Will Jehovah Forgive Your Sins If You Don't Confess To Men?

by Englishman 20 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  Englishman

  Why is it that JW's insist that you must confess your serious sins to earthly men in order to "Put yourself right" with Jehovah?

  Small isolated sins don't seem to matter much. However, there does seem to be a finely drawn line that demands confession to elders.

  Interestingly, once that finely drawn line has been crossed that demands confession to elders, so too has the line of what constitues a disfellowshipping offence.

  For example, occasional masturbation is just about one side of that line, do it while someone talks dirty to you and you've crossed that line and entered the disfellowshipping area. (Apologies if things have changed since that was the case.)

  So there is a line that can be crossed that somehow stops you being forgiven by Jehovah?

  So, I was just wondering, do people still push the limits of their behaviour right up to that line?

  Do they, I wonder, feel a momentary sensation of guilt that quickly wears off, providing that they don't cross the line?

  If they do cross the line, do they then feel totally rejected by Jehovah and so desperate for his approval that they quickly seek out the elders, confess all, just so they can feel that Jehovah has accepted them back again?

  Or is it all in their own minds?

  Englishman.
• 

  Sirona

  You have raised a lot of questions. !

  Most Christians believe that God will forgive sins without a confession to anyone. JWs on the other hand do teach that serious sin requires confession to elders. I think this is taken from a scripture which talks about people being prayed for by others because they have become weak (another twisted scripture by WTS)

  IMO, a Christian who wants forgiveness from God should not have to tell any "man" about it. I think that is what the bible says.

  Personally, I don't believe in the need for forgiveness from sins.

  Sirona
• 

  LyinEyes

  Englishman, the last school talk I was supposed to give,,,,,,,,,all the while reading apostate stuff on the internet.......lol........was about this very thing.

  I could not in good conscience give that talk. The main reason was the week before , out of the Reasoning book, the talk was about " Why it is not necessary to confess to a Father" something like that , refering to the Catholics.

  Ok, the next week, my talk was to be on " Why it is benifical( necessary in JW speek) to confess sins t the older men".

  What the heck fire is the differance? How self righteous and hypocrital the WT is.

  I just thougth the way those two talks were in sequence just was shameless.

  And sad to say , if I had not begun my doubting , my studying of the JW's I would have given that talk with full confidence that Jehovah was blessing me for it. Geeshhhhhhh.
• 

  Dansk

  As Jehovah doesn't exist your main question is irrelevant.

  As for confessing to elders about anything - a very dangerous thing to do. I was alone in a car with an elder and he told me the juicy (infidelity)details regarding a JC he was on. I wasn't an elder and, in any case, had no right to learn what I did. If he told me, how many others did he inform? I now know things about four individuals regarding sexual matters (or their lack of performing!) that I had no right to know. And this is the same elder who makes fun of invalids and is the son of the PO! He got away with it all the time!!

  There's something else to consider. Many elders step down or leave the organisation. They take knowledge of these intimate details with them. Once out in the world who knows what they'll do with that information. If they can't keep it in-house they sure as heck aren't going to feel guilty about letting others know once they're on the outside.

  In my experience, I never met an elder I could trust!

  Ian
• 

  Narkissos

  "Sins" "forgiven" by "God", or the combination of the three emptiest words of Christian language? No wonder the need has been felt to bring something real into the picture:

  confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed (James 5:16)

  The reciprocal "one another" rules out a special class of priests or elders (the same word in fact, since "priest" derives from presbuteros = "elder").

  I was amazed when I noticed "forgiveness/remission of sins" was altogether absent from Pauline theology (the word just appears in the quotation of Psalm 32 in Romans 4:7), first showing up in post-pauline (Colossians 1:14; Ephesians 1:7). Pauline "justification" was a very different notion, more meaningful to me.
• 

  dustyb

  a big point of the NT that i found out after i left Dubdom was that, "we all sin, and we all fall short of the glory of God". so why confess to someone else that likewise falls just as short as the next man? Also, "we are not saved through the works, but by the GRACE of the Father".

  Every Jehovahs Witness that i have talked to have NEVER heard grace....they don't know what grace is....

  (if you believe in God) If God was perfect, and required perfect sacrifices and couldn't "poison" himself with impurity, then why do Jehovah's Witnesses think that going out in service will save them??

  No confession to any men about any sin.
• 

  willy_think

  Good Questions Englishman,

  I have no answers ofcourse, but one question along your line of thinking that always rubed me raw is: Why has the WT structured the logistics of their "CONFESSION" according to a model the Catholic Church established for "INQUISTION"?
• 

  FlyingHighNow

  So, I was just wondering, do people still push the limits of their behaviour right up to that line?

  Do they, I wonder, feel a momentary sensation of guilt that quickly wears off, providing that they don't cross the line?

  If they do cross the line, do they then feel totally rejected by Jehovah and so desperate for his approval that they quickly seek out the elders, confess all, just so they can feel that Jehovah has accepted them back again?

  Or is it all in their own minds?

  Englishman.

  I think maybe some people push their behavior to the line. But most JWs who still really believe the WTBTS are terrified of losing salvation. So I doubt that all of them are pushing the limits.

  If they cross the line, they go to the elders because they are terrified of being destroyed upon an untimely death or armegeddon, which ever might come first. I mean how many JWs really think Jehovah approves of them anyway. They are constantly being told all the nit picky reasons Jehovah will be killing them at armegeddon anyway. I recall one old cranky elder insinuating that witnesses who don't show up to clean the KH on a regular basis were going to be in for a BIG shock the day of armegeddon. This really freaked me out.

  Bottom line, I believe most people confess to save their backsides from eternal death or being tortured at armegeddon.

  Heather
• 

  Elsewhere

  Why is it that JW's insist that you must confess your serious sins to earthly men in order to "Put yourself right" with Jehovah?

  Because the organization IS Jehover. Well... more accuratly... Jehover is a sock puppet on the hand of the GB. Therefore, one cannot confess to Jehover without confessing to a member of the organization.
• 

  Spotlight

  Hi all,

  I haven't posted here for many months (probably as long as a year!) but do check in from time to time. This subject caught my interest though and I thought I would find out more about it.

  I see a Bible verse has been brought forward in support of JWs confessing their sins to men but what about the WT's publications? Can anyone direct me to any references by the Watchtower on this issue? Thanks.