[From ws1/18 p. 12 for March 5 – March 11] “How good and how pleasant it is...to dwell together in unity!”​—PS. 133:1. We find immediate issues with accuracy in the first sentence of the opening paragraph where the claim is made that “'God’s people' will assemble for the memorial." That expresses an opinion of the organization rather than a fact.  It would be accurate to say “Jehovah’s Witnesses” instead of "God's people".

The final sentence then states “Each year, this observance is the most amazing unifying event that takes place on planet Earth.”

According to Wikipedia at least, “The Arba'een Pilgrimage is the world's largest public gathering that is held every year in Iraq.  And last year was estimated at between 20 and 30 million.”

Perhaps what is more important to our discussion here though is the claim that the observance is unifying.

At this point, we would invite comments from our readers. Does the highly formalized way the emblems are passed with no one partaking create a sense of unity?  And how about the ritualistic manner in which the emblems are passed between the servers and the speaker?  Does this evoke images of the loving manner in which Jesus introduced the "Lord's Evening Meal"?

Paragraph 2 opens by saying “We can only try to imagine how Jehovah and Jesus must rejoice as they observe hour after hour millions of earth’s inhabitants attending this special event until that day ends.” So let us examine this thought. What happens at the memorial? There is a talk, then a prayer and the bread is passed round, and then another prayer and the wine is passed round. But, except in very rare instances, no one partakes. Are Jehovah and Jesus happy with this? Let the words of Jesus himself answer. “Most truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves. He that feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has everlasting life, and I shall resurrect him at the last day;” (John 6:53-54). From this would you conclude Jesus is happy at the symbols of his body and blood just being passed round, rather than eaten and drunk? Or does it sadden him to see so many turning down the opportunity to obey his command.

The article then goes on to discuss the following four questions:r

How can we individually prepare for the Memorial and benefit from attending it? In what ways does the Memorial influence the unity of God’s people? How can we personally contribute to that unity? Will there ever be a final memorial? If so, when?

This year we are not even treated to a flawed discussion on "Should we or shouldn't we partake?" and on what Jesus death means for us. No, it seems the most important point to take away from the memorial this year is “unity”.

So in paragraph 4 discussing question (1) they immediately try to guilt us into attending. “Remember, congregation meetings are part of our worship. Surely Jehovah and Jesus take note of who makes the effort to attend this most important meeting of the year.” The subtext to this sentence is: You are being watched from above. If you don’t attend, then you may go into Jesus' black book. Then they take off the cotton gloves: “Frankly we want them [Jehovah and Jesus] to see that unless it is physically or circumstantially impossible, we will be present at the Memorial....When we show by our actions that meetings for worship are important to us, we give Jehovah added reason to keep our name in his ‘book of remembrance’ – ‘the book of life’“. How this message from the organization contrasts to the message given by Jesus in the Scriptures. In John 4:23-24 Jesus says “the true worshipers will worship the Father with spirit and truth”. James wrote under inspiration in James 1:26-27 “If any man seems to himself to be a formal worshiper [going to 2 meetings a week, and the assemblies and memorial every year] and yet does not bridle his tongue, but goes on deceiving his own heart,