I bought my wife a fur coat that was beautiful....full length mink. She wore it at the meetings and in service when very cold. People would make remarks. Too bad!
"Stumbling Stones" in the congregation
by JH 29 Replies latest jw friends
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worldtraveller
This thread reminds me of a really bad pyramid scheme. The entry level people get the scrapings off someones shoe, while the top tier lives in the penthouse. BTW is it really true that the upper class want you to drive a 4 door sedan or what ever for driving others around? (shaking my head).
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emy the infidel
Good comments, esp. to Honest and Gopher --"The elders will use their authority to come down on you for any little thing if they don't like you. They can be such nitpickers, when it comes to OTHER people. Power trip !!" Or if one elder thinks you could be an easy mark, and starts hounding you, sticking their nose into everything about your life and wanting to question you incessantly, and 'be there for you'.
I was dating a "worldly" guy. He was nice and decent person. This elder made up a story that this particular guy, who he didn't know AT ALL as the boy lived a good distance away, had a "criminal record". This was completely untrue. Moreover, had it been true, there would've been no legal way for this elder to have such knowledge. I pointed that out and demanded to know where that information came from, I wasn't as dumb as he thought. After all the harassment this controlling intrusive elder have put me through, that was the last straw.
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Gopher
More of a Bible question than a JW-doctrine question:
What about the scripture -- I think it's in Psalm 119 - that says
For the righteous one there is NO STUMBLING BLOCK.
So -- if someone stumbles, isn't it because of their own unrighteousness?
(Or can a righteous person avoid a BLOCK but get stumbled by a stone? I'm confused.)
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REBORNAGAIN
We bought cars we liked, whether they were convenient for service or not. While our kids were young, we ONLY had 2 doors. I didn't want them falling out if they were to open a door when child safety locks were deactivated, which would be the case if used for service.
LINDA
P.S. The Bro.'s & Sis's didn't always complain
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REBORNAGAIN
Wooooooooooah,,,good point Gopher.
LINDA
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snowbird
What about the scripture -- I think it's in Psalm 119 - that says
Psalm 119:165 Great peace have they that love thy law;
And they have no occasion of stumbling.
119:166 I have hoped for thy salvation, O Jehovah,
And have done thy commandments.
Sylvia
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cyd0099
My ex had a fur wrap that was given to her by my mom. It was older but nice and she was told it was immodest for the meetings. Jealousy? Of course the elders were "stumbling" over each other to sneak a peek at her 20-something cleavage. It was necessary to make sure her dress wasn't cut too low. I had a motorcycle, the ultimate in a non-service vehicle. But it was my only means of transportation and if I didn't ride it to the hall, somebody would have to go out of their way to give me a ride.
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jaguarbass
I remember when I was a witness, I gave a talk, There are no such things as stumbling stones, they are stepping stones.
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WTWizard
There is a cure for all this "stumbling others". It's called independent thinking. Use that, and it doesn't matter what someone else is doing. You do things that benefit you, and if someone else would not benefit from it, they wouldn't do it. For instance, if I enjoy my rap music, I can listen to it and let each person decide for themselves whether they want to listen to it. If they do, it's their choice. If not, then they are free to not listen to rap music.
And the materialism "trap" is not really a trap. What gives with this is that it is natural for people to want to see fruitages (and enjoy it) for their hard work, beyond having another victim entering a pyramid scam. Materialism is only natural, and is not an indicator of Godliness or lack thereof. A person can be very righteous, even very Godly, and still have a lot of material things (they still have to work hard and smart, but they are not dishonest). A person can be very unGodly and not materialistic at all--ask the lazy Welfare bums that sit around at home watching soaps all day and collect food stamps.
I believe that a person should be materialistic to a degree. Anyone that is very industrious and seeking to improve society in general should in fact be allowed to become extremely rich, and to enjoy that. That is what it means to enjoy the fruitages of one's hard work. Anyone that stumbles on account of this has already stumbled due to an even worse sin than laziness: envy. They see you well off, they resent it, and so they seek to destroy it. And the tool the Watchtower Society gives them to do that is to "stumble". Perhaps telling Brother Hounder that they were already stumbled by their own envy before they could have been stumbled by your material things would make them think twice.