Opening comments: So this past weekend was out Special Assembly, so OBVIOUSLY supplied by Jehovah. Anyway, the recurring theme here was apparently the doing of Gods will, which when payed attention to, translated into doing whatever the Society does and says without complaint. Any interuption of either is a hinderance, not to man, but to God's will.
We also had the "privelege" of having a GB representative at our assembly hall. Lusch or something. I have to say that his two talks were perhaps the most boring I''ve ever heard in my life. A combination of his monotone, slow voice and also the fact that he was glued to his notes for 80% of the talks really was a downer.
We ony had four baptisms at this assembly. 3/4 were young and my guess would be that those were born-ins. Poor people. I refused to clap for them.
Thankfully I had parking duty(ironic huh?) so I had the opportunity to walk around a bit and miss portions of a few talks. But basically this assembly had nothing we haven't heard a million times before, but of course the friends view it as "the best assembly yet".
Here is the program:
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The first talk didn't have too many notables. Mainly because I missed it due to parking duties. How awful :).
The second talk was a snore session as well. But one of the latter comments he made was to stress that we need to "do our own research in the bible AND christian publications". No separation there.
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The next talk I took notes for was entitled "God's 'will is that all sorts of men should be saved'" and was given by our Circuit Overseer. One can already guess the speech going to be given based on the title. The first half of the talk basically consisted of all the methods used by JW's to reach "men of all sorts" . He then made comparison's to Biblical examples to show(by way of Paul) how he reached "men of all sorts" and was also "persecuted". The next few minutes covered the o-so-common topic of perescution. He mentioned how ALL lives are precious to God. We have a resposibility to preach yadda yadda....it was basically showing how JW's are the "ark" of salvation.
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The next talk was the one given by the Governing Body member. It was titled "Live No More For the Desires of Men, but for God's[GB's] Will". Everyone tried to stay awake, but it didn't work too well. Elder's nodded off as did many others. Anyways, this again was one of those talk where only two options are given. Serve Satan[as a non-JW] or serve God[as a JW]. Jeremiah 10:23 as always was used to show that a man cannot direct his own life course, but that "man needs Jehovah". No seperation between Jehovah and the Society. hmmm.....SHOCKER!
-He then went on to bash education. He said that "people go to college to have more material things later" and who "look down on less educated ones". I found it ironic when he mentioned that "many young people left the 'truth' because of higher education". Go figure huh? It was interesting when he noted that they are not against education but what KIND of education. He then when on to discuss the benefits of "theocratic education", or what they even call "divine education". He put up his hands as if on an imaginary scale, asking which is better. Obviously the secular education hand wasn't elevated higher. There was a lot of pressure from "God's spirit-directed messenger" to avoid universities. I guess it's good that a lot ignore some of that advice now. Experiences were given of a 14 and 12 year old. Wonder where they will be in a few years time.
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The next talk was interesting and not in a good way. It was the talk entitled "Do the Will of God Whole Souled". This was the "youth reach out" talk. The brother began by saying that it is "difficult to do things Jehovah's way"[GB's way]. He then gave lots of praise for those who are raised as witnesses....the advantages of being a "born-in". No disadvantages were provided. There's a surprise . The rest of the talk was basically how youth's need to "make the 'truth' their own"....by involving themselves in "theocratic activities". The more you involve youself, the more difficult it is to leave seems to be behind their minds.
There were two interviews given that I made sure to take detailed notes on. These kids were like ROBOTS!!! The first was a 13 year old boy who was raised as a witness. He was scared to move to another country[FL] because he would be away from everything he knew...friends, etc. His parents taught him to study, comment, give talks, etc. He was baptised @ 10 years old!. WTH!!! I'm all the parents in the audience thought that getting baptised that young proved what a spiritual person he is .
The second interview was a 13 year girl. She was not a born-in but was basically raised in as her parents came in when she was 5 years old. They taught her to comment at meetings, etc. When she was at school, she "realized" that her schoolmates made it "difficult" for her to serve Jehovah "whole-souled". So she asked to be home schooled, to which her parents agreed . From there, she became a full-time auxilary pioneer. She even mentioned that her only association was @ the KH and it has served as a protection for her. SHEESH! This girl needs some guidance...from Satan? NO. But from NORMAL PEOPLE!!!!. I don't think I ever rolled my eyes more than I did during this talk.
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During the afternoon session, the WT summary I found interesting. It was more about guidance by the holy spirit...then and now. The brother frequently mentioned the usage of the holy spirit in Jesus' time. How many were "inspired" by it. The "same holy spirit is at work for us today". *sigh*. How can they not see it?
http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/directed-by-holy-spirit.php
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The rest of the assembly I didn't pay much attention to. I walked the parking lot slowly and slept the rest. The final talk was by the GB member and it was without a doubt the most boring talk I've ever heard. I couldn't even say what it was about. There was definitely a lot of........at this assembly day. Hopefully I'm not here for the next one...