how they feel about things.

  So yes, when I was a kid I hated them. Sometimes I'd go into the bathroom, not because I had to go, but because it'd give me a ten minute reprieve. The meetings actually seemed to go faster sitting on a toilet in the bathroom than they did in my seat, for some reason.

  When I grew up I was constantly falling asleep. So much so that I kind of got a reputation for it. Meetings aren't exciting. The only Witnesses who think so have allowed themselves to be manipulated into it.
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  inbetween

  boring, mostly boring, especially the service meeting,

  what kind of is interesting are the highlights, at least closest to the bible. the rest, man...so boring.....

  the watchtower and bookstudy can be a bit more interesting, if you did not prepare....then at least you can get angry about it, when you read it the first time ;-)
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  PYRAMIDSCHEME

  They are told to be excited, but I dont think very many are.
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  WTWizard

  And just wait until the a$$emblies. Those wastefests might be exciting the first time--especially if you have to travel and you are new in it. After the first one, they become a complete waste of time--nothing new, just meeting other men and nothing else, sitting there for the whole day--or two--or three. At least, if you have to travel, the trip itself is more exciting than the a$$embly.

  However, if you have the gas to waste going to the a$$embly, you could go just about anywhere else and enjoy it more.
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  scooterspank

  not active but you get the point.