Why there shouldn't be Prayers at Meetings

by ISP 6 Replies latest jw friends

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  ISP

  *** w50 3/15 95-6 Letters ***
  ABSENCE OF PRAYER AT PUBLIC MEETINGS!
  November 17, 1949
  Dear Brother:
  Answering your query of the 9th instant regarding the absence of prayer in opening and closing our public meetings:
  It is certain that the public does not come to our public lectures in our Kingdom Hall or elsewhere to hear us pray, but do come to hear the advertised subject spoken upon by the speaker announced as competent to handle it. Our Exemplar Jesus held many public lectures, but there is no record that he opened or closed any of them with prayer. There is no Bible record that he opened up the sermon on the mount with prayer, or those open-air lectures after which he fed the multitude, first the 5,000 and then the 4,000. But there is a record that when he thus fed the multitudes he did offer prayer of thanksgiving to God before breaking the bread and fish and distributing the pieces to the hungry crowds. And these lectures, mind you, were public gatherings of practically all Jews who already believed in Jehovah God. But in our case today we advertise our public lectures as open to all peoples, whether nominally Catholic, Protestant, Jew, skeptic, atheist, or of the many pagan religions. Surely those of the public who are not of the Christian faith do not turn out to our meetings in order to join with us in prayer to our God, but solely to hear the speech which is the drawing feature. So we give them that and do not think to impose upon them by attaching something else to the lecture which might offend or stumble them before they hear the speech they came for. The apostle Paul, at 1 Corinthians, chapter 14, says Christians should offer prayer at their own meetings in a language to be understood in order that the hearers might be able to say Amen! at its close. But we should not expect any non-Christian public to join in any prayer if offered at a public meeting and then say Amen! with us at the close. Our brethren are offering public lectures in many pagan lands, and if it would be imposing upon the pagan public to offer our prayers before we let them hear our public message, then the same rule ought to apply even in Christendom. Because the message is for the public to tune in on, prayer is likewise not offered over the Society's radio station WBBR. But this does not mean prayer is never offered in behalf of all such public meetings. It is, privately, by those promoting and supporting the public lecture campaign. That suffices.
  Yours faithfully in serving The Theocracy,
  WATCH TOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY

  ISP

  [Internal memo-Personnel Committee. Find out what hall this brother attends and ensure he receives a 'visit'. We don't want his kind.]

  [Internal memo-Teaching Committee.Can you diary this subject for 3 years and then arrange for discussion with a view to implementation]
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  crittersitter

  this has nothing to do with the above, but i heard a funny story about a prayer offered up at a meeting, and thought ya'll would get a kick out of it.
  i guess sometime ago when meals were no longer offered at the assemblies, an elderly bro. in n.h. offered prayer at a meeting, and he spoke his heart to jehovah in the way he knew best, honestly and truthfully.
  i cannot quote him verbatum, but here is what was heard:
  "dear jehovah..blah blah blah....and thank-you that we don't have to eat those "GOD-D*^##" hamburgers any more......"
  this is a true story(my 2 sisters heard it and repeated the story to my brother .....

  i just thought this was so funny
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  Fredhall

  I can see why you can be absent at meetings.
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  Howard

  I am out of the loop! I am DA for 15 years or so. What's this about no meals served at assemblies? When and why did this happen?
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  waiting

  Hey Howard,

  Welcome. Oh, it was a sad day when they stopped serving cherry pies at the assemblies, wasn't it?

  I'm in South Carolina. We used to go to Salisbury, NC, for our circuit assemblies. When the WTBTS was building the Assembly Hall in Salisbury, the plans called for a good size cafeteria, which was built, including the industrial style appliances. After that was all done, the WTBTS sent letter notifying the Building Committee that there would no longer be food at any assemblies. The gossip was that there were not enough contributions to pay for the food output. Whatever, some friends would bring lunches and use the drinking fountain for water.

  My husband & I would skip out and go to the local pizza joint and antiques shops. But then we missed a lot of afternoon sessions that way. Got a lot of antiques though!

  Nice to meet you, Howard.

  waiting
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  Simon

  I remember our circuit used to have proper sit-down meals and waiter/waitress service (sort of). It wasn't very efficient though speed wise...
  To avoid congestion, they split people into groups. You had a ticket with a letter on which you bought in the morning. They would have a large notice board on the platform at lunch-time with which meals were being served.
  Now the best bit...
  It took longer than the lunch time break to do all the meals...so...every so often, during the afternoon talks, someone would walk onto the platform and change the sign to the next letter and a lot of the audience would get up and walk out.
  Zealous types got there early to to get an 'A', 'B' or 'C' ticket...getting something like a 'G' got you out of the sessions though!
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  mommy

  LOL Simon
  I remember when they stopped serving for awhile(maybe a year)I thought it was because the people in the kitchen never got to hear the talks. I used to love to volunteer in the kitchen though I got to miss out on all the talks
  wendy(getting the hang of smilies here)