"Reinstatement Party" Called Off Per The Society

by minimus 96 Replies latest jw friends

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  gumby

  A little on Paul,

  http://www.sullivan-county.com/id3/paul_problem.htm

  Gumby
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  gumby

  Damn you good IW..!

  Gumby
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  Mr. Kim

  I suppose that there is "new light" on this subject--?
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  blondie

  In the same vein of the WTS proscribing parties, but this time for celebrating someone doing something good:

  4/1/95 WT p.

  30

  After the act of baptism, our joy does not require a victory parade, a bouquet of flowers, or a party honoring the one baptized.

  In summary, then, all of us, including those who submit to water immersion, ought to treat baptism with appropriate seriousness. It is not a time for outbursts, for partying, or for hilarity.

  6/1/85 WT

  pp. 30-31

  In the past, some have gone to extremes in giving costly gifts and holding large parties for newly baptized persons. Baptism is an occasion for great joy that can be shared, but perhaps a word of caution is appropriate here. The Bible states: "Better is the end afterward of a matter than its beginning." (Ecclesiastes 7:8) Baptism is a beginning—the beginning of the Christian race for salvation to life. Certainly no lengthy record of faithful service has yet been established. So why cause the newly converted ones to feel unduly self-important?—Compare 1 Timothy 3:6.
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  Euphemism

  IW... if you're not a Christian, you have no right to presume to dictate what Christians should believe.

  It's possible for a Christian to believe that the gospels are inspired, but Paul's letters aren't. It's possible to believe that Paul's specific rulings were meant to be for his own time, rather than the entire congregation throughout the ages. It's possible to believe that Paul's rules were only binding on the congregations over which he presided, as apostle to the Gentiles. It's possible to believe that some of Paul's writing was personal opinion. There are many possibilities.

  But we don't even have to go there. The fact is, as minimus said, Paul gets a bad rap. His letters actually contain very few specific rules. Paul did not try to make the congregation smooth and efficient; he just tried to impose a minimum of order so that the congregation could worship together in unity. Look at his advice on meetings in 1 Cor 14, for example. He doesn't go heavily into the exact program of the meetings; he simply urges that people take turns speaking, not try to hog the session, get a translator if they're speaking in tongues, etc. The only thing that's really a firm rule is that the speakers should be male.

  Turning to the subject at hand, the only "rule" that Paul makes about reinstatement is: "You should kindly forgive and comfort him, that somehow such a man may not be swallowed up by his being overly sad." (2 Cor 2:7)

  So please don't try to tell me that the WTS' rule-making is in imitation of the Apostle Paul.
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  Prisca

  All the books of the NT were made valid by the same process, to call that process partially incorrect is to destroy all trust in that process and in the selection of all the books of the NT, including the Gospels. This is the problem Christians have when they attempt to disregard any of what Paul wrote.

  What is this process, IW? How are the scriptures "made valid"?

  Do you really think all Christians should be forced to follow a series of letters that make up what is now the NT?

  Who says that "all Scripture is inspired"? Why can't Christians choose to follow only the Gospels, and not those of later believers, such as Paul?
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  angelkins

  Island Woman:

  What about unconditional love?
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  angelkins

  Island Woman:

  What about unconditional love?
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  greven

  Does anyone know if this 10 year requirement is still being enforced?

  No it is not, at least not where I'm from! I knew an eldeer that was DF-ed twice an d reproved once for the same sin over and over again... after his reinstatement it took him two months to rise to MS and another three to become elder, to much outrage of the cong. Nobody takes him seriously.

  Greven
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  TheOldHippie

  Is it not strange that one is not to celebrate the returning home of a "previous apostate", and not the birth of the miracle one's own child is - but that the Bethel family celebrate the 10th anniversary of a new building complex, and that the whole brotherhood was supposed to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the publishing society, and even a special WT and a special GA! was issued .......