Canned music playing while people stood around and mouthed the words.
Doesn't that pretty well sum up the whole JW experience? It's a poor imposter of true christianity
Oh I get it.........it's WORSHIP
by Dawn 17 Replies latest jw friends
-
Dawn
-
RunningMan
The religions of Christendom just don't understand that the purpose of meeting together is to sharpen your sales skills - motivation, technique, materials, presentation, etc. All that pesky worshipping gets in the way of collecting dimes for the great publishing company.
-
got my forty homey?
The closest thing to worship I've ever seen was when you had a brother do a long winded prayer. Sometimes I couldn't help myself and I would have to peek at them while they prayed and they would have thier heads twisted downward at an angle, facial expressions as if in pain, and even hands gesturing as if having a conversation with God about salvation, repentence, and interior decorating!
-
orangefatcat
Very interesting. I recall in the earlier years as a JW we would have beautiful music. Especially at the summer conventions. They had beautiful orchrestrical music, and it put one in a good mood. We use to have a brother who was an Orchrestra Leader and he and his entire family were blessed with the gift of singing and playing various instruments. This brother was in our congregation in Scarbrough and we always had beatiful music because he would play the piano in the Kingdom Hall and it was fanatastic, his wife and grown son and daughter had wonderful voices and harmonized beautifully. At the summer convention this same brother would go out into the field and orchrestrate the whole audience and you'd see his arms waving back and forth with a huge smile on his face,with his baton and everyone with smiles on their faces and joy in their hearts. Also in these years they had singers who were part of the music program. Times then seemed easier. JW seemed to truly love oneanother, but as time passed so did everything else. The Society need to suppress rather than let us enjoy our worshipping God with music in our hearts.
Well the one thing the society did wrong was to put an end to the orchrestras at the assemblies. The music was later nice and the medlies were very good, but it just wasn't the same. To me music is paramount in our worship. Without it were stagnate. I found that as the years went by there was no more personality to the music, as in yrs gone by. The lustre was gone.
In ancient times Jehovah demanded singers dancers, yes dancers and musicians as part of pure worship, in fact if you look back in the Old Testament you will see how much music appeased Jehovah. He love it. It was important in temple worship to Jehovah. Look for example the songs of David. And the vigins playing their tamborines and trumpets horns and harps. R emember when Jericho was destroyed music was used for 7 days as the musicians marched around and around the city until God destroyed it. T o the poster who said about music was right. As JWs, Christian they seek out doctines and have pushed music practically on hold. Someone said before the start of meetings at intermission time and at the end of the meeting and that is the grand sum total of that form of worship to God is , and yet in the churches they have hit it right on, they know that praise and hymns and songs of glory, are essential parts of worship. Prior to my becoming a JW I loved our church I would go with my grandma to the Church of England and we had glorious songs to praise God and fewer words were spoken. Of course in the church when the minister speaks its all of 20 minutes, and you can say alot in that amount of time to show and tell a person how to be good to his fellow man just as Christ taught us to do. Christ was no hung up on doctrines, he abolished or rather fulfilled the laws of Moses. But it was no any thing else but purely helping people learn of a God of goodness and all the fruitages of the spirit. Oh sure He condemned the pharasies and rabbies because they burdened the Jewish people with man made traditions and rules. (Much like the rank and file of JW's. )
This is all he JESUS did for the people of his time. He found the sick and healed them he found the hungry and he feed them. He saw in the hearts of the people that they had been so suppressed by the religious leaders. But hey doesn't the Borg do the exact same thing? No not really. They the G.B. lords it over the witnesses and they have become burdened and now they have forgotten what it truly means to be a good chirstian. No the JWS would rather destroy peoples lives and their families. Making up this man made rule to disfellowship a person. Jesus said the greatest things we should do as in loving one another as we would want others to do to us. and to love our neighbour and most importantly to love God. Plain and simple and with the music of happiness coming from the hearts of the people and the gratitude of the people because he Jesus came to ease their suppression and depression of all mankind. It saddens me greatly when I see what the organization has done or rather not done for its people.
Yes I say that worship with music and not doctrinal jibber jabber stuff is the only way to go to praise God with our voices and to do unto others as we would want them to do unto us.....and to love God with all of our hearts.
Love Orangefatcat.
-
heathen
You are so right orangefatcat , the WTBTS really needs to do something about the way they arrange the music program and for Gods sakes how about some good old fashioned spiritual praise worthy songs . I mean jeeze who writes that stuff ? I remember them even claiming that some classical music experts were fanatical about the music of the WTBTS . I'm thinking some tone deaf half dead crony in brooklyn is more like it .
-
AnnOMaly
No, I think that many of the songs are beautiful. It is the way they are arranged or played or sung that can either bring them to life or deaden them. I'm talking about the music here, not the lyrics - some of which irritates me now.
-
LittleToe
I love a wide range of "praise", from the contemporary to the "precented" Psalmody. The latter is more conservative, but to be honest I don't care too much what anyone else thinks, when I worship. It's just me and the "big guy".
I've been known to raise an arm or two, but it isn't common. I do tend to sing with gusto, though - I always did, to the snickers of the kids at the hall.
There's something incredible about hearing the Psalms sung in harmony...
-
heathen
Little Toe --- harmony can not be found at the kingdom hall . The people there sound as if they don't sing they will be in front of a judicial committee . I could never see the joy within the congregation at the time the music starts , it seems as if all the men sing in some sort of muffled tones that they are ashamed to be singing and most of the women are way off key, there is no orchestration involved and you can tell there is no preperation for that portion of the worship ceremony.
