Lately, my mother keeps talking about how so many are appreciative of the "faithful & discreet slave CLASS". We got into a discussion that prompted me to tell her that there is no such thing as the faithful slave class and that it was all an invention of Rutherford because the first "faithful slave" was dead. So now EVERTHING is a slave. And after reading the list FOCUS put out with every class, I got a little rabid with my mom. Anyway, we realized we weren't getting anywhere, so we dropped it and went onto other things. ....I just needed to vent the frustration. ( The sad thing is that my mother is really not a dumb woman. But she's in her late 70's and not easy to change).
My Mother &" The Faithful & Discre...
by minimus 24 Replies latest jw friends
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blondie
minimus, she just ain't ready to see it. Forced blooms don't last very long. You have to let them flower naturally.
Most JWs have little understanding what the FDS is and how it functions in relation to Jehovah revealing things from the Bible. Does he reveal it to any one of the anointed, male or female, and they write to the WTS with their findings? Are only those on the GB privileged with this revelation? How does Jehovah reveal it, through the angels, direct inspiration, how? Most don't know the answer to that and few try to answer it. I never have gotten a straight answer from anyone I asked even members of the GB.
She is probably afraid that you might shake her positive assurance that everything she believes is well-founded on the Bible.
Blondie (don't confuse me with the facts class)
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minimus
Blondie, fear is the key. I think it's very difficult to just up and leave something that you've dedicated your life to. I think that most would be afraid to deal with the reality of losing all your friends or family because of a revised belief system. Some days she gets it and other days she gets stubborn....oh well.
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Sentinel
Min,
At least you can have these "meaningful" discussions with your mom. My mother has completely shut me off and out of her life. She is 78.
Sometimes I think it would be so wonderful to be able to "discuss" anything with her. She is just so close-minded and short-sighted about the whole JW concepts. If only she could learn to trust herself.
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Blueblades
Minimus ,There is another way to address the issue of the FDS.Not by denying it,or disputing it,but,by qualifying it with the Societies own explanation of it.WT.10/15/1881,p.3.The number of chosen ones had been completed and no one could become a member of this class after this date of 1881.The Finished Mystery,1917,the number of martyrs in the first century were 861,000.The book of Acts mentions at least 100,000 people saved not including the thousands of gentiles .And this was only the beginning of the growth of Christianity.so, through the centuries by the time Russell came along there was no room for anyone to become part of the FDS.This just a starting point that shows the numbers don't add up for there being an FDS CLASS today.However, that the FDS applies to individuals who are Faithful to Christ can exceed the 144,000 is mentioned in Revealation.
This information is found in the book,"APPROACHING jehovah's witnesses IN LOVE" by Wilbur Lingle.
I'm sorry to hear about your frustation with your Mother in trying to explain this to her.I know it's hard when we are trying to help someone so dear to us. Blueblades
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minimus
Thanx Blue. I recently got that book,and I will try to check it out. Thank you for the reply on that other post, too.
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Blueblades
Minimus,There is a small booklet that came with the book that has many sincere questions that have prompted many jw's to exit the wt.Society after seriously considering the answers given..Blueblades
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Mary
Minimus I know how you feel. My parents are in their early 70s now and they've both been Witnesses since the age of about 9 or 10. My father is disillusioned with the Borg because he was told he'd never be old or face death in this System of Things, and he was specifically told NOT to pay into his pension plan at work when he was 19 years old. He's very bitter about that. However, when I've tried talking to him about the 607 BCE and how it's an incorrect date, he turns a blind eye. My father is smart and he knows the implications. I've talked to my sister about it and I've done research on cults and the mentality its members have. I feel that at his age it would do more harm than good for him to realize that this is a false religion and that he's wasted his life on a false hope. It could easily put him in an early grave. Therefore, I don't say anything about it anymore.
Interestingly, my father watched the CNN and Dateline programs on the pedophile problem within the Organization, and he firmly believes that there IS a major problem and that this is not just some "apostates" tooting their own horn. He even said that the GB members "have alot to answer for at Armageddon" for the cover-up.
If your mom is 78 years old, she probably has the same mentality as my father. I figure at that age, it's better just to let them be, if you still have an otherwise, good relationship with them.
Just my two cents worth........
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freedom96
For those that are elderly, and spent most of their lives as a witness, it has to be hard to even think that what they have practiced for so many years is wrong. For some, they just cannot go there, though the possiblity that it is all wrong is certainly in the back of their minds.
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onthego
Why not mail your mom a copy of this even as others have been doing:
HI! DID YOU KNOW scholarly studies prove that the Christmas Tree is from the Tree of Eternal Life (Ge 2:9, 3:22) depicted in church plays of the Middle Ages, not Luther or Druid tree-worshippers, although outdated articles for example in World Book Encyclopedia still repeat the legends and Luther may have originated the use of candles attached to Christmas trees. Saint Nicholas was an actual man who in the Middle Ages quietly left dowry gifts that kept Christian girls from being sold into slavery, and heading a congregation at Myra where Turkey now is, he wore red and carried a miter although he had no reindeer or elves.
The giant cedars of Lebanon used to build the temple at Jerusalem themselves had bright green needles with tan-colored cones, and John 10:22-3 says Christ visited the successor temple during the Jewish "Festival of Dedication," namely Channukah, during winter. Also called the Festival of Lights, it had singing, the carrying of tree branches, homes filled with lights and joy. Celebrated 8 days each time, its date varies yearly but the first Channukah was December 25, making it an even more likely source for the December 25 celebration than Rome's Saturnalia which came later in the month. Some believe Christ was actually born about Oct 1, which would mean Mary conceived 9 months previously, that is about or on December 25. Indeed count 9 months backwards from October to see for yourself. Santa Claus, as said earlier, did not come from a vaguely known Asian god who descended chimneys to bring gifts or Siberian wizards but instead the Christian Nicholaus a famous gift-giver in the Middle Ages.
In fact Christ himself was wrongly attacked as a "glutton and drunkard" simply for believing in a good time (Mt 11:19). He once turned water to wine at a wedding party in Cana (Jn 2:1-11), told followers to invite needy persons to parties (Lu 14:13-14), and accepted gifts including expensive nard oil. Interestingly, Revelation 1:14 even describes the resurrected Christ's hair as like "white wool" or "snow," his cloak was scarlet-colored (red with a bluish tinge--Mt 27:28), and white symbolized purity. True, all that just coincidentally reminds one of Santa Claus, but do note that the earliest Christians enjoyed balanced merriment at "love feasts" (Jude 12), the angels celebrated Christ's birth (Lu 2), and Job's children had enjoyed birthdays (Job 1:3, 3:1, 3).
Most Christmas trees are topped by a star remindful of the Christ star. According to John Mosley's The Christmas Star (1985) from September 3 BC to June 2 BC Jupiter, known as "the royal planet" passed Regulus "the king star" in the constellation Leo, reversed then passed again, turned and passed a 3rd time. By June 17 Jupiter and Regulus were so close they seemed a single star when seen by the eye. This then is one intriguing possible source for the Christ star in the Bible.
Before Christ's birth unspecified men called "magi" in Biblical Greek came from the East first to Jerusalem (Mt 2:1-2) then went on to find the Christ child in Bethlehem. Some translations render the word magi as astrologers because its root like the word "magician" is linked to the idea of being a person of great might but although magi may refer to people who try to predict the future by observing the stars, using omens and consulting spirit beings as forbidden by God at Deuteronomy 18:10-12, it can also refer to people who worked to predict future weather patterns, good times to plant and harvest, buy and sell crops, etc via careful observation of the clouds, stars and other natural phenomena and with very little to absolutely no special focus on the occult at all. So for solid reasons some Bible translations continue to translate magi as simply "wise men" or "stargazers" and this is also supported by the Bible's positively saying the men brought gifts for Christ and then also protected him by leaving without telling his location to King Herod who wickedly desired to slay him.
Those who kept their families from celebrating Christmas should not be condemned if they were mistaught and so acted out of lack of accurate knowledge in the past but also no one should claim that those who do celebrate the birth of Christ are immature and out of harmony with the Bible even as the preceding information proves. Please read and meditate on what Paul writes at Colossians 2:16.