this question is mostly for those of you who still believe in the bible to some extent. my mother-in-law called the other day to see if rileygurl and i were going to the memorial this year. we told her that we wouldn't be attending. she then told us that she respected how we felt, but, if we had a biblical reason for it, she wanted to know more about it:). i was happy to be able to discuss this with her and i'm preparing for a future biblical discussion right now. my question(yes i'm finally getting to it) is how do those of you that still believe in the bible but are no longer witnesses feel about the memorial? do you attend? do you not attend, but feel guilty? or do you believe you have no biblical obligation to attend? i'm still questioning what i think about the bible as a whole, and i'm quite through with the WT, but sometimes these questions nag at me, and i would be curious how you all felt.
memorial: how do you feel?
by unanswered 26 Replies latest jw friends
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rob
Interesting, I still feel a twinge of guilt over not attending the memorial. A small twinge. Last year was the first year that I didn't attend in all of my life until this point. I have tried to analyze this and I think it has to do more with just the tradition of it than any thing else. Smacks of so-called worldly holidays, huh.
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LDH
Nate,
Not going for the first time in 32 years. With my run of good luck, Armegeddon will start sometime that night, LOL.
Lisa
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aChristian
You asked: "How do those of you that still believe in the Bible but are no longer witnesses feel about the memorial? Do you attend?"
1 Cor. 11:23-26 reads as follows: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
With these verses in mind, as a Christian I can only view the JW "Memorial" as an abomination. Jesus told his disciples to, "Do this in remembrance of me." He did not say, "Refuse to do this in remembrance of me, and tell others that they are not scripturally permitted to do this in remembrance of me." If he had then the JW "Memorial" would be perfect. As it is, it is an absolute travesty. And I cannot believe any Christian would want to dignify that Christ dishonoring ceremony by supporting it with their presence.
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ozziepost
G'day aChristian,
Right on, brother!
A text that is quoted in the Memorial talk outline is Luke 22:19: "Keep doing this in remembrance of me". And so we can see by the illustration on the back cover of the March 22 issue of the Awake!magazine how JWs follow that command. It shows brothers and sisters passing the bread and the wine to each other WITHOUT PARTAKING. Thus, they are holding a service to reject Christ's sacrifice.
Ozzie (obeying the command class)
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CornerStone
Hello aChristian,
I agree that the WTS's "memorial" dishonors Jesus Christ. However, as a matter of conscience, I do not think my prescence there dishonors him. I am still "in" the org. for family reasons but I might as well be the anti-christ to the local congregation due to my inactivity. I "consider" myself a Christian from years before the Society came into the picture. To qualify my second statement, I reason that untill I am made to part ways with the org. Jehovah will "cover over" my presence at the WTS memorial in the same fashion that Gods mercy and kindness covered over King Davids' transgretion at eating the "bread" ment only for the priest of the temple or Jesus' mercy on his desciples eating the wheat in the field on the sabbath day. I am not trying to make excuses for wrongdoing. I am saying that my conscience is fine with this present circumstance UNTILL Jehovah removes me and my family from the org. I will know the right time but if it matters to you I will take as many prayers to God as I can get. In the end, of course, it all rest in God's merciful hands.
CornerStone
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ozziepost
G'day CornerStone,
My sympathies are with you. It's not a pleasant feeling having to share in a gathering such as the Memorial knowing what is wrong with it.
A suggestion for you: Mrs Ozzie tells me that when she was quite young, her mother, a pioneer, was so indignant after a Memorial about the way it was conducted, that she took the young Mrs Oz to a communion at a cathedral to observe the contrast. Perhaps you could do something similar. The Memorial as we term it is really a communion meal and on this the chrurches have it right. IMO
Ozzie
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RR
I don't attend JW memorials, but I do believe in the memorial, and believe it is Biblical. I do observe the memorial in the same way that the JW's do, only this time I partake!
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Less Religion and more Jesus! -
aChristian
By the way, most Protestant Christian Churches celebrate Communion, where all believers in attendance are invited to partake of the bread and wine, about once a month. Some of them every week (Church of Christ, for example). During these times all in attendance are reminded of the meaning in partaking of these emblems. We are told that the bread symbolizes the body of Christ given for us, and that the wine symbolizes the blood of Christ shed for us. We are also then told that by partaking of these emblems should remind us of an important spiritual truth. Namely this: just as we must accept physical food and drink to sustain our physical lives, the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ is the spiritual food we must accept in order to gain eternal life.
As Christ himself said, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." (John 6:53,54)
Those words do not bode well for 99.9 % of JWs.
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Jackson
The memorial, as the WTS practices, was another way for the current crop of boneheads, starting with Rutherford, to show they were different from Christian religions. And, by the fact of being different, they could claim to be "special" or practicing the true religion because they didn't do what other religions (see Catholic) did. But, the problem is, is that the Bible is really straight forward and simple about the body and blood of Christ. The Bible doesn't single out anyone to partake of the emblems. The WTS practice is a lie.