WT Jan 2011 - Grieving Holy Spirit Defined?

sabastious

...What else
could Alex do? He might lovingly approach
Steve again and lay bare his fault. That will
take courage. It may well be, though, that
this time Steve will welcome the opportunity
to talk about his problem. Alex should
again encourage Steve to speak to the elders
and tell him that if he does not do so within
a reasonable period of time, then Alex
will alert them.—Lev. 5:1.

12 If you ever have to handle such a situation,
your friend may not at first appreciate
your efforts to help. But he might in time
come to realize that you are acting in his
best interests. If the erring one receives and
accepts help, then he might be lastingly
grateful to you for your courage and loyalty.
On the other hand, if he becomes hardened
against you, is he really the kind of friend
that you want? Pleasing our greatest Friend,
Jehovah, is always the right thing to do.
Whenwe put himfirst, otherswho love him
will respect us for our loyalty and become
true friends. We should never allow place
for the Devil in the Christian congregation.
If we were to do so,we truly would grieve Jehovah’s
holy spirit. We act in harmony
with it, however, by working to
keep the Christian congregation pure.
—Eph. 4:27, 30.
Empowered to Endure
All Kinds of Adversity

13 Adversitymay takemany forms—a
financial reversal, the loss of employment,
a natural disaster, the death of a
loved one, a health crisis, and so on.
Since we live in “critical times,” it is to
be expected that sooner or later all of
us will have to deal with some kind of
trial. (2 Tim. 3:1) When that occurs, it
is important not to panic. Holy spirit
can empower us to endure any kind of adversity.

What do they mean by "grieving the holy spirit"?

-Sab

Mattieu

uh oh, Sab, the unforgiveable sin, purposefiully working against Jahs spirit in such a way that one "grieves" it

VM44

The Watchtower describes the "Holy Spirit" to be a force Jehovah uses to acomplish his purposes. They liken it to the force of "electricity."

So, how could one "grieve" electricity?

What the Watchtower is in effect encouraging is the breaking of confedentiality even among close associates. There is nothing that must come between the Watchtower followering and the leadership. Keeping confidences is evidently one way that one "grieves" the Holy Spirit. Like an invisible octopus, they want to be everywhere, but to be seen not to be so.

Of course, one may ask how on earth one can make electricity sad? Keeping to the word "grieve" and straining a metaphorical meaning out of it, avoids any need to actually show how this can be done to an inanimate object. What the Watchtower is doing is making the word "grieve" mean "resist". Hence a Watchtower follower who does not accord with Watchtower dogmatics can "resist" ["grieve"] something that evidently animates the organization but which cannot be grieved.

It is as clear as mud.

cameo-d

VM44: " So, how could one "grieve" electricity?"

Grieving the Holy Spirit is going against your conscience. What you do to others, you inadvertently do to your self.

journey-on

There is a natural flow in Life, an ebb of positive and negative energies that constantly seeks balance. Christ's spirit continuously seeks resonance with us all for OUR benefit, but when we resist and indeed fight against this natural flow because of our own ego, we cannot work in conjunction with this positive energy and achieve the balance necessary to receive it. Therein lies His grief.

Ding

1. You can't grieve an impersonal force, so the WTS' view of the Holy Spirit is wrong.

2. In Watchtowerland the first, greatest, and only real commandment is: Obey the organization without question...

For the WTBTS, this sums up the law and the prophets.

blondie

FYI--Just reporting not supporting

*** w04 5/15 pp. 29-30 Questions From Readers ***

How can we grieve God’s holy spirit, since it is not a person?

It was the apostle Paul who wrote: "Do not be grieving God’s holy spirit." (Ephesians 4:30) Some take these words to be an indication that the holy spirit is a person. However, publications of "the faithful steward" have often provided Scriptural and historical proof that the early Christians viewed the holy spirit neither as a person nor as a god equal to the Most High as part of a so-called Trinity. (Luke 12:42) So Paul was not referring to God’s holy spirit as a person.

God’s holy spirit is his invisible active force. (Genesis 1:2) Jesus was to baptize "with holy spirit," just as John was baptizing with water. (Luke 3:16) At Pentecost 33 C.E., some 120 disciples were "filled with holy spirit"—obviously not with a person. (Acts 1:5, 8; 2:4, 33) Such anointed ones received a heavenly hope, and God’s spirit led them in a life of faithfulness. (Romans 8:14-17; 2 Corinthians 1:22) The spirit produced godly fruitage and helped them to avoid the sinful "works of the flesh" that could result in divine disapproval.—Galatians 5:19-25.

If we are God’s servants with an earthly hope, we have not been anointed with holy spirit. Nevertheless, we can have just as much of God’s spirit as those with the heavenly hope. Hence, we too could grieve the spirit. But how?

If we were to ignore Scriptural counsel penned under the guidance of holy spirit, we could develop traits that could result in willful sin against the spirit, the loss of Jehovah’s favor, and eventual destruction. (Matthew 12:31, 32) We might not yet be sinning gravely, but we could be starting off on the wrong road, one that could eventually take us in a direction contrary to the leading of the spirit. Under such circumstances, we would be grieving the holy spirit.

How, then, can we avoid grieving God’s spirit? We certainly have to control our thoughts and actions. In his letter to the Ephesians, chapter 4, the apostle Paul spoke about avoiding tendencies toward dishonest statements, sustained wrathfulness, laziness, and unsuitable speech. If we have put on "the new personality" and yet allow ourselves to drift back toward such things, what would we be doing? We would be going against the spirit-inspired counsel of God’s Word, the Bible. By doing this, we would be grieving the holy spirit.

In Ephesians chapter 5, we read Paul’s counsel about avoiding prurient interest infornication. The apostle also urges fellow believers to avoid shameful conduct and obscene jesting. If we do not want to grieve God’s holy spirit, we ought to bear this in mind when choosing entertainment. Why would we show interest in such things by talking about them, reading about them, and viewing their portrayal on television or elsewhere?

Of course, we could grieve the spirit in other ways. Jehovah’s spirit promotes unity in the congregation, but suppose we were to spread harmful gossip or encourage cliques in the congregation. Would we not be working against the spirit’s leadings toward unity? In a general way, we would be grieving the holy spirit, like those who caused divisions in the congregation in Corinth. (1 Corinthians 1:10; 3:1-4, 16, 17) We would also be grieving the spirit if we deliberately undermined respect for spirit-appointed men in the congregation.—Acts 20:28; Jude 8.

Clearly, then, it is wise to consider our attitude and actions in the light of what we know to be the leadings of the holy spirit as reflected in the Bible and in the Christian congregation. Let us also be "praying with holy spirit," yielding to its influence and always acting in harmony with what is said in God’s inspired Word. (Jude 20) May it be our determination never to grieve the spirit but always to be led by it to the honor of Jehovah’s holy name.

Mary

VM44 said: The Watchtower describes the "Holy Spirit" to be a force Jehovah uses to acomplish his purposes. They liken it to the force of "electricity." So, how could one "grieve" electricity?

Exactly. According to their own words, "spirit" means either God's active force or like an electrical current, neither of which has any sort of personality:

"Q. What is the holy spirit? A. It is Jehovah's invisible active force; not just the power residing within himself, but his energy when projected out from himself for the accomplishing of his will."---Sept 1, 1961 Watchtower p. 538 Do You Remember?

"...The spirit, or life-force, can be compared to the electric current that flows through a machine or an appliance. The invisible electricity may perform various functions, depending on the type of equipment it powers. For example, an electric stove can be made to generate heat, a computer to process information, and a television set to produce images and sound. Yet, the electric current never takes on the features of the equipment it activates. It remains simply a force. Similarly, the life-force does not take on any of the characteristics of the creatures it animates. It has no personality and no thinking ability."---July 15, 2001 Watchtower, p. 5

How one's actions can grieve an 'active force' or 'electric current' that has no personality and no thinking ability is absurd. Then again---I know lots of elders, COs and DO's who have no personality or thinking ability who grieve the hell out of me........