The Memorial: Blasphemy or Monty Python Sketch?

metatron

Soon the special night will be upon us, when millions of Jehovah's Witnesses

will gather together for the sacred purpose of merely passing around the emblems

of Christian salvation and rejecting them.

This event proves to me that anything, no matter how silly, will be treated solemnly

if you can get enough compliant people to do it. I recall an old newsreel from WW1

in which a Russian Orthodox priest is dispensing holy water by 'thwacking' a small

wet towel at soldiers. I guess he didn't have a Windex bottle.

Does any Witness ever 'awaken' and shout "What the hell are we doing?!!"

The silliness of the Memorial - and its emblems passing, passing, passing

among millions of non-partakers is re-inforced by the Watchtower's own pictures

( see March 15 rear cover and page 7).

Never mind that the wine and unleavened bread are the very symbols of

Christian salvation. Never mind that Jesus said he gave his flesh "in behalf

of the life of the world" ( John 6:51). Never mind that the "great crowd" are

"made white" by the "blood of the Lamb" ( Rev. 7:14) Never mind that

"He that feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has everlasting life" ( John 6:54)

You'll never see the Watchtower Society change its opinion on this cultic travesty

of Christian ritual - I guarantee it! There's no chance because:

1) it would mean admitting that they were wrong

and

2) it might interfere with the greedy, controlling aims of a few elderly

gerontocrats , who would never agree with any loss of their personal

authority, given to them ( in their imagination) by Christ.

So, keep passing, passing, passing those plates and goblets, 'round and 'round.

like Jesus said "Keep passing this stuff around in remembrance of me" (?!)

metatron

Englishman

So, keep passing, passing, passing those plates and goblets, 'round and 'round.

Yeah..but did you know that DF'd one's are bypassed and don't get a chance to refuse the emblems?

Englishman.

Englishman

PS. Your Mother was a hamster and your Father smelt of elderberries.

Englishman.

I have wondered about this. I saw it done once and it shocked me, and also my mom. My dad, who was an elder, did not comment on it. We were travelling and had to go to the memorial out of town so we did not know what went on. In the congregations I used to go to, the plate was definately passed to disfellowshipped persons. Is there some instruction regarding this in Sheperd The Flock book? I used to have the Shepherd book's predesess.. a terrifying little booklet called Kingdom Service Questions, and I don't regard reading it there. (finding KSQ was what got me disenchanted with the borg.)

Leolaia

You'll never see the Watchtower Society change its opinion on this cultic travesty of Christian ritual - I guarantee it! There's no chance because:
1) it would mean admitting that they were wrong, and
2) it might interfere with the greedy, controlling aims of a few elderly gerontocrats

I disagree with this. This is not as difficult a teaching to change than, say, the blood doctrine where they would have to admit being bloodguilty. #1 has not prevented the many doctrinal vacillations where they have swapped positions back and forth, and #2 is not a problem in the long run because the "gerontocrats" will eventually be "dead". It is true that memorial partakers have remained steady at around 8,000 or so (contra the myth of the dying off "remnant"), but these are increasingly made up of younger post-1935 partakers than the old-school gereontocrats. They already face a problem where the leadership and governing body has had to include members of the "great crowd," and the problem will worsen over the next two decades as the F&DS leadership will have dip more and more into the pool of non-partakers, blurring the traditional distinction. I can see a situation by 2030 or so when the majority of the WTS leadership is of the "great crowd" and desiring greater authority for themselves and with majority voting power, they define a new class for the great crowd to include those invited by the FD&S to serve God in his heavenly temple. They could easily point to the fact that the Rechabites dwelt outside Jerusalem during the First Temple but gave sacred service in the Temple, and by the Second Temple were scribes for the priests and Sanhedrin. They could even point to C. T. Russell's "secondary spiritual class". So I don't think it's impossible.

gitasatsangha

Leolaia,

They can do that, but at the risk of loosing the mystique that creates the hierarchy. Were the Pope to say "Hey, I'm just another guy." it would be an invitation to schism. There would be no need for the College of Cardinals, and the Archbishoprics could do as they wished until some more modern arrangement could be worked up. But the Church knows that, and the Pope remains officially infallable.

Likewise even though we know (and those still inside ultimately know) that the Governing Body no longer really controls affairs, writes articles, etc., the fact that they still exist, this idea they there are heavenly kings-to-be in charge up in New York, is now the keystone the opens the jaws of the faithful so that Watchtower raw sewage can be ladled down their throats. Take that away, and all hell breaks loose. Doubt and talking about doubt spread exponentially, and before long you have entire Branch Offices questioning edicts from Bethel. The Witnesses as a religion are really living on borrowed time now.

Love_Truth

metatron,

Very succint, and correctly stated!

DanTheMan

Does any Witness ever 'awaken' and shout "What the hell are we doing?!!"

I did. I think I even missed it one year, I though it was so stupid, passing, passing , passing, to the cheesy sound of kingdom melodies being played over the PA. And each year the stupid articles leading up to the Memorial about how unbelievably absolutely terribly horribly awful it would be if a Christian were to partake unworthily. I've said it before, but - it killed me then and it kills me even more now that they expected me to be chomping at the bit to invite everybody I knew to this ridiculous and spiritually unsatisfying ritual.

I just may go postal if some JW tries to invite me to the memorial this year.

Yerusalyim

PS. Your Mother was a hamster and your Father smelt of elderberries.

You take that back, you never met my father. And it was NOT elderberries, he liked strawberry wine.

ellderwho

Never mind that the wine and unleavened bread are the very symbols of
Christian salvation.

Because of this very outward statement made by the Jw knowingly or not, solidifies the notion, the Jw does not really need the atonement. If the Jw behaves according to the outlined requirements, he can obtain "paradise" on his own merits. Relagating Christ to a good example, thats about it.

The Memorial: Blasphemy or Monty Python Sketch?

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