Just like the Pharisees, the common people are treated differently. Secret books, secret meetings = secret society.
It is Pharisaical. And yes, it also smacks of the secret societies - kind of like the Masons or the Scientologists.
Wonder if anybody at WTBTS headquarters ever questioned if the early christians had secret books and secret lapel cards for the apostles that the ordinary christians could never see?
As long as we are till laughing about how seriously ridiculous this is - how about those super-special lapel cards?
However, the lapel cards should be kept in a safe place until a week before the school. Then he should give the appropriate card to each elder and ministerial servant. This may prevent cards from being lost. The lapel card should be worn when entering the school location and at all times during the school.
This may prevent cards from being lost. (but not absolutely prevent it)
And notice that the society mails both the books and the cards to the congregation - but the congregation cannot mail any extra copies to the circuit overseer - no, that is strictly forbidden. They must be hand delivered.
Monty Python and the flying circus could not have made this stuff up.
It serves to reinforce the notion that elders are "special" and "elite", able to handle certain information that is too sensitive for a mere publisher.
Exactly right - and the pathetic thing is that there is nothing in that information that actually needs to be secret, has any salacious value, or is in any way different to what people read every day in the other literature.
It is all just head games.
"We will leave it to each elder to decide what he will do with his 1991 Kingdom Ministry School textbook. If he decides to keep the book, he must make sure it is put in a secure place so that others do not have access to it. Otherwise, the book should be completely destroyed."
Jeez - you would think they were discussing the secret plans for a nuclear bomb.
And SO perfectly high-control JW - even when they "leave it to each elder to decide", they have to include childish detailed instructions on what to do after you decide.
"He should not send textbooks or lapel cards through the mail"
Talk about taking yourself WAY too seriously -
i recall reading from one source how babies were overcome by the heat at a jw convention, with at least one death.. if i'm not mistaken, this was in houston, texas, at the astrodome.. the story goes that doctors at the convention wanted an advisory about the heat read from the platform, but convention officials refused, stating that only wt related material was to be read.. it was stated that the doctors became so upset at this that they quit the wt on the spot!.
has anyone else heard or read that story?.
syl.
I know she repeated to me about deaths at summer conventions happening ...back then they were outdoor stadiums seven /eight days long ! But to me it seems like an urban legend that has been passed down (maybe started by a factual event but continueing on forever )
Well, I haven't actually seen a death with my own eyes, but have seen many elderly carried off on stretchers during those ourdoor ballpark 8 day events. They were never designed to keep people out in the sun all day long for 8 days straight - particularly not babies or the elderly.
I have also heard the elders discussing that someone died at so-and-so assembly...never a baby, as I recall - usually elderly and in ill health anyway. The attitude was "how wonderful that they passed away at Jehovah's assembly", believe it or not.
Sylvia - it has been a long time, but I kind of think I have heard warnings being given from the platform about keeping kids out in the sun. As if thinking people needed to be told that.
i recall reading from one source how babies were overcome by the heat at a jw convention, with at least one death.. if i'm not mistaken, this was in houston, texas, at the astrodome.. the story goes that doctors at the convention wanted an advisory about the heat read from the platform, but convention officials refused, stating that only wt related material was to be read.. it was stated that the doctors became so upset at this that they quit the wt on the spot!.
has anyone else heard or read that story?.
syl.
Sylvia - did you read my post that the AstoDome was an enclosed dome, and that it was air-conditioned? I was there for the one in c1972 and do not remember this being an issue (i.e. no babies died that I knew of). The weather was not really that hot in 1972 either - it rained most days of the assembly week.
I do remember people passing out from heat stroke in a large assembly in Kansas City, Mo. back in 1969 - this was the one where NASA walked on the moon the first time during the assembly week. It was very hot, and an outside ball park. I cannot say for sure, but think there may have even been a fatality with an elderly person due to the heat...first aid was busy with heat cases during that one.
along with one of those cream cheese danishes, and a lemon-lime shasta.. know what i mean?.
syl.
Now a days..You need at least one person with a Food Safe Certificate working in a kitchen..
People now a days would be absolutely stunned by what the JWs got away with back in the 1960s and 1970s - I don't think there was any kind of food inspection at the circuit level and very, very little even at the huge international assemblies.
along with one of those cream cheese danishes, and a lemon-lime shasta.. know what i mean?.
syl.
edit: JWoods beat me to it...again
ah-ha! - btw, I do remember that the domed roof leaked pretty bad in a few spots with all the rain.
Sylvia - do you see how much trouble you have caused by remembering Convention Pudding?
along with one of those cream cheese danishes, and a lemon-lime shasta.. know what i mean?.
syl.
Hey! Just remembered something ...
Isn't that 1973 Houston Astrodome convention the one where some babies got sick from the heat?
Didn't some die, causing some doctors to denounce/renounce the JW's after officials refused to allow an advisory concerning the heat to be read from the platform?
Sylvia - I don't remember anything like that. Remember - the Astodome was a closed dome, (first in the world) & it was air conditioned.
I may be wrong about the year - I kind of think the year was 1972...as a matter of fact, I drove a new 1972 Porsche 911T coupe to that assembly. I also remember that it rained a lot during that week.
