This year’s memorial talk struck me as the least appropriate commemoration discourse I’ve ever heard. It may just be my newfound enlightenment about the role of Christ in the outworking of God’s purpose, but I noticed how very little reference was made to Jesus and his work throughout the talk. His name was barely mentioned, and when it was it was incidental to the discussion itself. I wondered if this might just be the speaker’s preference, but upon review of the outline I came to believe that the Governing Body is ratcheting up their efforts to stifle what they must see as an alarming trend.
In 1935 there were over 52,000 partakers. That number dropped steadily (with the occasional hiccup) to just below 9,000 in 1986. For the next 20 years, it hovered between 8,000 and 9,000 stubbornly ignoring the death rate which for people of that age bracket should have dropped it significantly. Then in 2007 the number crept above the 9,000 mark and has been steadily climbing ever since with over 13,000 partaking last year. (It appears that some in the rank and file are ignoring the teaching of the Governing Body and engaging in a quiet revolt.) Therefore, in what I believe will be a vain effort to stifle awakening spirituality, the GB commissioned this outline.
A key statement in the 6 minute introduction segment is: “In obedience to Jesus’ command, millions in 236 lands will observe the Lord’s Evening Meal tonight.” At a casual glance this seems to be accurate, since a common meaning for the word “observe” is to keep or obey the tenets of some practice or ceremony. If someone says that they observe the Sabbath, you understand that they refrain from working on that day, not that they stand around looking at others who don’t work. Observing an annual event of any kind means doing something to demonstrate to others such an observance. What we are really saying however is that like the audience at a graduation ceremony, millions are mere spectators and actually do nothing more than “observe”.
So the foregoing sentence is teaching a falsehood, because it states that this act of quiet observance while abstaining is done in obedience to Jesus’ command. Here is Jesus’ command: “Keep doing this in remembrance of me.” “Keep doing this…” Doing what? Read please the context of this command at Luke 22:14-20 and see for yourself that there is no provision made for a group of non-partaking observers. Jesus never commanded his disciples to “observe” the Lord’s Evening Meal as spectators, but as participants.
Therefore a more accurate statement would be “In disobedience to Jesus’ command, millions in 236 lands will merely look on as others observe the Lord’s Evening Meal tonight.”
The remainder of the talk, with the exclusion of the passing of the emblems, deals with the promise of living forever in a paradise earth. We are reminded that we lost out on living forever because of Adam and now Christ has died so we can live forever on earth. Time is then spent to remind us how wonderful it will be to be young again, to be at peace with the animals, to see the sick healed and the dead raised.
So instead of taking time to focus on Christ; instead of holding forth the promise of being God’s children; instead of speaking about reconciliation with God; we talk about the material benefits for us.
This seems like a sales pitch. In effect, keep your eyes focused on the things of the earth and don’t be tempted to partake of the emblems.
The title of the talk was “Appreciate What Christ Has Done for You!” Together with the content, it reveals an thinly veiled agenda to get us to knuckle under and not obey Christ’s command to “keep doing this in memory” of him.
To accomplish this we engage in the time tested tactic of making a series of unsubstantiated categorical statements which the rank and file will accept unquestioningly. If you feel you may fall into that category—I certainly did for decades of my life—please reason on these excerpts from the outline.
“The Bible describes two…hopes for faithful humans.” True, the vast majority of mankind will be resurrected to life on earth, but we are not talking about them. The outline refers to “faithful humans”, ergo, Christians. I would love for the Governing Body to provide Scriptures to back up this statement. Alas, none were given in the outline. None have ever been given.
“A limited number will receive everlasting life in heaven; the vast majority will enjoy life on a paradise earth…” Again, a categorical statement for which no Scriptural proof is given. Again, we are not discussing all of mankind, but only faithful Christians.
“[We] cannot ‘decide’ to be “born again” (Joh 3:5-8)” That is not what John 3:5-8 says.
“The vast majority of those attending the Lord’s Evening Meal do not have the heavenly hope” Actually, this one is true, but not for the reason they imply. The truth is that the vast majority have been systematically trained to believe they do not have the heavenly hope. However, there is no basis for this belief in the Bible and that in short is the reason that no Bible support is ever advanced for this teaching. There is simply no Bible support to be had.
“Can you see yourself in the new world? God wants you to be there!” Here’s the thing. The talk makes the point that we cannot choose where we will end up, whether heaven or earth. I concur. It is up to Jehovah where he puts us. Therefore, why are we presuming to tell all in attendance that they are going to live on earth. Are we not contradicting ourselves?
Following this sales pitch to get us to give up any hope of a heavenly calling, we spend the final 8 minutes of the talk getting instruction on what we need to do to show appreciation.
“You must obey the rules of the household. (1 Ti 3:14,15)” The cited verse says nothing about obeying any rules. What are the rules of the household anyway? I can see that we should obey Jesus, but “the rules of the household”? Who establishes the rules of the household? It would appear it’s the very same ones responsible for this outline, which does little to honor Jesus and much to get us to disobey his direct command.
Whether or not we go to heaven or earth is up to God, but whether we obey the command to properly observe the memorial of Christ death so as to proclaim him until he comes is up to us.
[Also, let the peace of the Christ control in YOUR hearts, for YOU were, in fact, called to it in one body. And show yourselves thankful.] Who are being referred to as the ones that are called in to one body??? [so we, although many, are one body in union with Christ, but members belonging individually to one another.] Who are the “we” that are being said that they are “one body”??? [One body there is, and one spirit, even as YOU were called in the one hope to which YOU were called;] What is “one body” referring to??? Who… Read more »
An excellent point. How can there be two bodies, two classes of Christian?
That’s what happens if you discourage education beyond high school (phun intended ;)))
“Blood moon” can be a newspaper headline about a simple lunar eclipse. NASA finds the subject important enough that they detail every such event back 5000 years to the beginning of recorded history. See: http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/lunar.html Best photo round-up site by NASA of blood moon eclipses: https://www.flickr.com/groups/nasalunareclipse Total lunar (blood moon) events will occur again next year on the day after the next memorial (eclipse dates: 2015 Apr 04, as well as 2014 Oct 08 and 2015 Sep 28.) Also of note is a full solar eclipse (darkening of the sun by the moon passing directly in line) visible in Jerusalem… Read more »
Well, excuse me! Some elementary school arithmetic will demonstrate that 13,204 partakers in 113,823 congregations works out to 1 in 8.62, not one in a hundred. On a percentage basis that would be 11.6%, if just one per congregation. 1988 was the first year that the little one had become a thousand. (Isaiah 60:22) 22 The little one himself will become a thousand, and the small one a mighty nation. I myself, Jehovah, shall speed it up in its own time.” That is to say in that year for the first time, the number of non-partakers (non-participants in the mandated “keep… Read more »
Actually 13,204 PARTAKERS in 113,823 CONGREGATIONS does not amount to 1 in 8.62 or 11.6%. You can’t just divide 13,204 by 113,823 because you’re dealing with two different types of quantities – publishers and congregations. You have to first convert the 113,823 congregations into publishers by multiplying the figure by the average number of publishers per congregation. But don’t sweat it. It’s an easy oversight that anyone can make.
Or you could get the actual number of publishers from the yearbook. Seem we’re having our own “fun with numbers” session. 🙂
The context of the calculation is partakers per congregation being only one in a hundred. So yes, you do divide the number of congregations by the number of partakers….or so said the memorial speaker. And 1 in 100 misses the truth by a full order of magnitude.
The context of this discussion is whether the polit-boro party line during the memorial was to discourage the thought of partaking. Seems so from many angles. And this was coming from the “faithful slave.”
Hello, while I was reading the article I got reminded of one of my greatest “issues” while considering any questions about the future. My issue is that reading the Bible several conflicting doctrines about death, resurrection, paradise, even hell, can be developed. There are many verses supporting the earthly paradise hope while even some of Jesus’ parables presented a scene of “life after death” or even someone being in Hadès and in hellfire, etc Fire is actually used extensively in the Bible and with a non indoctrinated read, you can interpret anything. The purpose and the extent of resurrection is… Read more »
Hi JB- I’m not sure if anyone has a complete picture of the Bible enough to give you and article that encompasses all that you are asking. My firm belief is that Jesus still set matters straight in his due time. The common thread among most sects of Christianity is the belief in God, Jesus, the holy spirit and that Jesus died and is coming back. I’m on a current train of thought and since you mentioned in your comment… What scriptures do you believe support the earth being restored to an earthly paradise? You can most certainly answer here… Read more »
Hi GWIT, Thank you so much for your reply. The statement you made on the first paragraph of your reply is a satisfactory answer to me. I must admit, in my enthousiasm in digging deeper I happen to focus on a lot of “technicalities” and try to have a more detailed understanding about them, but it’s true that it’s a very abstract concept and probably we’d grow in understanding as the time comes. I ironically say the death is the ultimate knowledge, indeed, if in our life time we don’t have this understanding, after it’s completed, we’d know what the… Read more »
>> Why Jesus, similar to Moses (as it’s claimed) didn’t leave writings to his apostles ?
This is a very interesting question, JB. Several answers come to mind, but I think one that’s worth mentioning is that by leaving his own writings, in his own hand, he would preempt the value of all other writings. The message would become more important because of the messenger.There would be a tendency to value the writings of Jesus more than those of all other writers.
Meleti, if I understand well, you mean that “letting others write about him” would be a better way for passing through the message rather than him directly writing them ? If I got it correctly, I was thinking similarly, this could be a possibility to explain it indeed.
“I do believe the Bible as a reference to find about God’s purpose, although I tend to think there is God’s Word WITHIN the Bible, rather than the Bible IS the God’s Word …” You probably already recognized this but this is the beginning of our disagreement. I’m not sure how anyone could reason on the scriptures to help reconcile your questions if you believe that the Bible is altered . Faith that God has the ability to be preserve His word to reach the next step beyond this life (whatever that actually is) is absolutely required to understanding the… Read more »
GWIT, I’m in complete agreement with your last statement and actually I’m not totally in disagreement on other aspects neither. Lately I took quite some time to read through about Jesus, both within the Bible and also different historical publications that neutrally depict the circumstances during and after Jesus’ life; What strikes me when reading the Bible is that Jesus defends the idea that one just has to have faith. Many incidents which led Jesus to heal someone seeking his help show that Jesus saw the person in question had faith in him. So I do agree that someone has… Read more »
Hello JB., Talking on the Bible, I made it a habit more than a decade ago to complete the bible every year, Well I have not enjoyed it better since I started having an open mind towards other religions especially those ones that believe in the bible. The Apostle Paul says that all scriptures is inspired of God.( Fine we are not ignorant on how the 66 books were compiled) But the fact still remains that this book has stood the test of many things and is still surviving no easy feat you would agree. If an individual starts reasoning… Read more »
Hi Anjinsan, thank you so much for your very interesting comment. I really like the way you consider things related to the Bible and I found several points I am feeling quite the same. Actually any question that comes up just encourages me to delve deeper and research more, rather than dismiss the idea that the text may have a value. Of course as you said, there are things that are intriguing, but also as you said, the Bible remains unique and for sure, an important reference. I also like the map comparison, it’s true that not all details show… Read more »
The most frustrating part of our talk (given by a Bethelite) was when he began to explain why we don’t partake. He likened it to a wedding where there is a contract between the husband and the bride. He said: “We don’t just stand up and say ‘I do’ as well, do we? We are not a part of their marital contract, are we? “Partaking of the bread and the wine is a contract for the new covenant. Do you know the terms of that contract? Do you know what that contract is about? No? Then why would you agree… Read more »
“Fred Franz, was presiding at the morning Bible text discussion (that being his week to serve as chairman). In his comments, he stated that somewere questioning the Society’s position (set forth in a recent Watchtower) that Jesus Christ is the mediator only for the “anointed” ones and not for the other millions of Jehovah’s Witnesses..
15 He said of such ones:”They would merge everyone together and make Jesus Christ the mediator for every Tom, Dick and Harry.””
(Page 283 “Crisis of Conscience”, R. Franz)
The real irony with our official position is that few seem to be aware of it. I’ve mentioned this to several elder friends of mine and without exception, all were surprised and quite sure I was wrong. Even after confirming I was right by doing their own research, they still didn’t believe it and made excuses to the effect that he still was a our mediator but in a different sense. From this it became evident to me that the rank and file have blocked this teaching out of their consciousness. It’s like when a respected patriarch says something embarrassing… Read more »
This has been my experience, too.
I recently asked my mother, who is a very dedicated JW, whether or not Jesus is our mediator. She quickly answered that he is. I also asked my father what the difference is between the mediatorship of Jesus of the “anointed” and the “great crowd,” and he could not furnish a definitive answer.
I agree that not many are aware of our official doctrine on the matter.
JW have the great theology of the “in a sense” 😉 I’m kind of getting tired of this kind of reasoning.
Our speaker at the memorial read John 3 where it says that you have no life within you if you don’t take or eat. He then said, in a sense, the other sheep commune too. IN A SENSE?? WHAAT!!! 😉
On Thursday meeting speaker highlighted how in the preface of the Year book the Gb address us rank&file as ” our fellow domestic” and how this show that their are really humble. Well I don’t know personally any of them so can’t say and I tend to believe that some of these men are really nice humble men. But in reality I don’t really feel we are equal at all . I don’t feel like they are our fellow brothers. No, they act as our masters with the right to dictate and to punish anybody who dares to express different… Read more »
Our speaker mentioned the terms “family” and “Father” (meaning God) a few times. When there is a family and a father, there are also children. I wonder why the speaker didn’t mention them at all… I guess we would feel too close to God if the GB would use that term about us… but fortunately we are God’s “friends”… 😉
I was told after our Memorial that a Seventh Day Adventist attempted to partake, only to be stopped by a brother or sister sitting next to him. My instinct was to ask whether or not it is our place to prevent someone, especially if it might be something they hold dear, but I stayed silent. I have seen students in years past fervently halted by their flustered teachers, whom I knew had drilled into their heads for weeks prior how we are to merely observe. Maybe they feel it’s their responsibility to tell them why Witnesses who don’t have the… Read more »
I partook at the memorial. No one said anything. I felt so renews afterwards.
Right at the beginning our speaker stated that of the 13,204 partakers in 113,823 congregations, we should only expect barely over 1 partaker per 100 congregations by the time the emblems are passed (meaning just you dare partake!) Talk about the psychological extraction of guilt!
When Jesus said to Nicodemus, “You must be born again,” it was no different to what he said to the Samaritan woman at the well. Both were being prepared for the vast change coming from a national/patriarchal covenant to a spiritual one …. the spirit bringing about rebirth. “Unless you turn around and become as young children,” he said at Matthew 18:3, “you will by no means enter into the kingdom of the heavens.” Think about how often the gospel and epistle accounts remind us to become babes to badness and full grown in powers of understanding. It’s all about… Read more »
yeah that one was funny “1 per 100 congregations”. I was thinking about that since I part-took as well during that meeting.
If you both heard that, then it must be in the outline, right? (Or do you guys go to the same congregation?) If it’s in the outline, then they’re definitely trying to discourage new partakers. It will be interesting to see the figures.
Funny he even got his math wrong . . . The calculation is only 1 in 10. (slight exaggeration, I say Watson?) 😉
Regarding being “born again,” Jesus says: (John 3:3-5) . . .Most truly I say to you, unless anyone is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” . . . “Most truly I say to you, unless anyone is born from water and spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. But then he tells Nicodemus that these are “earthly things” (v.12) and links then to gaining “everlasting life” (vv. 15, 16). (Incidentally, note that in vv. 9-11 Jesus chides Nicodemus as a teacher of Israel for not knowing “these things,” things which “we” – not just Jesus – are… Read more »
Would it be possible to exhibit a copy of the outline?
Unfortunately, the society would consider that to be copyright infringement and could make trouble for us. The other issue is that I’m given to understand they now tag their PDF in the meta data so as to know who originally downloaded the file. That way, they can track back to plug the leak.
If you google “2014 memorial outline”, you will find it, but it will be on one of those awful ex-jw sites.
Isn’t it strange how an entire religion can be built upon exposing the flaws of others yet cannot tolerate its own being similarly exposed? Are we really that proud? I suppose we are in for more than a mere tongue-lashing by Christ, never mind the ex-jws!
Oops, no you won’t. The special talk outline is out there, but I couldn’t find the memorial talk anywhere. Sorry about that.
My very religious non-JW grandmother who attended the memorial with me was very upset with the part on John 3. She believes the watchtower article the brother cited in the outline was deliberately misleading. She said it completely misrepresented her beliefs about being born again. She cited the scripture where Jesus says “no one comes to me unless the father draws him.” She mentioned we become born again when we respond to the invitation to follow Jesus in spirit. John 3 says we must be born again to enter the kingdom of god. I guess that means everyone outside the… Read more »
Sargon ,
I love your comments …
When you look at that scripture that way…. everyone who is not of the GB’s 144,000 is toast lol. It is hard for me to reason out of the fact that anyone who willfully and knowingly subscribes to the idea that all Christians are not anointed by the spirit is sinning against it. Whether or not you believe in Rutherford’s paradise earth is irrelevant. All Christians are anointed by the spirit because…well… Jesus said so.
sorry had to fill out details again, posts seemed to be delayed and name not showing.
I would suspect that more than we realise partake at home on the quiet.
I did!
Meliti an excellent summory, this is how ours was also, highlighting the benefits of living on the earth, what is you favourite animal was asked, and other things pertaining to life on paradise earth, Christ was hardly mentioned and for the most part all praise was given to Jehovah for sending his Son.
Erick sounds much like Orwells 1984 and communism.
Jesus said to see the kingdom of god one must be born again, and to have everlasting life we must eat of his flesh, the bread and wine. So since the Jehovah’s witnesses are told not to do either, could it be that the angel of light is in fact running this organization and how does any JW expect to see the kingdom when they do not do a couple of simple things Jesus the master tells us to do. I think these folks will be sadly surprised at their outcome.
“It was the holy spirit that operated upon the minds of men in the early church to take certain action; but now the Lord Jesus himself has returned, is in his temple, and, acting by and through his holy angels, puts it into the mind and heart of the remnant class to take positive action and to do a certain work; and this work has been going on, especially since 1922.” (Watchtower, Sept 1st 1930, Pg. 263, Holy Spirit) Rutherford therefore believed that the bridge between Jehovah God, Jesus, and himself was no longer the Holy Spirit as helper, but… Read more »
BeenMisled
It’s funny… I remember be agitated at this comment awhile back. I thought it was judgemental. I just happened to come across it today…
My , My I have come full circle 😉
So what would be the GBs over all agenda? I’ve pondered this and I’m not sure. I believe that most if not all sincerely believe what they say. I think some of them if not most have a deceptively subtle sense of pride of wanting to be in control of other people’s beliefs. You have to have some imbalance to believe you have been divinely appointed to tell people what they must believe. All this without any proof of divine appointment whatsoever. This is an age old story. The kings of the middle ages claimed divine right to rule and… Read more »
What did you think about the blood moon and the next two blood moons and the dates they fall on?
We’re going to be writing up an article on that, so I’ll hold off answering until I can compile all the information.
I have been considering a possible motive for the Governing Body’s complete minimization of Jesus: To maintain their doctrine of the literalness of the 144,000. In my experience, and from what I have read from others on this forum, it is not possible to read the Bible exclusively without building a deep relationship with Jesus and a longing to be with him in the heavens. By stifling the role of Jesus and directing attention away from him, the Governing Body thus prevents the rank-and-file from ever having the chance to develop a relationship with Jesus. Without knowing Christ and becoming… Read more »
But,Meleti,what about 1 Cor. 11:27 – 34 about partaking unworthily,etc?Should we not put on hold the “eating the loaf & drinking from the cup” until we have “approved” of ourselves by not sinning or really doing our best not to sin,etc?
1 Cor. 11:27-34 is discussing conduct at the Lord’s Evening Meal that dishonors the arrangement. We should always strive to avoid sin and be quick to pray for forgiveness when we have sinned. Of course, we cannot avoid sin completely while we remain in our sinful state. However, once we are baptized, would we put off making disciples because of sin? Or put off obeying the command to love because of sin. Likewise for the partaking of the emblems, it is a simple act of obedience by which we declare the Christ. We partake because of our sinful state. Once… Read more »
Thank you,Meleti,for your wonderful explanation.I used to think that only the anointed(by WTBTS definition) are qualified to partake.Anyway,people in my congregation seem sincere &,likely genuinely believe that they’re doing God’s work.To forgo raising a family & higher education in favor of pioneering seem to give them immense joy.I shudder to think of the unthinkable – that the Society liquidates & these sincere & honest-hearted J.W.s simply go to pieces rather than just go join another church.
Whenever you eat or drink, you could partake unworthily by not showing respect for the occasion or not having meditated and realizing what the emblems mean, eg just seeing it as an opportunity for some free “wine and crackers”.
However, we are ALL unworthy, ALL sinners. Yet Jesus’ grace extends to all. Those who realize they are unworthy is those who Jesus draws, not those who think they are “good enough” to take of the symbols.