What public talks are given in the KH?
Public talks in the KH
by badboy 9 Replies latest jw friends
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mineralogist
The Theme varies but it is always something like:
20 Minutes - how bad the world is
20 Minutes - come to JW and in future you don't need to suffer anymore
5 Minutes - review -
Room 215
``Public Talk" is a misnomer. Sunday speakers have long stopped giving talks with any generalised, broad appeal/interest topics in favor of haranguing the congregations with talks aimed directly at JWs: laced with Theospeak jargon that any stranger would find unintelligible, they're usually aimed at behaviour modification/control and manipulation by guilt, all underpinned by an ``us vs. them" vilification of the entire non-JW world.
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Nosferatu
There were too many public talks! I liked it when they used to show slides for the hour rather than have some boring talk. I don't know why they don't do that anymore.
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badboy
Nosferatu, tell me more, tell me more
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Nosferatu
What's there to tell?
Every once in a while, we'd get some brother who travelled to rome (or something) and would take pictures of Kingdom Halls and assembly halls, brothers & sisters, and put them into slides for showing at the Kingdom Hall. Our old Kingdom Hall was actually equipped with a projector screen.
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Uzzah
I've finally hooked up a scanner at home. I have all the outlines (1-120) for the Public Talks. I'll scan a couple over the weekend and post them.
Uzzah
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blondie
I do know that regardless of the fact there are 120 outlines and 52 Sundays in the year (minus 1 for the assembly, 1 for the special day, 1 for the convention, and 2 for the CO's visits = 5) leaving 47 weeks, that it is unlikely that you will hear 47 different talks. Many of them have different titles but the same specific information.
As it has been said, the talks no longer are aimed at the "public" but at "encouraging" JWs or keeping them in line. The talk coordinator, either the PO or another elder selected by him, is supposed to pick talks to address issues in the congregation. Exchanging speakers with other congregations is a mixed bag because they have to be a) better qualified than an elder who gives a talk in his own congregation (hahahaha) b) be prepared to give the talk you want c) be available that weekend. Some elders are only prepared to give 4 to 5 talks (out of 120) so you get the talk he can give.
Blondie
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willyloman
Some elders are only prepared to give 4 to 5 talks (out of 120) so you get the talk he can give.
I had about half a dozen talks I gave again and again. If I got sent out to another congo and didn't have that particular number prepared, I would just take one that I was familiar with and give that. I had a cover sheet for my notes that spelled out the song number, title of the talk, and my name and home congo; I'd show it to the chairman and tell him all he had to do was read it. There was sometimes a brief awkward moment before the meeting started when the chairman said, "You have number 112, right?" and I'd look at my cover sheet and say, "Gosh, no, I thought it was 85." He'd shrug and say, "Oh, okay, that's fine." In 20 years, I only remember one time a brother got very concerned that this little piece of procedure wasn't followed. He arched his eyebrow and said, "But we expected 112. That's what it says on the board." He claimed he'd veen very specific with the brother in my hall who scheduled the talks. They wanted this particular topic. I just smiled and said, "Well, I brought the wrong one, then. But these are the only notes I have." End of discussion.
I learned this technique from a former CO who associated with our KH. He only had about three talks, and he gave them over and over. His rationale was, you don't experiment on a congregation where they don't know you. They are expecting a little more from a visiting speaker. It was more important to give them a talk that was well prepared, virtually memorized, and full of warm, fuzzy experiences than to stumble through a topic you aren't familiar with.
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cyber-sista
Public talks are sandwiches (this is a term that a sister told me that the elders used in here area when talking about how to give council, but it is the same with a public talk). Sandwich translation according to the elders: You start off with the soft stuff-- the bread --commending the wayward sheep and making them feel all comfortable. After that you hit them with the meat (the hard council stuff) but you end the council with the soft stuff so that the meat is all wrapped up in the center and the whole package of council is easier to swallow. It's a typical brainwashing tecnique.
As far as the public talks go the food is prepared a bit differently. The talk ususally starts off with something to grab you, sometimes a horror tale about miserable world conditions. After you are really depressed then suddenly it takes a sudden turn to God's Kingdom being the solution to these problems and every thing lightens up a bit and gets all covered with a powdery sugar coating. At the end of the talk it's all wrapped up like one big burrito guaranteed to give you a bad case of spiritual indigestion. this is one of the very popular formats. It is a sales pitch really. The WT is marketing religion and uses the same manipulating tactics as advertisers.