'Church members are responsible...', AWAKE!, 8/8/87, pp.10,11

by compound complex 21 Replies latest jw friends

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  compound complex

  IF YOUR CHURCH FAILS TO ACT, WILL YOU?

  "If, after making an honest investigation, you are LESS THAN PLEASED with what you see, do more than just COMPLAIN. A journalist, while commenting on Karl Barth's statement that a church is its members, logically concluded: 'Church members...are responsible for what the church says and does.' So ask yourself: Am I willing to share responsibility for EVERYTHING my church says and does? Can I really be proud of having all its members as spiritual brothers?" [CC emphasis]

  Were you LESS THAN PLEASED with "the Truth"?

  Were you told what would happen to you if you continued to COMPLAIN?

  When did you wake up to the fact that you could no longer go along with EVERYTHING the WT says and does?

  By the way, who is the journalist? An AWAKE! correspondant on assignment? Their own words will condemn them!

  Got it in the neck for complainin',

  Compound-Complex
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  compound complex

  'Church members...are responsible....' [ellipsis marks are critical to the proper misinterpretation of Watchtower publications; author regrets errors of omission and commission. (see errata data)]

  CoCo
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  OnTheWayOut

  Here's the quote from the 9/8/87 Mag. not 8/8

  ***

  g87 9/8pp.10-11 Future Prospects for Protestantism—And for You!***

  If

  Your Church Fails to Act, Will You?

  If, after making an honest investigation, you are less than pleased with what you see, do more than just complain. A journalist, while commenting on Karl Barth’s statement that a church is its members, logically concluded: "Church members . . . are responsible for what the church says and does." So ask yourself: Am I willing to share responsibility for everything my church says and does? Can I really be proud of having all its members as spiritual brothers?

  While considering these questions, do not overlook the significance of Revelation 18:4, 8. Speaking of the world empire of false religion, displeasing to God, it says: "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues . . . [for] her plagues [shall] come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her."

  You may sincerely believe that your church is no part of false religion that God says he will soon destroy. But your life depends upon being 100 percent sure. Are you?

  False religion has no future, nor do those who support it. True religion will last forever, along with those who practice it. Make your choice accordingly.

  The journalist must be the Awake correspondent. They duck out of any real commitment of statements by quoting Karl and that correspondent. But they expect people to question their own church because they MUST BE 100 Percent SURE. Doesn't that leave room to question the GB? (Well, no, they are right so that's different- I can see the 4 paragraph answer to that question)
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  geevee

  What a great comment! You have been doing some serious digging by the look of it.
  I suppose the reality is that with any digging into the publications you could find enough "quotes" to fill a whole web site!!
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  Undecided

  My wife and her sister are born again christains and they are always talking about this church or that church that don't practice what the bible says is correct. Mostly it is the way some of the members live their life but claim to be good members. One member has his daughter pregnant, she isn't a child but has sex with him, been married and had children by other men. Sort of like some of the old testment good guys.

  Ken P.
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  carla

  How strange. Am I willing to share responsibility for everything my church says and does? Can I really be proud of having all its members as spiritual brothers?

  They only apply this to other churches and other people, yet, when you try to apply it to jw's they claim they are allowed to think for themselves and disagree (silently) and if a jw is caught in crime or sin, then the answer is that they aren't a 'real jw' to begin with! They want to know if the person is baptized, etc... What they don't get is that to the rest of the world if you go to a kh on a semi-regular basis you are a jw, baptized or not.

  How many jw's are 100% sure? This little paragraph suggests one should question their beliefs, can a jw truly question anything without fear? I suppose a jw would say you can question all you want as long as you accept all the answers.
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  blondie

  I find it amazing how often the WTS quotes people who have been long dead...Barth died in 1968. Barth was commenting on how some churches cooperated with the Nazis.

  The IF in all this is that the WTS sees themselves as the only true religion and actively encourage people that if they don't leave their religion and join the WTS, they will die forever at Armageddon.

  So it is not proper to question the only true religion. But Jesus did; because when he was alive on earth the Jewish religion was the only true religion on earth and he questioned the Jewish religious leaders.

  http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=400

  Blondie
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  moshe

  I remember reading that article and a couple months later I started reading stuff about the WT organization I wasn't suppose to see. In less than six months after that article appeared in the Awake, I had logically reasoned myself out of the KH.
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  darth frosty

  I tell ya the internet will be the death of the WT...at least if they insist on quoting long dead people like they just made the statement. Like blondie pointed out here and in the dec 10,WT review all you need to do is take the name of the person quoted and either google it or go to wikipedia and find out the real deal about them and what they said.
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  Doubting Bro

  It is an amazing double standard, isn't it? How could I have been so stupid????

  How many jw's are 100% sure? This little paragraph suggests one should question their beliefs, can a jw truly question anything without fear? I suppose a jw would say you can question all you want as long as you accept all the answers.

  I think we all know the answer to this one. The fact is that many in the organization don't have the knowledge to even answer some of these harder questions. All they can do is print out a WT article. But, if you're questioning what the WT says, isn't it a bit circular to use the WT in response?