by Listener 13 Replies latest watchtower bible
I have often thought of Paul saying to Timothy about drinking wine... for his frequent cases of sickness.
The likelihood is that if Timothy had been ill a lot of the time he would have missed lots of the meetings.
If his stomach problems led to diarrhoea he would not have been able to stand up preaching for any length of time either.
BROKEBACK:
Of course I don't have the magazine but read the excerpts posted here. AlI I can say is that this is an insult to the intelligence of thinking people and sounds, like you said, to be the opinion of those with narrow and wrong views of the world.
This continued hang up about higher education probably has its origin with brothers being shown up as idiots by brothers with a college education. Their bruised ego is probably at the bottom of this prohibition, in my opinion.
To be honest, I am not interested in the views of people who have lived a cloistered life.
Other suggestions for encouragement include words of comfort, reading from the Watchtower or JW org and singing a song together. I must have missed it but I saw no suggestion about reading from the Bible.
Aww...ol' FedUp has already formulated a comment on THAT paragraph if by some stroke of luck I get called on.
"We see many listed suggestions to encourage someone else. While it is not listed in the paragraph we MIGHT even find a small measure of encouragement from actually reading GOD'S words as recorded in the Holy Scriptures by reading from The Bible!"
I can hardly wait.....
What I used to hate about WT "advice" was the blanket statements - assuming that everyone is the same. Such a case is here in that WT:
"All things are lawful [or, “permissible,” ftn.], but not all things are advantageous. All things are lawful, but not all things build up"
In quoting this it puts a negative light on higher education. How do they know what is advantageous to the individual? How do they know what effect this will have on them even spiritually? Take for example the youth who is intelligent enough to not feel that this higher learning is anything out of the ordinary, or more specifically, will be driven quite mad if they don't use their brain to its full capacity! What effect will that have on them?
> Low self worth
> Frustration
> Resentment
> Struggling to make ends meet with the "middle class squeeze"
The list goes on. It's not just about the education per ce, it's about the faulty mindset it instils in youth:
"Don't bother even trying because unless you're putting the WT first you'll fail in life".
Thus, the person's desire for doing well for themselves (putting their back into any endeavour) is severely suppressed, and so is their general feedback/well-being due to not being who they can be. They don't reach their potential, which as many belief, was given by God in the first place.
Are any of these traits advantageous in the kingdom of God? Of course not. You become MORE focussed on yourself and your own inadequacies (self centred), or the stresses of life because you're only getting back what you put in (i.e. a token amount because it's "Satan's system"). So even in a religious sense, it holds the membership back.
