Is The Bible Really All We Might Think?

by Sentinel 3 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  SpiceItUp

  I want carrot cake for my BD (its my favorite)...ok I'll wait til November.

  Sorry...not to take away from a serious subject. I often ask my mother..how can you believe everything you read. Not to mention take the childs game of telephone. Its where you sit around in a circle - say something- whisper to the next person (ok I know most of you probably know but some may not) - and see if you end up with the same thing at the other end. Something that was written that "long" ago, and with so many different variations. I would not tend to put that much faith in something that could simply be a message heard incorrectly.

  but I deviate - I think it would be very hard to prove the Bible right (about as hard as it would be to prove it wrong). Who knows what inspired it to be written and by who. And this is why I do not believe in blind faith.

  Spice
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  Sentinel

  Spice,

  Thinking back to the days of going to the Sunday WT study. I would study prior to the meeting, and then refer to the question at the bottom of the page, and then underline the answer. Well, during the times when I was feeling assertive, I would raise my hand to "comment". The brothers expected us all to read the answers word for word from the WT, but I would make some other comments, which they didn't like. These were not bad comments, but they were my own.

  They would "irritatingly" wait till I finnished, and say "now would someone else in the congregation like to give us the correct answer from the WT". After the meeting they would come to me and remind me of how we were supposed to answer publicly= ONLY FROM THE MATERIAL AS PRINTED IN THE WT.

  After awhile, they stopped calling on me to answer. So much for freedom of speech and self expression. It wasn't long after that, that I withdrew from the MS, and simply "called it a day".
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  Salud

  Sentinel,

  Did they really ask you that? I was conductor for many years and even if I did not agree with the comment or it was the 'wrong' answer I never asked anyone for the right answer. Good conductors knew ways around that. I always encouraged publishers to answer in their own words, never liked the word for word answers myself.
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  Sentinel

  Salud,

  Thank you for responding to my post. To answer your question about whether or not my experience as related really happened that way:

  Yes, it did, or I would not have said it. You were a very dedicated and serious "Conductor", and obviously were sensitive and knew how to do the task correctly. I can't say that about all the brothers who had such positions. If a brother had an "attitude" about you, then he already had preconceived ideas about you and how he would deal with you.

  Although the women usually outnumber the men in congregations, the women are generally regarded in a much, much lower capacity. They must continually submit to the head of the house, the head of the congregation. I often wonder how situations would have worked out, had sisters been allowed more of an input, especially in the df' hearings. But mainstream religions give little authority to women. What they have managed to gain over the years shows some improvement, BUT NOT IN THE JW Org. They are still where they've always been--at the bottom.

  Since I was already a very inquisitive and questioning individual, I just didn't like to accept things on face value. I needed some deffinite proof--not just words. They said I lacked faith, well maybe I did. They knew this about me and so really tried to avoid having me express myself in any kind of open forum. This was during the last couple of years that I attended meetings. They had already labeled me.

  The incident related involved the PUBLIC Sunday WT study, and so, they were very careful when calling on baptised sisters, that the information related was word for word, or, rather, that nothing at all was "added" to the information. I am by nature an expressive person, and so in giving expression, always liked to put things into my own words and then express a personal extra.

  Like many others, you took your work seriously. You were like many, who really endeavored to be loving and kind in ways that mattered. You were no doubt young at the time.

  Hope to Hear from you again,

  Karen/Sentinel