Was it normal to have so many meetings?

by JH 24 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Scully

  JH:

  Is it normal to have five hours of meetings a week, plus weekend field service, and mid-week field service and personal study, and family study and meeting preparation and daily text readings??

  If you're in a CULT, it is.

  Sit down and figure out what the expectations are of the average dub:

  • 5 hours/week meetings
  • 2 hours/week weekend field service
  • 2 hours/week mid-week field service (minimum for sisters)
  • 4 hours/week driving for meetings and field service (from my experience)
  • 4 hours/week personal and family study (including daily text)

  TOTAL: 17 hours/week x 52 = 884 hours/year

  Now figure out how much this costs you, in terms of clothes (for all members of the family), wear and tear on your vehicle, increased car insurance, extra gas, and most importantly TIME. Multiply your hourly wage by 884. If you are a working couple, multiply that by 2. My husband and I figured that since we both could work weekends and evenings, meetings were costing us in that respect. We were "volunteering" our time for a cult to the tune of $10,000 per year of pre-tax dollars, and getting nothing declaring our "charitable donation".

  Love, Scully
• 

  Joyzabel

  In True Believer by Eric Hoffer it is called "busy work" so that the rank and file doesn't have time to think!
• 

  JH

  Scully

  We do think alike. Too bad other active witnesses don't realize this is out of proportion. And they have the nerve to say that they are BALANCED IN ALL THINGS.
• 

  NeonMadman

  What did they say and do from the stage for almost 12 hours a day for 8 days?

  If you've ever been to one of today's mind-numbingly boring three-day, eight hour per day, conventions, then you know what they did for eight days, twelve hours a day. More of the same.

  The only difference was that the mornings were usually spent in field service, not in sessions. There would be a meeting for field service at 9:00, then those who wanted to would go out in service, others would hang around the facility, or would just sleep late. The actual program was during the afternoon and evening sessions. On the day of the baptism, they'd usually have that talk first thing in the morning, then ship everybody off to where the baptisms were happening, hoping to get them back by 1:00 when the afternoon session started.
• 

  Mary

  No it's not normal to have so many meetings, and I don't know of any other religion that demands this of their people - we're the only ones (unless you count Islam which wants you to do prayers 5 times a day each day). It's a control thing: we actually had a CO a couple of years ago tell us that we needed to be "at ALL the meetings" so that we could be "reminded" of all of "God's truths," or we could easily forget them. (If only it were that easy to forget!). They try saying "it's only 5 hours a week!" but it's a hell of a lot more than that when you count everything that's involved:

  Sunday mornings: 9:00am - 12:30pm. This includes getting ready for the meeting, the meeting and talking after the meeting.

  Monday: family study: 7:00pm - 8:00pm

  Tuesday: bookstudy: 6:30 - 9:00pm. This includes getting ready for the meeting, the meeting and talking after the meeting

  Wednesday: study for TMS: 1 hour.

  Thursday: Theocratic Ministry School: 6:30pm - 10:00pm. includes getting ready for the meeting, the meeting and talking after the meeting.

  Friday: preparation for Service: 5 seconds.

  Saturday morning Service: 8:30am - 12:30pm. includes getting ready for service, meeting the group, going out in service and getting home.

  Right there, that's 15.5 hours every frigging week that you're supposed to spend on "spiritual things" and that's just the bare minimum that's expected. If you're an MS or an elder, you got a ton of more stuff to pile on your plate and it's like having another full time job.

  Anyone remember the Buffalo Assembly in '68 or 69? What a frigging nightmare that was, as anyone who was there can attest.

  Edited by - Mary on 28 November 2002 16:34:33