I, like yourself Ade as well as many others, am also searching for the true path. I am currently studying the New testament and reading it all in its context. Yes there are things within that can be twisted to fit into the societies teachings. I have found quite a number of things that just blew mw away when i read them in context.
For eg 1 cor 11:28 says in the NWT that a man must approve himself after scrutiny before partaking of the lords evening meal. This scripture was used to back up the societies view that only anointed ones were to partake of the emblems at the memorial.
Yet when you read the whole chapter in context paticularly from verse 17 onwards, Paul is clearly talking about something completely different.
I find that because i am searching out the scriptures with sincerity of heart, i will end up on the path that i strongly feel content with. John 16:13 tells us that the holy spirit will lead us into the way of truth. I know it will. I hope you find that path. and yes you are right God is not far from each of us.
All the best
Evergreen
the true path ??
by Ade 12 Replies latest watchtower bible
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evergreen
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Will Power
Ade - Good Luck and stay true to your path.
Hope you don't mind, but
I'm going to post this excerpt from a book that I found very helpful in definining one's "Path".
It might help you put into perspective your growth, compared the the non-growth of the witness org.
See if you fit anywhere. Where would most JWs be?
I apologize for the length & that I can't make headings or words before the : bold, which might make it easier/quicker to read - if anyone can, I'd appreciate it. thanks
an excerpt from the book FINDING FAITH by Brian McClaren
pg 66
In this schema, one gradually outgrows one version of faith, discards it for a more fitting version, outgrows that, and so on. I call this schema "The Four Stages." It was inspired by specialists in cognitive development such as William Fowler and William Perry, psychologists such as Robert Coles and Scott Peck, writers such as Soren Kierkegaard and Walker Percy, and poets such as William wordsworth and William Blake. It goes like this:
Stage 1: Simplicity
Focus: Right or wrong? Being right, belonging to the right group.
Motive: Pleasing authority figures, being an "insider"
Beliefs: All truth is known or knowable. There are easy answers to every question. The right authority figures know the right answers.
Perception: Dualistic, in terms of right versus wrong, good versus bad.
Mottoes: You're either for us or against us; it's all or nothing.
Authorities: Godlike. God's representatives, with divine right. They help you know.
Like/Dislike: We like bold, clear, assertive, confident people who know the answers. We dislike tentative, qualifying, timid, or unsure people who say, "I don't know."
Life is: A war.
Strategy: Learn the answers. learn what to think. Learn to identify and avoid "the enemy".
Strengths: Highly committed, willing to sacrifice and suffer for the cause.
Weaknesses: Also willing to kill or inflict suffering for the cause. Arrogant. Simplistic. Combative. Judgmental, Intolerant. Incapable of distinguishing major from minor issues, since every issue is part of the system that has embraced all (as universal, absolute, and inerrant) or nothing (as false, wrong, discredited).
Identity: I find my identity in my leader or group.
Relationships: Dependent or codependent
God is: The Ultimate Authority Figure and/or Ultimate Friend.
Transition: As Stage 1 people encounter diversity in their ranks, or are disillusioned because of fallen leaders or internal squabbles in the group from which they derive their identity, or are unsettled by the multiplicity of viewpoints, they tend to swing from a desire for internal knowledge and certainty to a desire for external accomplishment and success, thus moving on to Stage 2. The world isn't simple anymore, so the task changes – to make life work in this complex environment.
Stage 2: Complexity
Focus: Effective or ineffective? Accomplishing, learning technique, winning.
Motive: Reach goals; be effective.
Beliefs: Almost anything is doable. Different people have different methods, beliefs, approaches – the key is finding the best ones.
Perception: Pragmatic – looking for the useful, practical.
Mottoes: There's more than one way to do things – find whatever works best for you.
Authorities: Coaches. They help you grow.
Like/Dislike: We like people who give clear instructions and let us know what they expect of us. We like people who motivate us and make us feel like doing things. We dislike people who are too dogmatic (Stage 1) or mystical (Stage 3).
Life is: A complex game. You have to learn the rules.
Strategy: Learn the technique. Play the game. Find what people want and give it to them.
Strengths: Enthusiasm, idealism, action.
Weaknesses: Superficial, naive.
Identity: I find my identity in a cause or achievement.
Relationships: Increasingly independent
God is: The Ultimate Guide or Coach.
Transition: Three problems push people out of Stage 2 (usually against their will). First, the prevalence of Stage 1 people always claiming to have all the answers prohibits Stage 2 people from escaping questions about truth. Second, the failure of "foolproof" techniques and projects leaves them disillusioned and perplexed – prime characteristics of Stage 3. Third, Stage 2 people survive by fragmenting complex and apparently contradictory truth into categories (scientific truth, religious truth, social or relational truth, political truth). Eventually, a desire for unity and integration causes them to be dissatisfied with their fragmented approach.
Stage 3: Perplexity
Focus: Honest or dishonest? Authentic or inauthentic? Understanding, seeing through appearances and illusions to reality.
Motive: Being honest, authentic.
Beliefs: All is questionable. Nothing is really certain, except uncertainty. Everything is relative.
Perception: Relativistic.
Mottoes: Everyone's opinion is equally valid and equally questionable. Who knows who really is right?
Authorities: Demonic. They're dishonest controllers, trying to impose easy answers on complex realities.
Like/Dislike: We like other questioners, free spirits, and non-conformists. We dislike people in Stages 1 and 2.
Life is: A joke or a mystery or a search.
Strategy: Ask hard questions. Be ruthlessly honest.
Strengths: Depth, honesty, often humor or artistic sensitivity.
Weaknesses: Cynical, uncommitted, withdrawn, depressed, or elitist.
Identity: I find my identity in solitude or a small circle of similarly alienated friends.
Relationships: Counter-dependent
God is: Either a mythic authority figure I've outgrown, an opiate of the masses, or a mystery I'm seeking.
Transition: One of the key struggles in Perplexity is the battle between arrogance ("Those simpletons in Stages 1 and 2 don't see how shallow and primitive they are! Ha! They've never even asked the questions we ask, much less found answers for them! Ha!") and humility. And there is much in this stage to humble a person. Notably, one has to get on with life, and life requires one to make commitments, and commitments grow out of values and beliefs, so one is not left with the option of staying in limbo. One has to make choices. One can't blindly accept a group's or authority figure's agenda anymore, but one has to take responsibility for living life and proceed – chastened and more realistic, often disillusioned and less idealistic – in short, humbled.
Stage 4: Humility
Focus: Wise or unwise? Fulfilling potential. Making the most of life.
Motive: Make the best of opportunities. Serve, contribute, make a difference.
Beliefs: There are a few basic absolute or universal truths, many relative matters, and much mystery. There are enough basics to live by.
Perception: Integrated, synthesizing the dualism, pragmatism, and relativism of earlier stages.
Mottoes: I'll focus on a few grand essentials. In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, diversity; in all things, charity.
Authorities: They're people like you and me – imperfect, doing their best, sometimes admirable and dependable, sometimes untrustworthy and despicable, sometimes sincerely misguided.
Like/Dislike: We like people who combine thoughtfulness with accomplishment.
Life is: A mixture; what you make it; what it is.
Strategy: Learn all the answers and techniques you can (Stages 1 and 2), ask all the questions you can (Stage 3), and try to fulfill your potential, admitting how little you really know.
Strengths: May exhibit strengths of earlier stages, plus stability, endurance, wisdom, and humility.
Weaknesses: May display weaknesses of earlier stages.
Identity: I find my identity in my relationship to the whole, or to God.
Relationships: Interdependent.
God is: Knowable in part, yet mysterious; present, yet transcendent; just, yet merciful (able to hold dynamic tensions about God).
Transition: That this is the last stage in our schema doesn't suggest that one lives happily ever after! At this stage of integration, one now faces all the weaknesses of the previous stages. Whenever one enters a new context (a new career, a new religion, a new social network), he or she may well recapitulate the stages repeatedly. After all, humility, like maturity, is obviously not a destination, but rather a journey in itself.
A QUALIFIER, A FEW BRIEF TANGENTS NOT QUITE TAKEN, AND A SUMMARY.
Clearly, people don't generally move out of or into a stage in one giant step. There are many hesitant exploration, retreats, renewed explorations. The transitions from infancy to childhood, childhood through puberty, adolescence through adulthood, and youg adulthood to middle age certainly don't happen suddenly; a twelve-year-old is a child one minute, a young adult the next, it seems, then a child again, and so on. The same is true of these stages.
By the way, we could describe a Stage 0, where a person simply believes what he or she has been told and taught, without questioning, without even recognizing the possibility of questioning, without realizing there are any alternative beliefs or differing groups out there. Or we could explore cultic behavior as a regressive step in this process, where, say, a young adult becomes intimidated by the complexities or perplexities of growing up and throws himself into a Stage 1 group, against his better judgment, as a "bad faith" act of emotional desperation.
Or we could consider how different religions, churches, denominations, or religious organizations often enfranchise and serve people at one stage, but not others. That could open up some fascinating considerations of how organizations can better serve people through the whole process. Or we could consider how the Bible or other sacred writings appear to people at various stages ... as the Book of Easy Answers and Absolutes for Stage 1, as the Spiritual how-To-Manual for Stage 2, either as an outmoded tool of oppression by Stage 1 authority figures or as a refreshingly diverse and honest artifact for Stage 3 fold, or as a library for lifelong learning for those in Stage 4. But these tangents would take us too far afield. Our focus here is on the finding of faith and the growing of faith – which generally feels like losing faith.
Here's how it works: When a person begins to outgrow Stage 1 faith, it feels like doubt. Then, appropriating a Stage 2 faith feels like finding faith again – and that feeling of satisfaction and renewal lasts until Stage 3 is knocking at the door. Most people don't know there is a more advanced stage waiting outside the door, so to them, this knocking feels dreadful, disloyal, dangerous. most of us fight it and try to avoid answering the door as long as possible. It feels like the end of faith, not the beginning of a new stage, when the knocking of doubt begins. Even when Stage 4 knocks, Stage 3 usually only lets go after a fight. -
serendipity
Very good post, willpower. I see myself in transition between stages.