As promised, here are my observations from the three convention days here in Hamilton, Ontario. I hadnt expected to say much since many like lostmyreligion and bibleexaminer had already discussed it a lot. actually i have quite a few things to say, hopeful meaningful things.
A few general observations:
Dull. Well, that's nothing new, let me elaborate. More generalities and fewer specifics. Less on family (the usual Friday afternoon family symposium was absent.) Very little on entertainment, except pornography. Nothing on dress and grooming. Nothing new. 100% recycled.
Many were wondering if we would see a reactionary type program, in response to the growing problems inside and outside the organazition. We did not. This was a 'Stay the course' program. There was no mention of the nearness of the end except for a couple comments discussed below. No mention of declining numbers. No mention of declining meeting attendance. Nothing that could be construed remotely as refering to child abuse. No specific mention of secondary education. Nothing about blood. Very little about apostates specifically. Not much on the internet even. And so on. So what was there? Study and meetings. Study and meetings. Well, the theme is Teaching so I guess that's consistent. One speaker made the idiotic assertion that "meeting attendance could not be over-emphasaized." Just an expression, right? No, he continued, "Really, It's actually impossible to say too much about meetings." The baptism speaker repeatedly said, "meetings are NOT optional" and that three or four out of five is not acceptable.
I felt that there were fewer secular references used to support arguments. Like, "the International Bible Encyclopedia states..." or "one leading expert on family counselling said..." that we have heard before. There was some in the Public Talk and not much else at all. This is a bit of a judgement call on my part and I would like some backup on this. During the talk describing the new School book, a special point was made that when it came to speaking, secular authorities were not used, but rather, examples of bible prophets. How you would learn about volume or pausing or gestures from Jeremiah, I'm not sure.
Now some specifics. I will not exhaust you with summaries of talks that contained nothing new. Here were some interesting features:
3rd person experiences
LostMyReligion mentioned these. I didn't realize that the person giving the experience actually comes out to a standing mike just like a regular experience, but relates it like a reporter. This created something of a humorous kind of exchange:
...and she stood her ground.So she was showing Godly endurance, brother.
yes, brother, she certainly was.
and so forth. There was speculation here that this style was used because there were not enough local experiences. These experiences actually were all local, to the best of my knowledge. I don't know whether canned experiences were provided in the event that the local well was dry. I don't know the reason for this style of experience. Certainly, there were many 'conventional' experiences. So, it doesn't seem to be a matter of diverting attention from the individual. I think it's simply an attempt to change things up a bit, like the other recent innovation, the Field Service Experience Re-enactment.
Announcements
There is usually an announcement or two about leaving the convention grounds for lunch. Usually, it is said that we will be late getting back or that we should enjoy the association inside but this year's announcement was more direct to the actual problem: "Last year, some brothers and sisters were observed leaving the convention grounds at lunch to purchase food from vendors or other establishments. This has the potential to jeapordize the simplified food arrangement and the relaxed atmosphere inside the convention grounds." Concession stands, in other words.
Oppose The Devil
The brother opened this talk with an example of endurance: "Methusaleh, the nick-name of the bristle-cone pine more than 4,700 years old". I did a double-take! He actually mentioned one of the biggest nails in the coffin of the WT flood chronology (2370 BCE). Did this fact go right over his head? And the 10,000 heads in attendance?? It was not a manuscript talk. I'm sure this was from his own research, but how did this get past all the checks? Am I missing something here? Does anyone suggest that this tree lived underwater for a year? This brother had some other gems of his own, like relating the time when Rutherford repeatedly counseled Klein for bristling at his 'unusually blunt counsel' with the words, "Watch out! The devil is after you!" He used this phrase often. "A chapter a day keeps the Devil away." and "There is no devil-free zone." were two others of his favourites.
Abhor The Worldly Plague of Pornography
Ah, the infamous porn talk. This was a dissapointment. I was expecting demonstrations, you see. Haha, no really. I was expecting something a bit more specific about why porn was dangerous. This seemed to be a given. "The facts show that pornography causes division in families. We have reports of family members sneaking around at night..." Or some examples either about how pornography had caused problems or people had broken the habit. There was none of that. Very generalized, like the rest of the program. In fact, considering the subject, the internet has mentioned much less than one might expect. Print, and video were given about equal billing, which is to say, not much. This fantastic bit of advice was presented: "Memorize certain scriptures. For example you might use 'Lovers of Jehovah hate what is bad.' And when the temptation arises, you can repeat that scripture to yourself over and over, like a record."
Isaiah talk
New Release: "Isaiah II. Isaiah's back. And this time it's personal"
Of course, I haven't looked thru the book very much yet. But, there are a couple points of interest. The introduction to the book actually mentions the Deutero-Isaiah theory, similar to the Daniel book introduction. The style of argument will be familiar to WT observers by now: 'Some scholars claim that the 2nd half of Isaiah was written by another author. Some say three. Some say this chapter must have been written by someone else because its style is different. Some say this chapter was. Some say this one. etc.' By now it is apparent to the reader that these theories are entirely speculative because, obviously, you can theorize anything once you get started. The counter-arguments are nothing new: 'Holy One of Israel', Dead Sea Scrolls, Christian testimony. There is a curiously curt quotation from an encyclopedia that I'd like to track down. That's about it.
I should also note that the Isaiah book continues to make extensive application of the exile to an antitypical fulfillment in 1918-9. This publication gives no indication that there are any plans to back off from the 1914 chronology. If there are any, the author of Isaiah II is evidently unaware of them. If you need any specific questions answered about this book, let me know. Though I couldn't imagine why.
Feild Service Symposium: Ministers Through Whom Others Became Believers
Nothing new here but some interesting proof-texts that struck me. The Society often strains texts to give the impression that, other than fewer doorbells and breifcases, the ministry of the first century Christians was virtually identical to modern JWs. (eg "door to door" in NWT)
In the talk on preaching, it was explained that the apostles "did not ring bells like Christendom to invite people to come. They went searching..." Proof text: Matt 10 "Into whatever city or village you enter, search out who in it is deserving..." This make sense only until you read the remainder of the verse (which he did) "...and stay there until you leave." This could not apply to more than single household in the city. "Stay there until you leave." precludes any systematic searching for individuals. Though I'm sure that, as the Wt suggests, preaching opportunities resulting from staying with this household, the verse is obviously refering to finding lodging, not converts. Later when this verse was repeated, only the first part was used, thus reinforcing the WT interpretation.
In the return visit talk, Acts 17 was mentioned where, in response to Paul's preaching on the Areopogus, "some began to mock while others said, 'We will hear you about this even another time.'" So you see, explained the speaker, Paul had opportunites here for return visits. Come again? I thought this expression was clearly showing indifference. Isn't that why it continues, "Paul went out from their midst" and describes the contrasting individuals that did show interest? Apparently not.
New Provisions For Our Spiritual Advancement
Yeah, big deal. Even the name is hype. No more of these surprise releases that hit you out of nowhere. In the introductory talk on Friday morning, the brother pointed out the part. "You're no doubt looking forward to finding out what that is. Something new..." So I'm sure the actual news was pretty anti-climatic. 'We're pleased to annouce that we are... working on a new book! And that's not all brothers. We are... re-arranging the order of some of the talks!' What other group could elicit FOUR rounds of applause for this news?
Malachi Symposium: Malachi's Prophecy Prepares Us For Jehovah's Day
This is by now a standard feature, the OT symposium. Three manuscripted parts destined for a three-part study article in next year's Watchtower. The introduction to the symposioum aroused interest with four or five questions, the first two being, "What is the Day of Jehovah? When will it occur?" I was surprised at the apparent prominence given to the 'when' here, since Malachi contains no time-based prophecies or expressions at all that I was aware of. I did not expect this question to be answered in much detail. Indeed, when it finally came up in the third and final part, a scripture was borrowed from Zeph 1:14 from which the conclusion was drawn that Jehovah's say was, and i quote, near. Nothing more was said on the subject.
The second part featured the word 'treachery' in the title. Treachery was mentioned often but not, as one might expect, in the context of apostasy. Mostly in the context of marrying out of the Truth. 1914 chronolgy was mentioned extensively in these talks as well. It was also in this symposium that degrading sexual practices within the marriage were mentioned. Here's the quote: "Christian husbands will not abuse their wives. They will not insist on degrading sexual practices. They will not dishonour their wives by viewing pornography on the internet." There was no more elaboration on this and again, this was a manuscript talk and will likely appear verbatim in the Watchtower.
The Drama: Respect Jehovah's Authority
Content aside, this was very poor. Low production values. The only props were two benches and a scroll and the costumes were not particularly elaborate. Compare with dramas you remember. The better part of the dialogue, including two very lengthy portions, was lifted verbatim from the NWT.
As to the content, you probably have already heard quite a bit. I will simply say that it was worse than I expected. The theme of loyalty to the Organization ahead of family was not a subtle undercurrent. It was repeatedly stressed explicitly, in the person of the narrator, Korah's son, his two brothers and their cousin. The cousin is kind of a focal character for the audience. He is caught in the middle of the conflict (literally at the end!) despite pleadings from his wife. He tears free from her and dies when the 'earth swallows the rebels' or rather when the rebels comically dance around and fall to the ground. We are told to avoid "unnecessary sadness" at the loss of similar rebels today. "Shame! SHAME on those who criticize and complain!"
Other Releases
Do You Have an Immortal Soul? This appears to be a fairly well written tract on the WT soul doctrine. It's value will probably be lost on most publishers, however. It has been written without ever using the word 'soul.' This is useful for translating into other languages where 'spirit' and 'soul' get confused. Anyone who has ever tried explaining the WT's soul doctrine using Chinese or African terminology will understand.
A Satisfying Life - How Can You Find It[i] This is pretty much the [i]Creator book, pared down to 32 pages and with a Buddhist (especially Japanese Buddhist) slant.
Summary
If I had to guess at a deeper meaning to the arrangement of this year's program, I would say that the Society wishes to give the impression that we are entering another Knorr-ian (Knorronic, Knorr-wellian, Knorr-wegian?) era, during which we are gearing up for bigger things ahead and organizing ourselves better. I doubt that they actually have the resources or abilities to effect the kinds of reforms that Knorr did. But the point is that our focus is on improving what we already have. We are not so worried about whether the end is 'just around the corner' We've got work to do. Study and meetings. Study and meetings. It's as though the stock answer that so many have heard when they raise there doubts to the elders, 'Just study more,' was held out as the answer to all of the problems of Jehovah's Witnesses, everywhere.
mox