by Sacchiel 13 Replies latest jw friends
I understand there are active elders and ministerial servants on these boards. If a witness spoke with you in private about doubts/questions they have about wts doctrine or the like, would you encourage that person to continue investigating? What if that witness outright declared the organization as a wicked or not directed by God?
Perhaps I'll come to you!
If a witness spoke with you in private about doubts/questions they have about wts doctrine or the like, would you encourage that person to continue investigating? What if that witness outright declared the organization as a wicked or not directed by God?
I was an MS when I got on this board (before stepping down to take the heat off) so I guess I can answer this: seeing as how I am a non-believer but wouldn't want to be found out, I would probably say some ambiguous statement like "well we all have to do our own research and take care of our own faith. If you have doubts, continue doing research, praying, and meditating on what you find."
i would encourage that they continue to research the latest publications. if doubts still persist, wait on Jah to clarify.
if u straight out declare the org is wicked, out you go - dfed if you are baptized or they will mark you as a bad association
dfed if you are baptized or they will mark you as a bad association
A win/win situation in my books.
If you declare the org. wicked i can be almost 100% sure he will turn you in to the body of elders to investigate and of course to show is loyalty to the org.
Even if you tell him you are investigating the org., you might be viewed as faithless and having spiritual problem.
as it has been mentioned on this board, if you express your doubts about Jehovah and his dealings, they will be understanding and remind you that it is ok, but the 11th commandment is to never judge the governing body, the penalty is to quickly remove you because of apostasy.
Usually there is no mercy for apostasy or i should say speaking against the powerful GOVERNING BODY
I've been thru it myself.
if you express your doubts about Jehovah and his dealings, they will be understanding and remind you that it is ok, but the 11th commandment is to never judge the governing body, the penalty is to quickly remove you because of apostasy.
A very astute observation. Also, a very true statement.
It depends which one you talk to. I always had doubts so would not have dobbed you in. I would have given the standard line to do some more study, and that in his own time Jehovah will provide the answer.
However, it is like Russian roulette, speak to the wrong MS/elder and next thing you know there will be two elders discussing your problem with you, and if you do not say you accept the answers you'll be in front of a judicial committee and disfellowshipped.
Keep your questions to yourself unless you are looking for a way out of the Org.
In hindsight it's clear I was a pretty liberal JW elder. A friend once showed me some of the stuff he was turning up about JWs from the internet many years ago. My first reaction was to act like it was no big deal. This policy of providing threatening warnings not to look at certain opposing information has--despite what I would say onstage--always seemed like an obvious batch of baloney. And doing so only belies the organization's own lack of confidence in itself.
If you came to me with questions about such information, I would have discussed it with you. If your demeanor became dark, angry or belligerant, I might have spoken to other brothers on the body about it.
I'd tell them that its ok to have doubts as we all do from time to time but that he should avoid anything that could contribute to his spritual, emotional health being affected... in other words I would take the p***y way out since obviously if I agreed with his doubts and encouraged them there would be a chance he'd turn me in and I am not ready for that at this time.
That's a good question, as I'd probably not answer their request in a safe way. I'm not sure how I would word my response to accusations against the org or the gb, but if the person were asking about doing some independent research on a particular org doctrine, I'd say, "Any research you do on doctrine from an outside, respected source is sure to confirm the truth to you." I'll run with that. Any research on doctrine (like 607) is sure to confirm historical truth--and besides, it has the added meaning of cofirming The Truth TM , so it doesn't sound like I'm endorsing anything wrong.
