Anyone remember a "Convention Resolution" years ago where we all had to tell out and promise we'd never go into internet chatrooms?

[JW Insider]

1 minute ago, Anna said:

I have heard she's not baptized...you probably heard the same thing..

She was soaked by the end of the match.

[Guest Indiana]

On 9/3/2019 at 10:21 AM, Jack Ryan said:

And here's the quote:

We will resist with all our strength the spirit of the world manifested in such things as materialism, unwholesome entertainment, overindulgence in food and alcoholic beverages, the plague of pornographic material and the curiosity or temptation that lures one into association with outsiders through internet chat rooms. Our resolve is to be no part of world as we ‘carry on worship that is clean from the standpoint of our God.’

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Well it seems they've missed the boat on materialism [Rolex GBs], onverindulgence [90% of the overweight elders I know], alcohol [TM], pornography [elders and MS], internet chat rooms [my, how this website has grown] - yeah, I think they've missed it here too.

Was it a part of  a list of resolutions? I am trying to remember 

[Anna]

2 minutes ago, Indiana said:

list of resolutions

That reminds me, we haven't done convention resolutions for a while

[Guest Indiana]

4 minutes ago, Anna said:

That reminds me, we haven't done convention resolutions for a while

I remember years ago, but can't say when exactly that a brother, probably a brother from Bethel read a list of resolutions the final day of the gathering and we were supposed to say yes or agree. Mine are in Spanish.  But since I had not been able  to attend assemblies, conventions, etc for the past years  for taking care of a very sick relative can't say if that has happened recently  

[TrueTomHarley]

45 minutes ago, JW Insider said:

In Federer's game, I learned that "derision is a swear at a racket." 

Oh, for crying out loud. My bad. I “took my eye off the ball” and actually thought you were at a convention. 

35 minutes ago, Anna said:

That reminds me, we haven't done convention resolutions for a while

“Brothers!!! Let us resolve not to be dumbbells like TrueTom!”

[JW Insider]

10 hours ago, Anna said:

That reminds me, we haven't done convention resolutions for a while

The word resolution is being used in a more general sense these days. We can always talk about our resolve to resolutely watch our conduct, ministry, etc. At the end of an assembly we can still "resolve" to send a certain amount of contributions to the overall www (word-wide work), or even resolve to use funds for another specified purpose.

But the old use of "resolution" was highlighted because there was a time when Rutherford (especially) fought very hard to keep us from being a "religion." (Religion is a snare and a racket!) His terminology called the congregation a "company," and the ministers were "publishers" and Jesus Christ was even referred to as the Chief Executive Officer (really!!). This is why the old Kingdom Ministry/Kingdom Service was called Bulletin and Informant. When I was baptized we still spoke openly about placement quotas, and shortly before that it was about "selling" the publications, and "sales quotas." A pioneer, opened new "territory" just as door-to-salesmen were offered "territory" in "circuits" and "districts" and "zones" for things like encyclopedia sales, insurance sales, vitamins, Avon, Tupperware, Fuller Brushes, vacuum cleaners, and Carter's Little Liver Pills. Even the old term "colporteur" had no religious connotation, but was the term used by people who sold lots of different things.

The book "Tupperware: The Promise of Plastic in 1950s America" by Alison J. Clarke says this:

Fuller Brush salesmen were encouraged to view themselves as idealistic pioneers . . . 

The book SELL previously sold under the title Professional Selling: A Trust-Based Approach by Thomas N. Ingram and others, says this (p.27):

They sometimes follow a pioneer salesperson and take over the account after the pioneer has made the initial sale. ... We use the case of the territory manager's position with GlaxoSmith Kline Consumer Healthcare

We have Halls instead of Churches. We give door to door presentations, and practice them with demonstrations, and there are dozens of small examples that add up to show how we have historically tried to remove vocabulary that sounded too religious. But there are still examples documented in older WT publications that directly copy ideas about sales techniques and approaches that can be found in parallel literature about selling all types of products. I remember a Bible Study that said our Service Meeting reminded him exactly of Amway meetings with all the sample presentations, offer of the month, how to get the householders attention, when to be brief, when to answer questions, how to overcome objections, etc.

So the point was that resolutions were always an imitation of secular conventions of corporations which asked convention "delegates" to "vote" on resolutions. Secular conventions always had those propositions built on a long list of legalistic "whereas" clauses. Our resolutions always did the same but were usually the envelope for a more religious statement or agreement to stay clear of religion, steer clear of false doctrines of the clergy, uphold Jehovah's standards, declare neutrality with respect to some political idea, declare a condemnation of some religious or political idea, etc.

[Matthew9969]

I welcome witnesses and studies to use chat rooms and discussion boards. I have had the chance for a few over the years to stop studying with them, or start leaving them.

[TrueTomHarley]

19 hours ago, JW Insider said:

We have Halls instead of Churches. We give door to door presentations, and practice them with demonstrations, and there are dozens of small examples th

To the extent that brothers try to model their ministry or enhance it with sales techniques, they usually make for poor teachers. I think it is because they are primarily concerned about making the sale, and they are unable to step out of that mindset.

Yes, I know that the sales department will try to manipulate consciousness so that the salesperson really, truly, believes that the customer cannot live without what he has to offer. 

It is nothing that I have ever been able to buy into. A few times in my life I toyed with sales, but always what sunk me was that in the back of my mind I was always thinking: “Why would anyone waste their money on this?”

[JW Insider]

1 hour ago, TrueTomHarley said:

It is nothing that I have ever been able to buy into. A few times in my life I toyed with sales, but always what sunk me was that in the back of my mind I was always thinking: “Why would anyone waste their money on this?”

I could never do it for the same reasons on mundane things. But there should be nothing wrong with the use of known sales techniques based on our own enthusiasm for a product when, in this case, we really do know the product is "pearl of great price" that truly is worth more than this life itself, and yet it's also free.

[TrueTomHarley]

3 minutes ago, JW Insider said:

I could never do it for the same reasons on mundane things. But there should be nothing wrong with the use of known sales techniques based on our own enthusiasm for a product when, in this case, we really do know the product is "pearl of great price" that truly is worth more than this life itself, and yet it's also free.

On Saturday mornings, we even offer it on sale.