by RULES & REGULATIONS 26 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Reminds me of Dodger Stadium. Usually held in August. We'd all sweat like horses sitting on plastic seats in our suits. Never mind the horse barn. How about brother hygienically challenged sitting next to you.
We did have a 4 day assembly in the 90's and man was I wiped out. I stopped going to all 3 days there until they switched to long Beach. Air conditioned.
I knew the speakers were all in the box seats. Air conditioned
Yes, painted. He died on stage giving a talk. Mind you lots did that (died on stage giving a talk) just most of them didn't fall over dead.
i remember it well.....yankee stadium - heat, humidity....total discomfort...........that olympic stadium in montreal in 1978 was one of the worst.........who thought it could get so hot and humid in canada.....even summers in the local kh were hell with no a/c and those plastic chairs....you'd end up in sitting in a puddle of sweat. crazy, crazy....
"Within 10 minutes of the start of the boasting session, we were confronted by an overzealous snot-nosed punk attendant who had to be at least 17years"
Reminds me of last time I attended a disctrict assembly (1996, which seems like a lifetime ago)
I'd long since became inactive and hadn't bothered attending one of these things for a couple of years, I'd also recently moved house and as part of trying to get my life back in order I got it into my head that maybe a change in congregation was needed to renew my faith.
To cut a long story short I never quite got around to attending my local kingdom hall but did a few weeks after moving get a leaflet about that years district convention shoved through my door. Said convention turned out to be at the Manchester MEN Arena, literally 10 minutes bus ride followed by a 10 minute walk across the city centre from my new house so I decided to attend the last day as after all they were having a "drama presentation" and as a "member of the public" (didn't really regard myself as a JW anymore at that point) I was "invited to attend".
The MEN Arena is a massive 20,000 seat concrete carbuncle built ontop of the city's Victoria Railway Station meaning that, in those pre-disability access act days, the only way to reach the entrance hall from street level was up a massive flight of stone steps. As soon as I reached the top steps I found my way blocked by two teenaged ID badged turds "politely" asking me if I required the box office.
I didn't really think anything of it, I simply explained I was Brother **** ****** previously of ****** **** congregation and that while I was inactive I had decided to attend the convention to see if it would help me to renew my faith. They seemed a little dubious as by that time I'd let my hair grow down to my shoulders, was developing a nice goatee beard (something that had coursed concern for my spiritual welfare at my congregation) and was wearing a corduroy jacket and Doc Martin boots rather than the regulation suit and tie a brother is supposed to wear.
But looking back both as a much more self-aware 38 year old and as someone a lot more knowledgeable about how people and the Watchtower Society work I can see that those two stuck-up little twits were making a value judgment about me. They saw me and thought "he couldn't be one of us/he couldn't be interested in our work" And maybe this is just paranoid but I do believe at the very least my presence was noted and I was probably observed for at least part of the time I was there.
So did I find the spiritual renewal I longed for? Hell no, the only people I saw from my congregation blanked me, the talks were just as boring as I remembered them being and I went for a curry rather than stay for the afternoon session.
I'm so glad I'm out.
It was Lloyd barry Gb member that collapsed giving a talk in a convention in Hawaii. I believe it was in 1998-99.
If one didn't go to these torture session in 95+ degree weather, you would be told that you're not showing respect for God's provisions. The elders & congregation would then be asking why you didn't go and make you feel you're not spiritual.
I believe the vast majority go to these conventions out of coercion instead of truly looking to be spirtually fed with information that will be obsolete in a couple of years.
W.H. Conley
GO TO FINDAGRAVE.COM AND TYPE IN LLOYD BARRY . YOU WILL FIND THAT HE COLLAPSED GIVING A TALK IN A CONVENTION IN HAWAII. CAN SOMEONE CUT AND PASTE. I CAN'T SEEM TO DO IT.
THANKS PAINTEDTOENAIL AND WILLIAMHCONLEY FOR THE INFO.
GO TO FINDAGRAVE.COM AND TYPE IN WILLIAM LLOYD BARRY . YOU WILL FIND THAT HE COLLAPSED GIVING A TALK IN A CONVENTION IN HAWAII. CAN SOMEONE CUT AND PASTE. I CAN'T SEEM TO DO IT.
THANKS PAINTEDTOENAIL AND WILLIAMHCONLEY FOR THE INFO.
"at each side of the stadium there were digital clocks showing the time and temperature..
The brothers found a solution to ease our pain...they turned off the temperature display"
FUNNY . . . but sad
WHConley: "conventions out of coercion"? not quite! perhaps it is the other way around They, GB forerunners, watched Riefenstahl's movies of Hitlers' rallies and said: we ought to try that, particularly if the masses pay their own way, and pay the luxury trips of the elite that never did a honest week of work in their lives.
creatures love to congregate, become part of something that is bigger than their dispensable lives. Time to meditate, time to ogle and be seen. (paricularly on the podium). The travel is nice too. "Are we there yet?" A few snippets of propaganda might even stick in the mind, like Franze's talk on refusing blood transfusions for pets.
last not least: I met my wife of 20 years at a DC. planned it that way. still have a photo of the moment we met.
The talks are immaterial. Even after wt bs inc is gone, people will enjoy meeting. gathering. airshows? Concerts.
peace.
