Had my first bible study

Frantic

a long one at 3 hours! I was extremely tired at the end, however, probably due to lack of sleep the night before. Found it interesting, we opened with a prayer, thanking Jehovah for drawing me here today. Basically, we opened with the Knowledge book and read the first chapter, relating back to bible scriptures. In a nutshell, I learned we need boundaries in order to live because we were not meant to 'drive' our own lives, the consequences could be dire - true to some extent. Used various analogies and illustrations to help pinpoint why there is a God, and that God has a name - Jehovah. In one case (probably heard of this before) he used the illustration of shaking various blocks of lego together in a bag until all the pieces came 'undone'. He then went on to say, In order to rebuild the blocks, someone must of created these blocks with carefully drawn plans of how they fit together. Surely, then, our heavenly creator, the creator of all things must of created the universe, as he has the power to perform miracles.....etc etc

I learned after armageddon, 1000 years post, Jehovah will test his perfect ppl once more, reintroducing the devil, and unfortunately some will turn. I leaned a lot of things really, he digressed in long passages. All in all, a good session, and ended in prayer. In 2 weeks I commence reading Raymond Franz "Crisis of Conscience".....should be interesting, very interesting. Who knows I might even show my Bible teacher the book....then again, he does have a fireplace.

Frantically Insane Andy

Elsewhere

In a nutshell, I learned we need boundaries in order to live because we were not meant to 'drive' our own lives, the consequences could be dire

Yup... they are trying to prime you for the inevitable control and the endless rules. What they are doing is the classic "bait-n-switch"... They tell you that it is Jehover's rules and it will be Jehover who will be controlling you, then, when you are not paying attention, the Organization will become the ones that are making the rules and controlling you. If you ever question the Organization, they will tell you that you are questioning Jehover's arrangement and therefore Jehover himself. If you point to scriptures to backup your reasonings, then they will say that you are "running ahead of Jehover's Organization" (this is veeery bad in their eyes... tantamount to apostasy). They seem to forget the following scripture:

Galatians 1:8-12However, even if we or an angel out of heaven were to declare to YOU as good news something beyond what we declared to YOU as good news, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said above, I also now say again, Whoever it is that is declaring to YOU as good news something beyond what YOU accepted, let him be accursed.
10
Is it, in fact, men I am now trying to persuade or God? Or am I seeking to please men? If I were yet pleasing men, I would not be Christ?s slave. 11 For I put YOU on notice, brothers, that the good news which was declared by me as good news is not something human; 12 for neither did I receive it from man, nor was I taught [it], except through revelation by Jesus Christ

Another book that I highly recommend is The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse. You can get it from Amazon (click here to see it)

seattleniceguy

Hi Frantic,

So you're looking at both sides as you study? Excellent. I commend you. You will enjoy Crisis of Conscience. Keep an open mind and observe how all sides deal with opposing information. I'm sure you'll find it very enlightening. I look forward to future posts from you.

Seattle

avengers

we were not meant to 'drive' our own lives, the consequences could be dire

The beginning of a "Borg".

It's better to let the Governing Body "drive" your life.
That way you'll be sure to ruin it.

shamus

Good for you for looking at BOTH sides of the argument... not just ours, not just theirs! Wait until the hypocrisy really shows... you will be astounded. Or not. It's up to you and what you think of the materials, brought to you in a non-judgmental format.

Again, I commend you for having the courage to find out for yourself, even if it is from the cult. You are far more aware now about how they work, so look out!

Gordy

My son 20 at the time wanted to do the same thing check both sides out.

He told the Elder (it was the PO) who was taking the study, that he wanted to check the WT teachings against what others said. The Elder said he could, as there was plenty of material he could look at in the WT publications. My son said he wanted to go to other outside sources to do so. . My son said that if he was studying any other subject he would research other material to test if it was right. The Elder said that he couldn't do that as other sources only told lies and not the truth about WT teachings.

My son said if they were so sure it was the truth then it should be able to stand up to any other research he did. The Elder still said he would not find any help outside the WT. My said in that case he had to conclude that the WT was hiding something if he could not check things out. So he stopped the study. Because of that his mother in his word, "Started to treat more like a lodger in the home , than a son" so eventually he came to live with me.

freelife

I commend you for wanting to check out both sides, but my opinion is RUN RUN RUN. But i am sure that you are a person who can make a well informed decision. good luck

Freelife