Did you ever feel at peace at a Kingdom Hall? (page 2)

stillajwexelder

Not for a long time - just suffer boredom these days

Singing Man, I can't say that it was *peace* that I felt at the Kingdom Hall, but I will tell you this, I can remember thinking to myself during a meeting, that I would be *safe* if Armageddon came at that moment. Sad. So I guess, in a way, you could say that I felt *fear* while at the hall. Even as a child, I knew something was screwed up about that place. It simply was never real to me. I use to day dream during the prayers!

Yeh me too, I used to as kid dream about the girls in school or count the sparkly things on the beams accross the walls. When I was real young we went to a old hall that had a picture of the new world, man it was old but it was full size. I would stare at that picture and draw pictures of it I had to circle Gods name in the publications about 14000 times. I learned a lot I guess. I also remember the smell that a hall has as a kid, it smells like chewing gum from peoples breath and sin sins, yuck.

Lady Lee

My biggest and most enduring constant memory of being in the KH was pain. I hated going. I could not sit for more than 10 minutes and would have to go stand at the back of the hall. Having kids helped with the excuses to get up.

I had major anxiety attacks while in the hall but never recognized them as anxiety until later always thinking I just had a bad back and couldn't sit long

The other major problem I had was being bored out of my mind. I know I'm not exceptionally brialliant but those talks would bore anyone after hearing the same stuff for 22 years.

I thought the halls were ugly - dowdy and not attractive at all. They were nothing like the ones they are building now - which I think are too showy (they just can't please me can they? lol)

Funny thing is when I took JWs on church tours I did feel a degree of peace in there and was so jealous of them

Adam

I'm with nos. I felt at peace right before I fell asleep. That's about it. Waking up with my evil step mother staring at me with that look of "I wish there was a hell so I could tell you you're going straight to it" wasn't all that peacefull though. And the rest of the time was spent looking at other people wondering whether people thought I was a good enough JW, whether I should answer more, whether I should give more talks, whether I should spend more time in service. Lovely way to spend the teen years.

ballistic

One day when the cleaning arrangements for the hall were being discussed at the Thursday meeting, my 7 year old sister stood up and pointed at the dead rat in the lighting deflector above and the elder acknowledged.

Country Girl

Yeah. Sometimes I did. The Hall was where my parents weren't fighting, they weren't yelling at me, and there was something else besides housework and taking care of Mother's cast off children. I was the oldest girl, so when I got old enough, all the housework and child care fell to me (8). At the Hall, at least there were other people to talk to and other kids to visit, besides my siblings. And oh so many books to read...

CG

DanTheMan

The Witnesses were my life and the Hall was the centre of it . I certainly had some problems with the "Ministry" especially spontaneous conversations with people that I knew . I chided myself for fear of men, but now I recognise that it was because so many arguments didnt really add up, and so were hard to put accross.
But at the Hall, among the brothers everything was fine. I enjoyed the platform assignments and could not see any reason to get overly nervous "After all, we are all brothers here". Most of all I really believed that we had special knowledge. How exciting to discuss the secrets of the Universe and plan for mankind !..

You and I are a lot alike BB. This was exactly how I was - I almost never witnessed to non-JW's, but for the most part I enjoyed time spent at the KH, better than sitting at home staring at 4 walls. I thought I would never be able to give that up. It wasn't until my last year in that I really started feeling uncomfortable. The guilt for being inactive got to be too much, I felt like I was wasting space and could never live up to Jerhover's righteous standards. And I was becoming critical of certain things, the shunning especially, and the exclusivity.

patio34

Very good question! I never thought about it, but on reflection, i can say I NEVER felt peace at the KH. I felt boredom, being judged about my kids' behavior, etc., restlessness, irritation, sometimes interest during an occasional (but rare) talk, but never peace.

As a JW and a religious person, though, i did feel peace at home a lot when studying and praying. Actually i can remember thinking that i loved the studying, but didn't care for the meetings or most of the people.

Another thing I often felt and i think a lot of others did too, is isolation and depression during and after a meeting. Being a single parent and working full-time, i wasn't out in service during the week, and the women often just stayed together making service arrangements or plans for the week. It was pretty dismal much of the time.

Thanks for the realization!

Pat

fearnotruth22

LIke Blues Bro: I also felt at peace most of the time at the kh. The cong has a lot to do with that too, if the cong is a pain in the rear you wont feel at peace. You cant be at peace with a pian in the rear.

alias

Yes. And I feel it when I visit occasionally. I'm sure it's all psychological comfort.

Or is it?

alias

Did you ever feel at peace at a Kingdom Hall?

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