To the Houshold of God, Israel... and those who go with...

by AGuest 53 Replies latest jw friends

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  I quit!

  Hi Shelby, If I were you I wouldn't go out of my way to attend anything sponsored by the Watchtower Society. You can take communion at anytime or anywhere. All you have to do is find out when a church in your area has it. Some have it once an month or weekly. Some churches several time a week. There is nothing in the Bible that says to do it only once a year. Christians were instucted by Jesus to do this often. I know the term "often" is subjective but when talking about eating or celebrating often isn't once a year anymore than taking a bath once a year would be consider often. So why subject yourself to the Watchtower's once a year theory and why participate in the farcical ceremony put on once a year at a Kingdom Hall?

  I have to agree with Wobble on this one. All you are doing by attending is giving this Wactower farce some credibility it doesn't deserve.

  Anyway I hope your feeling better. Take care of yourself.
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  AGuest

  First, I love... and thank you ALL for your concern for my health (peace to you!). I am taking it one day at a time, right now. Unfortunately, it's all I can do. I am looking forward to the doctor appointment (have put off going to ER 'cause that sometimes turns out like going to the mechanic: the "knocking" stops as soon as you drive up! LOLOLOLOL!). But again, thank you... and may JAH bless each one of YOU... and your households!

  Greetings, dear Guest and I Quit... and peace to you both! Your comments are valid and make sense; however, I will try to clarify in my response to dear Wobble (the greatest of love and peace to you, dear one!), below.

  Could you please ask your Lord how He can sanction any attendance at the "celebration" held by the WT/JW's?

  My understanding from my Lord, dear Wobble, is that love would prompt me to enter in among them and partake... just as it compelled him to continue visiting the temple, even though the Father's spirit had been utterly removed from that "vessel" and placed in him. Why? Because although it was a place that harbored corrupt priests, false prophets, false christs, and hypocritical scribes and Pharisaical religious leaders... it is also were some of the people went. He went there for them, the people, NOT for the false teachings/leadings of the priests, et al.

  It is the same for me... and the message is only for those who DO attend that event. Within them, a great fear has been perpetuated so that practically no one partakes of the flesh and blood of Christ. Because the false prophets have taught them not to. But that is a LIE... and someone must be willing to stand up and state that it is a lie. It is not the same as partaking of their "table"... because THEY don't partake. If you attend a literal meal with someone... and they don't eat... are you truly sharing the meal? Not really.

  Love, though, prompts me to listen to my Lord and go, enter among them, and show them what they SHOULD be doing. Love says that, like the Most Holy One of Israel, I, too, do not want any of them to die. Love, then, prompted me to respond, when my Lord sent me, to say "I will go and stand among the congregation... and declare my union with you." No other group on the planet take issue with this except them. They, then, are the only ones I have to declare it to. So that, in the end, they will know that I was not afraid... or ashamed. And... they will not be able to say, "We didn't know. We knew we were supposed to "do good" to Christ's brothers, but we didn't know this was one." That won't fly. As to how they treat people who are Christ's brothers... but not JWs... as well as how they treat those who WERE JWs, but they rejected based on their own wickedness.

  That they refuse to acknowledge it is on them. I don't expect any "special" treatment. I am just doing what Noah did: "Here is an Ark, dear ones. Come! Get on it! Take life's water!" Like Noah, I am not going around maligning them personally. I am not saying to them, "You're gonna die!" as they do to others. I am simply demonstrating my FAITH... as Noah did by building the Ark (even though people thought he was wasting his time and crazy)... which NO ONE... has a right to deny another.

  But, they do it because they have been misled. GREATLY misled. Shouldn't SOMEONE, then, care enough to say, "THIS is what you ALL should be doing?" My Lord has taught me that love says, yes, someone should. But who? So what if the majority don't/won't listen. What if ONE person gets it? Like Plato's "Allegory of the Cave", do we just let them sit, back against the wall, and imagine what's going on? Or do we, who've escaped from the cave GO BACK... and shed some light on what's really going on?

  Each one has to decide for himself/herself what to do in this regard. Foolish thing that I am, however, I am not the kind to hide and do things in secret. Rather, I am the kind that would have been at the foot of my Lord's pole, literally until they took him down. I cannot live my faith in secret - that would never work for me. Jehovah's Witnesses have said, almost literally, that "YOU cannot be a chosen one. YOU are not worthy to eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ." They are wrong... and I will declare that among them as long as I can. If it leads them out... WHOO-HOOO! But even before and better than THAT, if it leads them to UNDERSTAND their necessity for the flesh and blood of Christ, so that they open the way for the Covenant to be ratified in THEM... by partaking... whether among JWs or in private... then that's all that really matters to me.

  I'm not fit to empty Shelby's slop jar.

  Nor I yours, my dear sister Sylvia (the greatest of love and peace to you, my dear, dear one!). But you KNOW I would happily do so! In a NY minute! LOLOLOLOL!

  Again, peace to you all... and, again, thank you for your very kind words and concern!

  YOUR servant and a slave of Christ,

  SA
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  Inkie

  Jay88: You quoted Shelby and asked:

  The alternative would be to go with my husband/his family to their KH. It may be that they (the family) partake there this year. They do at my house).

  So this is a family affair? wow,.....interesting

  In fact, Jay88, the celebration of the Passover (and subsequently the Memorial of Christ’s death) has always been a “familial” celebration. The Passover “law”--while done by the entire nation--was that it was to be celebrated in one’s home.

  Read Exodus, chapter 12:

  Speak to the entire assembly of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth day of this month they are to take for themselves each one a sheep for the ancestral house, a sheep to a house. 4 But if the household proves to be too small for the sheep, then he and his neighbor close by must take it into his house according to the number of souls; YOU should compute each one proportionate to his eating as regards the sheep. 5 The sheep should prove to be sound, a male, a year old, for YOU . Y OU may pick from the young rams or from the goats. 6 And it must continue under safeguard by YOU until the fourteenth day of this month, and the whole congregation of the assembly of Israel must slaughter it between the two evenings. 7 And they must take some of the blood and splash it upon the two doorposts and the upper part of the doorwaybelonging to the houses in which they will eat it.

  And the blood must serve as YOUR sign upon thehouses where YOU are.

  Seven days no sourdough is to be found in YOUR houses.

  In all YOUR dwellings YOU are to eat unfermented cakes.

  none of YOU should go out of the entrance of his house until morning.

  Then when Jehovah does pass through to plague the Egyptians and does see the blood upon the upper part of the doorway and upon the two doorposts, Jehovah will certainly pass over the entrance, and he will not allow the ruination to enter into YOUR houses to plague YOU .

  It is the sacrifice of the passover to Jehovah, who passed over the housesof the sons of Israel.

  --Inkie
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  Mad Sweeney

  I have learned that it doesn't matter where, when, or even what you partake. Therefore the Memorial season is a human construct I have no interest in participating in. I'll partake what I choose to partake where and when I choose to partake it. That is the freedom we have all been given.
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  AGuest

  I'll partake what I choose to partake where and when I choose to partake it. That is the freedom we have all been given.

  I don't think anyone's denying that, dear MS (the greatest of love and peace to you!); however, that same "freedom" pertains to all, does it not, including those who wish to celebrate it traditionally, as well as those who may feel compelled to enter in among their enemies and celebrate it? That really is the "freedom of the sons of God," isn't it... so long as however it's done, the purpose is to be in union with Christ and the underlying motivation is love?

  Again, peace to you!

  YOUR servant and a slave of Christ,

  SA
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  wobble

  Dear Shelby, may you and yours have the peace that is meant by "Shalom",

  Thank you for your answer, I can see why you may wish to be there, as a witness to what you know to be true, and to show by your actions in partaking that your belief is still solid and real.

  I still cannot see that The Lord Jesus would be there, he was not bound to be present because two or three of his brothers were somwhere in mixed company with sinners, unbelievers and people who hated him, say.

  No , he said He would be there if just two or three came together in faith.

  Probably 100% of the people where you go to give a witness by partaking, are not Christ's brothers, so are you there alone, does your Lord leave you to do this in your own strength ?

  If He is there, he is joining in as much as you, if He is not then it is a gathering of fools that He rejects, and your love in reaching out to them may be wasted, though I do hope not.

  The Lord's servant Paul said that there could be no fellowship with idols, and yet by attending such a ceremony as the memorial you are giving tacit approval to the idolatry shown toward the Governing Body, who have claimed the place that belongs to only one, the One who is "THE WAY, THE TRUTH, and THE LIFE".

  Those present will believe that you feel as they do, that these men, the Governing Body, are "The Way" , does your Lord approve of your giving that kind of false witness ?

  Please ask Him.
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  PSacramento

  Inkie makes an excellent point for "home partaking".

  Well done Inkie.

  Certainly if Christ hadn't been in Jerusalem for the reasons he had been, He probably would have had the passover meal either at home with His Momand disciples or perhaps in the home of whichever disciple had the bigger house.

  Of course we are indeed free to partake where, how and with whom that we choose to but I do admire Shelby's spunk, LOL
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  snowbird

  Wobble, I have to agree with you.

  I believe the Master's answer would be: "Leave them be ... "

  Syl
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  Mad Sweeney

  I don't think anyone's denying that, dear MS (the greatest of love and peace to you!);however, that same "freedom" pertains to all, does it not, including those who wish to celebrate it traditionally,

  Jehovah's Witnesses and the Watchtower Society try to deny that freedom. They only succeed among those who allow them to.

  as well as those who may feel compelled to enter in among their enemies and celebrate it? That really is the "freedom of the sons of God," isn't it... so long as however it's done, the purpose is to be in union with Christ and the underlying motivation is love?

  Absolutely. That was part of my point, so we agree. You have every right to walk into any KH you choose and eat the cracker and drink the wine when it is passed to you. It doesn't need to be done by their terms or anyone else's. You are not doing it because the Watchtower commands it but rather because you perceive it as the will of the Lord. Were you to do it at home, or elsewhere, on another date and time, the Watchtower might condemn you for it, but I don't believe your Lord would.
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  AGuest

  are you there alone, does your Lord leave you to do this in your own strength ?

  To date, I have never partaken alone, dear Wobble (again, peace to you!). There has always been at least two of us... and so my Lord has always been there.

  The Lord's servant Paul said that there could be no fellowship with idols, and yet by attending such a ceremony as the memorial you are giving tacit approval to the idolatry shown toward the Governing Body, who have claimed the place that belongs to only one, the One who is "THE WAY, THE TRUTH, and THE LIFE".

  I have to disagree. Again, I am not there to worship, give credence to, or otherwise acknowledge the GB. Indeed, my presence is in opposition to that group and their teachings. Regarding your response, though, here is the response my Lord gave me to share with you: Paul also went to the temple... although its purpose, leadership, and ceremony had been condemned by my Lord. Yet, he (Paul) observed the requirements for entry into the temple, even encouraging Timothy and others to do so as well. Although such things (washing and circumcision) were not required by Christ... but the priests, et al. Paul did it, however, to "gain" those at the temple, to the extent he could.

  Those present will believe that you feel as they do, that these men, the Governing Body, are "The Way"

  Oh, no, no, no, no... dear one. To the contrary, they consider me as one who spits in the face of the GB. Trust me on this. My presence... and partaking is NOT an affirmation to them that I follow the GB. It is... to them and in truth... an affirmation of my utter disagreement with the GB... who they claim to be... and what they teach. Trust me: 14 JC meetings kind of made that clear.

  does your Lord approve of your giving that kind of false witness ?

  You misunderstand the "witness" that I am giving: it is FOR him... which is against them... always.

  Please ask Him.

  I did, dear one. And I have responded as he has given me to. They've made two comments over the years that show THEY know I am not part of them. One was that if one was really "faithful", they would attend ALL meetings and participate in field service, etc., not just attend one particular meeting a year. When my former PO asked about that I told him that I wasn't there to support the golden calf [that the WTBTS] but to be a "shining example" to the lost sheep of Israel who might be bowing down to it. He then said, "Well, if we're so bad, why do you keep coming at all?" In no more than a second my Lord provided the answer which I gave to that man. I said, "Because MY love for YOU... has NOT failed." After staring at me for several seconds he turned and walked away. Now, when I see him there is a little less gnashing of the teeth (others, though, still gnash theirs. Openly and hugely. A curious sight, actually).

  I hope this helps... and, again, peace to you!

  A slave of Christ,

  SA, who believes that one can say that one prays for one's enemies all day long... but it really comes down to what one will also DO for their enemies. Sometimes that shakes out to puttin oneself in a less than inviting situation... FOR [the love of] one's enemies...