Comments You Will Not Hear at the 1-26-03 WT Study

by blondie 21 Replies latest watchtower bible

• 

  blondie

  Thanks for catchiing that point, UNDF.

  I also notice that they carefully but "Jehovah and Jesus" in many places now where it used to be only "Jehovah." Maybe they read this DB.

  I noticed too that the are circumventing the copyrighted "Jehovah's Christian Witnesses" with the Christian congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses. They have to clear up the misconception that JWs are not Christians by using a label or slogan (ha).

  Blondie
• 

  jgnat

  I welcome your weekly review, Blondie. It makes the weekly dose that much more bearable. I hope this has been a week of good health and humor for you. My own notes,

  Draw Close to God

  for January 26 study from WT December 15, 2002 What Can You Learn from Jesus Birth?

  The following was partially quoted in this week's study:

  A Science Odyssey: 100 Years of Discovery (1998) by Charles Flowers
  Foreword by Charles Osgood

  The more we come to know, the more we realize how little we know. The more we understand, the more clear it is that everything we have learned is nothing compared to what we have yet to learn. Behind each locked door we have managed to open are still more doors and more locks, and so on ad infinitum. So science is not an arrival, but a journey. It is not a fixed body of knowledge or growing shelf of facts and theories, but an infinite series of questions. The most brilliant of scientists have been those who have sought not the right answers to give, but the right questions to ask.

  The WT is full of answers. Lets come up with some good questions.

  1. What kind of pride does Jehovah oppose?
  2. Does Jehovah oppose pride in accomplishment? How about the pride that lifts oneself above the angels, even Jesus?
  3. Can an organization be guilty of pride? If so, what would be the signs we should look for?
  4. If,

  clearly, we will never know all there is to know about Jehovah, how can the WTS presume that all of the rest of Christendom is wrong about His nature?
• Who is a stranger, and should I associate with him? Numbers 9:14, Ezekiel 47:22, 23, Matthew 25:35
• Are we not all strangers? Psalm 39:12
• Who is my neighbour, and should I associate with him? Matthew 19:19
• How can I tell the difference between the WTS exhorting its members to give cheerfully, and Christendoms churches exhorting its members to give cheerfully?
• Why were Davids psalms passed over as a source for great prayers?
• Why did King Asa need an army? Could he not have waited on Jehovah for deliverance against the Ethiopians? 2 Chronicles 14:11, 12

Paragraph 12 had me seeing red. I dedicated a thread to it. ...many who claim to love God really do not...Having lived with family members with mental illness all my life, I treasure the ability to recognize my own emotional state. And the absolute WRONGNESS of anybody telling me what I feel.

Paragraph 14 is not much better. You have to make decisions every day, both major and minor. For instance, what kind of conversation will you have with your workmates, schoolmates, neighbors? ... Will you draw closer to those who show little or no love for Jehovah, or will you seek to strengthen your relationships with spiritual people? Not only do the JW's close ranks amongst themselves, this sickness infects within. New members that transfer from another congregation are treated as strangers. Weak brothers are ignored by spiritually strong brothers. The women are ignored completely. If we follow it to the top, Mr. Jarasz must spend all his time talking to himself.

Build Intimacy by Means of PrayerA commendable activity. Here is a good-looking on-line study on prayer. Aside from the Lords Prayer, three model prayers are given.

• Jacob the Trickster, scared to death that Esau was going to beat the Sheol out of him.
• Asa the Pacifist, with an army of 580,000 men, begged Jehovah to intervene against a massively larger enemy.
• Elijah, who, upon answer to his prayer, slaughtered four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal.

These models suggest the WT is suffering from seige mentality. Having kicked sand in the face of all of Christendom's Churches, the great modern democracies of our day, the United Nations, and anyone else who believes differently than they do, the WTS has run to it's tower, waiting for the day of attack.

What attack? What is the worst the average JW will face from worldly householders, family and friends? Ridicule, slammed doors, fits of laughter? The mourning and sighing and the concerns that weigh us down are all within the WT walls of self created misery. Come on out. The sun is shining, and the water is warm.

Edited by - jgnat on 24 January 2003 11:59:51