Hi JWNers!
I had the opportunity to speak to a Witness aquaintaince today. The Lord had put him on my heart some years ago. Eventually we talked about faith, and I asked him about his. He offered the following.
- Armageddon was not likely imminent. He knew about the 1975 debacle and had been hearing the same message for far too long to believe it.
- Refusing blood could well be wrong and "new light" might be on the way. He had recently received a court order to allow his sibling a blood transfusion and was not unhappy about it.
- The "new light" on "this generation" had brought more questions of the WT doctrines. The 1914 generation were indeed dying out and nothing had come to pass as had long been fortold.
- No birthdays was probably a silly rule but he was happy enough to go along with it to keep the peace.
- Similarly, unspoken rules such as "no beards".
So I told him about my own faith. We went around the peripheries a bit (blood, the Father's name etc.) but I quickly brought it back to Jesus. We had a liitle ping pong with the scriptures but interestingly the more I persued the doctrine thing, the more I saw the stone walls of the WT.
What was most frustrating that he can see the WT is clearly flawed in many respects but still believed the WT propaganda, they have "the truth", no-one else is doing the preaching and such.
Anyhow, the cracks are there and seeds had been sown in the dry ground and watered. I need to watch and pray for growth 1 Corinthians 3:7. I can do nothing by myself John 15:5
So I trust you all are well :)
Blessings in Christ,
Stephen xx