what do you think?

joanne_

Hi Everyone, I have a friend, who wants me to attend the meetings again. He has said that the faithful and discreet slave are inviting those that have not attended for awhile, to come to the memorial, and then there is going to be a special talk in April-May, and then they want us to come to the convention in the summer. Which apparently will be about welcoming those who once were involved to come back. So the JW slant is, of course, the end is near and Jehovah is callling us all back. But I suspect, that the numbers are down, they are losing people left and right, it's their way to get us all back for other reasons than what they are saying....What do you all think??

joanne

mjarka911

I don't know how long you've been associated but I grew tired of the constant crying wolf about the end and the importance of numbers years ago. Instead of worrying about hours of preaching and # baptized, they should focus on changing a system that allows child molesters to be ministers, that allows loved ones to die for a blood policy even they now acknowledge is inconsistent and accept responsibility for creating a hierachy of "do as we say, not as we do". Have a convention or special talk about that!

A Paduan

What possesses people to tolerate being lied to that much?

TheListener

Hi Joanne. Every year at the memorial they make a special announcement. It's the offer of a free home bible study to anyone interested. Yes, a letdown for sure.

Also, every year after the memorial (on a Sunday a few weeks after) there is a special talk that is given in every congregation. The title and gist is on this board somewhere but I think it's about God still being in control. After this "special" presentation of this talk the outline for it will go into regular circulation for KH use - not so special then eh?

Yes, there is a push to get more attenders at the conventions. They've already downsized most of the convention site to smaller venues and cities. Now they realize that they're having trouble keeping those filled. This year there is a big push to keep the smaller venues filled up to the maximum.

Anything special or new? No. Just the usual "the end is near, the end is near"

WLG

Money's gettin' low....gotta get those margins UP!

trevor

It is only right that they should try to herd the sheep back into their pen.Baaaaaaaah!

james_woods

I know this comment has been made before on Memorial threads, but IMHO it is still a good one -

I often wondered while a JW (and still do as an EX) how in the world they thought that this so-called "memorial ceremony" was going to wow anybody into the fold. To a non-JW it is just plain weird. Think about it - a long boring spiel on the secrets of the 144,000 followed by the creepy passing around of the taboo emblems with everybody almost scared to touch them. To a normal christian, say Methodist or Presbyterian, this would be quite alien. They saw their version of this about once a month or so, and everybody was encouraged to partake. Nothing spooky or weird about it.

Now, about the barely active JW group that only goes to memorial - that is their choice. Probably they have issues with being a gung-ho dub (such as health or travel distance, etc.) and this is what activity they choose to make.

In my time as a Dub (about 20 years and an elder for about 10) I do not believe I ever saw a single instance of someone actually re-activated or suddenly converted by either the memorial or that stupid special talk. Especially by that stupid special talk. Well, maybe sometimes memorial just so happened to be a newbies first meeting by chance - but I don't think it actually converted them. The fact is, the "super special" status of this ceremony is mostly lost on non-JWs or the creepie-ness of it all would turn them off.

I think all this "bring in the flock" stuff every memorial is more of an attempt to buzz up the regular rank and file than anything else.

James

funkyderek

joanne_:

He has said that the faithful and discreet slave are inviting those that have not attended for awhile, to come to the memorial, and then there is going to be a special talk in April-May, and then they want us to come to the convention in the summer. Which apparently will be about welcoming those who once were involved to come back.

There's an endless cycle of "special" events in the JW calendar. There are special preaching campaigns, special talks, special assemblies, memorials, zone visits, quickbuilds, new releases. But the same reheated spiritual junk food is served up at all their events. Calling events "special" is just their feeble attempt to inject some excitement or urgency into the tedium of life as a JW. For those with a lot of patience and a short memory, it seems to work.

joanne_

Exactly james_woods...its just a way to keep the flock interested and thinking something special is going to happen soon....but man o man, you just get so tired of the same old stuff...the watchtower society is the most manipulative organization that I have ever seen in my life. So glad to be free of it all.

cheers!

kid-A

He has said that the faithful and discreet slave are inviting those that have not attended for awhile

Huh? Their average age is 103, most of them live in iron lungs, they cant even remember their own names, let alone "invite" anybody to anything!

what do you think?

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