Speech on Jehovah's Witnesses for College

by jayhawk1 23 Replies latest watchtower scandals

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  Inquisitor

  Hi again, jayhawk1

  Glad you like my quip! lol

  Rather than we telling you what topics get JWD posters excited, how about you try to work out what would captivate your audience?

  Are there more arts majors or science majors or health science majors in your class? Using what topics can you present the JW religion from the angle of their field of interest? What age group are you addressing?

  It might be worth asking yourself if you will be able to sustain the interest of a bunch of young people for 10-20mins who have little if anything to do with a fringe religion such as the JWs. Can you sustain their interest in real estate for the prophets, Beth Sarim? Interpretations of the Gentile Times?

  INQ
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  daniel-p

  First off, i would change the title of your speech. Jehovah's Witnesses are a religion, and the simple fact is, religion is not rational. So you need to differentiate JW's from other more reasonable religions. So, maybe "Are Jehovah's Witnesses Christians?" Or something like that.
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  greendawn

  The total lack of freedom of speech among the dubs, there is zero tolerence for any criticism of the leaders and their ideology, a very devious and unacceptable situation when it occurs in the midst of freedom loving western democracies, why tolerate such behaviour by a bunch of religious weirdos? Dissent and free open debates are ruthlessly suppressed.
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  jayhawk1

  Good suggestions! Once again, you guys keep coming through for me. I'm thinking about perhaps hitting the history of Jehovah's Witnesses and cover doctrine changes through that history, briefly touch on why they don't celebrate holidays and cover the blood issue.

  In my class there is about the biggest mixed bag of people you have ever seen. There is 1 woman, a layed-off factory worker looking for something better. A couple of high school students taking summer courses to get a head start on college. We have three asian males, two local guys and one from South Korea. One guy who is autistic and his sister/caregiver. Two people interested in the medical field. One who wants to be an archetect. Most are younger than me, but there is at least two who are older. Even some of the ones who are younger than I am are not much younger.

  Talking about the gentile times might not work for this class. Or at least it might not work for me, because I can't even explain it all that well. I can do the math from the fake date of 607bce, but that is about it. But I can't leave out how they thought the world would end in 1914, 1919, 1925, 1975, 1984, the slightly less known 2005, and the probability of a 2034 date.

  This being the "Bible belt," most in the class would already agree that Jehovah's Witnesses are a cult.
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  Nina

  If it was me and I were you I'd run the topic past the instructor beforehand. For all you know the instructor may have family or friends connected with the bOrg. Instructors have been known to behave irrationally! Consider the possible effect on your grade.

  N.
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  parakeet

  Take Inquisitor's advice: keep it simple. Use only 1 or 2 points at most. I would also recommend discussing something your audience may already know about JWs: maybe why they don't serve in the armed forces or why they don't accept blood transfusions. Talk about Beth Sarim and you'll put them right to sleep.
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  jayhawk1

  I already have an okay on it, no topic is taboo for our teacher. He is an art and theatre major and loves to be entertained. He even promised at the beginning of class if there was a topic he didn't agree with he would not hold it against us. What he looks for is if we hit the objective in our speech, not the content it includes. I have already bent the rules in all but one of my speeches and I still have an A in the class.

  For instance our informative topic speeches that we just finished had the following topics... a breed of dog, breast cancer, christian scientists, massage, identity theft, energy, Oktoberfest, just to name a few. He wants variety and something we know well enough to make it interesting and fun.
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  jayhawk1

  I don't know, I wanted to just say something like, "They even bought a home in San Diego for the prophets Noah, Moses and Daniel when they are raised from the dead to live at. It's name is Beth Sarim." I was going to keep the Beth Sarim very short and part of the history of the Society.
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  blondie

  jayhawk1, you said you have about 20 minutes..........I would first ask myself, why do these people know about JWs and develop that more thoroughly or from a different angle.

  I would choose the blood issue and show how they WTS argues medical safety when their real issue is supposed to be Biblical. I would show that they say that blood should be poured out but now allow members to choose hemoglobin-based products made out of expired stored blood.

  As a conclusion, I would bring up how scriptural are other beliefs of JWs, and name points regarding chronology. Be prepared with some handouts on articles re that.

  Blondie
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  jayhawk1

  Blondie, not to seem lazy, because I will do my own research, but where would give me the best info on the blood issue. Since I was raised in the JWs, I know JWs don't accept blood because of the scriptures talking about not ingesting blood, but to pour it out. What I don't remember is how that relates to transfusions, how the blood parts are now "up to the christian trained concience," et cetera.

  I was waiting for you to see this thread!