Zone Overseer Talk - Would You Wear Saul's Armour?

by WinstonSmith 19 Replies latest watchtower bible

• 

  WinstonSmith

  Hello everyone,

  I have been meaning to post these up since I signed up to JWN but, until someone mentioned the Zone Talk that is happening tomorrow in New Zealand, I had forgotten! I used to be a prolific note taker during public talks, assemblies and conventions. As I became more awake to the truth about the Truth this died off. The notes taken here are in the style I would usually take them in the old days, writing bullet points to aid easy recall later. Any text in bold italics is written verbatim from the speakers mouth.

  It was an odd experience writing notes with an awake mind. I have tried simply to write the gist of what he was saying wether or not I agreed with it. There were some genuinely good points in the talk, but of course a lot of the WTS propaganda blurred the good advice available in the bible. The talk was here in Australia a couple of weeks ago.

  Anyway, here they are, see what you think:

  22.04.12

  Should you wear Saul's armour?

  Zone Overseer Talk

  David Splane

  • Saul was the tallest man in Israel. The scriptures say that he stood head and shoulders above everyone else.
  • When Goliath taunted the battle lines of the Israelites, Saul stayed away. He did not want to confront him.
  • When David turned up he heard what Goliath was saying and he got annoyed that this guy was dissing on Jehovah. He said that someone should do something about it.
  • 1 Samuel 17:38. David was going to head out to the battle so Saul offered David his armour. When he put it all on, he couldn't move properly as they didn't fit and he wasn't used to it. There was nothing wrong with the armour, it was just not suitable for David.
  • 1 Samuel 17:45. David went out to face Goliath with faith that Jehovah would be backing him up.
  • We all have giants to face. Will we face them with Saul's armour or with David's mindset?

  • We face three giants in our lives:

  • Giant 1 - THE WORLD ECONOMIC SYSTEM.
  • Our work can take our time and energy. Things are getting more expensive and need more money.
  • The world says that the best way to protect ourselves from this giant is to get a university education which means you can get a good job that pays well which means you can get by financially.
  • David would ask 'How much do you really need to live on?' 1Timothy 6:8. "We need to lower our standards. If we don't expect too much we don't get disappointed when we can't get things."
  • Jehovah says he will take care of us. If we seek work that will allow us to have free weekends and evenings, "we will have a relatively stress free life."
  • "Putting our trust in Jehovah is the best retirement plan we could have. Jehovah's people don't need to worry like people of the world because Jehovah has said he will look after us." Deutoronomy 2:7.

  • Giant 2 - PEER PRESSURE
  • Saul would say 'Don't tell anyone that you are a JW.'
  • David would say 'I come to you in the name of Jehovah of Armies.'
  • Young ones often dread having someone from school open the door in the ministry.
  • David had trust that Jehovah would back him up. Young ones can have the same confidence that Jehovah will help them.
  • Preparation helps us to be ready for situations that we know will stress us.
  • David was armed with stones. Parents can arm their kids by helping them with what they might say in certain situations.
  • Meeting attendance and field service are key ways to increase our armoury. Regular participation in both build us up.
  • Sometimes we don't want to do these things. Jonah felt the same. Even when there he was still not happy, yet he stuck with it.

  • Giant 3 - OURSELVES.
  • Sometimes we are our own worst enemy. We look down on ourselves and we tell ourselves that we are no good. Often these feelings come from the way we were raised.
  • The word of God can help us with this. Philippians 4:4-8 reminds us that Jehovah will look after us. He can calm our minds, help us to be reasonable, and think things through. Prayer and supplication give us access to 'the peace of God'. Verse 8 reminds us to focus on good things.
  • "When negative thoughts come into our minds, that is when we need to pray."

  • So what happened to Saul's armour? 1 Samuel 31:8-10.
  • Today we face an enemy greater than any giant. How can we confront them?
  • Stand firm and have faith that Jehovah will back us up.
• 

  serenitynow!

  Arggh! I wanna kick the speaker's ass for the "giant 1" alone. I was raised in poverty because my parents didn't go to college. Saying Jehovah will look after JWs materially is a terrible lie. My mom will have to work until she dies due to always having low wage jobs and no pension.
• 

  serenitynow!

  And another thing, why do JWs always present David as being some kind of good example? He might have been ok when he was young, but he turned into a peeper, an adulturer, and a murderer.
• 

  WinstonSmith

  @serenitynow! There were some cringeworthy moments in the talk, and for Mrs Winston and I, Giant 1 was a clanger. The comment about putting trust in Jehovah as being the best retirement plan made me think about those who were around in the 1970s and how that must be working out for them now 30+ years later. Meanwhile the GB and crew rest in the ivory towers, travel the world and have no reason to wonder where their next meal is coming from.
• 

  ziddina

  "Arggh! I wanna kick the speaker's ass for the "giant 1" alone...." Serenity Now

  Hear hear!! You and me both!!

  They just keep spouting the same old crappy line, over and over and over again...
• 

  Chariklo

  Giant 1 - THE WORLD ECONOMIC SYSTEM.
  Our work can take our time and energy. Things are getting more expensive and need more money.
  The world says that the best way to protect ourselves from this giant is to get a university education which means you can get a good job that pays well which means you can get by financially.
  David would ask 'How much do you really need to live on?' 1Timothy 6:8. "We need to lower our standards. If we don't expect too much we don't get disappointed when we can't get things."

  Interesting, isn't it, that the only value the Watchtower can see in education is economic? Or so they would have us believe.

  I won't believe it.

  All their rules and preaching that the worldly value of education is to safeguard one's economic future, whereas really good sheep should increase their faith in Jehovah, is a smokescreen, just so much noise.

  They know perfectly well that an educated mind can see through their false reasoning. Education will inform and enable people to judge for themselves and make up their own mind. Education trains in real logic, not the false, twisted logic that blinds the brainwashed with lies, half-lies and twisted truths.

  So they will keep on dinning into the heads of their followers that the purpose of education is to enable a person to get a better job, i.e. more money, and that all you need is to trust Jehovah and take on a menial job working for yourself.

  Don't believe it. Don't be fooled. Don't let others be fooled. The real value of education is to inform and enlighten the mind, to increase real understanding and the ability to exercise real reason.

  The rest is just phooey.
• 

  Bubblegum Apotheosis

  I know a brother who had to work until he was 85 years old, he spent is life in Bethel for several decades, was sent on the road, married and started a business in his sixties. He worked until he was 85 years old, lived off $800 usd a month in a dump. He was the best speaker I ever met in my life, he is now 102 years old, and still smart for his age, not giving all the talks he use to. He's a good man, I like him!
• 

  nugget

  So his message is don't try to improve things make do with less. God will look after you it is his responsibility. The society takes everything and offers nothing again.
• 

  WinstonSmith

  @ziddina: It is like a broken record isn't it? An endless cycle of rehashed themes, with nothing really new in them. 'Ad nauseam' comes to mind...

  @Chariklo: When Mrs Winston and I were discussing the talk afterward, we made the same point. They focus on the whole 'go to university, get drunk, have sex, take drugs, fall in love with money' thing all the time. These days the motivation get a qualification is more likely to be so that they can just get by rather than so they can make heaps of money and drive a Mercedes. Have a look through most job boards, and even for basic administration type jobs, employers are looking for you to have some sort of certificate. It is a great bonus that as part of this, people learn how to really study (nothing at all like pre-studying a WT article) and think and analyse and pick apart. I guess, luckily for JWs you don't need a certificate to prove that you can clean a window.

  @Bubblegum Apotheosis: I have had the privilege of knowing and working alongside some great old timers through the years. Growing up without a dad was hard, but there were a couple of the olders brothers who looked after me like close Uncles, and I will be forever be grateful to them. They have, like your friend now grown old (not 102 though!). Regardless of what we believe, we can always learn much from dear old friends.

  @nugget: You hit the nail on the head! If only Mr Splane had summed it up like you, we would have been there for a lot less than two and a half hours!

  When he said that we need to lower our standards and not expect so much, I thought "If we lowered our standards any more when we were growing up, we would have had to go and live under a bridge." We had a house but little money. Mum pioneered and we got by on a government benefit and from mum doing some ironing jobs part time. Congregations worldwide are full of people and families like this. And yet these ones are guilt tripped into giving even more from the little they have (as per last week's Kingdom Ministry talk). Meanwhile, people who have not worked a full time job in many years, have three meals a day provided for them, commute downstairs for work and have room and board provided continue to tell us how to live out here in the real world.
• 

  Pistoff

  This talk is another example of the 2 track method that the WT uses to get its real point across.

  Here is David Splane, much closer to God than your or I, and HE says you don't have to worry like worldy people about retirement, that Jehovah will take care of us.

  He then says that we should focus on getting work that is not on evenings or weekends.

  Wow, I never thought of that!! Just look for work that will pay the bills and isn't weeknights or weekends, doesn't require a degree and will take care of medical! NO WONDER he is at Bethel, his insight is profound! Truly Jehovah is blessing him!

  HEY MR. EMPTY SUIT: THOSE JOBS ARE GONE. I listened to whatever denture wearing, Depends clad geezer who had YOUR cushy job in the 60's at Bethel, and here I am with no degree and no pension.

  So piss off.

  (Also, sidenote, I am SO GLAD that Jehovah will look out for my economic welfare, I was thinking he might prevent children in the California kingdom halls from being raped by Frederick MacLean, but thanks for looking out for my economic interests instead. Those kids have the new system, they'll be OK. Also, they probably didn't raise their hands in refusal like that smart little 5 year old in the new Bible Teach book, bad little kids!)

  Meanwhile, this inside information, that COLLEGE is the same as the cowardly act of putting on Saul's armor, that sniveling shit, will NEVER be in a Watchtower. Why? Because it is crazy.

  That is the 2 track method; let the insiders, the higher ups, the CO's, DO's, you know, the ones we support with our contributions, let them go out and build up the faithful with sophistry like this talk, but never put it in print.

  Jehovah will take care of us. It gets funnier the more you say it!