A few weeks back I ran into an elder at a business meeting out of town. I had seen him there before when I was a MS. This time I had a chance to tell him that my standing in the congregation had changed and that I was inactive. He said that sometimes we need to take some time to reevaluate where we stand in the "truth". So we started talking about business and he told me he had made an offer on a different type of business and that he was going to move to another part of the country, but the deal fell through when someone else made a better offer. He then said that Jehovah made the real estate deal fail and he ended up buying another business in an area they were short on elders. At that point I told him I didn't believe Jehovah has anything to do with business deals...you should have seen his face. I said how can Jehovah meddle in your business deals but not intervene when brothers are persecuted or starving because they don't have the basic necessities. Yet worse, why doesn't he prevent brothers from being killed in car accidents while they're on their way to an assembly or in service? Helping you while turning his back to the others would show partiality on his part. I added that the WT teaching says the God doesn't help single individuals but his people as a whole. Blank stare! I asked him if he read the experience in the yearbook where a plane crashed on the home of JWs that were at the meeting. He said yes. I asked if being at the meeting is what saved them? He replied that when we obey Jehovah we are bound to be blessed. I asked him if someone was at the church when the plane crashed who would he attribute his survival to? What if that JW family had decided to skip the meeting and go to the beach instead wouldn't they have survived? So what really saved the JWs wasn't that they were at the KHall, it was that they weren't home where the plane crashed! So I concluded by telling him that my distance from the organization has allowed me to see things in a different light so I can determine what is true and what isn't. I hope that what I told him sounded a bell when at the last service meeting they spoke about the family who left their chickens behind to go to the assembly and how Jehovah made their chickens more fertile! In the meantime children are sexually abused, brothers are beaten and thrown in jail and publishers are attacked by pit bulls while in service!
Jehovah made the deal fail so I could go where they needed me more
by NVR2L8 8 Replies latest jw friends
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Julia Orwell
Way to take the wind out of his sails! If he's a thinking man, there's no 'unhear'mnd button in his mind and he's bound to consider 'Jehovah's' interventions differently.
I hope. I remember when I was in, I thought Jehovah had maneuvered things so when I moved it would be into this congregation at that time, just so I could meet my husband...believers can be so egotistical.
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Separation of Powers
Nvr2l8:
Couldn't agree with you more! Why is it that people attribute their blessings to Jehovah when SOOO many people are left unblessed. It seems rather narcissistic to me. What about that single mother that is working at that menial job and trying to get by with food stamps? Jehovah's blessing?
Quick story:
Years ago there was a talk outline, I don't know if it still part of the canon of talks, but it once was. It was about "self-sacrifice." The brother who came and gave the talk at our hall was a really good speaker, used extensively in the circuit and district, very animated, really strong voice, engaging, everything you hope for on a Sunday morning running on a cup of coffee. He starts by talking about Jesus NOT having a place to lay his head. That Jesus sacrificed all he could ever have hoped to be for the sake of the good news....yadda, yadda, yadda. Anyway, while he's talking I notice that he has cufflinks and they sparkle really brightly. This causes me to examine his suit and tie a little more closely....tailored. I look over at his wife, facelift with designer dress and shoes. Her wedding ring? Can anybody say HOPE diamond?
All the while, he's talking about sacrifice and pioneering and what is stopping YOU? After it was over, I follow him outside (he left at halftime) and tell him that I appreciated him coming to our hall and all that. I ask him how long he'd been pioneering...he said he wasn't, but he really wanted to. We said our goodbyes and then he and his wife drove away in their Mercedes 500 class. B. E. A. Utiful car!
I guess Jehovah was really blessing him while that poor sister who had pioneered for years was just trying to get some help from the government so she didnt get evicted from her apartment.
There is simply NO reason to believe that God looks with favor on one person and not on the other.
It seems only those with more than they need would say that.
Just a thought,
SOP
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Julia Orwell
Or the sis I knew who prayed she would find a good parking spot at the shops. Yep, Jehovah blessed her with a parking spot, while the pioneer killed in that car accident must've pissed Jehovah off or not prayed enough specifically about having a safe car ride that day.
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adamah
Hmmm, you've got to wonder where they get the idea that God gives his friends special blessings?
Totally narcissistic thinking, to assume that the being who created all the stars in a single day, God Almighty, wants to be BFF with you! And they even have the nerve to look down their noses at the haughtiness of men....
Adam
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Comatose
NVR2L8 that's hilarious. :-) good job. By the way, I'm going to use that the next time someone tells me a story about attending the meeting saving a life. I'll say, "well you know, we make sure to go a nice Sunday breakfast just to be sure we are not at home. So thanks for your concern but we are on top of it."
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NVR2L8
Love your comments. In our conversation he asked what caused me to stop going to the meetings. I said it was sseeing all the old timers bobbing their heads in approval while they were being told the new meaning of the generation at the 2010 DC. I realized that in 5 years most of them would be gone after sacrificing everything in the hope of surviving Armageddon...The elders reply was that Jehovah would reward them. I said that many live on social security while others decided not to have children and they are now all alone . Some neglected their health and may die prematurely because of this. If he and I had obeyed the WT we both would be in their situation in 10 years from now. Instead he has a wife, children, a business, a home...could you imagine your life otherwise? I said that alarm bells had been ringing for a while and that I just couldn't stop them. We parted on good terms and he said I was still his brother...but I could see the next day that he was keeping his distance. I guess we'll have to wait for when we meet again.
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whathappened
Yes, he is keeping his distance because he knows you could destroy his faith in this cult he's in.
Wish we knew what he really thinks now.
Thanks for sharing. Hope you helped to awaken him.
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scotoma
Nvr2l8
Don't think for a moment that your conversation changed him one bit.
He will keep saying that Jehovah managed his business.
It's part of the big narrative that he has to have.
You need to give them electro shock to break up some of the nonsense circuits. Then a couple waterboardings might help.
But casual conversation? Forget about it.
