I attended Friday's part of the 2007 District Convention "Follow the Christ" with my believing wife. We survived the limited parking and crowded seating (although large sections of the auditorium had been shut off). We suffered the monotonous program delivered by robotic speakers reading rehashed outlines.
So why did I love this convention?
Because after one day of this my wife, in an unprecedented action, decided the rest of the convention was a waste of time and that we should take the weekend off.
Yes, thanks to the mind-numbing agenda of the Faithful and Discrete Slave, my wife--and I believe many other JWs as well--is finally turning off the programme. Sure she will continue to attend meetings, but the cult flag is flying.
Some highlights of Friday:
3 minutes of announcements regarding how to make contributions.
"They Keep Following the Lamb No Matter Where He Goes" (4:25, the last part)
My wife says this talk uses completely circular reasoning and then repeats the same circle at least four times. There is no substance to this talk. It is just pure programming.
To quote:
"If we are listening to Christ we MUST be listening to them." (the FDS)
"A fault-finding attitude may indicate a lack of faith in Jehovah's arrangement."The talk begins by promising to show 3 reasons why the FDS deserves our trust.
Reason 1: Because Jehovah trusts the FDS! And, to quote, "God is always right!"
Reason 2: Because Jesus trusts the FDS! Because of this he is going to use the anointed as co-rulers, that's proof in deed.
Reason 3: Because the FDS "as a group" have been printing Bibles and literature for 128 years based on the blessing of Jehovah and Jesus.
Another favourite:
"God's Word is Alive and Exerts Power (2:45)
This is the "audio drama" and has the audience following along in Mark 4 & 5 while a recording plays with sound effects and voice characters.
Please note that the recording adds dialogue that is not in the Bible--nothing remarkable, but it smacks of WT agenda. Reminds me of the recent drama featuring Timothy and a completely fictional story about how higher education was a challenge. Why are they adding to the Bible?
One of the stories is about Jesus expelling the "Legion" out of a crazed man into a couple thousand pigs that immediately kill themselves. I kid you not, the voice of the demon-possesed man is exactly like Ron Burgundy (Will Farrell). Maybe someone should have watched Ghost Rider first. This whole piece is laughable, and highlights questions like, "why did two thousand pigs have to die, and was there any compensation to the pigherder?"
So I would like to personally thank the Faithful and Discrete Slave for encouraging my wife to vacate the convention. We had a great weekend, the weather was brilliant, and occasionally I thought about the rest of the 9,000 delegates. This was the best convention ever!