NOTE: I was lazy and did not spell check this because it's getting late and I'm tired......
Gawd... I forgot just how mind numbing those things are. They just go on and on and on....
You all owe me!!! I took this one for the team!!!
So far there have been two new publications. The first, a little booklet that has a message in a bunch of languages so you can show it to someone who speaks a language that you don't know. Basically it is replacing an older version that has not been used since I was a kid. I could not get my hands on a copy because it was released yesterday... apparently I was supposed to "Buy out the opportune time" and not go to work on Friday. I talked to the Bookroom, and Addendents Office and even the people in the Administration office. (I can shmoozing my way into just about any back room dispite the fact that I bear absolutly NO resimblence to a JW ) After failing in that I tried to find a copy in the lost and found... nadda. (I was inspired to do this by Matt. 3:27 ) Allas, Jehover did not provide me with a stater coin from a "fishes mouth".
I was able to get three copies of the second publication that was released today. It is a new brochure called: "Keep on the Watch - For What? Why is it Especially Urgent Now?" It was released after the last talk today. ("Keep on the Watch" -- The Hour of Judgment Has Arrived). When I saw the title "The Hour of Judgment Has Arrived" I though, Damn! They have returned to the teaching that the judging, or "separating work" is going on NOW! Nope... during the talk the speaker asked: "When can we expect the day of judgment? I'll tell you....... when Jehover decides". Basically the talk was a slap on the wrist of the JWs for btching about the generation change. By the content and tone of the talk I could tell that the JWs are getting tired of waiting.
Ok, lets back up a bit.... As a testiment to just how closed of a religion they are, they spotted me as an "outsider" the instant I pulled into the parking lot. I'm just going out on a limb here... but it may have had something to do with my beard, my "business casual" attire (no suit... but acceptable for the professional office I work in), and the little US Flag sticker and the "Support our Troops" yellow ribbon on my car's back window. The instant I pulled in the lot I was questioned as to whether I was attending the convention (all of the other cars were pulling right in without question)... after he stamered around a bit he kicked into "love bomb - I'm your new best friend - lets make small talk" mode and finally let me park. He was a young idealistic JW who had not yet been introduced to the find art of spotting and giving dirty looks to "outsiders". The other guy with him was a different story... I could tell that he was a new or wanna be elder... he gave me a long hard "suspisious" stare... I smiled back and nodded a polite "hello" and started walking my way to the convention center a few blocks away. <--- Sheep in wolves clothing look
Things were calm for the first session... an attendant actually went out of his way to find a program for me a few minutes after he seated me (I arrived just as the morning session was starting). This was good because his coming to my seat and handing me a program disarmed all of the suspisious looks from all of the people sitting near me. This gave me legitiamicy and freedome to move about. This is when I got the poor-quality recording of the first session (see below).
Durring the break I went outside to find a bunch of cart-vendors selling ice cream, hot dogs and a few other goodies and got something to eat. Clearly Jehover did not approve of all of the JWs using the outside vendors because it started to rain almost the instant everyone went outside. It was a down-pour!!! The good little JWs should have abided by Jehover's Arrangements and brought their lunches per the instructions of the Our Kingdom Ministry insert.
After eating I went on a mission to find a better sound source... what better place than the lion's den itself? I went down the hallway where I saw them carry all of the contribution boxes knowing that all of the administration offices would be there. The first place I went was the Book Room to see if I could find the publicationt that was reased on Friday... they were out... so I went to the Attendants office. They didn't have any copies either, but said I could place my little recording device next to a speaker that was sitting on a table. I thanked them and proceded to leave without leaving my recorder so I could try to find another speaker place (I alway make sure I have a backup). I walked to the end of the coradore and found another speaker sitting on a table... basically in the middle of nowhere. I though "perfect!". BUT... almost the instant I set my bag down an attendant approached me and asked: "Were they able to help you in the Attendants office?" Damn! I had a shadow! I could tell that this guy was assigned to follow me around and watch me. He tried to make friendly conversation... so I thought I would use this to my advantage. I told him that I was looking for a good place to setup my recorder and he, trying to keep an eye on me, suggested I go to the Administration office. I though: YES! What better place to gain the trust of the JWs?!?!? This will allow them to see me and shake my hand so that I can disarm them. Sure, they will keep an eye on me... but this will not stop me from making the observations and recordings I went there for. JWs have a pathalogical need to impress "worldly" people... why not use this to my advantage? I litteraly was able to get the Administration and Attendants offices to accept me and "watch over me". Basically they handed to me on a silver platter what I wanted to begin with: Observations, audio recordings and access to the backrooms and "important" people. They were all willing to chat with me and tell me all I wanted to know.
I did run into a bit of a problem with one senior attendant. He did not like the idea of me recording... or even attending the convention. He said that what was being talked about was for "spiritually mature" people and the general public may not understand what was being talked about. Basically this guy knew that the conventions have information that makes the JWs look really bad and "high control". You should have seen him... he was all jittery and squwerming in his chair trying to explain to me why I could not record the convention without actually telling me "no". The "shadow" guy who was assigned to me was there through all of this and after I got through with the conversation without giving up my request to record, he told me that they don't usually get people "off the street" like me. I gave him a puzzled look and showed him the print out from the jw-media.org web site that said that the public was invited and encouraged to attend the conventions... he didn't have much to say to that and was forced to allow me to continue... I, of course, had word directly from the Faithful and Discrete Slave!!! How could he contradict that??? They also kept asking me what I was going to do with the recording and I told them that I was working on a report... that I study all sorts of religions and and wanted to write a report about JWs... and here it is in all it's glory!
Through all of this I kept being reminded of the Discovery Channel shows I've seen about how the Clown Fish is able to hide in a hostile and poisonious Sea Anemoney without any harm by imitating the chemical signature of the Sea Anemoney.
I eventually got all setup next to a speaker that was sitting on the floor in the main entrance with a special chair for me and everything. While I was waiting for the evening session to begin I was able to get in some Anti-witnessing. Again, JWs have the pathalogical need to talk to "worldly" people about the "truth"... I was more than willing to talk to the first unsuspecting guy who sat next to me. He instantly knew I was not a JW and asked about my beliefs and asked if I was a christian. I kept it simple and just said "no"... I'm not a christian. He then asked if I was a athiest! Bingo! He went straight for the sweet spot! He was not at all shy. In time he related to me that he was once wild and the "Truth" is what calmed him down and made him more responsible (btw, he was raised in the bOrg... just had a wild youth). I did not take the obvious course of asking him if he though that people were inherantly incapable of being "good" without being forced. Insead I used my more recent tactice: I talk about freedom of religion and consious and how important it is... how everyone has that right... how I'm not about to try to attack another person's faith as that would be wrong because a person's faith is a very personal matter and a source of their happieness. A JW cannot pubicly dispute this because of all of their court cases that claim the very same thing. To make a long story short he eventually tried to tell me that there is only one true religion... but I remined him about Luke 9:49, 50
Luke 9:49-50: In response John said: "Instructor, we saw a certain man expelling demons by the use of your name and we tried to prevent him, because he is not following with us." But Jesus said to him: "Do not YOU men try to prevent [him], for he that is not against YOU is for YOU."This got him to shut up real quick and he just mumbled something about "context"... basically he was totally unaware of that scripure and he suddenly noticed that he had to go.
After this nothing noteworthy happened.
Now a few of my notes ....
Talk: Daily Text Reminders Help Us to Go On Walking With God
- Read text every day - this will protect you
- If you rely on yourself, you will fall (Pr. 11:14)
- You must heed the direction of Jehover.
- Those of the world put pitfalls in front of Jehover's people... these are Satan's Pitfalls, therefore people of world are with Satan.
- Faith strengthened by daily bible reading and study of the "Faithful Stuwart" (are they changing the term from FDS???), meetings, and ministry
Talk: Helping Those Who Speak Another Language (Refer to my note about the new publication with all of the languages)
- Must take baby steps in spiritual growth (so much for the pre-1975 Six Month Program)
- Must keep up with Jehover's Org
- Jehover is always on the move
- Jehover's organization is always on the move
- Must keep up with changes (Notice none of the first items have anything to do with the title of the talk )
- Need to target foriegn language groups (English market is saturated in the US)
- Related "experience" of an old annointed sister who was in the org in the early 1900's... NY only had one congregation and they thought at the time that NY represented "the entire enhabited earth" from Matt. 24:14. Turns out they were wrong... but this is a GOOD thing!!! Now JWs get to talk to everyone in the LITTERAL world. (RE: Keep up with Jehover's Org... change in teachings is GOOD!)
Ok, to be honest it's getting late and I want to wrap this up tonight... I will finish later... in the mean time here are a few things you might want to look at.
Program, page 1
Program, page 2
Program, page 3
Program, page 4
Program, page 5
Program, page 6
Program, page 7
Program, page 8
Keep on the Watch - Cover
Keep on the Watch - contents
I don't want to violate any copy right laws, so I won't post the whole thing... but later I might happen to find someone who might happen to have a full scan...