Now this is the gem of all gems here --- The Bible encourages us to check our beliefs against what it teaches. (1 John 4:1) Millions of readers of this magazine can testify that doing so has added purpose and stability to their lives. So be like the noble-minded Beroeans. 'Carefully examine the Scriptures daily' before you decide what to believe. Since when the hell did the society encourage anyone to think for themselves . What's next weeks article going to read . Something like --- ehh, due to the influx of letters rebutting everything we've ever written we have decided it best you don't read the bible for yourself and let the faithful and discreet slave do your thinking for you .
lessons in love from the faithful and discreet
by galaxy7 17 Replies latest jw friends
-
-
Sara Annie
My favorite part of the same article quoted at the end of the original post in this topic is the following:
Nevertheless, how can comfort be given to those who experience a "stricken spirit" because of such "memories"? Remember Jesus' parable of the neighborly Samaritan. A man was set upon by robbers, beaten, and stripped of his possessions. When the Samaritan came along, his heart went out to the wounded man. What did he do? Did he insist on hearing every last detail about the beating? Or did the Samaritan get a description of the robbers and immediately chase after them? No. The man was hurt! So the Samaritan gently dressed his wounds and lovingly carried him to the safety of a nearby inn where he could recover.?Luke 10:30-37.
After reading about countless interrogations by elders about the who, what, why, when, where and every little particular of any given situation that almost certainly led to the victim experiencing a 'stricken spirit'. I know I shouldn't continue to be amazed at the hipocrisy inherent in the organization, but that really burns my grits.
-
cyber-sista
God certainly realizes that carrying out his righteous laws about cutting off wrongdoers often involves and affects relatives. As mentioned above, when an Israelite wrongdoer was executed, no more family association was possible. In fact, if a son was a drunkard and a glutton, his parents were to bring him before the judges, and if he was unrepentant, the parents were to share in the just executing of him, 'to clear away what is bad from the midst of Israel.' (Deuteronomy 21:18-21) You can appreciate that this would not have been easy for them. Imagine, too, how the wrongdoer's brothers, sisters, or grandparents felt. Yet, their putting loyalty to their righteous God before family affection could be lifesaving for them.
Wow--this part about helping to kill your own children because they had an alcohol problem or an eating disorder (both illnesses). AND, the part about worshipping a righteous God who requires this of his followers in order to be pleasing to him. So, what this is saying here is that God won't preserve your life unless you cooperate in killing your loved ones who are weak in some way or another. How loving is that? I want to cry here...This is inhuman.
-
Richie
Cyber-sista,
I remember once when I had to go to a re-instatement meeting with the elders, they asked me what was on my heart. I told them that it's unbiblical and cruel to have a disfellowshipping policy in force and gave an example: if a girl of say 15 years-old commits immorality -oftentimes youngsters are growing up emotionally and are somewhat confused which is a normal phenomenon - and she gets disfellowshipped as a result. She feels deserted, abandonned, left astray and decides not to go back to the meeting. After she grows up and becomes a young woman, gets married, has kids and grows old and lives a peaceful and even godly life, yet all the time - even if it takes 30, 40 or 50 years - she is shunned by her own parents, family and friends forever! Where in the bible does it teach that this is right? Then I told the elders the example of the prodigal son. This son was bad, he squandered the money, went out with prostitutes and did everything under the sun which was bad and immoral. Yet when this prodigal son returned to his father, how did his father react? His father always hoped that he would return and often stood outside looking out and one day he noticed his son from afar and IMMEDIATELY he ran to him, embraced him, forgave him and kissed him. Why wasn't he stoned? Why wasn't he disfellowshipped? Etc Etc. The elders responded by saying that "spiritual things can only be understood by spiritual persons" and secondly they said: "that girl of 15 years was NOT stoned so now she could "live" - if she would have lived under the Mosaic Law, she would have been stoned. So she should be g;ad that she can keep on living".
After they said that, I decided never to return to the KH and have nothing to do with "Watchtower pharisaical theology".
Richie :*)
-
galaxy7
To the lurkers from the organization
What do you think when you read these posts?
Are your hearts so hardened that you really dont see the pain that your organization inflicts?
I read and I cry inside.yet you call me apostate
From your own mouths you show who you really serve.
Did not Jesus himself say its better that a mill stone were tied around a mans neck
than to hurt one of these little children
-
happehanna
I just did a search on the wt library 2001with the words child abuse and this reference from nov 2001 was the last time they even mentioned child abuse
it sickens me to think they care so little for children
no it disgusts me
-
bebu
I clicked on the links, but was not able to go to the page.
I would really LOVE to have these bookmarked, if they are really on the web somewhere--especially if it is from the WT's own website (which seems to be the case).
bebu
-
starfish422
Bebu, watchtower.org was down for a few days but is now back up. I was able to go to the link this morning.