by zack 7 Replies latest jw friends
I actually learned to doubt. The info presented there served to open my eyes to practices that I never knew were acceptable---like
segregation in congs. back before civil rights legislation. It was stressed that if the country were to revert to its former segregated ways that Witnesses would be obliged
to follow the law.
Needless to say, this was a blow to me. How can you show love to all men yet not stand up for justice?
Pioneer Service School was educational indeed.
Z----
When did you attend, Zack? I went in 1988, I think. Or 89.
Dave
I ATTENDED RECENTLY
After I left the Watchtower I ran across a quote that I love; "I'd rather have questions I can't answer, than answers I can't question." Doubts are the very basis of learning, aren't they? If we didn't doubt at one point that the earth was flat, or it was the center of the universe, or that crops grew because of prayer, then where would we be today?
Be proud of yourself for being courageous enough to have doubts. Now, use them. Pursue them. Find out if the doubt is well-founded, or if it is simply a misunderstanding.
How long have you been a JW? I was in for 20 years.
Dave
i went a few years back - it taught me that most pioneers are ok but when you are more obsessed with time than people then why bother??
stressing about having a cup of tea on a freezing winters day (we would have to deduct for it) - no thanks!
ps - a few took the pee outame when i pronounced hypogrammo, i pronounced the `H`
That must mean that they don't believe segregation is against God's law.
(Galatians 3:26-28) 26 YOU are all, in fact, sons of God through YOUR faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For all of YOU who were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor freeman, there is neither male nor female; for YOU are all one [person] in union with Christ Jesus.
(Romans 10:12) For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for there is the same Lord over all, who is rich to all those calling upon him.
(1 Corinthians 12:13) For truly by one spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink one spirit.
(Colossians 3:11) where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, foreigner, Scyth´i·an, slave, freeman, but Christ is all things and in all.
The reasoning about segregation was that the WTS could still do their preaching from segregated congregations. But why then did they battle the laws against door to door work on Sundays? They could still have preached on the other 6 days.
*** w52 2/1 pp. 94-95 Questions from Readers
• If the Watchtower Society is free from racial prejudice, why does it tolerate segregation at its assemblies in certain sections of country? Is this not a course of compromise?—F. C., Wisconsin.
Why do we tolerate the segregation laws and policies of certain governments and organizations of this world? Because Jehovah has not commissioned us to convert the world, which is wicked beyond recovery and hence will be destroyed. Jehovah has commissioned us to preach the gospel. Now what should we do? Drop preaching to fight racial issues? We never have separate meetings and baptisms when we can have them together. But when impossible, shall we have separate meetings and baptisms, or none at all? Shall we serve spiritual food to all, even if separately, or serve it to none? Shall we provide baptism for all, even if separately, or provide it for none? Should we buck Caesar’s segregation laws, when they do not force us to violate God’s laws? God does not forbid separate assembly and baptism, and he commands assembly and baptism. (Matt. 28:19; Heb. 10:25) So should we disobey God to fight a racial issue? To buck the segregation laws would bring on disruption of the witness work, halting of it, mob violence, and possible loss of life. Only laws prohibiting gospel-preaching will we buck at that price.
Some may argue segregation is prohibited by God, citing Galatians 3:28 (NW): "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor freeman, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in union with Christ Jesus." That Paul spoke in a spiritual sense and not in a literal, physical sense is obvious, since actually there were male and female, slave and free, Jew and Greek. Because of the existence of Jew and Greek he specially accommodated himself and his preaching to such classes. (1 Cor. 9:19-22) His recognition of slave and freeman we will consider in more detail, since it bears directly on segregation. How so? Because segregation is rooted in slavery, is the outgrowth and hangover of slavery. Segregation, the stain left by slavery, is a lesser evil than slavery. So if the Bible does not instruct Christians to fight slavery it would not sanction them to battle the lesser evil of segregation, at the expense of gospel-preaching.
Even within the Christian congregation Paul did not protest the slavery of his time. Onesimus was Philemon’s slave, and both were Christians. (Philem. 10-16) Paul wrote Timothy, who pictured the society of witnesses today: "Let as many as are slaves under a yoke keep on considering their owners worthy of full honor." Why? "That the name of God and the teaching may never be spoken of injuriously." Kingdom preaching and Jehovah’s vindication are the issues to keep foremost, not creature equality and racial issues. "Moreover, let those having believing owners not look down on them, because they are brothers. On the contrary, let them the more readily be slaves, because those receiving the benefit of their good service are believers and beloved." (1 Tim. 6:1, 2, NW) Here again note that the slavery of those times existed even within the Christian congregation.
Paul also wrote: "In whatever state each one was called, let him remain in it. Were you called a slave? Do not let it worry you; but if you can also become free, rather seize the opportunity." If Paul could say this regarding slavery, how much more so can it be said to those discriminated against by segregation laws: "Do not let it worry you." It is no cause for Christian concern or anxiety. But if the Lord’s people are in locations where they are free of segregation laws or policies, they rejoice in the greater freedom and delight to be together in assembly. All are slaves of Christ, as Paul goes on to show: "Anyone in the Lord that was called a slave is the Lord’s freedman: likewise he that was called a free man is a slave of Christ." (1 Cor. 7:20-24, NW) Surprisingly, some colored brothers have strenuously objected to this, protesting as offensive the use of the word "slave" in the New World Translation. Any who do not wish to be Christ’s slave, whether white or black, can cease such service at any time; but they will be slaves nonetheless, only slaves of Satan and sin. (Rom. 6:16-23, NW) Those who magnify human importance soon hide from their view the really vital issues.
Jehovah is no respecter of persons. Neither are his people. But the world in which we live is. Whites are prejudiced against colored, colored are prejudiced against whites. In some colored communities after nightfall a white person would enter at the risk of his very life. To justify this on the grounds that the whites started the discrimination is not Scriptural. (Rom. 12:17) Now, where the danger is extreme should white persons enter these hostile communities and suffer beating and possibly death to prove they have a democratic right to be there? Should a white witness endanger his life to attend a meeting of colored witnesses in such places, or stay overnight with his colored brothers there, just to prove his democratic right to do so?
Many colored persons practice color-prejudice against their own people. Lighter-colored Negroes will shun the darker ones. Some from the Western Hemisphere look down upon the very dark ones from Africa. In South Africa, whites discriminate against the mixed coloreds, the mixed coloreds against the native blacks, the native blacks against the Indian coolies, and in their native India the Indians discriminate against the no caste or outcasts. Who is innocent to throw the first stone? Can we not see that all classes of the human race are evil, that if we start reforming we shall be lost in an impossible task, with endless discriminations and many varieties or injustices to beat down, which crusading social and political organizations of this world have hopelessly fought for years? For us to become like them would be to fail with them, consume our time in such reforms, lose out as Jehovah’s witnesses, and please only the Devil.
So let us please God by preaching the gospel despite the undesirable conditions the Devil’s world may make for us. Let us not be sidetracked by Satan and caught in a subtle snare camouflaged in lofty motives and ideals. Can we not wait upon Jehovah to avenge the wrongs we suffer now? Really, our colored brothers have great cause for rejoicing. Their race is meek and teachable, and from it comes a high percentage of the theocratic increase. What if the worldly wise and powerful and noble look down on them as foolish and weak and ignoble, not on an equality with self-exalted whites? It is to God’s ultimate honor, for he confounds the wise of this world by choosing those the world considers foolish and weak and ignoble. Let us boast in Jehovah and in our equality in his sight, rather than wanting to boast in equality in the world’s sight. (1 Cor. 1:26-31, NW) In due time the exalted ones will be humbled, and the humble ones will be exalted. (Matt. 23:12) All of us await this vindication from God, which will come in his due time. Until then, as Paul advised concerning slavery we advise concerning its lingering trace, segregation: "Do not let it worry you." (1 Cor. 7:21, NW) When possible we will meet together, when not possible we will meet separately; but in either event we are always united in spirit, brothers equal in our own sight, in Christ’s sight, and in God’s sight.
I went in 2002. The school pushed me more into the JW world. I became knee deep. It did open my eyes to a few things. I remember certain things the CO said that didn't chime with what people generally understood. I came to see how many in the cong. are quite distant from brooklyn and what is going on. It was a small class, I liked just about everyone. But I can say that it never really helped me go any farther in the ministry. I quit being a pio 5 months later. Almost everybody I was at the school with has stoped as well.
Did they tell you at the end of the school to "watch out" for the post PSS blues? I guess people get pretty down when it is all over. I was kind of glad, 2 weeks is a long time to take off of work, especially when you work part time.
Did they tell you at the end of the school to "watch out" for the post PSS blues?
Yes, I seem to recall that when I attended in '91. I actually enjoyed the school. We had a couple of older, but lovable CO instructors--not the grouchy stick-in-the-mud types.
One was a former Zone Overseer in the South Pacific--he had the most hilarious stories to tell of adventures with the locals. One time he and Milton Henschel had to meet with a tribal chief who had ordered all JWs off his island. They negotiated with the chief, his sons and other officials for hours. According to tribal law, if the chief's order was not rescinded by midnight, the "offenders" would be picked up physically and thrown off the island into the ocean. It was a close call but they eventually persuaded the chief to change his mind. As far as what we actually learned, it was mostly just a lot of review and basic suggestions, no real great insights or revelations. One interesting thing: I found out later that one of the young sisters who had attended the same PSS began partaking a few years later. Now I really feel privileged to have gone to school with one of the "chosen ones".
