Please Keep Your Comments 30 Seconds or Less (page 2)

zachias

30 seconds? This should apply to those long-winded includes every thing prayers at the end of meetings and conventions.

There was a time when I began using my own experiences when answers had to be the print in front of you. Later the wt said to use own experiences and later still they went back to quoting the 'party-line' only.

some folks never answer up at any time of course.

hoser

I like trying to count how many times the person saying the final prayer uses the word “Jehovah “.

SnakesInTheTower

My JW mom has been a dub for 50 years. Baptized in 1970. I cannot imagine she likes the lack of well researched comments. Of course, she actually "studied" the Babylon the Great book and other thick tomes back in the day. She was encouraged by the Special Pioneers that studied with her to research and comment, not recite answers.

The drivel they spoon feed her now has her bored. She hates Zoom meetings, she won't do phone witnessing, but does help maintain phone lists for others. She was criticized for typing letters instead of handwriting them. Her arthritis really hampers that.

At nearly 78, in relatively good health (she still drives and push mows her yard), she has no other social structure, lives in a rural part of the South (Alabama, US), She takes other JW women 20 years her junior on their errands. If she lost that, she would only have my brother, SIL, my wife and I. I cannot imagine being a dub now.

Snakes (Rich)

slimboyfat

Compared with any other religious meeting, JW meetings are rushed and superficial. Other groups pace themselves and allow people to take their time to express themselves. JWs are always watching the clock and there is no room to develop interesting thoughts or discussions.

Even the Iglesia Ni Cristo allow questions from the floor in some meetings, and don’t cut people off after a certain length of time. Their main meetings are very structured like JW meetings however, probably the closest among the different groups I’ve observed.

The Seventh-day Adventists allow people to go on at length, far too long sometimes!

Phizzy

When I first began to fully wake up , I felt there was nothing really Spiritual about the meetings, and that they were generally turgid. This was in the mid 2000's, so they must be decidedly mental torture now !

Shortly after I left I visited a number of Churches and attended the Services, one C of E one was pretty standard, but the words of the Lady Vicar about being active in service to the community were lively and impassioned, and a contrast with JW attitudes ! A Baptist Church was lively altogether, but a bit too much like JW Org in its message.

The very best one we went to was a former C of E Church building that had been taken over and run by a vibrant Pastor, whose preaching was wonderful, the Congregation was full of families, and they encouraged the teenagers to sit together, everyone was in smart casual clothes, looking relaxed, they had a Christian Rock style band that was really good too, an uplifting and very spiritual experience, unlike anything I had experienced in the JW Org in six decades !

This Church/Congregation was independent of the C of E.

Maybe Boredom and lack of fulfilment for individuals will hurry along the demise of the JW Org !

slimboyfat

Remember the relief JWs used to feel when a speaker failed to turn up for a public talk and the congregation got off early? And the big disappointment if another elder stood in to take the talk instead? Nowadays they just play another talk instead - never any relief.

I wonder how many JWs are actually watching these convention talks online. I bet there is a lot of skipping, fast forwarding, and outright bluffing going on. Does headquarters have metrics, YouTube style, on how many people are watching these videos from beginning to end? That would be an interesting data set - they would never share.

hoser

Sitting through the zoom convention is punishing. I’d be willing to bet that lots skip out.

Vanderhoven7

Welcome to the forum Bunny!

Are you comfortable with the fact that there are many WTS apostates on board here as well as PIMOs, and POMOs?

Vander

slimboyfat

It is possible to use your own words in 30 seconds, of course. But it’s virtually impossible to tell a story from your life that relates to the topic, or present any significant thoughts on the background of a scripture or compare a few different scriptures.

Wasn’t it the case that a few years ago that the instruction was to keep comments below two minutes? That seems more reasonable, if still somewhat restrictive.

At this rate of reduction maybe JWs will next be instructed to keep comments under ten seconds, or 5 seconds, why stop there?

It is true that other public meetings are sometimes plagued by participants who will hog the floor for 10 minutes or more, if given the chance. At one public meeting I remember a particular person in the audience, who was somewhat famous for this, had to have the microphone wrestled from him when he wouldn’t give it up after 5 minutes or so, and he still carried on speaking even when he didn’t have the microphone any more. This was at a political debate. I have seen other instances, not quite as extreme, at interfaith and various church meetings where people went on too long.

So it can be a problem that some people will talk to long. But I’ve never seen this as much of a problem at the Kingdom Hall. Even before the instruction was given, JWs have always known they need to be brief in their comments and generally such to it. Apparently that was not enough evidence of compliance for the GB so they had to make it even stricter.

I can remember a new person once attending the Kingdom Hall who, seeing people talking and participating, and mistaking this for a genuine exercise in audience engagement, began to give a long comment on a topic of concern to her that was somewhat related to the meeting. Needless to say, she was quickly dispelled of the notion that the kind of genuine response is welcome during the meeting.

Please Keep Your Comments 30 Seconds or Less

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