Memorial experiences 2005 thread

by Jez 63 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • tijkmo
    tijkmo

    so carefully faded wore a borderline skirt showing some knee and no pantyhose...to keep the wife happy for another year....hmmm...interesting

    my experience and observations have already been posted on...yet another mem thread.good grief.....and power of the holy spirit...worth reading even if i say so myself....tijkmo

    i remember something from a few years ago that a new elder from bethel told me happened in his cong..they had an anointed elder and he gave the talk every year but he was so incoherent he shouldnt have been...so new elder suggested to po (a bethel elder..ie not just an elder in bethel) that someone else should give the talk and po agreed...come the pre mem elders meeting po asks the anointed elder if hes ok for giving the talk and he says yes and then po asks if eveyone else is happy with that and eveyone says yes which leaves new elder to say no...making it appear as if he wants the assignment for himself which he doesnt...everyone else then agrees with him- someone else is assigned- anointed elder stops going out in fs with new elder- never goes back to a memorial in that hall- but goes to his sons hall in ireland....where he gives the talk.....and they are going to rule over us...tijkmo

  • tijkmo
    tijkmo

    good for you glofishy...how stupid does someone have to be to differentiate between someone who has made a mistake and is trying to correct it and someone else who doesnt care and so wont be at the kh anyway....i did the same at the assembly last w/e

    when i was df and went to another halls mem...an old friend came to speak to me out in the car..she asked how i was and i told her well ok but you do know im disfellowshipped dont you...she thought i was joking..and when i managed to convince her she apologised to me....why

  • googlemagoogle
    googlemagoogle

    it was no problem for me sitting there this time either. last year i was struggling inside if i should parttake or not, as i still believed some of the jeezus part of the bible. this time i wasn't paying attention, it was over quick. i caught a few disturbing theological views, but it didn't matter to me.

    all that "offering free bible-studies to those who still don't have one" usually bothered me when still believing, as i always viewed it as a real turn-off. this time i was glad they did, because the whole talk really was a commercial to the wtbs and removed all the "holiness" of the "celebration". the "announcement" to the first-timers was read off a letter, didn't understand the sense of this.

    another thing that used to bother me, but is perfectly cool now was the ending song. it's something about jesus destroying everyone soon... i wish i could have read the thoughts of the visitors. ah yeah, there were not many anyways.

    the logic about only very few parttaking was really amusing. the proof that only a few can take from the symbols was: last year some 16.000.000 or so were attending the memorial, but only some 8.000 parttook. talking bout circular reasoning to it's best.

  • Sunnygal41
    Sunnygal41

    FLASH!!! DUDE!!! Don't let them get to you...........I see you're from CT also...........

  • TheListener
    TheListener

    Okay, my experience was much like everyone elses. Here's what I noticed:

    The talk was only about 45 minutes with some extra time to pass the emblems (omfg is that a jwism or what?). The first 20-25 minutes of the talk discussed how we could be better witnesses, and how we need to watch our spirituality. It felt like we were all being berated to do more which is usual but I really thought the memorial wasn't the time or place for it. Just shows that they have no common sense. I know that there was an extra effort on the part of the society to get more people to show up this year and I believe that is why the outline focused so much on spiritual inactivity and how to avoid or come out of it.

    The passing of the emblems was a non-event. We read some Corinthian scriptures for the bread and wine and then the do this in rememberance of me part. That seemed to be the only real references to the event we were memorializing. There was no talk about how jesus died for all of us and that is was painful and that he suffered so that we might live or anything. The speaker mentioned that jesus died for us but that was a quick sentence.

    It was so funny and sad when the speaker said "I am pleased to read a special announcement from the christian congregation of jehovah's witnesses to all present this evening". I'm sure some were at the edge of their seat waiting for the armageddon announcement (it's coming on a memorial day don't ya know). We offer free home bible studies all the time. Don't they think that those guests in attendance have heard that about a billion times. That's like a television commercial saying "and tonight we have a very special announcement to make, we want everyone to know that yes, there will be a Seinfeld rerun."

    My thoughts have to be kept to myself and I can only share them here. But, the memorial really bothered me. I still love God and his son Jesus. I used to think the memorial was the greatest thing ever. That by going I was really showing God how much I cared for what his son did for me and everyone. Now I think it's offensive. I never even realized how little the actual sacrifice or its meaning is discussed. I mean come on, the entire outline was directed at getting the numbers up for the rest of the service year. What makes me angry is that 90% plus of the people in attendance just don't see it. They think it was the greatest thing ever.

  • ithinkisee
    ithinkisee

    Couple things I noticed this year that stood out as opposed to when I went in the past:

    It seems less a celebration and more like an annual recruiting effort.

    No mention of the "Organization" in anything. All about Jesus. Good PR for people that don't know any better and good reassurance to the rank and file that Jesus is still in there ... somewhere.

    The speaker (our Circuit Overseer) gave the free home bible study commercial at the end and a promo of the special talk in a couple weeks.

    One line in his commercial was, "If you want to have a relationship with God, we encourage you to take the offer for a free home bible study." (Implying anyone not a Jehovah's Witness does not have a relationship with God.)

    -ithinkisee

  • JustTickledPink
    JustTickledPink

    Question about what do they do with the emblems after the Memorial?

    Our elders used to take them out back and dump them on the ground. They said they were returning it back to the earth since it represented Jesus' body. I asked them when I was really young. I thought if it was so holy why would you just dump it outside on the ground?

    Anyways, I didn't go.

  • m0nk3y
    m0nk3y

    Some in our congregation used to eat them afterwards .. I remember feeling really shocked that they ate them because they weren't annointed.

  • Doubtfully Yours
    Doubtfully Yours

    The Memorial went well, all took place in a very orderly fashion. Not as many people as I thought would attend, though.

    The old elder that gave the talk is a very nice speaker. I enjoyed it. Glad it's over.

    Had a better time in the dinner with friends afterwards.

    DY

  • NewYork44M
    NewYork44M

    I went to the memorial in Brooklyn Heights. Max Larson gave the talk. He was ill-prepared and seemed to stumble through most of the talk. While I did not take notes I remember some selected phrases.

    "Jehovah gave up more that Jesus did for the ransom. While Jesus gave his life, Jehovah gave his son."

    If you are no longer coming to the meetings we would like to welcome you back. "Remember Jeh did not leave you; you left Jehovah." The he read a "most important scripture" about Jehovah leaving his people because of their wickedness. What fine encouragement!?

    At least three times he read the scripture that faith without works is dead. Meetings- study- and field ministry: the triune of our faith. Otherwise, forgettaboutit, you ain?t making it into the new system.

    A rather humorous event took place at the meeting. Cary Barber gave the prayer for the bread. If you have ever heard him pray, he has given the same prayer for a century. Well, half way through, he just stopped, no "in jesus name, yada yada ya." We were all left hanging. Max then said: "Br Barber is of the anointed and will have his 100 th birthday on July 4." I was certain that there was applause, maybe it was just me. Also, I was sitting a few rows behind Barber, I distinctly heard him humming during the whole talk. I guess if you are almost 100, you can make any noise you want.

    We also had the "special announcemen"t: If you are interested in a free home bible study, just ask anyone in attendance and they will make the arrangements.

    A side note, a few have suggested a reform coming. I saw no hint of reform. This was a very "hard line" do or die talk.

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