Walk with God DC: My Notes FRI MORN

by ezekiel3 8 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

ezekiel3

Well friends, at much sacrifice and mental atrophy, I survived the 2004 District Convention and am here to tell you about it. I thought I would be interesting to some here to note how DCs are organized and the ?great spiritual truths? dispensed courtesy of the FDS.
All in all, this DC was one of the driest programs I have seen in a while (that?s pretty bad). There is no great ?new light? and the releases are two brochures. I will highlight Friday mornings? program and provide links between postings as I post.
A note about my notes: Most of the information from the DC is old mantra or rehashed material. My intention here is to notice any new or interesting things about the program.
FRIDAY AFTERNOON: http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/12/75900/1.ashx
FRIDAY MORNING
9:50 Congregated to Let Jehovah Teach Us His Ways Introductory talk and highlights of program. Featured a demonstration of a JW faithfully wearing his lapel badge after the convention and witnessing to a waiter. Don?t forget to tip your waiter and hotel each night of your stay.
10:20 Nothing Good Held Back From Those Walking in Faultlessness The speaker here used an interesting phrase for a scriptural reference: ?proof text?. Watch for this to become another buzzword.
10:50 Song 160 & announcements
The ?lunch letter? is read here and every day of the DC before lunch: Bring your own lunch and do not go off site to buy your lunch. This letter was read in May at North American congs and again in its entirety at the last Service Meeting before the DC.
11:00 Keep Proving What You Yourselves Are
Remember that tests are not negative, even if uncomfortable. We are tested by JW pubs that explain scripture, meetings and conventions, and the elders. Quote: ?Solid food can be hard to digest.? If something is hard to understand in the WT, work to understand it.
11:20 Let God's Word Guide Your Steps Every Day
We face new issues daily, morality, neutrality, and blood. Not a matter of black and white like Mosaic Law code, instead based on principles. Use power of reason. You may have to gather multiple scriptures to get one answer, like puzzle with more than one piece. Demonstration of a JW asking an elder for advise on getting Friday off for the convention. (Talk about preaching to the choir, this was Friday!) The demo was starchy and unrealistic. This is a problem, attendance Fri was 8000 compared to Sat at 9500. 15% did not attend Fri.
11:40 Keynote Address: Walk With God in Turbulent Times
Questions to ponder: Are we tested today? Are we disappointed end did not come as quick as we wanted? Are the publications? explanations difficult to understand?
Open your coolers, ye faithful, its lunchtime. I?ll continue to post the other sessions.
blondie

The speaker here used an interesting phrase for a scriptural reference: "proof text". Watch for this to become another buzzword.

Hey, zeke, what was it?
Demonstration of a JW asking an elder for advise on getting Friday off for the convention. (Talk about preaching to the choir, this was Friday!) The demo was starchy and unrealistic. This is a problem, attendance Fri was 8000 compared to Sat at 9500. 15% did not attend Fri.

I haven?t been to a DC for 2 years but that was a problem back then. Many people have only one week of vacation and don?t want to break it up by going to the DC. Others feel that nothing important is said on Friday, only the same old.
Are we disappointed end did not come as quick as we wanted?
SOON, VERY SOON, VERY SOON NOW
Who said the end was coming quickly?

w03 11/15 p. 6 You Can Believe in a Paradise Earth ***
Very soon now , God will have that original purpose fulfilled.
w02
2/15 p. 7 Godly Principles Can Benefit You ***
The Bible gives us reason to expect
very soon an earth-wide new system in which "righteousness is to dwell."
w00
2/1 p. 8 How Much Longer for the Wicked? ***
Surely, then, we have every reason to be confident that the third of these divine judgments will be carried out. In fact
, we can expect the fulfillment of it very soon . For the sake of the upright ones in these last days, God will bring destruction upon all wicked humans. The last of them will draw his final breath in the rapidly approaching "war of the great day of God the Almighty ."?Revelation 16:14, 16.
Are the publications? explanations difficult to understand?
They must be if they have to explain blood fractions again in the June 15, 2004 WT reprinting the Questions from Readers from 2000.
People are probably wondering how they can use products derived from stored blood. Also hard to understand, how can alternative service be acceptable now when so many JWs suffered by refusing it up until 1996.

w86
9/1 p. 20 Christian Neutrals in a Bloodstained World ***
Whether the issue was shedding blood, noncombatant military work, alternative service , or saluting an image such as a national flag, faithful Christians took the position that there was no middle ground. In some cases they were executed because of this stand .
In 1996 alternative/civilian service became a "personal choice."
w96
5/1 p. 19 Paying Back Caesar?s Things to Caesar ***
However, there are lands where the State, while not allowing exemption for ministers of religion, nevertheless acknowledges that some individuals may object to military service. Many of these lands make provision for such conscientious individuals not to be forced into military service. In some places a required civilian service, such as useful work in the community, is regarded as nonmilitary national service.
Could a dedicated Christian undertake such service? Here again, a dedicated, baptized Christian would have to make his own decision on the basis of his Bible-trained conscience.
What if the Christian?s honest answers to such questions lead him to conclude that the national civilian service is a "good work" that he can perform in obedience to the authorities? That is his decision before Jehovah.
Appointed elders and others should fully respect the conscience of the brother and continue to regard him as a Christian in good standing.
JWs died rather than accept alternative/civilian service before 1996. Was it a personal choice before 1996? According to the WTS it was.
w98
8/15 p. 17 Strengthening Our Confidence in God?s Righteousness ***
In modern times, there have been some Witnesses who were very strict in their view of what they would or would not do. For that reason they suffered more than others. Later, increased knowledge helped them to expand their view of matters. But they have no reason to regret having earlier acted in harmony with their conscience, even when this possibly brought extra suffering.
w98
8/15 p. 17 Strengthening Our Confidence in God?s Righteousness/Feelings of Having Suffered Needlessly
In the past, some Witnesses have suffered for refusing to share in an activity that their conscience now might permit . For example, this might have been their choice years ago as to certain types of civilian service . A brother might now feel that he could conscientiously perform such without overstepping his Christian neutrality regarding the present system of things.
Was it unrighteous on Jehovah?s part to allow him to suffer for rejecting what he now might do without consequences? Most who have had that experience would not think so. Rather, they rejoice that they had the opportunity of demonstrating publicly and clearly that they were determined to be firm on the issue of universal sovereignty
Yet what did the WTS publish in its publications in 1971?
g74
12/8 p. 23 The Netherlands Frees Imprisoned Witnesses ***
Willingly accepting such work is objectionable to the Christian because of what God?s law says about the matter: "You were bought with a price; stop becoming slaves of men." (1 Cor. 7:23) Civilian servitude as a substitute for military service would be just as objectionable to the Christian. In effect, he would thereby become a part of the world instead of keeping separate as Jesus commanded.?John 15:19; 17:14-16.
undercover

10:50 Song 160 & announcements
The ?lunch letter? is read here and every day of the DC before lunch: Bring your own lunch and do not go off site to buy your lunch. This letter was read in May at North American congs and again in its entirety at the last Service Meeting before the DC.
This letter was not read at the convention that I attended. They read the same old letter about donations at every single break, but of the two morning sessions that I attended they did not read that letter.
ezekiel3

Blondie: the buzzword is "proof text" refering to a scriptual reference. No big deal, but I do not recall that phrase being used by JWs much in the past.
Undercover: Good for you. Maybe my DC location was one of the venues in jeapardy. I have confirmed that Fresno California convention center was one that JWs lost over vendor issues.
blondie

Actually, zeke, this is a buzzword used by non-JWs in a negative way to describe how JWs base ideas on one verse or several verses strung together which is why the WTS has avoided it up till now.
Blondie: the buzzword is "proof text" refering to a scriptual reference
Secondly, it will be worth trying to examine beliefs in the light of Scripture. This will never be a quick process. Ask leading questions, and gradually sow the seeds of doubt about Jehovah?s Witness doctrine on the basis of what the Scriptures teach. Don?t be rushed from proof text to proof text, but examine each one within its context and honestly seek the correct meaning of the verse together.
Don't get caught playing "proof-text ping-pong": Jehovah's Witnesses spend dozens of hours every month studying and role playing to be prepared to give a quick response to what you may have thought was a bullet proof argument from the Bible. Rather, we need to be asking leading questions, approaching the pertinent texts as fellow "seekers of truth". By asking questions, not only does it help you keep control of the conversation, but it also gives the chance for the Witness to think through his answer in a non-confrontational manner.
Blondie
Gopher

11:00 Keep Proving What You Yourselves Are
Remember that tests are not negative, even if uncomfortable. We are tested by JW pubs that explain scripture, meetings and conventions, and the elders. Quote: ?Solid food can be hard to digest.? If something is hard to understand in the WT, work to understand it.
Why that strange phrase "you yourselves"? It sounds so authoritarian. Solid food CAN be hard to digest. So can inedible things.
If something is hard to understand in the WT, it is because the writers are complicating things. It is a symptom of poor writing when you take subjects of low-to-medium difficulty and make them sound hard.
11:20 Let God's Word Guide Your Steps Every Day
We face new issues daily, morality, neutrality, and blood. Not a matter of black and white like Mosaic Law code, instead based on principles. Use power of reason.
This title is wrong. It should be "let the Bible as interpreted by us be your guide". I'm so tired of their claim that their followers can use "principles" and "reason". Any who try and who veer from THE RULES laid down by the Society will be sure to be chastised.
This convention is not about "Walking With God". For serious believers it's about walking with the organization, and for those who aren't as serious -- it's about how to put on good appearances.
Corvin

Quote: ?Solid food can be hard to digest.? If something is hard to understand in the WT, work to understand it.

Another example of intellectual intimidation.
After hearing that admonishment, what JW would admit to not understanding "solid food"?
"I just don't understand this stuff. I must still be a spiritual babe and not working hard enough to understand these meatier things . . . "
seattleniceguy

like a puzzle with more than one piece
Crap. Just when I thought I had those one-piece puzzles down, now they're going add more pieces?? Dammit!
SNG
blondie

I wonder if there are any vendor issues here?
http://www.rrstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040716/BUSINESS04/407160314/1020/BUSINESS07
Published: July 16, 2004

Business: Economy
Jehovah's Witnesses to generate $1.8M

By ANNA VOELKER, Rockford Register Star
>> Click here for more about Anna

ROCKFORD -- The five-weekend Jehovah's Witness convention, which starts today, is expected to pump $1.8 million into the local economy, making it the largest religious or sporting event in recent years.
The "Walk With God" district convention will draw about 5,700 people this weekend at the MetroCentre in downtown Rockford. It's the first of five weekend meetings -- two in English, three in Spanish -- that will draw an estimated 32,400 people from Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa this month and next. The Christian group is hosting 200 such events in the United States this year.
The Jehovah's Witness convention, the second straight at the MetroCentre and the third since 1999, will include talks, interviews and, on the final day, a re-enactment of Christian activity in the first century, with participants in period dress.
MetroCentre officials hope to sign a four-year contract with the organization that would keep its convention in Rockford until 2008, said Brian Luther, assistant general manager.
"We understand economically what this convention accomplishes," said Bryant Davis, a Jehovah's Witness elder who lives in Milwaukee. "We hope it's viewed as a positive impact, but the main purpose is the spiritual encouragement for the delegates."
The Rockford Area Convention and Visitors Bureau estimates convention goers will pour money into local hotels, restaurants, shops and gas stations.
Barry Miller, co-owner of Quizno's Subs across from the MetroCentre, said it's a "good chaos" when the Jehovah's Witnesses are in town.
"The convention is going to probably be about 10 percent of our yearly income," said Miller, who opens his restaurant on weekends for special events. "Last year, they were here four weekends, and we brought in $35,000. This year, we have an extra weekend. These will be some good, exhausting days."
Local hotels in Rockford and South Beloit, and Beloit and Janesville, Wis., will host convention participants.

Jimmy Vitale, owner of Cliffbreakers, said his hotel won't have any convention goers this weekend but he expects some will patronize the Riverview Restaurant located on the grounds. He said their visit is good for hotels, which have struggled to remain more than 50 percent occupied this year.

In May, hotels in Winnebago County averaged 56 percent occupancy rate, virtually flat from a year ago.

"These large events support local jobs and industries like gas stations, specialty shops, restaurants, hotels, which in turn supports local citizens' quality of life," said LaVonne Brown, vice president of the visitors bureau.

Don Peach, a Jehovah's Witness from Rockford, was at the MetroCentre on Thursday helping to get the arena ready for the convention. He also works at Professional Graphics in Rockford and said his clients have talked about the convention.

"They like seeing that revenue come into town," Peach said.

The event also helps the MetroCentre, which has struggled with a deficit while trying to update the aging arena.
"This helps the MetroCentre," Peach said. "And it helps the community."

Contact: [email protected]; 815-987-1346 /body>

Walk with God DC: My Notes FRI MORN

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