Outrageous memorial experience *sigh*

by Liquidizer 18 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Liquidizer

  The following one is from H2O, written by MackOz:

  ____________________

  New Procedure for D-F'd at the Memorial?

  I've gone from being an elder to being a man who can hardly bring himself to open his well-thumbed Bible. Almost every page jogs a memory of my children or a Watchtower experience that I'd rather forget. Nevertheless, this year was a milestone. After three years of family nothingness, I knuckled down and read all four Gospel accounts right through in the week before the Memorial. I was looking forward to it, to the feeling of being close to my parents and children even though they are far away.

  I really felt fortified and even 'qualified' to be there at the Memorial, having done my Bible reading and wearing my one and only suit. I looked like a visiting 'brother' I guess. Anyway, as a disfellow-shipped person (or as my father used to quip in elders meetings, 'a non-person'), I followed Watchtower protocol and didn't greet the attendant at the door. I kept my head respectfully bowed and made a beeline for the back row. The attandant stopped me and said, "This row is for disfellowshipped people" and I said "I am one of those" and he let me sit down next to a timid young woman.

  The memorial got underway and it came time for the emblems to be passed around the congregation. Every person used to share in passing the plate ... except this time. When the plate arrived at the row in front of me, the attendant took the plate around behind me and the young woman near me and took it to another section of seating. The young girl flushed and looked at me with a kind of fright and amazement and she left the Kingdom Hall humiliated and sobbing. I thought, 'That's a bit strange. The attendant was proabably new and got his wires crossed.' So I waited for the wine. I was the only person sitting in the back row now, and sure enough, the attendant eleborately bypassed me.

  Only minutes before the passing of the emblems, the speaker eloquently read John 3:16, citing it as the most well-known, meaningful and comforting scripture in the Bible. He kept repeating 'EVERYONE exercising faith, EVERYONE exercising faith. EVERYONE. EVERYONE. EVERYONE.'

  Everyone, except disfellowshipped ones apparently.

  I stayed for the final song and prayer, but I was shaking with anger. The arrogance and the self-righteousness of the Watchtower Society and its decrees and 'new truths and procedures' ... They've now decreed that d-f'd ones are not part of the EVERYONE in John 3:16 and they are not worthy to handle the plate.

  I have a lot of respect for my parents and for the people I left behind but that is the last time I will ever enter a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses and submit to Watchtower Society emotional thuggery.

  It was good for me. It purged the last of the Witness sentiment from me. I know I have a purpose on this earth and there is a God and maybe I will find a meaningful link with him one day.

  All the best to you who are so near but so far from your loved ones.

  Mack

  ___________________

  L.

  This is the noise that keeps me awake
  My head explodes
  And my body aches

  -Garbage
• 

  Elsewhere

  You should have raised your hand and said: "Excuse me! [ahem] Excuuuuse me! I didn't have the plate passed before me and you said EVERYONE."

  "As every one knows, there are mistakes in the Bible" - The Watchtower, April 15, 1928, p. 126
  Believe in yourself, not mythology.
  <x ><
• 

  Joyzabel

  Liquidizer,

  I would have said a year ago that this behavior shocks me, but not any more. Be glad you saw first hand that the wtbts is not "christian" when they can't even do what they say.

  I hope you find much good information that is available, coc, isocf, etc. to help you heal from your wtbts experience and thus move forward in your journey.

  j2bf
• 

  Ashraven

  And my family wonders why I will never step foot in another Kingdon Hall ever again...

  Well, at least now you know we have no face/voice/existence when it comes to the Society. I wonder if this was an isolated incident, or if others experienced this as well...

  Interesting...
  A-
• 

  ThiChi

  Thanks for your post, Liquidizer. Your experience has inspired you (and us). Remember, inspiration is unblocked energy. Understanding what the WT is all about does the unblocking, which releases energy and Inspiration. I feel sorry for all those still in the trap............
• 

  trevor

  Liquidizer - that’s an appalling way to be treated.

  The Christian belief is that Christ died for our sins and those wishing to benefit from this arrangement can show their desire by taking part in the memorial service. As most Witnesses have been told they will not go to heaven, they are forbidden to partake. For them to do so would be considered “partaking unworthily,” and they are warned that this could cost them their lives. So how do they believe they benefit from this arrangement?

  They are allowed to watch the chosen few in their congregation partake at an annual event called “the memorial” By watching them partake, they believe they qualify to live forever on earth. They are called observers. What if none of these chosen ones are in their congregation? In this event, the commemoration takes place in the same way, but no one, not even those taking the ceremony partake of the emblems. The wine and the bread are passed around and return to the table untouched. The members present are not even able to watch someone else partake and claim to have been observers.

  How can a Christian claim to have taken part in the Lord’s Supper just by passing the plate and glass. This mockery of the Lord’s Supper seems strangely removed from the example that Jesus gave Christians to follow.

  To be a Witness, one is denied of partaking in the Lord’s Supper with other Christians - the most fundamental act of faith a Christian can perform. To not even let someone pass the emblems is a step further away from Christianity.

  One would think that of all those in attendance, the disfellowshipped ones should be in the front row draining the glasses in an attempt to benefit. I mean Jesus was supposed to have died for sinners – wasn’t he – and not a bunch of self-righteous suits!
• 

  Liquidizer

  I'm sorry, but this is not my experience, it's from H2O written by MackOz. I should have indicated it better. I'm very sorry, folks. But the story made me really pissed off... I had to copy it here too.

  L.

  This is the noise that keeps me awake
  My head explodes
  And my body aches

  -Garbage
• 

  LizardSnot

  Liquidizer....
  Jesus simply said "do this in rememberance of me".
  He never said anything about any elite class of 144,000...let alone that they should be the only ones to partake of body and blood of Christ (that wasn't mentioned until John's vision in Revelation)

  You did your part...you showed up. God knows your heart and that is what matters.
  Lizard
• 

  SYN

  So now I'm a 'non-person'? GREAT...I'd love to tell those Elders where they can shove that particular phrase...

  Seven006: "Have you tried drugs? Shooting up a little heroin might do the trick, it's hard to type when your stoned out of your mind. I don't know how TR does it!"
• 

  Scully

  Unfortunately, this has been happening for much longer than you think, even to people who are NOT disfellowshipped. It happened to me in 1994, and I wrote about it here in one of my first posts to the board.

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.asp?id=17974&site=3

  The Memorial was a few weeks later, and I was sitting at the back of the auditorium with the baby because she was fussing, and I was having trouble keeping my composure - I would start crying at the drop of a hat. When it came time to pass the emblems, the ushers refused to let me handle them. At first, with the bread, I thought it had been an oversight; so when the wine was passed, I made an effort to intercept the ushers so that they would pass it to me. They deliberately avoided me, as though they had been told to do so, as though they were trying to prevent me from partaking (which was not even close to my intention). After the Memorial was over, one of the elders approached me and said "Well, would you look at what the cat dragged in??" and I was so angry and upset that I said, "Yes, I saw your wife's dress, you really shouldn't let her out like that!" When we got home that night, I was suicidal. I felt that if the elders had decided that the disfellowshipped people who were at the Memorial that night were worthy of being passed the Emblems, then they had decided that I was not, that Jehovah himself had declared me unworthy, and I just wanted to save God the trouble of doing away with me at Armageddon. I spent the next 24 hours in the hospital. When my husband picked me up I told him I would never set foot in a Kingdom Hall again.

  It seems to be a form of castigation and intimidation for anyone who is perceived to be a "problem" in the congregation.

  BTW, this 'sitting in the back row' business for DFd people at Memorial seems to be a recent phenomenon too. When I was growing up, there was no such segregation between DF'd/DA'd people and everyone else. I guess it just makes it easier for them to give DF'd/DA'd people their "special" brand of Watchtower Love™.

  Love, Scully