...Back from the Convention today.

by ScoobySnax 35 Replies latest jw friends

  • ScoobySnax
    ScoobySnax

    OK so I braved the traffic in London all along the South circular to NW London to get to Twickenham Convention today. I must admit to getting a bit freaked when the traffic ground to a halt in central London, but eventually got to the stadium. What can I say?

    Well I only got to the Sunday pm part of the programme, for the public discourse, "Who are Giving God Glory Today"....handled by a very able speaker. The Stadium was not packed as it seats about 80,000 and I would guess at 40,000 there. The jist of the talk was about recognising Jehovah as the one deserving Glory. The speaker asked us to think of a Rugby sporting fixture held at Twickenham (its there home ground) and look at the pitch and imagine the glory that a player might recieve as he makes a "try" (or touchdown) for his team and the resulting elation he would feel as the crowds explode in applause. He likened this kind of glory with that which we should have for Jehovah and his creation. Many facts and figures followed, (in argument of Creation) and to whom we should accord this praise.

    I still sat on the periphary watching, and I didn't see an unhappy bunch of people, I saw all sorts amongst the thousands, is it not right for me to say here that I saw real happiness and warmth in those there? I saw it, I felt it. It was real.

    I risk everyone jumping on my back here to tell me how that love evaporates when you are d/f or d/a and the total cutting off of those who stray away. I guess you have to make your choice about where you're going, and what you want. It was after all just my observations today. I still don't see a place for me yet however, guess that will take some effort on my part.

  • drwtsn32
    drwtsn32

    Scooby, I felt real love/warmth with the JWs. Most members are good people, in my experience. However, my wife has a lot of experience with the judging, gossip, slander, backbiting, etc., that goes on in the congregation. I didn't really experience it, but many have.

    Regarding the love evaporating when you are DA'd or DF'd... maybe it's more correct to say that loyalty to the WTS overrides the love that people have towards you. They are brainwashed into thinking they must shun you in order to be loyal to Jehovah. Being shunned feels a lot like being hated. The person doing the shunning probably still has love for you deep down, but they are not allowed to express it.

  • Gopher
    Gopher
    is it not right for me to say here that I saw real happiness and warmth in those there?

    Well, of course, if that's what you saw, you're not being dishonest in saying so.

    I might add that I too saw some of that "happiness and warmth" at district conventions. I think the people attending are putting their "best foot forward" to be encouraging during those assembly outings. Or perhaps it was the change of venue, not having to cope with the day-to-day details and troubles in the local congregation, and hearing from the platform the "ideal" way things should be -- that might bring one a temporary sense of glee.

    My dad a JW elder, once gave a forthright comment in this regard. He said "sure it's all wonderful during the conventions, but after you're back home a few days, things are back to normal". This from a die-hard JW!!!

  • ScoobySnax
    ScoobySnax

    Thanks for such an honest post drwtsn32. You know as well as I do that JWs equate the WT as Jehovah's mouthpiece, this is the underpinning of being a "Jehovahs Witness." New light, Old light etc..... I've never argued otherwise on the point of the FDS. Food at the proper time etc..... I think you will never seperate the JW from the WT.

  • DFWnonJW
    DFWnonJW

    Don't really have anything to add to the conversation - just wanted to break up the cartoon avatar theme I see developing here :)

    Scooby - nothing wrong at all in stating what you observe imo.

  • Sunnygal41
    Sunnygal41

    I have to add my agreement to the ones already posted......of course there is love, at some point....but, just as when a relationship goes bad, the joy and love turn to sadness and pain......I admit there were times when I felt happy to be in the group, but, eventually, I listened to the nagging feelings of something not being quite right, and I found out how wrong things really were. Once your eyes are truly opened to the lies and deception, you will stop feeling love. You will feel disillusion and anger, like so many of us who left...as incredibly hard and painful that was for us.....

    Terri

  • ScoobySnax
    ScoobySnax

    Gopher..... you're dad said so?? Mine says lots of stuff too. Love your dad.

  • rocketman
    rocketman
    My dad a JW elder, once gave a forthright comment in this regard. He said "sure it's all wonderful during the conventions, but after you're back home a few days, things are back to normal". This from a die-hard JW!!!

    LOL gopher (or, gopher's dad to be more precise). Funny comment, and yet very true.

    At the Convention, with a big crowd and all, everything is diluted. You hardly know most folks there, and they hardly know you. It seems like one big happy family in some cases.

    The probelms often surface though when you're back in the local congregation setting. That's when the backbiting and gossip begin and continue. That's when the elders act more like Pharisees than shepherds.

    Sure, I'm generalizing, and many elders are okay guys and trying, and not all folks backbite and gossip. But for the purpose of this thread, things usually do seem better amongst a bigger crowd.

  • onacruse
    onacruse

    ok, I'll betray my age here, and ask how many remember when we didn't have Assembly Halls, and the circuit assemblies were held in local schools, etc? I was a teen then, and boy was it ever a thrill to work in the trucking department and run down after school on Friday to the "central" KH and load up all the sound, stage and food-prep equipment (you know: elevators, trucks, a musty old basement, and working with the "guys"...a boy's dream ). And then, hit the road, maybe head off 100 miles to the site, and set everything up in a big rush for that night's session (yes, remember that too, when CAs started on Friday night? ) Those were really fun times, and I felt a lot of love then. Times gradually changed.

    Scoob, sorry if this was a bit off topic...just had some old memories I wanted to share.

    Craig

  • wednesday
    wednesday

    conventions are usually fun, u are on a break, and seeing friends u don't get to sse often and there is a sense of purpose and "us against the world" stuff. It only lasts for a short while, just long enough to get back to regular meetings. I understand what u feel, i felt it too for a while, it feels good to think u are among the only peoples of the earth to "know God". But its just not so. it is blind loyality to an org. All org have similar experiences-heck even mary kay conventions are uplifitng

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