Visiting the JWs

In 2017, I spent a lot of time church-hopping. My visit to the JWs is one that still stands out in my memory as being particularly interesting from a Mormon perspective.

 Sunday, June 4, 2017, 2:30 pm worship service

I was nervous about this visit, because I feared that they would aggressively try to convert me. Which made me laugh at myself, given my Mormon background. They met in a very utilitarian, plain building; from what I’ve seen, all the Kingdom Halls look the same. In the lobby, I found information about what areas of Bloomington met at what times. (Geographically assigned congregations meeting in the same building at different times also felt very Mormon!)

The service was in an auditorium with chairs. There weren’t any books (like hymnals or Bibles) at the chairs. There were two large TV screens on either side of the pulpit, but no religious art or symbols anywhere. The walls had pictures of nature, and plants. A sign proclaimed, “Trust in Jehovah and do what is good” in both English and Spanish.

I sat down in the back, not realizing that the two seats next to me had been reserved by someone, so I ended up sitting right next to what looked like a married couple. The woman talked to me a little. She was very friendly.

During the hymns, they put the lyrics on the screens at the front (though this stopped working during the opening song, and everyone laughed kind of nervously and waited for them to fix it). People started pulling up the hymn on their iPads, and the woman next to me shared hers until they got the front screens working again.

I counted about 60 people, of all ages. Everyone was dressed up in their Sunday best (skirts/dresses or suits). They referred to members of the church as Brother or Sister So-and-So. Leaders of the church were called Elders, but still used the title, “Brother.”  Everyone running things appeared to be male.

They stood to sing the hymns, and also for the prayer. The prayer was extemporaneous. They prayed to Jehovah in the name of Jesus, and I noticed that they used “you” rather than thee/thou. A thing that stood out to me was how familiar the cadence sounded; despite the “you” and “Jehovah” language, it sounded very much like a Mormon prayer.

Someone gave what they referred to as a “talk” (rather a sermon). And in its style, it did feel more like a talk than like preaching. It lasted for half an hour. The speaker brought up politics, and how people don’t realize that Jehovah is the supreme ruler. He read from Daniel, about King Nebuchadnezzar. He also read from Micah, Psalms, and Proverbs. He said that most people know what the Bible says about morality, but it doesn’t actually affect their life. He asked how the Bible can help with everyday life. He talked about the dangers of gossip, and told a story of someone who was gossiped about when her car was parked all night at the home of a male church member, and then it turned out that she was just going to work with him (they were both night janitors).

The speaker brought up lying and identify theft as common problems. He told a story about someone who was hired because of their being a JW, because JWs have a reputation for honesty. He said that it was great to see a variety of races and backgrounds at a large JW gathering that he’d attended. He appreciated that they were one big family, which isn’t true in the world. He said that they don’t have the same problem of divides within the organization, though people need to overcome prejudice if that’s the background they come from.

The speaker continued. Living according to Jehovah’s rulership makes Satan mad. Satan is the one ruling here on earth. We see evidence of this in Russia. How can we prepare for persecution here? The UN is pushing for things like unity and fighting global warming and will ask us for support, but we won’t go along. Before long, Jehovah is going to step in and destroy the current system. Don’t believe in things like universal health care; such things are empty promises. Jehovah God can offer you everything. You won’t have to worry about anything when that time comes.

I was very struck by the strong sense of “us vs. the world” throughout the talk. I also noted that he used the phrase, “when I first came to the truth,” to talk about his conversion.

The talk was followed by applause. Then there was another hymn before the next part of church, which was Watchtower study. They played recorded music for the congregation to sing along to.

Watchtower Study, which seemed to be the equivalent of Sunday School, was based on an article in the Watchtower. Someone sitting close to me realized I didn’t have a copy, and helpfully went and got me one. The articles are followed by a list of questions, and the teacher methodically went through all the questions, and would ignore raised hands if he was ready to move to the next one. There were a lot of comments, but the whole thing felt very canned to me; everyone was just giving the approved answer. The questions were very basic (e.g., “what is a vow?”), and there was no substantive discussion. No one raised any difficult questions.

The theme of the article that day was, “What you vow, you pay.” It referred to Matthew 5:33 (about oaths), and asked, “How many vows have you made to Jehovah?” It used Jephtah and Hannah as examples of people who made oaths. I was rather astonished to see the story of Jepthah told as a positive illustration of someone keeping his promise, but the story was altered so that rather than him having to sacrifice his daughter, she was sent to a sanctuary to serve Jehovah.

Both men and women commented, probably in about equal numbers. Kids stayed the whole time, and many of them participated (not commenting, but reading scriptures aloud). The discussion leader addressed the congregation as “brothers” (not “brothers and sisters.”)

I’m usually pretty strict about paying attention when I visit other churches, but I have to admit that the endless predictable questions and responses got so tedious that at one point I got out my phone and got on Facebook. I was hoping it wouldn’t to be too noticeable, given that a lot of the people there were following along on their iPads.

At the end they prayed to “Our Heavenly Father Jehovah” at the end. They prayed for Russia in particular. The service ended at 4:15 pm, so it was 1 hour and 45 minutes of church.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway for me, after listening to Watchtower Study, was how boring it is to hear canned discussion, even in a tradition that’s not your own. It was like Correlation on steroids. I’ve sometimes met Latter-day Saints who felt like the ideal Sunday School (or even blog discussion) would be somewhat like that, one in which everyone gave the “correct,” faith-promoting answers, and that would be good for missionary work. All I can say is that for me, the lack of personal experience and any sense of wrestling with questions made me lose interest very quickly.