Yes, I used to do this mentally (in every sense of the word) but I genuinely believed it was because I was interested in the spiritual wellbeing of others. Who's to say it wasn't?
Just curious
by Gorbatchov 17 Replies latest jw friends
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sparrowdown
In my experience with this peculiar witness phenomenon, the Q&A would quickly degenerate into gossip about why this one and that one was or wasn't there. Usually heading in the direction of things like "oh they are doing a lot of overtime, becoming materialistic..." etc etc.
But hey, yes, there could well have been some genuine personal interest there.
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nonjwspouse
SBF, interestingly, it can be exactly due to the need for spiritual well being that they might choose not to attend.
According to so many other stories I am hearing, it seems that attending the KH can cause them to feel as if they are following men and men's rules, which is against what the Bible taught.
Yet, according to so many within the KH also, it seems that it is a common habit/thought process to single out those who are considered not doing enough, not attending "enough", etc, as spiritually weak, and therefore many times labeling them in a negative way.
The reasons why someone might not attend any function at all are so varied that it is much too judgmental for anyone to keep track of attendance, and then assume to know the reason, and especially to label them.
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Pete Zahut
Who was there at the meetings and what they had to say afterward was always more relevant and newsworthy than the meetings themselves.
The only time the meeting program was discussed was when there was disfellowshipment announced or there was a rumor of an exciting announcement that was forthcoming from the society which could possibly be about the beginning of the tribulation.
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slimboyfat
It struck me just how predictable Witnesses were in their habits. I'd make a sort of mental attendance to myself ten minutes into the meeting. I'd think to myself: "sister Cameroon isn't here, but she'll turn up late any minute like she always does", "brother Tern is here without his wife sister Tern, he often comes without her, but never the other way around", "sister Oldsworth is here for the TMS but she'll leave at half time at the start of the service meeting", "brother Mooney is here for a flying visit again, probably won't see him for another three months", "young sister Bell is only at the meeting tonight so she can get a place on the coach to the convention next week, probably won't see her until the Memorial after that", "bachelor brother Bruce is a regular attender, but might as well not be he spends the whole meeting fixing the windows/thermostat/microphones, sending messages, checking on the cars in the car park, writing notes to himself about God into what, going into the library during the meeting to look up references, and so on", "sister McGabby up the back goes to the toilet and chats for half the meeting, half attendance maked down for her too", "brother Garak is away on business again, I don't know how he manages to stay an elder", "sister North stopped coming for three months after her husband died, she can't be very spiritual", "sister Copewell only comes to the meeting because she's old and lonely", "young brother Crawley only comes because his mum makes him, as soon as he's 16 he's outta here", "disfellowshipped brother Steward comes about once a month and sits up the back, doesn't he know he'll never get reinstated that way?", "sister Cures is back at the meetings again, I wonder if she'll take one of her fits", "sister Caroline is a stunner why doesn't she come to the meeting more often? Probably out dating worldly guys", "brother Higgsbottom will shoot off as soon as the meeting fnishes, he doesn't like to 'sociate at all", "my God sister Thomson isn't here, this must be the first meeting she missed since 1972, is she dead?!?", "and where is sister Wagstaff? Without her singing it's embarrassing how lacklustre the songs are", "brother Bannerman only comes for his wife's sake, I'm sure he's a closet apostate". What am I doing here? -
sparrowdown
I think the reason why we can make similar observations re witness behavior is because we were all hit with same indoctrination stick. -
Barrold Bonds
Oh mean yeah this happened all the time.
When I was a kid, on our way home from the meetings, my dad would sometimes drive by the homes of people who weren't at the meetings to see if they were home or not.
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Gorbatchov
@slimboyfat, yes I remember that. Even the person who controlled the climate in the hall was topic of discussion. To cold, to warm, not sensitive, windows open / windows closed that lead to catch a cold.
@sparrowdown, yes we share a lot on a global scale!
Thanks all, for sharing, it's important for me.
Gorby