Disturbing/Puzzling Skit at JW Function Last Night Plus Odd Choice of Music

by Cadellin 33 Replies latest jw experiences

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  Cadellin

  So I attended a fairly large JW gathering last night with my active, elder husband. It was a good-by party for a former Special Pioneer couple who have been demoted to Reg Pios and have now moved to a larger city to find work. Anyway, there was music and skits. One of the skits involved three young kids, maybe about 8 or 9 years old, dressed up as old folks--white hair, canes, etc. They start moaning about how it's been SO LONG...They've been waiting for SO LONG and now they are SO OLD!!! And then one of them pretends to see something in the distance and shouts, "There it is! There's the Paradise! I can see it at last! Oh, thank you, Jehovah!" They all join in with this last chorus. Weird and disturbing, to say the least. I looked around to see if I was the only one who saw the ironic "Truth" being essentially mocked here but--nope. Everyone clapped their heads off!

  Second weird occurrence: An elderly sister (with a gorgeous voice) gets up and sings John Lennon's "Imagine." Now, I love the song but it is clearly an atheist anthem--not exactly what you'd expect at a JW function.

  I am still trying to figure that one out...
  
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  carla

  oh yuck, that's all I can say.

  As for 'Imagine', the lyrics say,

  "...Imagine there's no countries
  It isn't hard to do
  Nothing to kill or die for
  And no religion too
  Imagine all the people
  Living life in peace..."

  Would that include jw's?
  
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  stillin

  The Witnesses don't really class themselves in with religion religion is a racket and a snare. That's where the cognitive dissonance kicks in.

  They're very disturbing...
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  Magnum

  I hate that stupid, corny JW stuff.

  What about all the millions in the early 1900s who were never to die? They grew old and rotted. They never saw a paradise. Most of the old-time JWs I knew when I was younger are either ashes now, having been cremated, or they are rotting in a hole in the ground. They were never supposed to die. They were disappointed about the failure of the 1975 prediction, but they still had the generation time limit which meant paradise was not far off. The time limit expired, the doctrine was changed, and their bodies gave out on them. They are now gone.

  One of them was probably the most well-known JW in my area - a smart, always sharply dressed, high-class business owner who was a very influential JW. He totally believed the 1975 stuff and told my unbelieving dad I would never finish high school or drive in "this system" because the end would come before I could do so. About 30 years later, he was a broke old man with dementia in a dreary nursing home. He slowly walked around the nursing home in bedroom slippers shuffling his feet with a blank stare on his face. It was a really sad, sobering sight. He's now gone. I wonder what was going on in whatever was left of his mind.

  So, some skit put on by clueless 9-year-olds excited the JWs in attendance? They'll accept that, but won't accept the hard evidence - that the org has been wrong in its predictions for over a hundred years - that countless thousands of JWs have grown old and died and not experienced paradise. Oh, but wait, some 9-year-olds just put on a skit, so it must be true.
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  freddo

  I just hope the 9 year-olds - in 70 or 80 years time - aren't in a nursing home still believing the "very soon, so soon" crap.

  There will be no paradise so I hope they will be free having led a good and fulfilled life with their grandchildren around them.
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  TheOldHippie

  So it is weird that they proclaim that they wait for the Kingdom and thus show they are die-hard JWs.

  And it is equally weird that they loosen it up and sing "Imagine" and show they can do other things as well.

  Either way it is weird.

  Man, am I happy I am not married to you - you must be really hard to satisfy.
  
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  Gayle

  how is the spirit of the ex-specials? do they have work skills? has their reality kicked in any yet?
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  millie210

  We had an awesome D.O. for a little while a few years ago.

  He recited the words to "Imagine" in his concluding talk on Sunday at our Circuit Assembly. I had fun looking at the faces in the audience. Some thought it was awesome, some of the more tight laced ones looked unsure.

  He got kicked out of the work due to the age requirements. He seemed glad to leave. He got in a tangle with some elders here and and told them they were "a bunch of assholes" lol

  He was a gem and I am sure they were glad to retire him!
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  Cadellin

  @TheOldHippie Huh? No idea what you're referring to. This post isn't about me. My point is that, well, yeah, it's just hard to figure out and certainly not what you would've seen when I was in, about a decade ago. Inconsistent with a lot of things.

  @Gayle I don't know but I would guess not good. First they were kicked out of Brooklyn Bethel in one of the earlier rounds of downsizing, sent here to a depressed little town in the Rust Belt, but hey--at least they have the prestige of being Specials and getting a few $$ per month. Now? Nada. I don't really know them but my husband mentioned they were having a hard time adjusting. No surprise there.

  The whole religion is just getting more and more surreal...or maybe it's my perspective as I move further and further away from the whole mess.
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  millie210

  That is my impression too Cadellin.

  I wish we knew if it was our increasing clarity of vision or the reactionary decision making that seems to possess the Org.

  Perhaps it is some of both?