FAITH: accepting what you are told.....without question!

by Terry 21 Replies latest jw friends

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  Terry

  Faith: if we adopt it as a way of accepting what we are told...

  would investigating what we are told be a lack of faith?

  When I was 20 years old I was instructed to refuse induction into the Armed Forces. Privately, I was instructed to not accept the legal alternative: alternate service (work in a hospital as a non-combatant conscientious objector.)

  I was sentenced to prison. (Youth corrections act: indeterminate sentence from 6 months to 6 years.)

  I was incarcerated in 1967 and paroled in 1969.

  In all the time I was in Federal Prison I never received a letter from my congregation.

  I never got a visit from anybody from the Kingdom Hall except my best friend who only came once.

  The girl I was engaged to was asked out and dated brothers from surrounding congregations.

  When I was paroled and came back to the Kingdom Hall meeting for the first time--nobody asked me how it was inside the prison or how the other brothers were.

  Through it all I never once questioned that I had done the right thing.

  WHY?

  I keep asking myself that question....WHY?

  Faith: if we adopt it as a way of accepting what we are told...

  would investigating what we are told be a lack of faith?

  I think that must be the reason. I didn't want to be guilty of a lack of faith.

  Fascinating!

  "In the past, some Witnesses have suffered for refusing to share in activity that their conscience now might permit. For example, this might have been their choice years ago as to certain types of civilian service. A brother might now feel that he could conscientinously perform such without overstepping his Christian neutrality regarding the present system of things" (Watchtower August 15, 1998 page 17, par.6-8), article about civilian services instead of military services. And on opposite page has a picture funeral scene , they(GB) have the caption "Even in the face of personal loss, we can be confident that Jehovah is righteous"
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  Terry

  An ex-JW author perfectly summed up the situation in his book on the history of Jehovah's Witnesses:

  A long acquaintance with the literature of the Witnesses leads one to the conclusion that they live in the intellectual 'twilight zone.' That is, most of their members, even their leaders, are not well educated and not very intelligent. Whenever their literature strays onto the fields of philosophy, academic theology, science or any severe mental discipline their ideas at best mirror popular misconceptions, at worst they are completely nonsensical. [Alan Rogerson, Millions Now Living Will Never Die: A Study of Jehovah's Witnesses, p. 116, Constable, London, 1969.]
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  Terry

  *** w81 12/1 pp. 27-28 The Path of the Righteous Does Keep Getting Brighter *** This "faithful and discreet slave," which is associated with Jehovah?s Witnesses, has indeed been used by Jehovah God to guide, strengthen and direct his people. True, since the light shines forth progressively, and because there have been mistakes due to human imperfection and weakness, these Christians have had, on occasion, to reevaluate viewpoints and teachings. But has this not resulted in refinement, to their benefit? Consider some examples.

  *** w81 8/15 p. 28 Serving Jehovah "Shoulder to Shoulder" *** 13 In serving Jehovah "shoulder to shoulder," we need, as Zephaniah so often emphasizes, to cultivate the quality of meekness. When we make mistakes, as all imperfect humans do, let us be ready to acknowledge them, even as the "faithful and discreet slave," made up of imperfect fleshly men, has had to make corrections. However, let us never be critical of the grand body of truth that Jehovah has built up among his united people over the past 100 years, and which, by correction and adjustment, has come to shine ever more brightly on "the path of the righteous ones."?Prov. 4:18.

  *** w69 7/15 p. 440 Have You Stumbled at What Others Have Done? ***And so it is today. Jehovah God and Jesus Christ make allowances for the imperfections of their human servants and representatives. God is using ?Christ?s brothers,? also termed collectively "the faithful and discreet slave," to do His work in the earth. The ones comprising this group are imperfect, make mistakes, and yet are being used and blessed by God. And Jesus said that whatever was done to them he counted as done to him, and that in spite of their imperfections.?Matt. 24:45-47; 25:31-46.

  *** w96 9/15 p. 24 Do You Really Need to Apologize? *** So, then, do we really need to apologize? Yes, we do. We owe it to ourselves and others to do so. An apology can help to ease the pain caused by imperfection, and it can heal strained relationships. Each apology we make is a lesson in humility and trains us to become more sensitive to the feelings of others. As a result, fellow believers, marriage mates, and others will view us as those who deserve their affection and trust. We will have peace of mind, and Jehovah God will bless us.
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  Terry

  Authors misquoted by the Watchtower have something to say:

  ***g874/8p.22SpeakinginTongues?IsItFromGod?***

  Dr. Vinson Synan of the Pentecostal Holiness Church stressed the dilemma sincere worshipers face concerning the role of speaking in tongues. He said: "Speaking in tongues is an embarrassment to us." Why? Dr. Synan noted that tongues today may not seem to make sense to us. "Embarrassing as it may be," he continued, "glossolalia [speaking in tongues] is the gift that God has chosen atstrategicpointsinhistory to expand and renew the Church."?Italics ours.Then Dr. Synan protested how he was portrayed, and the WTS acknowledged it and apologized:***g882/8p.28FromOurReaders***I have received copies of your article where I was grossly misquoted. (April 8, 1987, "Speaking in Tongues?Is It From God?") You misconstrued my words to make it appear that I am embarrassed by speaking in tongues, when that is definitely not the case. In truth I was quoting C. S. Lewis, who said that tongues were an embarrassment. Then I proceeded to tell the mighty importance of tongues in church history, i.e. why it should not be an embarrassment to the church. . . . This misquotation actually makes it seem that I oppose tongues, which I certainly do not.

  Vinson Synan, United States

  WeregretthatweinadvertentlyattributedthestatementofC.S.Lewis,"Speakingintonguesisanembarrassmenttous,"toVinsonSynan.However,wecorrectlyquotedDr.Synan?sstatementappearinginthepublication"OneinChrist":"Embarrassingasitmaybe,glossolaliaisthegiftthatGodhaschosenatstrategicpointsinhistorytoexpandandrenewtheChurch."WedidnotquoteDr.Synantoindicatethathewasopposedtospeakingintonguesbuttoshowthatheacknowledgedthatthematterofspeakingintonguescouldbeadilemmaforsomesincereworshiperstoday.InthatarticleDr.Synanindicatedapossibledilemmaforsome:"IagreewithLarryChristensonwhostated...?Godhassovereignlychosentousethegiftoftonguesasacatalystforrenewal...itmaynotmakesensetoourownreason...buthecomesknockingwherehechooses...?"WehopethatthisclarifiesDr.Synan?spositionwithregardtospeakingintongues,whichdiffersfromours.?ED.
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  Terry

  The Governing body are not inspired--yet--they are the sole channel of Jehovah's direction on earth.

  How is it possible they make prophetic utterance without claiming to be Prophets?

  AlanF said it best:

  First, they argue that "inspiration" was something that happened only with the Bible writers and certain prophets. Of course, they ignore what the word "inspiration" actually means, one of which meanings is "divine direction". I.e., anyone who is inspired certainly is divinely directed.

  Then they argue that "inspiration" and "divine direction" are not necessarily the same thing. They claim that when they receive "divine direction", it's more of a gentle push from God to get them moving in a certain direction, and they can respond or not to this gentle push. Of course, there's not a trace of biblical justification for this idea, but hey! JWs have all sorts of unbiblical ideas. A point of particular note is that they claim that any JW, not just GB members, can receive this "direction".The contradiction between the above excuses and reality in the JW community becomes clear when an individual JW claims to have received "divine direction" that goes against the "divine direction" that the GB claims to have received. Here we observe that the GB members are more 'equal' than are any other JWs. Indeed, they claim that only the "divine direction" given to them has any spiritual weight, and therefore that when other JWs claim to have such direction, they're either fooling themselves or are lying. Thus we find that the Watchtower disfellowships JWs who claim that their "direction" is equal to the GB's.
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  palmtree67

  "there's not a trace of biblical justification for this idea"

  Not disagreeing with you, but die-hards will say that the "gentle push from god to move in a certain direction" is how the Bible was written.
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  journey-on

  Terry, you've written lots of things in the past about faith. I have a question: Do you have faith (real faith) in anything at all?
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  gubberningbody

  Thomas supposedly refused to believe in the resurrection until he'd seen Jesus himself. Yes, as Jesus said, "happy are those that do not see, and yet believe", however that statement doesn't mean that it's preferable to wallow in credulity and at the same time engage in self-congratulatory thinking for wallowing.

  I'm sick of "faith". I want real answers, and no more fake one which require sipping kool-aide and closing ones eyes while clicking ones heels together saying "There's no place like the new system..."
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  acolytes

  journey-on-

  I would value Terrys answer to your interpretation of your question.

  How would you answer your own question?

  Acolytes
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  Terry

  Terry, you've written lots of things in the past about faith. I have a question: Do you have faith (real faith) in anything at all?

  Here is how I've come to consider "faith."

  Faith is always represented as being the best thing there is. Well it is the worst thing, really.

  Why?

  Faith is a given. It flops down in that big easy chair in your soul and stays there greedily confiscating the remote and switching channels all day in its underwear!

  Faith is stubborness on the one hand and laziness on the other.

  Faith is not the same thing as TRUST and people slide over into that neighborhood right away when defending faith.

  I trust my loved ones and hope for the best but I don't have "faith" in people.

  Why not? It doesn't mean anything, that's why!

  Here is me having faith in something........

  Here is me not having faith in something...

  God is supposed to be the best there is. At least, as great and as best as an INVISIBLE thing can be. Now what's THAT all about?

  INVISIBLE??

  Okay, how about this?

  My faith is INVISIBLE just like god!!

  How's that?

  That mean anything?