The message has changed . . . or am I wrong again?

by garybuss 46 Replies latest jw friends

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  garybuss

  
  
  cyber-sista, Thanks for your insight. I appreciate your comments. I was raised by Witness parents and taught Witness dogma as my core beliefs, so it's very helpful to me to be able to read experiences from you about being recruited, trained and then turned on by them. Our circumstances for being there were very different but our reasons for leaving are very similar. GaryB
  
  
  
  
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  Sunspot

  **there was at least a sense of comradery (I would never have come into the Organization if it was the way it is today). There were lots of parties--get togethers at parks--things were very family oriented--one of the reasons I was attracted to join up in the first place..

  Cybs,
  I started going to meetings in 1970.....and it was the same feeling of warmth and friendliness that you describe. The get-togethers were massive, sometimes three congos meeting on Sunday afternoons at a park that had two baseball diamonds, picnic tables and a swimming pool. Everybody mixed and mingled and we got to meet ever so many new "friends" from the area. It really irked me as the later years (90's) before I left, how it gotten down from the pitiful "only approved by the elders" kind of gatherings that were rigid and odd.

  The WTS took the joy out of the only "fun" that was offered, and more heavily concentrated on the DO MORE tactic to fill up any time that JWs might have. *I* certainly wouldn't have been drawn to that lifestyle either. It amazes me that there ARE any "new ones" that are attracted to being a JW the way things are now!!!

  **Annie, why did the cooks peel the potatoes and the janitors cook at assemblies? I think the miracle of it all was the food actually was usually pretty good.

  Gary----Maybe the janitors didn't know HOW to peel the potatoes according to the WTS rules of "proper tater peeling"! You KNOW how persnickety they are about anything done at assemblies insuring proper theocratic order!

  The day before I was baptized, they were going around asking for volunteers to "man" the contribution boxes, and I said I would do it. The sister who was asking for the volunteers---asked when I was baptized and I said tomorrow, and she said it would be improper for me as an UNBAPTIZED person to be in charge of the contributions.

  Needless to say, I was floored (and a bit hurt) like did they expect me (as a lowly unbaptized person) to race out of the stadium carting a huge contribution box inder my arm? (Looking both ways and sprinting through the building making sure the coast was clear!)

  hugs,
  Annie
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  observador

  I don't understand why if this Organization truly wants to attract people (or keep them in) why they don't change their stategies a bit. They are becoming very uninviting--even to their own members.

  I think that the Society is in total confusion on what is the way to move forward. This might explain the conflicting statements, change in views, that we see here and there.

  At one meeting they say "love". At the next they say "hate". "Love" and "hate" seems to have the same semantics.

  Observador.
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  XQsThaiPoes

  Reminds me of a teach she used to say that the opposite of love is indefference because hate is the same emotion. I think this is the wts stance right now. They feel the whole church of JWs has gotten indefferent (ie numb) so they are trying to get them to feel or do something. I mean our co was hostile because our hall had bested the national average. In other words griping that the national average had almost gotten too low a goal to meet.
  

  And the message has gotten to be "look it up, but if you find anything don't say anything because we are a large multibillion dollar corporation who has a penchant for research and espionage, we already know."

  Right now they are wondering why isnt Jehovah bringing amageddon and why their are no signs of the tributlation. It is like they are realizing that they have to be in the for the long haul and they dont know how. With out the concept of a soon amarmageddon what keeps people moral? It is like they are trying to figure out what is this whole christianity thing about? Maybe christians are suppose to form supranational corporations and donate to them.

  Oh btw my dad visited bethel/wallkill and was floored and how luxurious it was. He also was shocked that all the people producing the pupblications were professionals. In otherwords that is was a corporation just like the one he works for back home.
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  garybuss

  Hey XQ!! You wrote: "He also was shocked that all the people producing the pupblications were professionals."

  It would be interesting to know what he was expecting the corporation book makers to look like. Maybe he thought they look like Santa's elf's with long tail caps with a red ball on the tails. Or maybe he was expecting people like he sees at his Kingdom Hall:-)
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  XQsThaiPoes

  Considering during his life he has had acess to holywood prop houses, art studios, and script brokers (aeons ago). I am sure we was suprised it looked more like a movie studio than kingdom hall. He keep talking about the props dpt, giant scale of the paintings, and sculpted stand in models for characters like the wild beast.
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  garybuss

  So it looked more like a publishing corporation than a religion huh? :-)