The Bible Students as a Healthy Alternative (page 3)

undercover

The Cult of Minimus. I like it. Where do I sign up?

(I want purple Kool-Aid)

I see your point. it helps some people break free in the begining so that is good but even better is to see in a short while that the Bible students are also B S and make further progress in being deprogramed.

bavman

tis true frankie, tis true

jgnat

What got me started on this line of thinking was something that worldlywife said, her husband so obviously conflicted, a draft DA letter sitting on the bureau, yet he was obviously struggling to "keep the faith". I thought, maybe he is fed up with the organization, and truly believes there is "no where else to go". People who are frustrated and trapped are no fun to be around. I would like to think we could suggest alternatives that can help such people move on.

OldSoul

I think that is a noble objective, jgnat. I'm just not sure it is wise to position ourselves as a conduit from "something horrible" to "something else that either is or may become horrible." The real issue at stake is helping the person to become whole and capable again. This means determining whether the person has developed enough spine to walk on their own. If that hasn't happened yet, it would only be a matter of time before they are ensnared again by something or someone else. (James 1:5-8)

czarofmischief

Whatever breaks the hold of the WT is a good thing.

Of course, if reading the Bible doesn't make you leave... then will an indepth study of the Great Pyramid?

CZAR

M.J.

Another alternative, which probably isn't healthy, but may illustrate how their "who else is there?" argument is a non-argument, is the Christadelphians.

Here are some facts on them:

Beliefs that Christadelphians have believed and practiced starting many decades BEFORE 1919 up to the present day (http://www.christadelphian.org.uk/):

The Bible is God's word and the only message from him. It is without error, except for copying and translation errors.
There is only one God - the Father. The Holy Spirit is God's power.
Jesus is the Son of God, and a human being, through his mother Mary.
Man is mortal, having no existence when dead. By living a sinless life, ending with his sacrificial death by crucifixion, Jesus has opened the way of
salvation from death.
Belief and baptism are essential steps to salvation.
God raised Jesus from death. Jesus is currently in Heaven, on God's right hand. He will one day return.
When Jesus returns, he will raise his "sleeping" followers from death and grant immortality to the faithful who have tried to live by God's precepts.
His followers will help him to rule, bringing justice, righteousness and peace to the whole world - the Kingdom of God.

Here some practices of the Christadelphians
(http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_delp.htm):

They meet weekly on Sundays for a Memorial Meeting or Breaking of Bread
Their local group is called an ecclesia which is Greek for "congregation". (Plural is "ecclesias.") They average about 20 members each.
Most of the ecclesias meet in each other's homes or in rented halls. A few own their own buildings.
They have no central organization. Each ecclesia is autonomous. Coordination is largely through publishing houses.
They have no paid clergy or church hierarchy.
Their leaders are classified as lecturing brethren, managing brethren and presiding brethren. All are male volunteers who are elected to their posts. In common
with many conservative Christian denominations, women are excluded from positions of authority. However, they are given equal voting rights.
Members do not vote, run for political office, or go to war.
Many members read the Bible daily; some use a reading plan which completes the Old Testament once per year, and the New Testament twice.
Christadelphians generally discourage their members having fellowship with Christians from other denominations.

johnny cip

RR is a heavy bible student. and x jw. he did great work here exposing the wt and old wt teachings. he could rip judge rutherFRAUD, into a million little peices, he started trying to preach russellism here for about a month , and got his head handed to him. he acted no different than a jw's defending the fds. only he was defending russell. his true colors came out in the wash. i feel sorry for him. john

Justin

If we leave out "healthy," sure they're an alternative for some who leave JWs. There are some whose only complaint is that they can't entertain the heavenly hope without being considered odd balls in the JWs. Some may have read the older literature and think of Russell's time as being like a golden age.

But beware! Russell had some loose strings in his teachings which the Bible Students have never cleared up. In fact, that's why Rutherford had to start making changes, as any succeeding president would have had to do no matter who he was. A Bible Student, then, must live with a certain degree of ambiguity. They don't always agree among themselves, and frictions can arise which are prevented in the more authoritarian WT.

I think, in many respects, it is more difficult for a JW to be re-educated as a Bible Student than someone coming from Christendon, because the two religions are thought to be alike when in many ways they have diverged. Someone who doesn't like self-sacrifice shouldn't attempt it, for it is believed that in order to enter the race for the heavenly kingdom one must make a "covenant of sacrifice" - agreeing not to live a "normal" human life, in exchange for the heavenly life to come. Russell once stated that it's OK for someone not consecrated (or "dedicated") to spend money on strawberries (a delicacy in his day), but the consecrated ones should think twice, as their money is better spent in the Lord's work. So the self-sacrifice is there, but it's not supervised by an organization. In fact, the WT has tricked the Witnesses into living a consecrated life without the heavenly reward in view.

On the positive side, while we frown on 'following a man,' there is something to be said about having a personal saint (such as "the Pastor") as opposed to an impersonal organization. It may be an idealized image of the man, but it is someone who has gone before us and supposedly won the prize. Sort of like Paul - "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ." (1 Cor. 11:1) As I said, what is an alternative for some is not an alterative for many.

The Bible Students as a Healthy Alternative