by cappytan 42 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
"I remember a talk from a CO who related the experience of a couple whose child died the day of the meeting and the couple went from the hospital to the meeting that night!!!"
There might be many reasons for that, which I will not comment upon - but has the thought occurred to you that they felt that was the best place for them to receive comfort? Would it have made it better if you heard about Catholics losing a child and then seeking comfort in their church?
The point is, old hippie, the CO was using the experience to guilt and shame the audience into not having any excuse for missing meetings.
Comforting - my ass.
You could have a contagious disease without a fever. Your loved one could be in the hospital- or is the fever or fracture of someone else a valid reason? 3 F's makes a great soundbite, but really, a person should be reasonable and accept other excuses to miss a meeting:
work
The only free time for some important event or scheduled meeting with someone else
Kids need to study/rest for a big test that will effect their grade and future
vacation
It was just too nice out to sit in a Kingdom Hall
The release of the next Star Wars movie (or whatever movie you fancy)
Just tired
but really, a person should be reasonable and accept other excuses to miss a meeting:
"That bottle of Malbec isn't gonna drink itself, you know"
"I needed to take the kids to the pool"
"Feeling too frisky"
"Because I have better things to do that sit there and listen to moronic drivel."
Looking back on it, it's clear I became an active Witness during a transitional period in their history.
Even though my parents converted when I was an infant, I didn't want to have anything to do with the religion until the mid 90s when I was in high school. I came under the wing of what I would now consider to be an "old school elder." He seemed to sincerely believe we had no more than a few years left before Armageddon. The '95 generation flip-flop seems to have changed that, but that's a story for another time.
This elder shared the CO's meeting attendance views. In fact, he trained me to believe you should quit a job if it interferes in any way with meeting attendance. This wasn't an uncommon view.
A few years later, ministerial servants were being appointed who did shift work. They had X number of meetings per month they would miss, but would try to make them up at neighboring halls as much as they could. That would have been unheard of 10 years prior. One of these guys ended up going to Bethel and it's as if God himself blessed the arrangement. There were people in our congregation who'd given up good jobs over meeting attendance and all of a sudden it was no big deal. Must have been a bitter pill for them to swallow.
There are other, better examples of significant changes in JW culture during that time, but I don't want to write a book or derail this thread.
My 3 reasons for missing meetings:
1) fun
2) football
3) freedom
just saying!
eyeuse2badub
This elder shared the CO's meeting attendance views. In fact, he trained me to believe you should quit a job if it interferes in any way with meeting attendance.
This point was explicitly made in an elder school a few years back, on how to "reason" with "brothers" who are making "wrong choices".
They used the example about how Moses had the guy gathering sticks on the Sabbath executed. Rough paraphrase: "The guy could have argued 'I was just trying to take care of my family's needs', but that excuse wasn't enough to keep him from being executed by Jehovah. Same principle applies today to work and meeting attendance".
This point was explicitly made in an elder school a few years back, on how to "reason" with "brothers" who are making "wrong choices".
That's interesting. I don't think that's been the attitude in my area in 20 years or so. Then again, I've been absent the past 10 years and they might have reverted to a hard line stance, but that's not the sense I get from talking with my family about congregation goings-on.
I don't think that's been the attitude in my area in 20 years or so.
That may well be part of the reason they spent so much time on it.
I get the definite impression, based on WT articles & BOE letters & elders schools, that Bethel thinks that far too many elders are way too lenient, and there should be far more disfellowshippings than mere "reproof".
