During yesterday's public talk, I noted the speaker did not make a full reference to the first outline point following the second reference to Romans 12:21 - "But keep conquering the evil with the good".
This first outline point as I call it, is as follows: "Be willing to forgive others whenever there is a basis for doing so". Interesting conditionality I thought! It references the AW of June 8th 1995 page 10 paras 6-7. In part it says there... "What though, if others sin against us in a more serious way, deeply injuring us? In such extreme cases... forgiveness may involve a number of issues. This would be particularly true when there is no acknowledgement of the sin, no repentance, and no apology on the part of the offender. *" The asterisk references the Insight Vol 1 page 862 which says "Christians are not required to forgive those who practice malicious, willful sin with no repentence."
It's quite rare in my experience, for the authors at WT HQ to portray such conditionality regarding forgiveness. The speaker's complete omission of the outline point in his talk may be a reflection of the rarity of the idea in WT literature or his discomfort with it.
During the recent zone visit to Britain, the speaker said that most JW's who are wronged in some way are wronged by other JWs. In my experience in SE England, the wrongs (to put it mildly) are perpetrated by members of BoEs. I am not aware of any such wrongdoers on BoEs who acknowledge, repent, or apologise. I know of one elder who has stated: "Elders don't do apologies"!
Perhaps that explains why I've waited two years so far and no apology from the CoBoE! I used to think that "good things come to those who wait". Perhaps not in this case! More realistic may be the alternative cliché which says: "They who expect nothing shall not be disappointed"!
This first outline point as I call it, is as follows: "Be willing to forgive others whenever there is a basis for doing so". Interesting conditionality I thought! It references the AW of June 8th 1995 page 10 paras 6-7. In part it says there... "What though, if others sin against us in a more serious way, deeply injuring us? In such extreme cases... forgiveness may involve a number of issues. This would be particularly true when there is no acknowledgement of the sin, no repentance, and no apology on the part of the offender. *" The asterisk references the Insight Vol 1 page 862 which says "Christians are not required to forgive those who practice malicious, willful sin with no repentence."
It's quite rare in my experience, for the authors at WT HQ to portray such conditionality regarding forgiveness. The speaker's complete omission of the outline point in his talk may be a reflection of the rarity of the idea in WT literature or his discomfort with it.
During the recent zone visit to Britain, the speaker said that most JW's who are wronged in some way are wronged by other JWs. In my experience in SE England, the wrongs (to put it mildly) are perpetrated by members of BoEs. I am not aware of any such wrongdoers on BoEs who acknowledge, repent, or apologise. I know of one elder who has stated: "Elders don't do apologies"!
Perhaps that explains why I've waited two years so far and no apology from the CoBoE! I used to think that "good things come to those who wait". Perhaps not in this case! More realistic may be the alternative cliché which says: "They who expect nothing shall not be disappointed"!