What "knowing Jehovah really means"

by gubberningbody 8 Replies latest jw friends

  • gubberningbody
    gubberningbody

    "The form of worship that is clean and undefiled from the standpoint from our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their tribulation, and to keep oneself without spot from the world" (James 1:27)

    "For in loving kindness I have taken delight, and not in sacrifice: and in the knowledge of God rather than in whole burnt offerings" (Hosea 6:6)

    Loving kindness is more important than sacrifice, which certainly shows that love of neighbor and family, whether baptized or unbaptized, is much more important than the sacrifice of field service and meeting attendance and is considered by God to be sacred service. According to this scripture, it is not the sacrifice of pioneering and bethel service that God takes delight in, rather it is the showing of kind loving acts to others.

    "As for your father, did he not eat and drink and execute justice and righteousness ? In that case it went well with him. He pleaded the legal claim of the afflicted one and the poor one. In that case it went well. "Was that not a case of knowing me"is the utterance of Jehovah? (Jeremiah 22:15,16)

    Helping an afflicted one is knowing Jehovah. Helping a person, whether he or she is a baptized person in the congregation or an unbaptized stranger from any religion, it is considered knowing Jehovah and sacred service.

  • darkl1ght3r
    darkl1ght3r

    "For in loving kindness I have taken delight, and not in sacrifice: and in the knowledge of God rather than in whole burnt offerings" (Hosea 6:6)

    This was one of the verses I used when I was trying to explain the stupidity of the Blood doctrine to my family. Loving kindness would be allowing JW patients to choose life, sacrifice would be mandatory rejection of a life saving medical procedure.

    It blows my mind that JWs can't see the irony in what they've created. I was on the phone with Flipper the other day and we were discussing a point and he read me a section out of the "Flock" book. My first thought was how much it sounded like the mosaic law. "You may do this if that happens... but you must do that when this happens." The current JW leadership structure is a mirrior image of what Jesus condemned the Pharisees for. With the hundreds and hundreds of EXTRA weighty laws and requirements not found in scripture, and the focus on law rather than the principal behind the law.

    It seriously blows my mind every time I think about it... and makes me sad.

  • PSacramento
    PSacramento

    JW tend to, at lest from my POV, be more like the pharasees of old then Christians at times, very caught up in Mosaic law and the old covenant.

  • gubberningbody
    gubberningbody

    Yeah, they are pharisees. I stopped quoting the lit in my parts years ago in favor of using only the bible and I was told that I was drawing undue attention to myself (by some elders). There was one CO who was pretty cool, though. I noticed a point in a talk he gave and how that thought was not now or ever represented in any WT so I asked him where he "got that". (even though I knew, and he knew I was messing w/him) He said after a pregnant pause...

    "The Bible"

    and I asked ...

    "Are we allowed to do that?"

  • darkl1ght3r
    darkl1ght3r

    LOL gb...

    I started "editing my talks for content" too. I started taking everything out in the material that I thought was dishonest or deceptive (or just plain wrong). Ironically, I got some of the highest praise for talks I gave AFTER I realized I was an atheist. I wasn't promoting atheism or anything, I just made sure what I was saying was actually supported by scripture and not some twisted WT dogma, although I had/have problems with scripture too... I think the congregation found it refreshing to hear something slightly different.

  • bluecanary
    bluecanary

    Good catch, GB! I'll save those scriptures.

    and I asked ...
    "Are we allowed to do that?"

    Priceless!

  • Narkissos
    Narkissos

    The other day I commented on another thread about "spirituality" in WT publications and I meant exactly that kind of stuff (which apparently has got rarer and rarer since the 80s).

    This line of understanding of "knowing God" culminates in Johannine thought: "Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love."

  • PSacramento
    PSacramento

    Well said Narkissos, sometimes it can be that simple.

  • WTWizard
    WTWizard

    I thought looking after orphans and widows meant looking after people that were afflicted, not creating these afflictions in the first place and then exploiting them to get people to do more.

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