I had to travel to a town 2 hours away from where I live yesterday. I'm thankful that my mother actually came to drive me there and back and was supportive in that regard.
However, she insisted on playing her "Draw Close to Jehovah" tapes all the way there and all the way back! I obliged (with my blood pressure through the roof by the time we got there - thank goodness I was on pain pills all the way home).
There were a few paragraphs that nearly made me vomit.
Page 113, Paragraph 12:
12. The Law also included safeguards against the perversion of justice. For instance, at least two witnesses were required to establish the validity of an accusation.
Page 135, Paragraph 14:
14. In some lands today, the law seems to show more leniency and favor to the criminals than it does for the victims. For instance, theives may spend time in prison. Meanwhile, the victims may still be without their goods, yet they have to pay taxes that house and feed such criminals. In ancient Israel, there were no prisons as we know them today...
Page 135, Paragraph 19:
19. The Law also protected women, children, and families, providing for them. It commanded parents to give their children constant attention in spiritual things. (Deuteronomy 6: 6, 7) It forbade all forms of incest, under penalty of death (Leviticus chapter 18)...
Then I said something like this to my mom: "so, this perfect law was "cheaper" to operate, at less cost to the taxpayer and ultimately the victim as a taxpayer, but allowed for incest victims to suffer indefinately because there were not two witnesses to the "incest." Wouldn't it have been better to pay to have the perpetrator in prison, rather than allow him to do it again, and again, or to other children, until which time there might happen to be two witnesses to it? This doesn't sound to perfect to me. (My mother is aware that I was abused sexually by an elder.)
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Page 152, Paragraph 10:
10. The religious leaders buried God's Law under a mass of man-made rules and regulations. The Sabbath law, for instance, simply forbade work on the Sabbath, setting that day aside for worship, spiritual refreshment, and rest. But the Pharisees made a burden of that law. They decided just what "work" meant. They labeled as work 39 different activities, such as reaping or hunting. These categories gave rise to endless questions. ...
I said..."this kind of sounds like the governing body is talking about themselves. Meetings, service, assemblies, free labour at the kingdom hall, and kingdom hall builds, what prepared meats we should eat, when you have time to relax - between all those "spiritual" activities - if you have any time left after your secular work, what kind of medical care we should get, what items we should use to cook our food (my mother still avoids aluminum pots), to even what kind of things we should bring home from the second hand store (they may harbour demons)." She had no answer.
Page 148, Paragraph 3:
The religious leaders had ruled that only one specific type of coin could be used to pay the temple tax. Visitors had to exchange thier money to acquire such coins. So the money chaners set up thier tables right inside the temple, chrging a fee for each transaction. The business of selling animals was also very profitable.Visitors who wanted to offer up sacrifices oculd buy from any merchant in the city, but the temple officials might well reject their offerings as unfit. However, offereings bought right there in the temple area were sure to be accepted. With the people thus at their mercy, the merchants at times charged exorbitant prices.* This was worse than crass commercialism. It amounted ot robbery! * footnote: According the the Mishnah, a protest arose some years later over thie high price of the doves sold at the temple. The price was prompty reduced by some 99 percent! Who profited most form this lucrative trade? Some historians suggest that the temple markets were owned by the house of High Priest Annas, providing much of that priestly family's vast wealth.-John 18:18
I think they're talking about themselves again.
I wanted to say "as is the selling of magazines, books and a religious concept that includes prophesies that have not been fulfilled, with massive amounts of real-estate being purchased worldwide in the name of God as a result of the money collected from their believers, with no real benefits to their believers except for them to give more, do more and get less." But, I just couldn't quite get the words out - thought it might be a little harsh for her.
Is it not true that the Awake is going monthy in 2006? Mom didn't seem to be aware of this.
Just as they rejected my father's donation of an item he had on hand that they could have used in a recent Kingdom Hall reno. They opted to use the congregation's money to buy a different item, virtually the same thing, though, (I think it was a built-in vaccuum system that my mom had won in a contest at the homeshow), and I could see my dad was a little hurt about this. I suppose if my father offered to pay for the "divinely chosen item" they would have joyfully accepted his offer. And they sure expected exorbitant amounts of work, time, effort and free labour from my father.
Governing body = High Priest Annas class (in my opinion)!
Rose