Jehovah, brotherhood, homosexuality, safeguarding your heart
One man told me 'Be careful, do not be fooled by the smiley faces", another person told me "Why you going, what is wrong with you?".
The nice coloured leaflet in my letter box announced the Jehovah Witness Convention - "Safeguarding your Heart". I threw away the leaflet. I know - a lot of people joke and cuss up about Jehovah Wickedness - and the door to door thing. But I am secretly in awe.. I mean, I did a survey once and after about the 10th refusal after knocking on a gate - I was like to hell with it
But the last couple of weeks have been rough, and I have been avoiding crowds, people, difficult situations - facing inevitable realities.
I will go to the Convention at the National Park. It is open to everyone.
I know a few Jehovah Witnesses - two people from school, work colleagues, a man who does anti-violence work, another woman who is a survivor of domestic violence, my favourite barber, another colleague.
I know of the condemnation of gay rights, and of Hinduism and other religions. I know another man who used to be a close friend and whose friendship ended suddenly . First time in my life really and a real blow so this is an opportunity to regain compassion.
I know one ex-Jehovah Witness whose experience with his family was not good.
What to wear?
I know that the men like to wear ties. I not wearing no tie. So I put on a shirt like I would during the week. It is Saturday afternoon. Place hot.
I like the audience though.. multi-ethnic.. even if everybody more or less dress the same.. maybe this is a way to remove any idea of individual ethnicity in a place in which race matters.
I feel sorry for those in their ties and suits - I in a shirt and the place hot bad.
One man has on a very colourful tie. No other ethnic wear. Except a woman in a sari. A black woman.
Being anonymous
I do not see any of the other people who I know are Jehovah Witnesses. I meet instead, two people, who do not know each other, but who both know me from my interest in Free and Open Source Software.
They both want to know what I am going to do for Software Freedom Day. The universe is wonderful like that.. a kick in my behind to remind me of work. One asks me what I am doing and I explain.. that I am trying to understand the reasons and so on for the loss of friendship. He looks at me and says .. but Witnesses are nice people. I say not all.. but then I felt bad after - I mean.. but we make promises.. Software Freedom Day is on.
Gathering
Place is clean. People are actually putting litter in the bins. Not a very public Guyanese thing usually.
Music plays for people to gather back to their seats. There is an opening hymn and.. I did not realise that the Jehovah Witnesses included music.
I confess though, that my favourite opening , after lunch kind of singing would be the Pentecostal chorus singing with its lively clapping and so on. But there is something about thousands singing at the same time.
Broken Heart
The first presentation for the afternoon was about the broken heart and disappointments and so on. I laughed.. that is exactly what I came to do.. to deal with a broken heart in a kind of a way - and all the other things about pride and so on . Going to meetings is important. I know from two women - one a survivor of an abusive childhood, the other of an abusive marriage, how important the meetings and the support are.
The speakers are wearing suits. And they speak in nice calm voices.. none of the fiery up and down of the charismatic speakers. They kind of speak.. like.. the Awake and Watchtower magazines. Stage is nice , but far away. I guess with conventions like these, difficult to interact. But it is a nice programme.. different speakers, all well timed. And everybody could browse their Bibles. I should have brought mine. I like this.. at the Hindu functions only the Pandit would speak and people would get bored sometimes.. well I have a 15 minute span.
Brotherhood
Speakers keep talking about 'brothers' and 'brotherhood'. There were almost equal numbers of men and women in the audience - not usual for many religious gatherings which have more women. I wondered if the women just did not count - no sisterhood or no Brothers and Sisters.
Resolving to do the right thing
So there are six things
1. Generosity
2. Widening your heart in love
3. Forgiving one another
4. Being faithful to your marriage mate
5. Reaching out in the congregation
6.Living up to your dedication
All beautifully explained. I listened carefully - it seems Generosity, widening your heart in love, forgiving one another , reaching out - it seems only relates to others in the congregation! And not people who are not in the Congregation.
This struck me as earlier in the week, on a Hindu thread in Facebook, a Pandit said his group " will act as a pressure group for matters pertaining to Hinduism and the Hindus of Guyana" . So these groups, boxed in and I am sure that none of the scriptures said anything about limiting love etc for those only in congregations. But then.. who am I to question.. I am glad that my own view of these things is not limited.
There was a nice monologue skit about forgiveness. It is not an easy thing to do.. but forgive is good. The speaker talked about letting go and so on. Good stuff.
The reaching out in the congregation.. I like that too. Especially about the elders reaching out .. rather than them waiting for people to come up and greet them.. like what happens in some Hindu settings. And a young girl spoke of feeling nice and wanted. The congregation/meetings are important for fellowship.. it is clear that this is an important support mechanism. The woman I know who survived abuse was able to do that because of the support of her congregation.
The support apparently is also important if individual family members are breaking out of their families who are not accepting the 'Truth'.
It was good to hear the calls for good marriages and being faithful and keeping things going in the marriage.
Gay marriage, avodisaster, friends
Two other speakers spoke to young people and the pressures they face. It was good to hear that - though it might have been interesting to have young people speak to young people.
They talked of influences, peer pressure etc. I thought it was all good.. drugs, alcohol, gambling , smoking. And then there was a mention.. of the US political candidate who supporting gay marriage and talking about it evolutionary. I say to myself.. here we go , here we go. The speaker then got a bit like some of my Pentecostal friends.. homosexuality is a sin! So nobody wants friends who condone homosexuality. Homosexuality leads to a disaster. In fact, this seemed to be the only time in the afternoon when there was any kind of angst in the tone of the speaker.
The speaker talked about friendship.. and then mentions the story of Jonathan and David as a fine example of friendship.
I jumped.. because I know that is what many gay rights activists use as a Biblical example of same sex love..
And after Jonathan and David, the speaker then talked about Ruth and Naomi.. and I was like.. eh! I mean.. after condemning homosexuality.. you then bring up the two couples who are supposed to have been fine examples of homosexual love in the Bible?
But I am not a Jehovah Witness or a Christian.. so this irony is lost perhaps on the 4,168 people there.
Good talk though.. about understanding who friends should be and what they do. About them making you follow Jehovah and doing the right and telling you when you are doing wrong. So even though I do not follow Jehovah, maybe I am a good friend in accepting the end of the friendship?
Not flogging the child with the Bible
Good talk about parenting, about leading by example and so on. And not flogging the child with the Bible. I did not hear anything about not flogging the child at all, but the point was clear about spending time with the child and including the children when going on service and so.
No politics here - there is a congregation from McKenzie. I am nervous about a couple of other religious venues because the politicians are embedded in many of them.
We stand for the closing Psalm. The man with the colourful tie comes up next to me.. says.. let us share the book. This is nice. I start singing too, neither me nor him really know the tune. He tells me he is from Wakenaam.
I did not know why I wanted to come. I understand a bit more about the man who was my friend and the loss is accepted.
I feel better that I could have been in a crowd and not feel scared. I am in awe of the organisation of the event and I recognise how well organised things are - it scares me a bit, that kind of organising, but then I could imagine how important it is for people who need higher powers to give some direction, how accessible this is and while I feel sad at how limiting it will be in terms of how deeply people will be able to interact with others who are not Witnesses - I think is good when people can find the support to get on with their lives.
The nice coloured leaflet in my letter box announced the Jehovah Witness Convention - "Safeguarding your Heart". I threw away the leaflet. I know - a lot of people joke and cuss up about Jehovah Wickedness - and the door to door thing. But I am secretly in awe.. I mean, I did a survey once and after about the 10th refusal after knocking on a gate - I was like to hell with it
But the last couple of weeks have been rough, and I have been avoiding crowds, people, difficult situations - facing inevitable realities.
I will go to the Convention at the National Park. It is open to everyone.
I know a few Jehovah Witnesses - two people from school, work colleagues, a man who does anti-violence work, another woman who is a survivor of domestic violence, my favourite barber, another colleague.
I know of the condemnation of gay rights, and of Hinduism and other religions. I know another man who used to be a close friend and whose friendship ended suddenly . First time in my life really and a real blow so this is an opportunity to regain compassion.
I know one ex-Jehovah Witness whose experience with his family was not good.
What to wear?
I know that the men like to wear ties. I not wearing no tie. So I put on a shirt like I would during the week. It is Saturday afternoon. Place hot.
I like the audience though.. multi-ethnic.. even if everybody more or less dress the same.. maybe this is a way to remove any idea of individual ethnicity in a place in which race matters.
I feel sorry for those in their ties and suits - I in a shirt and the place hot bad.
One man has on a very colourful tie. No other ethnic wear. Except a woman in a sari. A black woman.
Being anonymous
I do not see any of the other people who I know are Jehovah Witnesses. I meet instead, two people, who do not know each other, but who both know me from my interest in Free and Open Source Software.
They both want to know what I am going to do for Software Freedom Day. The universe is wonderful like that.. a kick in my behind to remind me of work. One asks me what I am doing and I explain.. that I am trying to understand the reasons and so on for the loss of friendship. He looks at me and says .. but Witnesses are nice people. I say not all.. but then I felt bad after - I mean.. but we make promises.. Software Freedom Day is on.
Gathering
Place is clean. People are actually putting litter in the bins. Not a very public Guyanese thing usually.
Music plays for people to gather back to their seats. There is an opening hymn and.. I did not realise that the Jehovah Witnesses included music.
I confess though, that my favourite opening , after lunch kind of singing would be the Pentecostal chorus singing with its lively clapping and so on. But there is something about thousands singing at the same time.
Broken Heart
The first presentation for the afternoon was about the broken heart and disappointments and so on. I laughed.. that is exactly what I came to do.. to deal with a broken heart in a kind of a way - and all the other things about pride and so on . Going to meetings is important. I know from two women - one a survivor of an abusive childhood, the other of an abusive marriage, how important the meetings and the support are.
The speakers are wearing suits. And they speak in nice calm voices.. none of the fiery up and down of the charismatic speakers. They kind of speak.. like.. the Awake and Watchtower magazines. Stage is nice , but far away. I guess with conventions like these, difficult to interact. But it is a nice programme.. different speakers, all well timed. And everybody could browse their Bibles. I should have brought mine. I like this.. at the Hindu functions only the Pandit would speak and people would get bored sometimes.. well I have a 15 minute span.
Brotherhood
Speakers keep talking about 'brothers' and 'brotherhood'. There were almost equal numbers of men and women in the audience - not usual for many religious gatherings which have more women. I wondered if the women just did not count - no sisterhood or no Brothers and Sisters.
Resolving to do the right thing
So there are six things
1. Generosity
2. Widening your heart in love
3. Forgiving one another
4. Being faithful to your marriage mate
5. Reaching out in the congregation
6.Living up to your dedication
All beautifully explained. I listened carefully - it seems Generosity, widening your heart in love, forgiving one another , reaching out - it seems only relates to others in the congregation! And not people who are not in the Congregation.
This struck me as earlier in the week, on a Hindu thread in Facebook, a Pandit said his group " will act as a pressure group for matters pertaining to Hinduism and the Hindus of Guyana" . So these groups, boxed in and I am sure that none of the scriptures said anything about limiting love etc for those only in congregations. But then.. who am I to question.. I am glad that my own view of these things is not limited.
There was a nice monologue skit about forgiveness. It is not an easy thing to do.. but forgive is good. The speaker talked about letting go and so on. Good stuff.
The reaching out in the congregation.. I like that too. Especially about the elders reaching out .. rather than them waiting for people to come up and greet them.. like what happens in some Hindu settings. And a young girl spoke of feeling nice and wanted. The congregation/meetings are important for fellowship.. it is clear that this is an important support mechanism. The woman I know who survived abuse was able to do that because of the support of her congregation.
The support apparently is also important if individual family members are breaking out of their families who are not accepting the 'Truth'.
It was good to hear the calls for good marriages and being faithful and keeping things going in the marriage.
Gay marriage, avodisaster, friends
Two other speakers spoke to young people and the pressures they face. It was good to hear that - though it might have been interesting to have young people speak to young people.
They talked of influences, peer pressure etc. I thought it was all good.. drugs, alcohol, gambling , smoking. And then there was a mention.. of the US political candidate who supporting gay marriage and talking about it evolutionary. I say to myself.. here we go , here we go. The speaker then got a bit like some of my Pentecostal friends.. homosexuality is a sin! So nobody wants friends who condone homosexuality. Homosexuality leads to a disaster. In fact, this seemed to be the only time in the afternoon when there was any kind of angst in the tone of the speaker.
The speaker talked about friendship.. and then mentions the story of Jonathan and David as a fine example of friendship.
I jumped.. because I know that is what many gay rights activists use as a Biblical example of same sex love..
And after Jonathan and David, the speaker then talked about Ruth and Naomi.. and I was like.. eh! I mean.. after condemning homosexuality.. you then bring up the two couples who are supposed to have been fine examples of homosexual love in the Bible?
But I am not a Jehovah Witness or a Christian.. so this irony is lost perhaps on the 4,168 people there.
Good talk though.. about understanding who friends should be and what they do. About them making you follow Jehovah and doing the right and telling you when you are doing wrong. So even though I do not follow Jehovah, maybe I am a good friend in accepting the end of the friendship?
Not flogging the child with the Bible
Good talk about parenting, about leading by example and so on. And not flogging the child with the Bible. I did not hear anything about not flogging the child at all, but the point was clear about spending time with the child and including the children when going on service and so.
No politics here - there is a congregation from McKenzie. I am nervous about a couple of other religious venues because the politicians are embedded in many of them.
We stand for the closing Psalm. The man with the colourful tie comes up next to me.. says.. let us share the book. This is nice. I start singing too, neither me nor him really know the tune. He tells me he is from Wakenaam.
I did not know why I wanted to come. I understand a bit more about the man who was my friend and the loss is accepted.
I feel better that I could have been in a crowd and not feel scared. I am in awe of the organisation of the event and I recognise how well organised things are - it scares me a bit, that kind of organising, but then I could imagine how important it is for people who need higher powers to give some direction, how accessible this is and while I feel sad at how limiting it will be in terms of how deeply people will be able to interact with others who are not Witnesses - I think is good when people can find the support to get on with their lives.
I Enjoy Reading It Vid, Thank A Lots.
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