by greendawn 26 Replies latest jw friends
I had a few householders express themselves in the same way, but then say, "But I never could go door to door like you people."
Or some would say, "If there were more people like you we wouldn't have the problems that we do." But that is as far as it goes w/these types of conversations. They personally don't want to get involved because they know that there are no holiday celebrations and deep down they don't want to commit to such a rigid lifestyle.
Juni
I'd ask her if she knew what they were teaching about her fate if she didn't join.
Well... to be perfectly honest, I'd probably just nod and smile... but that is what I would like to ask!
FBF
Most frustrating! People who believe that sincerity somehow makes up for the falseness, damage to families, deaths, and all the human wreckage inflicted by the wt! I run into this too. People will sometimes say something on the order of, 'Well, they sure do seem sincere!' So what? So were/are many deadly dictators, does that negate the damage they do? Should we admire sincerity over moral behavior? There is not much to admire within the jw society. It is simply ignorance of the org that people say these things. When they are given a short education in jwism, they change their tune rapidly.
What would I say to her? This: "You know that scripture where Jesus condemns the Pharisees by describing them as a cup that is clean on the outside but filthy on the inside... that is what JWs are like, and I know this through experience. They are all about looking good to the public, but when you dig down enough you find all sorts of terrible things."
I can see how someone outside, looking in, might see JWs as good, harmless,clean living folks who have strong principles. That's because they put so much effort on how they appear to others. Hypocracy is a feature of many religions, few more so than JWs but it is not always apparent to others.
I would have asked her if she didn't need medication, or electic shock!
and after asking her all this you could ask "Do you fool around?"
To help her and others:
IF YOU WERE TAUGHT JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES HAVE THE MOST UPRIGHT RELIGION, first note although Christ said “God wants mercy not sacrifice,” JWs are taught to preach against emergency blood transfusion so that around the earth an estimated THREE JWs DIE EVERY SINGLE DAY FROM THIS. (Read David Reed’s Blood On The Altar) Most are older persons but some have been children. Also, 1 Samuel 14:32-35 says Saul's army men ate un-bled meat without punishment as it was an emergency to save life. The men only had build an altar of repentance due to the Mosaic law of that time. Identical twins normally transfuse blood to each other via shared placenta and moms' milk includes white blood cells, an approved arrangement by God Himself.
At Ephesians 4:4 Paul said there's only "one faith" meaning Christianity in general which only later became Roman Catholicism, eastern Orthodox Catholicism, and the numerous branches of Protestantism. Yet JWs are as taught by the Governing Body of their Watchtower Society, to teach the public they are the one and only true church. The Watchtower Society tells elders and grassroots JWs what to teach and do or else be disfellowshipped (harshly shunned / excommunicated). Many churches today allow much local autonomy but the Watchtower Society keeps virtually every bit of control from the top as does Catholicism and to a lesser extent some Protestant churches.
Judges 17:6 says God arranged for everyone in Israel to enjoy great freedom in a confederation of tribes rather than with control enforced from top down, and in fact when the tribes said they wanted human rulers, that is kings as the other nations had, God rightly warned that they would suffer dictatorship. (I Sa 8) The Watchtower Society’s Governing Body calls itself the one most faithful wise slave and Leader over all Christians, but Matthew 10:23 says that role belongs to Jesus Christ. They say theirs is the expression of God’s kingdom come upon earth, but Christ says that the kingdom stays safely in heaven coming into the hearts of those doing God’s will on earth.
Christ and Paul both say that in prayer Christians use Father or Abba (papa/dad) at (Matthew 6:9; Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:6) not any formal form of God's name. Also since God told Israel's tribes His name must never be misused many Christians as well as Jews today commonly substitute "Lord" (Adonai in Hebrew) in respect for what God said. So this respectful usage is not a superstition, as the Watchtower Society leaders teach JWs to teach it is, besides which using Father is good for expressing personal closeness.
Every single one of the earliest New Testament manuscripts use Lord (Kurios in Greek) instead of Jehovah. Why? Not only for the reasons just noted, but by substituting a conjectured formal name for Lord (YHWH, Yahweh, Jehovah) in their own group translations of Bible verses, the Watchtower Society and the few other groups doing this are mistranslating, changing the word of God. Hypocritically the Watchtower Society claims it loves and protects children while sending so-called repentant child molesters, serial murderers etc among other JWs who never did and hate such things, preaching door-to-door, which makes any and all usage of any formal form of God's name totally in vain. This is not to attack, persecute or sound negative about the good people who are good in spite of being misled by the Watchtower Society and are stuck in the organization due to disfellowshipping, but to inform and provide a strong but loving defence of them and the public. Please make and share copies of this.
Green Dawn , You wrote: "I was talking with a woman today . . ."
I bet a bunch if you walked up to strangers in the shopping center and asked them to name the people with strong principles, strong families, able to apply God's laws, uphold Bible truth, and understand God's wishes about medical treatment, not one would say Jehovah's Witnesses UNLESS they were a Witness or indoctrinated by them.
Those are Witness teachings but not facts.
I had a few householders express themselves in the same way, but then say, "But I never could go door to door like you people."
Or some would say, "If there were more people like you we wouldn't have the problems that we do." But that is as far as it goes w/these types of conversations. They personally don't want to get involved because they know that there are no holiday celebrations and deep down they don't want to commit to such a rigid lifestyle.
Juni Can you imagine if everyone were JW's? Wow,,, they'd be stoning and killing all the members that criticized or disagreed with the FDS. It might be true that we wouldn't have the same problems on earth today,, we'd just have different or even worse problems. For those that don't recall,, the watchtower on many occasions has stated that since it's not legal to stone someone like they did in biblical times, that is why we don't do it now. I can only assume they are implying that they would if they could.
