by truthseeker 18 Replies latest jw friends
THIS BRINGS BACK A MEMORY.
QUITE A FEW YEARS AGO, MY FAMILY AND A FEW OTHER JW FAMILIES WENT TO A NICE CAMPING SITE IN THE MOUNTAINS OF IDAHO.
EVERYONE WAS HAVING A GOOD TIME AND ON SUNDAY ONE OF THE A HOLE ELDERS THERE, SAID WE ALL NEED TO GATHER TOGETHER AND REVIEW THE WATCHTOWER STUDY FOR THIS WEEK.
I STILL RECALL MY DISGUST AND THE REALIZATION, THAT I LOOKED AT A VACATION AS INCLUDING A VACATION FROM THE WBTS.
THIS WAS EARLY ON IN MY GRADUAL AWAKENING.
Outoftheorg
BWAAAH HWAAAH HHAAAA
OMG, why did I ever decide to leave such a SPIRITUAL PARADISE ?
I don't know that I ever noticed that actually, just accepted it....
All I can say is all that JW lingo you're using is really freaking me out. Haven't heard those terms in years....spiritual food, faithful and discreet slave, etc. <gag>
i noticed it almost immediately - and not yearly, but weekly... i honestly don't know how i didn't get bored, because i'm not one to embrace structure and regimentation very well...maybe i responded to it then because i was so young and my life was in chaos. now, however, it reminds me of "A Wrinkle in Time", when Meg and her friends went to Camazotz to rescue her father. On Camazotz, the planet is dominated and controlled by this gigantic brain named IT. On this planet, everyone is the same, & everyone does the same thing in perfect unison. When they get inside the center where her father and IT are, there's a hypnotic -thump-tjump-thump- that can take over your mind if you don't fight it off...
I see what you are getting at, but is a yearly pattern of life a bad thing?
Unlike modern cultures who see time as linear progression, older cultures had a much more cyclical approach to life.
What we missed as JWs was any notion of culture and celebration. JWs don't celebrate the coming of spring, the fruitfulness of the land (harvest festivals, Thanksgiving), the birth of a child (christening, the naming of a child), the rite of passage from childhood to adulthood (Bar Mitzvahs) , birthdays - I could go on and on.
Eyeslice
Good lord, just reading that yearly list makes me sick. I'm soooooooooooooooooooooooo glad I'm out and free to have fun.
I remember going to Virginia Beach to a District Convention. Stayed with friends that lived only 5 minutes from the beach. Didn't go to the beach once. All our time was spent feeding on the "spiritual food" at the convention. Man I hated that. Now when I'm laying on the beach I think about all those poor witnesses sitting bored stiff in unconfortable seats, listening to mind numbing talks, constantly checking their watches to see when this living hell will be over. Then I just smile and get myself another raspberry smoothie.
hey great post! never tought of it that way,I always looked at it on a weekly basis...
sunday
talk and watchtower
monday
prepare for tuesday night meeting
tuesday
attend meeting and participate
wednesday
prepare for thursday night book study
thursday
attend book study and comment
friday
prepare for saturday field service,maybe start on wt study for sunday
saturday
field service...I love it! finish wt study for tomorrow morning.
Keep this posted on your fridge for quick reference and so you can write little notes on the side like "read daily text","read magazines cover to cover","personal study"."etc,etc"...
And I used to feel guilty going fishing on wednesday evenings or saturdays,to the point where I was just not a happy person at all.When I work a monday to friday schedule I had to get up early for work every day and then early again on saturday and sunday,there was never a day to sleep-in and catch up or just a me day.It was very draining after a while....but I was HAPPY!....yeah,ok
Eyeslice, having a yearly routine of doing things is a good thing - unless you happen to be in a cult.
The Watchtower is like a huge clock, every time the big hand reaches another hour, there is another activity.
12PM, 1PM, 2PM, 3PM
In reality, once the big hand gets back to the 12 again, you look back over a year and maybe ask yourself some questions.
What have I really accomplished in a year?
The WTS doesn't encourage you to take up a hobby (unless your Bible reading is that deep), they don't encourage you to go to school and get an education, and they are against worldly careers.
There is NO SINGLE special day that the Watchtower Society has to get "everyone together" just to celebrate life.
There are no celebrations like you said, hence there is no wrapping of gifts and exchanging of gifts, except at showers and weddings.
There is no notable date in Watchtower land where you could find a reason to celebrate.
And the Memorial is just another recruitment exercise.
Truthseeker
Like sandwiches of cardboard with sawdust for fillings.
