"Are the rules that hard to follow?" (page 2)

LongHairGal

Greendawn: You are right. They revert to the old testament because it suits their control complex. Jesus' message is too simple for them. The very simplicity of it will not allow them to exercise the cruel control over people that they so crave. This craving for control and lording it over other people is a real defect of mankind. These people are just full of themselves and getting off on power and having the arrogance that they can make people chase their tails! And, it isn't simply whether the rules are hard to follow or not. That isn't the point. These rules shouldn't be there in the first place. They like to say that Jesus quoted from the old testament so therefore they feel it is right that they revert to it - completely ignoring the new testament or just giving it occasional lip service. LHG

Narkissos

Having people constantly feel bad because they do not follow the rules as they should is a powerful tool for control when you think of it.

Finally-Free

Often I hear jws claim that people leave the borg because they cannot follow the rules, implying that anyone who leaves lacks character, self control, and/or moral values.

I obey rules every day at work and in society, and I have no problem doing so. Rules become a problem for me when the one who seeks to impose them doesn't have the authority to do so. Just because the cultists have big mouths and big attitudes doesn't mean I have to listen to their worthless, mindless blatherings.

Also, when they tell lies, destroy families, whore around with the UN, and protect child molesters they should think twice before telling me I need to shave off my moustache, quit school, or stop biting my fingernails. If that's not "straining out the gnat and gulping down the camel" then I don't know what is.

W

fullofdoubtnow

This nails it for me

So, it doesn't matter whether any specific rule or tradition is hard to do. It isn't hard to wash your hands and arms up to your elbows either. But the combination of all the little ritualistic rules and traditions constitutes a religion that is characterized by Pharisaical attributes moreso than by Christian attributes.

That's it. It isn't that most of the "rules" are so hard to follow, but rather the number of rules there are, many of them with no real scriptural basis, and the threat of extreme punishment for breaking them.

Also, some rules seemrd to vary from congregation to congregation. The beard rule is a prime example of this - in my kh, no one with a beard was ever appointed, and brothers with a talk coming up have been known to receive a phone call a few days hence, ordering them to shave or else, yet in other halls in this area, brothers with beards were appointed.

The prescence of all these rules seems to me to put the wts on a par with groups like the pharisees, despite roundly conemning them in their literature.

mariposa

Yep...and that's what wore me out.

I was in 4 different cong. in 10 years and the rules and regulations were different for each one. If this was supposed to be "the chosen org." then shouldn't EVERY cong. be uniform in it's policies. It was so depressing because I was looking for unity and to be a part of something good, but I up killing myself just trying to fit in.

blondie

For AuldSoul:

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w9810/1p.14ImitateJehovah?sMercy***

The coldhearted attitude of the Pharisees constituted a crime against humanity and a sin against God. (John 9:39-41) With good reason, Jesus warned his disciples, "Watch out for the leaven" of this elitist group and other religionists, such as the Sadducees. (Matthew 16:6) Leaven is used in the Bible to represent sin or corruption. So Jesus was saying that the teaching of the "scribes and Pharisees" could corrupt pure worship. How? In that it taught people to view God?s Law solely in terms of their arbitrary rules and rituals, while ignoring "the weightier matters," including mercy. (Matthew 23:23) This ritualistic form of religion made worship of God an intolerable burden.

Virgochik

Yes, the rules themselves are hard to follow, but an added complication is, you don't always know what the rules ARE, till you get the dirty look or the disapproving frown and head shake. This is typically for wearing something inappropriate, in somebody's personal opinion. And how would you know that, in advance?

I think "Jehovah" or whatever God's real name is, gets blamed for all the Witnesses crapola, when they claim their rules come from him. I'm sure a lot of this is news to him!

Warlock

Jeremiah 31:33 says Jah will put his law in the HEARTS of his people. The NT talks about living life within the bounds of a" Christian Conscience", not a set of man made rules. This is what causes confusion in the minds of many J.W.'S.

Until you actually come to this realization by reading the scriptures that the WTS quickly skims over, or realize the meanings of these scriptures in context, you will remain conflicted and confused.

If a person can actually set aside enough "programming" to do this, they might have a chance.

Warlock

BizzyBee

Romans 14 talks about the tyranny of arbitrary 'rules' governing eating, drinking and observation of days, whereas the Kingdom of God is about peace, righteousness and joy:

Don't let him who eats despise him who doesn't eat. Don't let him who doesn't eat judge him who eats, for God has accepted him.4 Who are you who judge another's servant? To his own lord he stands or falls. Yes, he will be made to stand, for God has power to make him stand.5 One man esteems one day as more important. Another esteems every day alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind.6 He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks. He who doesn't eat, to the Lord he doesn't eat, and gives God thanks.7 For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself.8 For if we live, we live to the Lord. Or if we die, we die to the Lord. If therefore we live or die, we are the Lord's.9 For to this end Christ died, rose, and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.10 But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.11 For it is written, "'As I live,' says the Lord,'to me every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess to God.'"12 So then each one of us will give account of himself to God.13 Therefore let's not judge one another any more, but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block in his brother's way, or an occasion for falling.14 I know, and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean of itself; except that to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.15 Yet if because of food your brother is grieved, you walk no longer in love. Don't destroy with your food him for whom Christ died.16 Then don't let your good be slandered,17 for the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.18 For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men.19 So then, let us follow after things which make for peace, and things by which we may build one another up.

Tutle

That statement hit home in my book. I asked my Mother, who was a Full Time Pioneer the same question. I received no viable answer. I chose to be agnostic because I can?t accept a God that demands more from his supposed creations than the creations are capable of providing.

"Are the rules that hard to follow?"

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