If Jehovah created our brains, wouldn't he want us to make good use of the gift?
I used to wonder that too. Still do. So many JWs wouldn't use their brains for anything as if it was a cardinal sin to do so.
may I blow my own horn?
by stillin 12 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
-
Broken Promises
-
wobble
I feel a great kinship with you Stillin, as I have written on other threads, when I started giving PT's as a M.S in the early seventies, I used to do my own outline/talk. This was allowed to continue for some time until stamped on by a firm letter from HQ.
I still gave PT's but prepared them as you describe, always bringing something fresh to the table,even a talk I had given before would be refreshed.
I used Bible Commentaries to get a good understanding of the scriptures I used and their context, often giving good background info. before reading the verses, a contrast to most robot Dub speakers who just read a verse with no knowledge of its context, and no explanation of its import, because they don't understand what that is, how can they teach anything ????
I felt my job was to convey God's word to people, not the Watchtower's word. Many times Elders told me they did not recognize the talk I gave, they had given one from the same outline, but it was very different to mine. I never gave out anything but upbuilding stuff, no cajoling, or mind control stuff at all.
In the end I refused to give any more PT's , mainly because the outlines contained no spiritually upbuilding content at all, even though (blowing my horn) surrounding Congos sent requests for me to visit again.
WT/JW land is spiritually a lifeless desert.
I am glad I left, my life is better spent elsewhere.
-
Roddy
@stillin
So how do you make a talk not sound like a repeat of the same material from the same outline? Answer: by using less of the outline. Which became increasingly harder to do when public talks kept getting cut to shorter and shorter time slots giving you less opportunities to incorporate your own original material.
Then I made the discovery that it isn't the material -- it's the delivery! If you add variety to your speech, vocabulary, tone, facial expressions, gestures, maybe add a second or two of humor, then you can regurgitate the same material over and over again ... and the audience will think you are the best speaker in town!
Amazing!