not seeing the forest for the trees

by El_Guapo 16 Replies latest jw experiences

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  El_Guapo

  Sometimes when you are in the borg, you miss the obvious. I recall a sheperding call around Sept. 2001. I was a brand-new M.S. and went with an older elder. We visited a spanish family of 8 who was "broke" they had no furniture in their apartment. (They had a several blankets foled and in the corner and one of the kids said they ALL sleep in the living room) It was suprising seeing this family who was always so happy live so poor. I was shocked. The elder talked about the importance of meetings. The brother, (a dishwasher who worked even on Sundays-a big no-no) said that his boss wouldn't budge and he had to work on the weekends. The elder said trust in Jah. The brother got emotional and said that he hadn't pay the electic bill and was worried it was going to be shut off. The elder didn't care. As we are driving back in the car, I ask the elder why the cong. doesn't help the family? He said that we don't do that, they should look to family in times of need (financially) , first. But if a brother wanted to help out as an individual (like ME) it was fine. I asked why do we bring a brother and his wife from bethel every memorial season for the talk. We pay for plane tickets, food, etc. (I was the account servant so I knew how much $$$ we were spending) but can't help a brother who REALLY does need the help (Not just a vacation from Brooklyn) He looked at me and said "It's the way things are done, and it's best to just let it go!"

  That always bugged me, but it's not till you leave the borg that you see the cold-hearted actions of the elders time and time again.
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  Christ Alone

  Interestingly the churches of "Christendom" do far more in helping those in financial need. They usually have funds set up to help those that fall on hard times. They will pay for electric bills, hospital bills, etc...

  I wonder why Jehovah's organization couldn't care less, while Christendom does...
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  Think About It

  Just think of how much money the members of a JW congregation wastes buying WTS literature ,and the gas money it cost to drive around giving it away to uninterested people in the hopes of getting a convert. This money could be collected and put to much greater benefit helping their own in need.
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  troubled mind

  This kind of 'Christian love' by JW is what started me waking up .

  There was a newly interested person attending our hall that needed aid ,and when I asked the Elders if the congregation could help ,they told me that was not the role of the congregation . Our only concern should be preaching ,JWs are not a social services organization .

  They proceeded to tell the person in need that because they were a newly interested one the others would view them as 'an icey wind' on their backs until they proved themselves to be a lover of Jehovah . I was SHOCKED and sickened by this revelation . A few days later this person was homeless ,and when I told an Elders wife , 'I guess I will have to turn to the Churches in town to help her ' ,... she jumped down her husbands throat and ended up getting some help after all. Some of those Elders wives can be real assets .

  When I came to realize they couldn't even get being a good samaritian right, I knew it was all over ....
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  jam

  Think about this, my sister church give money too

  young people for college. Hummm, one supporting its

  members for a better education (meaning more money for

  the church) also food to those in need, clothing , there have been

  cases where the church paid the utility bill for single moms.

  What a difference between Jehovah,s loving organization and

  Christendom.
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  whathappened

  Jesus said we should feed and take care of the poor. The Watchtower Society only feeds and cares for them spiritually...or so they believe. It's all crap.
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  prologos

  it all comes from their interpretation of the Judgement of the sheep and the goats. Jesus said literally that it was humanitarion deeds that gave you gods favor. WT BtS explanation is what* you give to the ORG that buys you billions of years in paradise. They do not want money that belongs to the ORG to go to those in need.

  *ALL your spare time, ALL your saved money, assets.
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  pixel

  Christian love brought to you by the WT/FDS/GB at its best...
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  jgnat

  I am reading Karen Armstrong, her analysis of Genesis right now. I am impressed with her illustration the horror and the divine, side by side. Faith of Genesis is not kind or gentle. She compares the passive and coldhearted obedience of Noah to that of Abraham, who challenged God to temper his judgement over Sodom and Gomorrah.

  Perhaps the passive "do as you are told"' is the road to perdition.
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  sd-7

  Yeah, no surprises there. It's strange, really, that they blast Christendom for having stuff like hospitals, programs for the poor, that sort of thing. One would think Jesus set the example that he wanted the sick and the poor to be helped, and that was the opposite of what his enemies were doing.

  But hey, just the absence of abusive behavior would be an effing miracle, much less actively helping others. Granted, there are exceptions. My wife told me that while she was in the DF'd state, someone in the local congregation gave her rides to meetings and even baby clothes when her first child was born. Honorable in itself, but the problem is, if she had refused to attend meetings, we all know they would never have done anything for her. It's only because she was on the road to reinstatement that they bothered.

  The organization as a whole does not have any program in place that is designed solely for helping the poor. If they did, we know they would boasting the hell out of it in the magazines and the Yearbook. So...it's one effed up forest, that's for sure. Let no more fruit come from you forever, you self-righteous sons of birches.

  --sd-7