...Back from the Convention today.

by ScoobySnax 35 Replies latest jw friends

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  Francois

  Remember tho' that the theme of the assembly was "Who is Giving God Glory Today?" And when they say "God" they continue to refer to a Bronze Age tribal god who got off on Bronze Age tribal God things, like human sacrifice, and foreskins by the bushel, and blood by the carboy, and stoning miscreants - even when they were your own children, and five entire books of the bible full of mayhem and murder. It wasn't good enough for this Bronze Age killer to direct his people to take the land of Canaan from its owners, its owners had to be put to death right down to the last little infant being held by the last wizened old grandmother. Some God.

  And then these JEHOVAH'S Witnesses attempt to comport this barely sub-human god with the loving father envisioned by The Master. And we are told they are one and the same. How could anyone give "glory" to the ancient God with a heart as cold as the Bronze of the age of his representation? How could anyone join themselves to an organization who demanded that glory be paid to this monster through them?

  It's all too much for me, as it is for so many of you. And as it is with so many organizations that have come into being for the projection and protection of some out of date idea, the leadership runs off their best and their brightest. And so it happens with Jehovah's Witnesses. And what's left? People who go door to door and couldn't make a clear defense of the time of day, much less the nature of God.

  The JWs do not know exactly whom it is they worship. They deserve each other.
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  drwtsn32

  and the circuit assemblies were held in local schools

  Um, our circuit assemblies are STILL in schools. We don't have an assembly hall over in these parts.
• 

  onacruse

  Francois,

  How could anyone join themselves to an organization who demanded that glory be paid to this monster through them?

  I don't remember if you've ever said this, and it's nomb, but if I may ask: were you raised a JW? I know that many of us here who were raised in it (and so by implication didn't accept it by a fully cognitive choice) honestly perceived the whole religion as a loving, Godly thing. Now when you say

  The JWs do not know exactly whom it is they worship.

  you are, of course, correct. But perhaps

  They deserve each other.

  implies a greater degree of personal culpability than the circumstances of the average JW warrants? If so, that might explain why many of us can look back without overwhelming guilt and remember the good times and sense of love we felt.

  Craig
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  ScoobySnax

  .... reading Francois post back again (and again again......) Oh dear.

  So the conventions are really "ok" its the JWs out of their own congs. Go back to the KH and all the old bitterness will surface? When will you see that its not that way, as much as you imagine/hope it is. I still don't see that when I've been to a local meeting. Sure if they knew what I have done then they would throw me out. I couldn't hold them to ransom for that, it would be because of my own actions.

  When do you begin to take a personal responsibility for your own actions here? Leave the JWs, but don't try an paint the whole as bad. Accept that you fluffed up and moved on, or that you've just moved on. Don't blame the hand that once fed you.
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  RAYZORBLADE

  Scoobz: you have a private/personal message.
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  William Penwell

  : ...Back from the Convention today.

  My condolances.

  Will
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  ScoobySnax

  Rayzor........ waiting for your PM
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  ScoobySnax

  Will.... How cute
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  RAYZORBLADE

  Hey Scoobz: yes, those damn PMs are as slow as:

  I have sent it, it'll arrive by your next birthday .
• 

  Big Tex

  I still sat on the periphary watching, and I didn't see an unhappy bunch of people, I saw all sorts amongst the thousands, is it not right for me to say here that I saw real happiness and warmth in those there? I saw it, I felt it. It was real.

  You're right Scoob, it was real. But let me ask you this, just because it you saw people being happy hearing the same message you heard, does that automatically mean that it makes it right for you? Hear me when I say this. Their reasons for being at that convention are most likely differnent than yours. Realize that what they hear, and how they process it is quite probably different than how you process the same information. Does that mean you are wrong, or in some way defective? NO! What it does mean is you, like many of us, have some life experiences that transforms you into the person you are. You are not a worse person than any one of those people at Twickenham. You, like many of us, are different. Not worse, not better; but different.

  Understand that God created diversity. And yet despite our differences, he cares for each of us individually. I believe he knows each of us, even the person we keep hidden from the rest of the world. And yet, despite seeing that inner person that we are terrified to show the world, (because it's wrong, or bad, or ugly, etc.) for some strange reason he cares for us, tenderly. Not just words, but real affection. I believe he sees the same thing in you. And he cares more for you, than you do for yourself.

  Scoob, you must move at your own pace, at your own time. But do not be hard on yourself or place guilt on yourself, or even unrealistic standards. Perhaps there is a reason you do not feel what you saw those people feel. Just understand that theirs is not the only way. Just because they say it is so, does not make it so. Does that make sense?

  I'm sorry for rambling. Please forgive me if I am offensive, as that is not my intent. I just believe it is a mistake to judge yourself by what you see on the faces of Jehovah's Witnesses. You don't deserve that.