by twolips 15 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
"organizing of assembly-line feeding.’
That applies also to what the people receive sitting in the stands all day?
I have it!
The God of the Watchtower is this....
ORGANIZATION!
Not Jehovah God or anything else, they love and worship ORGANIZATION...Period!
--VM44
"The God of the ORG is Organization". Very true VM44
The Watchtower was always quick to report any event which boosted its reputation. I remember the rumors when we heard that the "army" came to observe the feeding of so many at one of the NY assemblies. The word was, of course, that the Watchtower was far more efficient than the military service in handling crowds of people and they "needed" the expertise of the organization.
Garybuss: Those eight day assemblies were brutal. Many had to sit in the bleachers in the hot sun for hours looking at the cool fountains on display in the field. There were many cases of heat prostration and severe sun burns. At one assembly, we even heard that an infant died from being exposed to the heat and sun. We had young children at some of those assemblies. We were expected to go out in the service in the mornings, attend the afternoon and evening sessions. We were counselled not to leave before the closing prayers. As I recall the assembly ended around 9PM. By the time we returned to our accomodations, we were exhausted. Needless to say, most of us did not show up for service the next morning.
Even for meals, we had to stand in long lines in the cafeteria. Often, we had to stand to eat. What came as a shock to me in later years was the information that the leaders sat in air conditioned club house seats and had their meals delivered to them. Later, when I was able to volunteer in the cafeterias of the assemblies, I experienced the myth of efficiency first hand. Very often, young and inexperienced people were put in charge of certain duties. On the serving lines, it was always inevitable that the large portions of food would be doled out to the youngest/smallest and the small portions to the adults.
Young JWs today who attend assemblies don't have a clue what it was like. They sit in air condtioned assembly halls and go out for a nice meal at a restaurant. And the assemblies are usually for only two or three days.
Mispah,
I remember those days well. I also remember a rumor that Nat King Cole was at the International Convention in 1958 distrubuting the trays. I was there--I wonder if he really was.
Flowerpetal:
There were many rumors over the years about celebreties or their wives who became Jehovah's Witnesses. The only time that I remember seeing one was at an assembly in Boston. Mickey Spillaine (Sp.?) was working there. Everyone was excited to see him. I heard in later years that he left the Watchtower organization and started writing his "racy" books again.
I remember hearing that Louis Armstrong's wife was a JW, too. But it was never confirmed. There seemed to be a compulsion in those days to have someone of notoriety in the organization. However, I think the feelings have changed somewhat since Michael Jackson and Prince. Now, JWs seem to cringe at the mention of these names.
I heard that Prince recently became a babtized JW. Is he still??
