Consider this your apostate Service Meeting Schedule for the District Convention:
There are a few talks that you can maybe make some off-handed comments to your significant other that may seem harmless at the time, but you can use to your advantage down the road as you break the news to them about what you have been learning about the "Truth". I did some of these myself and plan to draw on them when I break the news to my wife. If I would have had a heads-up on some of the mind f*ck patterns beforehand I would have done more. The suggested action points are in red.
Friday11:20am Resurrection - Why That Hope Should Be Real To You
Suggestions: Before the assembly, as you are parousing the program schedule, mention to your spouse, etc something like, "Wow! There seems to have been a lot of stuff from the Society lately on the subject of the Resurrection. I think we had study articles back in 2000 or so on the resurrection, then those ones we just finished back in June, and now this. I wonder if the Society is trying to tell us something."
During the talk the speaker says something like, "Some people have even gone so far as to make comments like, 'You'll never have to grow up in this system, Armageddon will be here by then.' Never would we want to be that presumptuous."
There is an opportunity here for YOU to look genuinely surprised and say something like "Wow, I have to look that up when we get back home, because it seems like the Society has said that kind of stuff themselves. Does that mean they were presumptuous?" This leaves an opportunity for you to follow up when you get home to follow up with some research and present it to them.
Saturday11:30am Assembling Together - Why All The Moreso?
If you can't guess, this talk is on meeting attendance. The talk starts with a remarkable claim ... something like this:
"There is evidence that Jesus likely instituted specific times for gathering his followers together for worship."
Of course, they backed this up with no scripture. A couple minutes later they were speaking as if this were fact - that Jesus instituted specific meeting times.
When you look over the program for Saturday morning - and perhaps right before the talk - you could say something to your significant other like, "This is great. I am interested to hear what scriptures they use to back up having so many meetings per week." Get your spouse, etc to actively listen for the scriptural support for meeting attendance. Even do something like, "Honey, did he just say 'There is evidence Jesus LIKELY instituted specific meeting times?'"
General Stuff I noticed every day of the assembly:There was a catch phrase used through almost every interview with publishers, etc. - "No regrets" - in their decision to avoid lucrative secular employment, scholarship opportunities, etc. This was uttered countless times - almost every life experience (several dozen) from youths on up had that phrase. And if they didn't use it particularly - the speaker would ask it - "Any regrets?"
In this instance - be on the lookout early on in the assembly (Friday if possible) to say something like, "Wow. 'No Regrets' must be the catch phrase for this assembly." This may help your significant other to see the pattern of manipulation.
There are frequent insinuations in most talks that all educated people are snobby elitists, doctors are the same way. They imply that educated ones don't take to the "Truth" because they are too full of themselves. One speaker quoted from somewhere, "The higher the education level of a person, the harder it is to lead them." They dissuade higher education at every opportunity throughout the entire assembly. Being against higher education is the ENTIRE POINT of the drama on Sunday.In this case, you could say something before you even get to the assembly. Something like, "While I wouldn't expect the Society to ENCOURAGE higher education, it is nice that they at least aren't DISCOURAGING higher education. It's also nice they don't label all educated people as snobby elitists with no humility." Again, help your significant other identify the pattern early. That way when the so-called "hard hitting" drama rolls around, the moment is ruined.
There is a constant method of operation in almost every talk. Almost every talk started with how worthless we are as imperfect flesh. Then they would being up Jehovah's saving ability, and our "obeying" will make us feel less worthless - maybe even valuable in Jehovah's eyes. There was a lot of "if you love Jehovah you will want to obey".
In this case, you need to get your significant other to notice the pattern in each talk. The key here is to help your significant other identify the pattern early on - hopefully by the end of the first session on Friday. Then continue to point it out every time it happens.
Sunday is very Christian themed. But Friday morning and afternoon sessions and Saturday morning are very fire and brimstone.
Keep a running tab of Hebrew vs Greek scriptures.
Conclusion
A heads-up on the program and the subtle mind manipulation can help you get an edge on them in regards to your significant other. The key is to help your spouse identify the mind games early on so they are aware of the pattern.
Some gentle comments and preparation early on - maybe even before the assembly can help pave the way for other comments during the sessions by you.
Hope this helps someone ....
-ithinkisee