The Public Talks

by Charles Gillette 19 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Charles Gillette

  I remember when I use to give a number of Public Talks. I had a binder with every public talk listed by number in it. I don't have it anymore.

  When I did the fade in 2002 after 33 years a slave since 1969. I destroyed all my watchtower materials and I had a lot. I wish I had kept them.

  My question now is,how many of those talks are now obsolete? I can't remember all of the titles at this time. However, with all the changes they have made I wonder if any former elders on here still have their outlines of the Sunday Public Talks and know whether or not some of the talks are no longer being used.

  I would guess that there have been many changes over the years since I faded with my family back in 2002. Blueblades
• 

  NewYork44M

  It is all the same crap, just repackaged. In the mid-90s I had a portfolio of about 10 talks. Most followed a standard formula. I remember going out of town once to give a talk and realized I brought the wrong outline with me. I gave the talk and no one noticed (or cared).

  If they have changed it is because of the shortening of time. Aren't public talks now 25 minutes. I think the talks I gave were 45 minutes.
• 

  stan livedeath

  i did a few public talks--home and away--in my early 20's. they were about an hour back then--50 years ago.

  i developed a theory--i could talk for 20 minutes--then repeat then--repeat again. i wondered if anyone would notice.
• 

  Esse quam videri

  CG : My question now is,how many of those talks are now obsolete?

  I know one for sure. The first one I gave in 1970, "The Appointed Times of the Nations Have Been Fulfilled".

  I can still remember all the scriptures to prove 1914 was the pivotal year though I cannot recall anything about overlapping generations. It was an exciting time for me. I was only 18 at the time. Burned into my memory like a first kiss.

  Yup, I'm quite sure that public talk is obsolete. If I had started talking about an overlapping generation, and explained it with a chart, I would have been thrown out the front door.
  
• 

  Lost in the fog

  I remember an elder who used to quip that you could prepare one talk and change the title to whatever you were asked to present. His reasoning was the outlines all began with how dire the world was, the kingdom was the only hope, so pray, come to meetings, and go out on the work. End to applause by audience who'll have forgotten most of it by the time the Watchtower study ended anyway.
• 

  Crazyguy

  So absolutely true. I often wondered why it took me so long to wake up well it’s the talks and the Watchtowers. They were so boring I would just tune them out and daydream the meetings away.
• 

  smiddy3

  Isnt it a misnomer to call it a public talk ? In my 33 years of being an active JW I could count on my one hand how many of the public ever attended a public talk and I would not use any finger more than once ?
• 

  Phizzy

  I remember one Outline was all about the Flood, and was full of spurious "proof" that a Global Flood actually occurred.

  I doubt that one is still around ??????

  I never gave that one personally, I would always refuse to give one on stuff I didn't agree with, in the end I refused to do anymore P.T's, it just got too difficult to find Outlines that were not full of Crap.

  The beginning of my waking up methinks.
• 

  sir82

  I remember one Outline was all about the Flood, and was full of spurious "proof" that a Global Flood actually occurred.

  I doubt that one is still around ??????

  Ha - I used to give that one.

  It is still in the list of "active" outlines.

  As I recall, the primary "proof" that the flood occurred was:

  -- The Genesis account gives "exact dates" - "the 3rd day of the 2nd month of Noah's 600th year" or something like that...the reasoning was something like, if it were a fairy tale, the account would have read "once upon a time" or similar
  

  -- Jesus spoke as if he believed it, and therefore you should too

  -- There was a weird, highly speculative article about frozen mammoths from a 1960 edition of "Saturday Evening Post" which was used as "secular" proof of a flood

  I eventually got to the point that it was too embarrassing to give that talk, so I removed it from my rotation.
  
• 

  dothemath

  That flood talk was given not long ago here(wife told me all about it)

  The brother was someone I would consider quite intelligent, but he still gave all the biblical reasoning, and tried to correspond with "science". (World is 70% water, mountains were much smaller, etc)

  It would be nice if they could explain kangaroos in Australia or at least some attempt at the huge rate of evolution needed for countless species in only 4500 years.