Hi Comment, you have raised some interesting thoughts with this post.
"Here it is, the 1990's, and the Society is still using fundamentally the same old format they've been using all century long. No nods to technology or people's different ways of processing information today: just the same old message in the same old package."
This is a really good point, and also brings into question the issue of equality among the WTS – as people have different learning styles, is it not then discriminatory not to teach so that all can benefit? Then again, if they did teach using different styles than the one they do, would more of the R&F be able to think about it more critically???
I remember being so bored at meeting, assemblies, conventions etc that I would usually just stare out the window, or study the holes in the latest bargain floor covering in the KH. But I never thought critically about it, I was just spending my time wishing it was all over, checking the time, going to "powder my note", anything but THINK about what being spoken at me.
At a glance, will someone flipping through the stations be able to tell Brother TV Speaker apart from a regular TV evangelist? Maybe if it's the shout-and-weep Pentecostal type, but not necessarily other denominations.
When our son started his first year of school we decided to let him do religious education, as we thought he should get a more balanced view then the one we had been brought up with. However, the “RE teacher” sounded just like any JW giving a talk – assumption, assumption, assumption, conclusion. So my thought is that you would be right, it would be very difficult to tell a JW evangelist from a regular evangelist by flipping through the stations.
These mind numbing techniques work, it seems to me, by getting the message pounded into your head, but not allowing you to really THINK about it.
My son has never been to another RE class since that day.
Field Service - I fell for that one - regular pioneered after a sever bout of auxiliary pioneering. Funny you should mention "running out of juice", because I became ill and had to give up regular pioneers, never auxiliaried again, and my hours just dropped off until they were non-existant.
Skimmer, I agree with you that
There is an important secondary reason for the house to house effort. Because of the time and literature reporting (this will never go away), the elders can keep track of the rank and file and use field service as an indicator of a person's "spirituality".
They then go on to use this information, along with their archaic teaching style, to hound you into being a more "spiritual" person - no matter how much or how little you do, it never seems to be enough.
Do elders have some kind of "performance" report on "their" congregations?
Thanks for the post
Keep thinking
Cautious
