I went to my first meeting in years this afternoon because I realise it is the truth and I want to get back into the swing of things. I made a few observations but I forgot most of them. These are the observations I didn't forget so far.
1. The year text banner at the front of the hall had a plain white background. What happened to the nice colour illustrations? Really how much could they cost to produce? It's changes like these that must make ordinary JWs feel like they are living in new "austerity" spiritual paradise conditions.
2. The brother giving the talk directed to a scripture in Habakkuk and added, "for those with hard copies that's on page 1000 and whatever". Citing page numbers in the Bible is a new one on me. Are JWs losing their skill of fast scripture finding because of tablet technology, or was that just a random variation I picked up on?
3. During the talk the brother proved we are living in the end times because there were great earthquakes and wars in the past century in which many people died. He quoted statistics, but he didn't seem terribly convinced himself. Gone the Reasoning Book days of confidently expounding the certainty of such facts and statics. It's all a bit lacklustre these days.
4. Where the speaker was much more compelling in his arguments was where he made two basic propositions: a) we live in unprecedented times when humans appear to be on the brink of destroying the planet and themselves and b) if there is a God surely he would step in to stop that from happening. On this forum we so often discuss the aspects of JW teaching that are evidently ridiculous, such as the overlapping generation and the prophecy claims. What we don't talk about so often are where JWs present much more compelling arguments. I think these two points resonate with a lot of people because they chime with the spirit of the age we live in.
A) JWs are not the only ones who believe we live in truly unprecented times. Environmentalists warn that climate change, species extinction or other ham made catastrophes are on the brink of changing human life or possibly ending it. Then there is the brute fact that humanity now has the capability to totally destroy itself with nuclear weapons. And if we somehow escape a nuclear apocalypse there is the prospect that humanity will be completely changed, or perhaps in some sense superseded by technology in this century. All these things and more would cause many to agree with JWs that we live in truly unprecedented times and that the future of humanity may lie in the balance.
B) The other proposition resonates at a deep level with humanity across cultures and across times. The idea that if there is a God he can allow human calamity to go so far, but there is a limit. There is somehow a persistent idea in the human mind that a God of the universe would not allow humanity to totally extinguish itself. It's this inate idea that caused many to cry out where was God during the holocaust or where was God during the tsunami? In these extreme events there is a sense that, if God was not present even during these extreme events, then would he ever be there? Is there any calamity large enough to rouse a response from the almighty? Would God sit by and witness the compete extinction on mankind without stepping in? JWs and many others still have a deep sense that God would not allow the complete destruction of mankind. So this argument resonates with many people on a deep level and goes a long way to explaining the appeal of JWs in my view.
In a perverse sort of way this belief can engender a weird sort of reaction to bad news events a,omg JWs. Take the possible election of Donald Trump for example. My gut reaction now to this prospect is: "oh my God this guy is really capable of blowing up the planet and ending life on Earth as we know it. I hope he doesn't get elected." Thinking like a JW however it's easy to imagine quite a different internal thought process: "Donald Trump is so bad he might actually try to blow up the planet. Thank God for that because that's when Jehovah would need to step in and stop him. So maybe the election of Donald Trump would be a good thing!" Crazy, but I can remember thinking like that.
4. A sister during the Watchtower quoted a verse from the Byington translation. And I thought to myself, "since when has sister so and so started quoting outside translations?" Then I realised that Byington is included in the new Bible app that JWs use these days. So it's probably not a great sign of intellectual adventurousness or straying from the script, but more adaptation to the technology.
5. The Watchtower conductor had a dictinctive way of handling the congregation. He made small, mostly unfunny jokes, constantly, many involving forgetting names, and other insider jokes about various circumstances that I didn't understand. It occurred to me that this sort of behaviour has a dual effect of making people in the congregation feel part of a community and that they all "understand" one another, but at the same time (unwittingly?) excluded any visitors who were not in on the jokes. And it feels a bit emotionally exhausting, having to laugh to unfunny in jokes constantly.
6. Plus I noticed the conductor played an old and, to me very familiar game, when it comes to accepting comments from his own wife. Whenever she put up her hand he would make sure no one else wanted to answer before taking her, or else let others answer first and her at the end. She laughed at all his jokes that weren't funny, but he wasn't going to be seen to give preferential treatment in return! I've seen so many elders pursue exactly the same strategy taking answers over years, and it just amused me that they still play that old game. I feel ambiguous about that and so many other small behaviours that strike me as teetering on the elcgi of being either tediously repetitive or comfortingly familiar. Then it occurred to me how funny it would be if, just for once, an elder totally ignored the convention of no preferential answering up treatment for his wife. Imagine there was an elder who always called on his wife first before anyone else all the time. It's the sort of tiny thing I can imagine some JWs actually getting upset about. And for that reason I would find it amusing. Maybe I am too easily amused.
6. There were about 55 people at the meeting. The same rough attendance I remember all through the 1990s. JWs here at least don't seem to be growing or contracting, just treading water. I notice the new figures this year is 8,132,000 publishers on average, an increase of 1.8% over last year. Which is bigger than the 1.5% increase recorded last year. I was really sure JWs would start declining this year, what with all the cutbacks, bad publicity, absurd teaching, superficial publications and so on. How come they keep growing?
7. There's a very old sister in the congregation who is always held up as an example of faithfulness. She was compared to a white haired sister in the magazine today by the conductor. What interests me is that in her answers she complains about physical ailments and old age and says people don't understand her. It just did not chime with the docile, faithful image the conductor was so eagerly painting of her. There was nothing wrong in anything she said. In fact I found it refreshing that she spoke her own mind. Some people just don't like to conform to the image others would like to have of them. Their spirit is too strong for that. Good on them.
8. After the meeting someone handed me a slip inviting me to a congregation party in a few weeks. That's a bit soon for my first meeting in years. Is this me being invited in from the cold? Or has the party involved not been informed I am persona non grata?
9. During the Watchtower there was a paragraph that alluded to homosexual people struggling with their "thorn in the flesh". It was very well handled and a number of comments expressed apparently genuine if at times clumsy support for people in that position. However one brother said, "in the world they think being gay is a choice, but we know it's not a choice that any Christian would make". Which is so full of ambiguity and possible contradiction I didn't know what to make of it all. Perhaps recent Watchtowers have softened some JWs on this issue, but it hasn't done much to help them think very clearly or coherently on the subject. Maybe JWs are transitioning at the moment (to coin a phrase) and the current confusion is a step toward a better position.
10. There was one brother who answered up very seriously and treated each comment in the Watchtower like a wise saying to be carefully dissected. He is very skilled at doing this in his own terms. For example one paragraph mentioned "the importance of personal study". The brother commented that for years the Watchtower has promoted "family study" but was now emphasising "personal study" once more, and we should all pay attention to these important shifts in emphases. On one level it's kind of tedious. But on another level it's kind of admirable to take the whole thing so seriously to be able to come up with observations like that.
11. There were so many more observations I wanted to make about the meeting but I forgot the. My memory isn't what it used to be. I should have written them down. Maybe next time.