Questions During Meetings...Grounds for Suspicion?

by Cold Steel 14 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Cold Steel

  With so many meetings during the week, it seems like the opportunity to raise questions would be rich. I just wondered how probing questions are handled in most Kingdom Halls. Are they taken as an indication of an inquisitive mind or a potential source of stumbling for weak members? Or are they taken as a direct questioning of authority?

  Take, for example, the December 1, 2005 issue of the WATCHTOWER. Big fireball surrounded by leaden skys and the headline: "Do You Know the Truth About Armageddon?" I've read the article several times trying to understand the...umm...logic the writer employs to make his/her points. As someone who has made Armageddon a prophetic study in the scriptures, I would have a boatload of questions in a meeting where people were underlining key passages. I wouldn't be disrespectful, but there are some fairly gaping holes between the lines. I couldn't tell whether JWs got their doctrine from the Bible verses cited or whether the doctrine was created first and then the Bible verses cited in such a way to support that doctrine. Of course, one can't ask the question quite like that, but one can ask questions that would give one an idea of how the doctrine was formulated. I also think someone who has a love for others might want to understand how Jehovah could come and destroy billions of people, many of whom would be destroyed because they had never heard the gospel preached. And I'd certainly want to know what would happen to the many people who were studying or waiting for some reason until the time was right to be baptized. What would happen if this calamity should fall upon the earth before they had committed themselves to Jehovah's earthly organization? Would they be guilty because they had put off their commitments? (Remember, Jesus said, "He who believeth and is baptized shall be saved....")

  One can read the magazine and understand what it is saying; however, the scriptures are a bit more problematic. Certainly one cannot be too readily condemned for merely asking questions, can they? I've never been to one of these meetings, of course, and I suspect that in some Kingdom Halls, questions might be taken in a variety of ways. So what are your experiences and views? Do you know of anyone who has been taken aside and...counseled...for asking questions, or has it happened to you?

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  BluesBrother

  With so many meetings during the week, it seems like the opportunity to raise questions would be rich. I just wondered how probing questions are handled in most Kingdom Halls.

  Er...No, it is not like that. The meetings run to a programme and the only comments from the audience are supporting the study material. I guess a WT Conductor would not know how to deal with a probing question.

  A newcomer may ask his mentor in conversation afterwards of course, but patience would soon run out if the doctrines were resisted ...
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  westiebilly11

  ...in the 30 years I was an active jw..whenever anyone did try and ask an 'honest' and spontaneous question they were immediately shut down....only printed material study questions were ever allowed..........yet I know that after meetings some brothers/sisters had points to raise but were afraid to express'doubts'.....
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  Over%forme

  I ask the Elders to show me ,from

  the Bible how they get 607 for Jerusalem and

  they DF me.
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  Over%forme

  It wasn't at the meeting when I ask.
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  Terry

  Here is how this thing works.

  The one and only time you get unfettered access to the unrestricted Question and Answer challenges to Watch Tower teaching is

  when you know the LEAST and can only ask the easiest to answer queries.

  If you knew back then what you now know--the outcome would go differently.

  JW ministry is about low-hanging fruit, naive questions, authoritative Bible verse juggling and a well-practiced demonstration of

  all-inclusive knowledge.

  Tough questions backed up by sourcing will melt away that rehearsed veneer quickly indeed.

  The JW at your door will promise to return with the answers and you'll catch them wiping the dust from their cheap shoes as they beat

  a fast retreat back to the feckless group.
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  pronomono

  Yep, the only ones allowed to ask questions are the elders. You can only make comments at the meetings. I've seen some people make some pretty off the wall comments. Usually the elders will get a weird look like they don't know what to do, thank the person for their "expression", and then deal with the matter after the meeting in the intimidation chamber ("back room").
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  Faithful Witness

  My husband, we now realize, must have been "marked" in some way. We were bible students who asked a lot of questions. A few months before we finally stopped attending meetings, the elder at the podium started ignoring his raised hand. He would look directly at him, then call on someone else. At the time, we didn't know why. My husband (computer software engineer) kind of thought the guy (also an engineer) was intimidated, and wanted to maintain his apparent position as the smartest guy in the room.

  Questions are not allowed. You might be able to twist comments and make observations, but that would not happen without consequence.
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  committeechairman

  So - when I have served as the Watchtower Study Conductor, I typically would take a question like this and ask the questioner if I could, for the sake of time, talk with them about the question after the meeting with whoever wanted to listen. That worked well and seemed to keep everyone (including my fellow elders) happy.

  I agree that most elders would not know what to do in the situation described though.
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  redvip2000

  In all the meetings i attended, i never heard someone ask a provocative question. In fact, nobody asks questions at all, they simply parrot the prescribed answers in a robotic way.

  I do remember one time during my bible study as a kid, that i started asking probing questions to the Dub studying with me about things that troubled me even back then.. I recall asking " Hey why would Jehovah make animals with bodies made for killing and hunting, when the original purpose was for all animals to live in peace together eating straw? "

  The dub was visibly bothered by my questions and told me in a dry way " Well you know, you need to have faith instead of always looking for questions"