by Mary 57 Replies latest jw friends
Thanks Mary for giving us the motive of not showing up for next year, sorry you had to endure that
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".
Poor Jesus, he came and died for nothing, all we have to do is do it on our own.
Do they even read the Bible or give credit and praise where it is due anymore??????????
abr
This was my first JW Memorial.
I asked the door attendant if this was where I gave the secret handshake, and proceeded to give him one loosely based upon the Mormon handshake.
then the worst music and singing I've ever heard
Amen to that one---I was truly astounded by the lack of gusto and inability to reach the notes! Plus the total lack of musicality in the music. Who writes those hymns? They are totally unsingable.
I spent the time in the talk turning to each Scripture .... and then turning to the ones that teach something totally different than what they were saying. I made a list of notes to ask about at my next study. I think I was the only one taking notes.
I spent the prayer times praying for the JWs I have been talking to, asking for seeds of doubt to grow and people to be released from bondage to the Watchtower.
A newbie in front of us tried to take the bread. The man beside violently shook his head and told her to pass it on. She hestitated. He took the plate. The couple on the other side snickered and whispered to each other "She almost took the bread, tee hee".
I kept thinking as I looked out over the congregation--"all these people, and not one couple will commit to coming to study with us" . Our original study partner has passed us off to another couple from another congregation in another town who will commit to coming every week. Yup, I'm feelin' the love!
The Memorial we attended on Sunday night was much more meaningful, the talk was excellent and very interesting, there was a totally different feel about focussing on the sacrifice of Christ on our behalf, all believers in Christ as Messiah partook.
All I could think as I left the JW Memorial was "SPIRITUALLY DEAD!!"
i know what you mean, no emotion in the singing or in any part of the meetings - apparently to make sure that you dont get any inspiration from elsewhere, other than the Governing Body/Society
So Mary, what was the opening song?
I rode to the Memorial with my son who had not been to the KH since the last Memorial. We purposely got there only 4 minutes early to avoid too many conversations. An attendant directed us to a seats toward the front, and my son ended up sitting next to his ex-mother-in-law. She is one of the reasons why my son quit attending. She hasn't spoken to him in years and last night was no exception. He said, "hi" and she turned her back on him.
This woman's son delivered the Memorial talk for the first time, and she is so proud of him. Guess she doesn't think Jesus' sacrifice applies to our son.
So Mary, what was the opening song?
Can't remember the number.....you know the one: Jee-hoo-vah our father in heaveeeen; Oh this is a most saaaa-cred niiiight; Twas Nissan 14 when your glor-ee was seen; Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah........... I forgot to mention: there were only 152 in attendence. This is TWO congregations, not one and the Hall was full, but not busting-at-the-seams-full like it was even 10 years ago. Most were friendly to me, a couple were not (boo-hoo-hoo) There's some people there that I do miss and would love to still be as close as we were years ago. But I know this religion well enough to know that you can't have it both ways: If I want their friendship, I have to go back to the Meetings-----which is not something I'm willing to do. Pretty sad when you think about it. One of the elders (an extreme male chauvanist cheese 'n cracker bro) was "gracious" enough to come down from Mount Olympus where he thinks he dwells to talk with me. This particular elder has always had a lust-hate relationship towards me. He used to come on to me when I was 17 years old and was so blatent about it that the other elders told him to knock it off and leave me alone (he was about 40 at the time). On the other hand, he really dislikes me because I have a brain and I do not "learn in silence" like a Christian woman should. I took great glee in telling him that I'm attending university and am working towards getting my Bachelors Degree. By the look on his face, he was really annoyed but dares nuthin' he can do about it. heh-heh-heh...........jackass. It should be interesting to see what the attendence figures are for this year. Attendence was definitely down at my Hall, so I'm wondering if this is local, or if people just aren't showing up like they did before.
I went...
Compared to your speaker, Mary, the one that gave the talk where I attended was just awful. He was dull and lifeless, he stammered through the whole thing and was so nervous he spilled part of the wine when he picked up a glass from the table to offer it to the other presenters. (He spilled Jesus' blood...does that make him bloodguilty?)
He did not use any illustrations, he gave a straight up talk, for which I can be thankful for because it kept the time down. His talk was less than 30 minutes long.
The first thing that I noticed was that right off the bat he said that the original Lord's Supper took place with Jesus and ELEVEN of his apostles. He mentioned it twice even. Then when getting ready to have the brother pray over the bread and wine, he read from the book of Luke, chapter 22, verse 19 for the bread and then verse 20 for the wine. Again he mentioned that this took place with the eleven apostles. But, if you read ahead one verse, verse 21, it says, "But, look! The hand of my betrayer is with me at the table."
The JWs have always tried to separate the evening meal from the Lord's Supper by saying that the "emblems" were eaten from after Judas left, but you can't support that from the scriptures. The evening meal was the Lord's last supper and Judas was there. It kind of throws the whole "only the annointed can partake" premise out the window if at the original Supper Judas was allowed to partake.
As noted by others, the meeting was not uplifting or energizing. Everyone, for the most part, seemed to just be going through the motions. KInda like robots...which is what they are...Watchtower robots.
I ran into a couple of old friends who also have faded away, though for different reasons. We had a mini reunion right there in the KH lobby. I think it bugged a few zealous types that us backsliders were having so much fun on their turf.
The first thing that I noticed was that right off the bat he said that the original Lord's Supper took place with Jesus and ELEVEN of his apostles. He mentioned it twice even.........But, if you read ahead one verse, verse 21, it says, "But, look! The hand of my betrayer is with me at the table." The JWs have always tried to separate the evening meal from the Lord's Supper by saying that the "emblems" were eaten from after Judas left, but you can't support that from the scriptures. The evening meal was the Lord's last supper and Judas was there. It kind of throws the whole "only the annointed can partake" premise out the window if at the original Supper Judas was allowed to partake.
I'm wondering if they allow for some leeway while giving the Memorial talk, because the whole thing about Judas' betrayal wasn't even mentioned at mine. I've never understood why they make such a huge deal out of whether or not Judas partook of the bread and wine. Giving them the benefit of the doubt for the moment, if Judas had partaken and then still betrayed Jesus, the outcome would have been the same. As the Witnesses do not believe in the "once saved always saved" doctrine, it would just be a matter of saying that Judas became the first of the "Evil Slave". As per usual, they put all the emphasis on things that don't even need it.
(((Balsam)))
Mary, Your talk sounds almost identical to the one I had! I think the only difference was that my one didn't get the Anniversary illustration, and the speaker used Rev 14 to show how many made up the little flock, but either way there is no link there. The bible is used a lot more at the Memorial than your average talk, and so you can really see how much scripture jumping they need to support their doctrine, scriptures which are often taken out of context and have no link with each other. Passing around bread and wine is an utterly pointless event. How it provides an adequate memory of Jesus is beyond me. I was tempted to partake as well, but I couldn't do it in the end! (Which I'm thankful for this morning!) Truthsearcher, What's the Mormon handshake?
