So here's some random highlights from the convention this year:
In a couple of videos, they promote a very negative attitude about bettering yourself and taking career opportunities. For instance, in one video a boy is either getting a college offer or at a job fair, I can't remember exactly, but first he imagines getting better off financially, and then he turns around and imagines losing his money and losing his nice car. So he decides to forego it all together.
Then a girl gets a job hosting a fashion TV show or web series or something like that, so she imagines herself being replaced during the second season, and turns it down. So basically the idea is: When opportunities come your way, be cynical and imagine a bad outcome, then you won't feel so bad turning it down for the sake of 'the kingdom'.
In another ambition-killing move, the speaker says:
'The world will tell you that you can be anything you want to be, to follow your dreams. Instead, let Jehovah dream for you."
In other words, do what the org aka 'Jehovah' tells you to do. That's all you need.
Then at another point in a talk the speaker says this:
'Human ideas are often changed and updated. Why? Often because the advice was wrong or wasn't that great.'
Seriously? Do they actually see the irony? JW stuff is updated literally ALL THE TIME . . . Is it for the same reason?
During an hour+ long pre-recorded symposium, representatives from many countries were interviewed, and the whole time the Skype logo was shown onscreen. It makes me wonder if their was some sort of financial incentive.
The Josiah movie, shown in two parts on two days, was actually pretty entertaining and had good production value, as they've been doing in recent years. After years of the GB refusing to admit the uncomfortable fact that the Prophetess Deborah was also a judge with authority even over, gulp, men, it was nice to see the Prophetess Huldah depicted onscreen, with the men going to consult her respectfully.
Yet again, after the movie the chairman said he was 'pleased to announce the release' of the drama, everybody clapped, and not to tell anybody about it. I even heard chuckles in the audience at this point. WHEN will they realize this is a running joke by now? The drama is printed on the invitation. It isn't a surprise.
During the last talk, as usual the cultyness is ramped up. In the pattern of recent years' videos about bunkers and the great tribulation, this year has one showing an Elder getting his house broken into by authorities, holding him at gunpoint and demanding the names of those in his congregation, and then fast forwarding past the rest of the GT showing him in the New System. Then the speaker runs through the history of the King of the North up until "Russia and its' allies".
At my local convention, among the thousands there only less than 10 were baptized and all but one were children, one of them a boy who looked under 10. At the international convention we were tied into, tens of thousands attended, but only over a hundred were baptized.
That's all I got, anybody else go?