Jehovah Will Help You Deal With Life’s Uncertainties

by RULES & REGULATIONS 6 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  RULES & REGULATIONS

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  3. The Watchtower—Study Edition | April 2023

  STUDY ARTICLE 17

  Jehovah Will Help You Deal With Life’s Uncertainties

  
  

  18 Disasters such as the COVID-19 pandemic have affected many of Jehovah’s people. For example, a widow in Nigeria was very low on provisions. One morning, her daughter asked her what they were going to eat after they cooked their last cup of rice. Our sister told her daughter that they did not have any money or food left but that they should imitate the widow of Zarephath​—prepare their last meal and put their complete trust in Jehovah. (1 Ki. 17:8-16) Before they even started thinking about what they would eat for lunch that day, they received a package of relief supplies from fellow believers. The package contained enough food to last for more than two weeks. The sister said that she did not realize how closely Jehovah was listening to what she had told her daughter. Indeed, when we rely on Jehovah, life’s uncertainties can actually draw us closer to him.​—1 Pet. 5:6, 7.

  A Nigerian mother and daughter barely have any food left. They cooked their last cup of rice. They put their complete trust in Jehovah that they won't starve.

  A package of food arrives from fellow believers. Now, they have enough food for two weeks. Did they call the local elders to see if the congregation can help them? Nope! Jehovah somehow was listening in to their conversation, gets his holy spirit involved and gets fellow believers to pool their money together, purchase food and leave relief supplies at the front door.

  So, after the pandemic affects the entire WORLD, Jehovah listens to the prayers and conversations of his loyal followers and forgets to help non-believers with relief supplies. What a great ''God'' Jehovah turns out to be!
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  LongHairGal

  RULES & REGULATIONS:

  All this talk about dealing with ‘life’s uncertainty’ and helping others through ‘difficult times’ is very timely.

  This goes along with a recent post I saw on Reddit having to do with needy JWs being urged to seek help from ‘worldly’ charities, etc.

  Let us not forget the reason for all this neediness is that there are too many Witnesses barely in the workforce and others with no retirement preparation whatsoever. Whose fault is this?? When these JWs were young they were strongly urged that they should be in the full-time ministry - and that Armageddon was sure to come and they wouldn’t need to plan for retirement. Any JW who refused (like I did) and had a decent job or career was shunned or marginalized.

  Now, the religion is giving the impression that other people should be helping. They must imagine that responsible people in congregations are going to tolerate being targeted to give money to people who chose not to work.. This is outrageous. Again, I’m glad I’m not there anymore!!!
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  enoughisenough

  my family always helped others if/when we saw a need...even strangers. And we have been helped when we were in need-even by strangers. So it shouldn't be unusual if members in the congregation learned of a need and helped...but does the Org. have a plan for it on a local level? I remember complaining to some local brothers about a poor sister's home having some foundation issues and it needed some structural support. They would go for miles from home to build halls or to fix a home in a storm damaged area, but not do anything for the locals. ( I think it did shame them into inquiry, but by that time, she was arrears in payments and the house in bad condition, she just left the place to foreclosure... ( now I know the reason to help with the damaged homes is so the JW can collect the insurance!) So other churches have men who will go out into the community and help people. My sister's church had such a group and they repaired my Mom's porch for her. As to helping, in the parable of seeing someone naked and clothing them, or seeing them hungry and feeding them, Jesus said if you did it to the least of these "my brothers", you have done it to me. We know the JW GB lay claim to being Christ's brothers and expect the R and F to donate to them... ( in another post, it is discussed who Jesus said his brothers were. )
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  Jeffro

  Unverifiable anecdote is unverifiable
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  resolute Bandicoot

  Did they call the local elders to see if the congregation can help them? Nope!

  - Got a problem - don't call the elders.

  RB.
  
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  Foolednomore

  Never call the Elders for anything! They are useless.
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  WTWizard

  And after that 2 weeks is up, what then? Right back to having nothing. Is joke-hova going to keep "helping" people to just barely get by? What happens when that abomination decides to stop "helping" just to test their faith under even worse conditions?

  Even assuming this story is not totally bogus (which it could well be), it is another stock story to get joke-hova more praise without actually helping anyone else. Just do it once (or allow some random piece of luck to help someone), take full credit for it, and use this highly irregular example to get dangled in front of everyone else. Don't help any of them, but use this to get people into such hardships in the first place.

  And we have more poverty workings going on. They are glorifying being poor. Now, I view being poor as the result of being lazy or stupid--they are putting curses on people so they are going to be poor for simple bad luck. And they are putting themselves in harm's way, wasting resources to participate in this curse to the whole planet. How much money do they waste in field circus in a week? And by banning many good jobs that could have provided for their needs while producing something worthwhile in the community, they create poverty.

  Then they have this example of how other "believers" helped. True or not, this is communism. You help everyone that happens to be a jokehovian, whether or not they actually deserve help, which is part of communism (everything you own actually belongs to joke-hova to be used as that abomination sees fit). Wouldn't it have been better if, instead of goading people into wasting time and resources pushing this communism, they were helped to produce the food and wealth they need?