Hi David, Glad to know I gave you a shiver. I remember a few picketers at Kansas City and Denver assemblies and they did not impact me at all. I dismissed them as mentally ill or demon possessed. What did impact me was INSIDE the convention and it was done by the Witnesses themselves. There was an "Out Of Order" sign on a perfectly good, working, stocked, candy vending machine and when I dropped my dime into it two Watch Tower Security Guards belly pushed me and my 3 year old son away from it. THAT impressed me.
My exit away from blind obedience was incremental and individual and the vending machine incident was a HUGE increment.
This was a rip in the curtain for me. I had been laboring under the delusion that I was associating with a different organization. Different in the respect that this was the organization that was honest and ethical and moral but I saw behaviors like the vending machine incident that were boldly dishonest. I resented being belly pushed for not honoring the dishonesty.
I see now I just quit ignoring what was there all along.
Ironic that the Witnesses make an announcement warning about picketers. The picketers would most likely never belly push a Witness and a child. They should make an announcement warning about the convention attendants.
gb
Assembly picketing
by freedom96 22 Replies latest jw friends
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garybuss
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Dutchie
Wow, Garybuss, they really didn't want you to get that candybar, did they? How rude they were, how inconsiderate!
I always loving reading your antedotes. I wish you'd post more often. Love, Dutchie
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plmkrzy
The picketing is done to benefit the picketer not the picketed. It is a brave confrontation and a closure for some of us.
I have to agree with that comment. From the time I remember seeing my first picketer I never paid much attention to them. The very most they would get from me or anyone else was maybe a chuckle or even a look of pity. Most JWs I new felt sorry for them, as they were considered poor lost and confused souls. Or crazy.
What it did do was give all JWs validation for why they were dfpd. It seemed obvious at the time that they were cast out for good reason because...just look at them! Geesh! No wonder they are dfpd!
That was the general consensus as I remember it from most.
So I have to agree with Gary that it can only serve as some form of closure for the one picketing. Whatever works I guess.