Well, as per usual, the Memorial talk bored the hell out of me, but I found it, in one way to be an improvement over last years when they had THE most boring speaker on the planet there http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/111544/1.ashx This guy at least knew how to speak. Unfortunately, he didn't have much of a script to work with.
There was the mention of Adam sinning and mankind needing a redeemer etc., no mention of when the Israelites left Egypt though. That's probably the first year I've ever seen where this hasn't been mentioned. But I guess they didn't want to waste valuable time talking about that, when emphasis needed to be placed on-----you guessed it: who makes up the "new covenant." After being on here for so long and getting everyone else's perspectives on what bible passages really mean, it was really pathetic to sit there and listen to their bizarre plucking of scriptures from here, there and everywhere else. For example, he used the scripture at Luke 12: 32 where Jesus said: "Have no fear, little flock, because YOUR Father has approved of giving YOU the kingdom." This of course "proves" that only a small number of Dubs Christians go to heaven. Of course, they have to take this scripture completely out of context, because the verses preceding and following verse 32 is ALWAYS applied to the "Great Crowd".
But that's not all. He then asks "so how many make up this little flock? Well lets turn to Revelation 7:4.......it tells us "... And I heard the number of those who were sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand..." Sooo, let's of course, forget the fact that the very next words are: "... sealed out of every tribe of the sons of Israel..." which is a most inconvenient verse to have when you're trying to promote yourself. Revelation was written a few decades after Luke. So the writer of Luke would certainly not have believed that only 144,000 Christians go to heaven. It would have been his understanding that ALL of them were heaven bound. Not only that, but when Luke was written, the Christian congregation would not have been THAT many.....the writer probably was viewing the number of Christians compared to the general population when he called them "a little flock".
What was really weird, is how much he was emphasizing how "the bible specifically shows us that Christians have two hopes, not one." (I guess he forgot Ephesians 4:4 that says: One body there is, and one spirit, even as YOU were called in the one hope to which YOU were called). To 'prove' it, he used 1 Peter 3:13 "... But there are new heavens and a new earth that we are awaiting according to his promise, and in these righteousness is to dwell...." I'm sitting there thinking 'WTF? That scripture doesn't prove anything of the kind!' I then looked around and saw the Stepford Look on everyone else's face as they accepted this without question.
He then read the "...keep doing this in remembrance of me..." Hmm.....geeze, I don't recall a scripture where Jesus only told his disciples to pass the bread and wine around and not frigging well TAKE any!!! Predictably, I was getting annoyed by this point. He then switched the emphasis to 'who gets to partake.' Either he hasn't been 'keeping up' on 'new light' regarding how no one should judge another Dub for partaking (even if they were baptized after 1935), or they're doing the old 'bait and switch' with doctrines again. He specifically emphasized how this "little flock was gathered long ago" and that "most, if not all of us are not part of that New Covenant and hence will not be partaking of the emblems." Well holy shit, if that's not "double-speak" compared to what we've reviewed in the WT study not too long ago, I don't know what is. On one hand, it appears as though they're 'lighting up' on this policy, but in reality, the pressure not to partake is emphasized so much, that not too many are probably willing to risk it. It reminds me of that scene in The Simpsons when everyone is being indoctrinated by the Movementarians. Karl goes to get up and a spot light comes down on him and says "You're free to leave, but can we ask why?" He sits back down.
Then of course after the wine and bread were passed around, he told us how our salvation depends on being at "all the meetings---not just the Memorial" as well as doing "the preaching work". Ya, whatever, bozo.....knock yourself out. Overall, it was just the same crap that they have every year-----they put a slightly different spin on it, but it was still boring and stupid. The fact that no one there partakes of the emblems means there's no point in even having it. Oh ya, here's another dumb illustration he came up with to justify why none of us losers are good enough to partake: "...If a husband and wife celebrate their wedding anniversary, they might invite their children and friends to attend, but that doesn't mean that they're part of the marriage arrangement." Yes, you read that right the first time. What a stupid, dumb illustration. If a husband and wife had an anniversary party, would they invite their kids and friends to attend and then not let them partake of the banquet?!! Jezus.....what a bozo............Then he told any new bible studies suckers there that if they wanted a "free home bible study" to "talk to the attendant and we'll make arrangements for a qualified drone minister to study with you at a time that is convenient for you."
Hail to the chief.........OK, who else went?
