by LDH 41 Replies latest jw friends
I commented at the meetings too much ... and it got me appointed an Elder ... should have kept my mouth shut.
Following Bible principles, we will avoid trying to live - or demand others to live - by an extensive and rigid set of dos and don'ts that go beyond the teachings of the Bible. The Watchtower, 4-15-02, pg 22, pp 15
LittleToe: Damn, you an Elder? HEHEA! That's the funniest thing I've heard all day, considering the content of your posts on this board...man, but we were dumb back then hey! We're smarter now, that's for sure!
I'm sure glad we don't vote anymore like we did before we got the truth. Now we get to complain about everything ALL the politicians do!
[SYN], UADA - Unseen Apostate Directorate, Africa
I used to comment all the time at the bookstudy. My bookstudy group was full of half comatose people so it was left to about 3 of us to keep the meeting ticking over.
As for the KH meetings, that would depend on what mood I was in on the day. It was usually one of three moods:
1. Spiritual mood. Very rare. Well prepared WT with lots of show off answers. I even explained the 607 - 1914 mathematics once.. Got lots of pats on the back after the meeting for that one!
2. bored rebellious mood. Quite common. No comments at all, or the obligatory last paragraph answer. Or even better, the recap questions from the box. Easy to repeat what someone else said ten minutes earlier.
3. Mischeivous mood. This was my fave. My friend and I would play a game. Its like the FS game, where just before someone answers the door your FS partner gives you a word to use in your presentation. My friend and I would sit next to each other and when one of us put our hand up to comment, the other would quickly scribble a word on their WT and the other would have to use this word in their comment. It would start of quite easy, with usual JW terms to incorporate, but then it got ridiculous. we would scribble really obscure words and by the time the mic arrived we would be laughing that much we could hardly get our comment out!
I really miss that actually!
We all make a mess of our lives from time to time
It's part of the process that you stumble as you climb
I used to comment at least once or twice during the watchtower, a lot more during bookstudies. I always tried to give something a little different than the usual too. I think I was trying to make people think outside of the black and white thinking that was presented in the study.
I never answered any of the questions that were really obvious though. I detested those things. That's when the brainwashing attitude would really bother me.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
glad to be here instead listening to my own "voice" rattle on, lol.
Anne
My friend and I would sit next to each other and when one of us put our hand up to comment, the other would quickly scribble a word on their WT and the other would have to use this word in their comment. It would start of quite easy, with usual JW terms to incorporate, but then it got ridiculous. we would scribble really obscure words and by the time the mic arrived we would be laughing that much we could hardly get our comment out!
We didn't get out much, did we??
Love, Scully
Too right, Scully, too right.
I'm sure glad we don't vote anymore like we did before we got the truth. Now we get to complain about everything ALL the politicians do!
[SYN], UADA - Unseen Apostate Directorate, Africa
3. Mischeivous mood.
Sounds like something a 'feisty' elder would cook up as a game for kids. Keeps the presentations from being repetitive and boring by adding random words (psst..."polyhedron").
I think moods did play a big role, but I'd catagorize mine as:
1) Bored rebellious. No comment, obligatory last-paragraph comment, or question box. ('obligatory' literally - one of our elders was so proud of how often his kids would answer, he'd mention it in every part. So mom made a rule that my brother and I had to be almost as good. IIRC., answering twice a meeting - raising hand 3 times without being called on counted as 1 'answer'....that takes a lot of courage for a shy kid in a hall of nearly 200)
2) Trying to impress a sister. This is where I answered frequently and with well-researched material. One wonders why no one pieced together that I only gave 'spiritual' comments when cute sisters were in my bookstudy.
A fanatic is one who, upon losing sight of his goals, redoubles his efforts.
--George Santayana
It kept me Awake! I was the Best Little Commenter in the West Congregation. Most women in our cong. would not comment in the Watchtower reading - I would even encourage them (I was such a good lil' dub.) They were "too afraid" of making a mistake.
In the bookstudy, more would comment - and I felt free-er to contradict a brother (which sisters were absolutely not allowed to do in the KH.)
The last couple of years, I'd not read any mags at home, pick them up at counter, then read during the 2 Sunday talks. Kept me awake - my husband just slept.
Meetings are incredibly boring.....talking of any kind helped.
Scully - Absolutely agree! What boring lives we lived!
Hi Lisa,
In commenting at the meetings I had a tendency towards prolixity.
In posting however, I find that I do not lean in that direction.
Sorry, I dont know what that does to your theory!
Dino
I usually commented 2-3 times during the WT study, and more often at the book study.
We had one CO that suggested elders AND their wives raise their hands for just about every paragraph to show a good example and encourage others to comment. I think we half-heartedly tried it a few meetings after the CO left.
If anything it discouraged others from raising their hands - perhaps the pubs thought "Why should I even try - my comment won't be as good as Bro or Sis Elder - let them do the work???"
Now I am mostly a lurker - enjoying others comments and experiences more than my own!
Mak
Some men worship rank, some worship heroes, some worship power, some worship God, & over these ideals they dispute & cannot unite--but they all worship money.
- Mark Twain
