I was thinking of dropping in some Sunday morning but is that allowed or do you have to be invited? What goes on there? Will I have to listen to somebody put down other denominations, etc....? What's the format? Does anyone know? Sorry for all the questions but that is one of the only churches that I haven't been at and I am curious!
What do they do at a Sunday morning service at a Jehovah's Witness Service?
by omerp 18 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Dustin
You don't need an invitation. They have a public talk, and they study an article from their self-published magazine the Watchtower. If you don't have any of their literature they will provide you with some when you get there.
It's hard for me to be objective when I tell you what to expect. It all starts out sounding great. Then the more you get involved the crazier and more cult like it becomes. But, everyone needs to check things out for themselves. I can simply tell you leaving and not going back is the best move I have ever made for myself.
Dustin
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Gopher
The format is a song from their own songbook, prayer, a 45-minute lecture by a speaker (usually an elder) from another congregation, another song, then a 60-minute discussion of one of the articles in a recent issue of Watchtower magazine. During the study they read the paragraphs, and the conductor asks a pre-printed question to which answers from the paragraph are acceptable. Sometimes they look up Bible verses to support what is said in the paragraph.
After the study is a concluding song and prayer. No collections are taken, but people are encouraged to leave a donation in the donation box at the back of the hall.
Newcomers are usually either ignored or given a great deal of attention by the members, depending on the personality of the congregation. That attention is with the aim of trying to impress outsiders with "love" shown so as to possibly attract new members.
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melmac
I don't know whether the question was about the normal watchtower meeting... if it is in the morning, I guess he`s asking about the Field Service Meeting. In which, as we know, the witnesses plan their strategy for preaching door to door, for that specific day. I don`t think it will be of much use for a newcomer to just drop by, because that reunion is specific for the witnesses.
Anyway, if it`s about the normal services, the answer is above.
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Doubtfully Yours
No invitation needed. Drop in, you might enjoy it.
DY
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blondie
Just remember that people treat guests better than family members...
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M.J.
Yes, it's likely you will hear a few rants against "Christendom" as part of the study. They lump all folks, outside of their group, who refer to themselves as Christians, into one category called "Christendom". Really it amounts to slamming down the competition. They believe that such people make up "Babylon the Great" and are under Satan as their ruler. Pretty heavy stuff.
At the same time, you may likely hear a glorification of their group or the group's leadership, usually called "the Faithful Discreet Slave". This glorification will far exceed any compliments that any group of persons or even individuals aside from Jesus ever received in the Bible. They believe that their leadership was appointed by Jesus and Jehovah in 1919 to take care of all their earthly interests. So since that time the Watchtower Society became "God's Organization" and the instrument that He uses to carry out his grand schemes for all mankind.
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Honesty
What do they do at a Sunday morning service at a Jehovah's Witness Service?
Lie about God and call it 'The Truth'. Get away with it, too... for the time being.
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DanTheMan
People get sucked into the cult this way. Be sure to keep your critical eye open, and don't be like me and get fooled by the "love-bombing" that you will more than likely receive.
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undercover
It used to be that the Sunday Public Talk was fairly generic so that visitors could keep up or be encouraged to study with the JWs, but the last few Sunday talks that I have heard have been aimed mostly at the brethren so to speak. They use a lot of the JWspeak and cover material that used to be saved for Service Meetings.
One of the last talks I heard was about worldly association. The elder basically said it was wrong to have association with anyone who isn't a JW unless it's absolutely necessary. Vacationing with worldy people was wrong, drinks after work was wrong, lunch was wrong, neighbors and worldy relatives may seem nice but they're part of Satan's world, blah, blah, blah. I wondered how any visitors who weren't JWs might feel about being singled out as not worthy of JW association.