Posted by John W. Wirtanen [JohnWWirtanen] on April 05, 1999 at 15:34:47 {6.uz.4vynMmCpMHrVMyIEn.OK4kK/E}:
In Reply to: *My Memorial Observations -1999 posted by Tap on April 04, 1999 at 13:37:04:
I am one of those that you referred to as "spoiled delinquent teenagers trapped in adult bodies". My experience of this event is recounted below on April 2. People from our two ex-JW groups went to the Memorial for a variety of reasons.
I was not a partaker. Since I do not buy into the JWs line of reasoning, it would have been hypocritical for me to partake. Also, I had no desire to be "in their faces". And, there were eight of us, three partook, five did not. Those who did not were observers. So, I don't understand why you feel that those who observed were being "delinquent". This is not to say that I disagree with anyone from our groups' actions to partake. They did so for reasons necessary to themselves.
Many of us came to the Memorial to close a chapter on our lives. To prove to ourselves that our merely being present in the KH would not cause us to feel that the JWs still held control over our lives. Many ex-JWs after leaving feel very uncomfortable even being near a JW, let alone going into one of their KHs. For them, this is the crowning moment, i.e., face the fear and the fear will go away. Or, in other words, "you have no hold on me." Other ex-JWs are not at that point, or they may not care one way or the other. That's fine. What's needed for each person varies. It really doesn't matter.
But, for you to blanketly condemn ALL of the those present from the groups as being juvenile is, to me, an indication that you haven't gone too far from being a JW yourself: You can't conceive of anyone's viewpoint or needs other than your own.
So, if you have no need to go back to a KH, more power to you. But don't sit in your judgment chair and say that those who did, for whatever reasons, are wrong for so doing.
Also, not sure if your cracks about homosexuality were meant as "fact" or not. But, the points that were discussed with JWs after the Memorial are
well-documented facts. Your cracks are not, although many of the "religious right" have attempted to provide such evidence (which has been shot down by numerous studies).