A Religion in a Packet

by Thirdson 2 Replies latest jw experiences

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  Thirdson

  I guess when your religion is really a book selling/publishing empire then acts of worship are somewhat lacking. What I mean from that is, having experienced many different church services, I now remember JW services to be lacking in worship, ceremony, praise and joy. A meeting at the kingdom hall in comparison to other churches is like comparing fine home cooking to packet meals.

  JW services are based on a packet formula. There is no individuality. A Sunday meeting of worship consists of 2 prayers, 3 songs, a sermon and a reading and rereading of corporate propaganda. The songs are pre-selected from a small list. There are no musicians (the music is pre-recorded) no choir, no choral anthems, no special arrangements and no music written by great composers. The sermon follows a set script and you?d be lucky (or fortunate) to hear anything that mentions any local happening or news event. The Watchtower magazine review is obviously a fixed script. The only part of a meeting where individuality and extemporaneous speech exists are in the prayers. Yet even those follow a set formula:

  "Heavenly Father, thank for the occasion, brotherhood, spiritual food; bless the ministry and the Governing body; we remember the unnamed sick in our congregation and persecuted JWs somewhere else in an unnamed location; vindicate or sanctify your name and kill all the bad people soon; in-jesus-name-amen."
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  Thirdson

  ...Cont'd
  
  Even services at churches that follow a fairly rigid Liturgy, have a fairly wide choice for how services are conducted. None of the Pastors and Priests I have known would ever dream of giving the same sermon twice unlike me in my JW days where I had 7 talks I could give with almost no variation. When tragedy strikes or when an event affects the local community you can trust the pastor to adapt the service to mention the event or provide some comfort for those affected.

  I am amazed at how many sick people there are in Churches. Every week a dozen people are mentioned, congregation members, their relatives, their relative?s relatives. These people are mentioned during the service and are named in prayers. They may have never stepped foot in the place of worship, may not be religious or might belong to another denomination but if a member wants them mentioned in prayers they get mentioned in prayers. Other people in the general community who have suffered loss are prayed about too.

  How many Kingdom Hall services have children, boys and girls take a leading role in worship? Play instruments, sing in choirs, read the Bible and offer prayers?

  When I first attended a service after leaving the Watchtower, I was amazed at the whole act of worship; women priests conducting services and giving sermons, choirs, anthems, organ music.

  I often struggle with faith, I frequently doubt a caring God exists and I am sometimes bored by church sermons. But, I haven?t seen any waters drying up in the religious world outside of the Watchtower. In my opinion, the water the Watchtower gets is merely that used to re-hydrate the powder mix of their bland, boxed, religion.

  Thirdson
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  zugzwang

  "Heavenly Father, thank for the occasion, brotherhood, spiritual food; bless the ministry and the Governing body; we remember the unnamed sick in our congregation and persecuted JWs somewhere else in an unnamed location; vindicate or sanctify your name and kill all the bad people soon; in-jesus-name-amen."

  For a time I attempted to learn Spanish in order to "serve where the need is greater." Ironically one of the few things that I understood best during the meetings were the prayers. They were exactly like the one you mention above, except in another language. I wonder if I could learn Chinese that way?

  "In el nombre de Jesucristo, Amen.