Comments You Will Not Hear at the 7-17-05 WT Study (Complete/Sacred Service

by blondie 38 Replies latest watchtower bible

• 

  willyloman

  Elders in the congregation, knowing that they are not in competition with one another, cooperate and work closely together

  I was one (elder) for more than 20 years and can assure you, this is bullshit. I joined the JWs because I was an idealist and thought their goals were lofty. After a few years, I came to realize the lofty goals were window dressing to appease the rank and file and what really characterized the leadership was jockeying for position and playing politics.

  I spent a number of years trying to change that before I realized I'd become the poster boy for that story about rearranging the chairs on the deck of the Titanic.
• 

  Pistoff

  **Some elders may be more efficient than others**
  
  What a ghastly statement; efficient implies managing things, I though elders were toiling for our souls, and were a hiding place from the wind? I think saying "efficient" was no slip of the tongue.
  
  And finally the gloves are off; I have never seen in print the phrase slacking off.
  
  To which I would say: from what? Living our lives, trying to ignore the mounting stacks of evidence that the WT never had much to it aside from a fellowship that was more insightful and deserving than it's morally and intellectually corrupt leadership?
  
  It takes a lot of mental energy to go to the hall and pretend. I really feel for the families that have the stomach for it. I have been through it, I tried to raise my children with the "truth"; instead they absorbed principles from my wife and I, and can no longer go to the kingdom hall!!
  
  Really, Brooklyn leadership, think; why are we going out in service in the developed world? Most people we talk to have a more educated take on Jesus Christ than we do. Many know about the sex abuse scandal. The rest are just put out that we have the nerve to stop by and insult them by presenting poorly written articles with thinly veiled insults about their beliefs! That is when the articles are not directly accusing them of being controlled by Satan for being Catholic, or Lutheran, or whatever.
  
  You members of the Service dept and the rest of the GB are lucky we go at all; as it is you are not deserving of the good people in the halls. You lie, manipulate, lie some more and then have the nerve to publish an article suggesting that we are slacking off.
  
  WE ARE DOING ALL WE CAN TO KEEP OUR SANITY. YOU ARE NOT HELPING.
  
  How about an article on the astounding courage of Jesus to stand up to the existing corrupt religious structure, hmm? No? How about the real message of Jesus' life and death, that NO ONE needs ANY other person to tell him how or what to believe except to believe in Jesus? Jesus told us to call NO ONE teacher, and that includes you, you who definitely think too much of yourselves!!
  
  HOW DO YOU SLEEP AT NIGHT, TED J AND THE REST??????
• 

  BluesBrother

  Unable to decide whether this is a nice article extolling reliance on god, or reading between the lines, a push to do more.

  Theme Scripture in part "Saved through faith..it is not owing to works in order that no man should have cause for boasting"

  Humility is streesed, then "Not in comparison " Gal 6.4, what example do they use?

  "Elders knowing they are not in competition with one another" WHAT ?? ROFL !

  In all my many years as an elder in 4 congo's I never met a more competitive , macho, boys club in my life...

  We move on to learn of "A Proper View of Our Work"

  A strong reminder to put everything onto the monthly report.. perhaps they feel they can increase the hours etc without getting the flock to actually do more, simple really...

  p13 "news of growth and expansion worldwide fills us with joy" well, it might encourage the flock, it that statement were true. But as reported in WT 01.02.05

  Worldwide a measly 2% growth which in reall terms is standing still. Although over 262000 baptised, only 124000 increase in numbers

  Britain had a zero increase even though 2500 were baptized, where did they go?

  Encouraging???

  I liked the comment." [Our field service report] is not to be viewed as a passport determining our eligibility for everlasting life"

  Does that mean that if you have not reported a lot then God judges your whole life course? or that whatever you do it is not enough, and you must try harder?

  Somebody mentioned "Animal Farm", I could not help thinking of Boxer the horse who had the motto, "I will work harder". They worked him to death....
• 

  stillajwexelder

  12 Notice what the book Organized to Do Jehovah's Will says: "Early followers of Jesus Christ took an interest in reports of progress in the preaching work. (Mark 6:30) The Bible book of Acts tells us that there were about 120 persons present when holy spirit was poured out on the disciples at Pentecost. Soon the number of disciples grew to 3,000 and then to 5,000. . . . (Acts 1:15; 2:5-11. 41, 47; 4:4; 6:7)

  Unfortunately in our congregation one brother answered "following scriptural precedent" so that sileneced any comment I had planned
• 

  A Paduan

  SAVED, NOT BY WORKS ALONE, BUT BY UNDESERVED KINDNESS

  You have been saved through faith . . . It is not owing to works (if jw, add ALONE), in order that no man should have ground for boasting."—EPHESIANS 2:8, 9.

  As usual, a couple of sentences and I'm done with that bs.
• 

  Room 215

  In paragraph 7 the article denigrates competition as an unavoidable evil in the secuar business world, one which by inference tramples on ``respect, love and consideration" andc which fosters a ``dog-eat-dog attitude." I guess the writer isn't aware that in business it's illegal NOT to compete; hasn't he ever herard of collusion, price fixing or monopolism?

  So, if brother A and brother B in the same congregation and both in the window-washing business agree not to undercut each other's fees in the spirit of ``brotherly cooperation" they could wind up in jail?

  Then too, there's the business of reporting field service. The question (a) for paragraphs 12 and 13 asks ``what are some reasons why we keep a record of our field service?"

  The key word here is ``some;" the paragraphs ofer some of the purported reasons; i.e. to boost morale of the tropps and to facilitate planning of literature production, but omits one, which is hinted at in paragraph 14, which says that turning in our reports (or not turning them in, as the case may be) ``plays its part in helping us to maintain our zeal in preaching and to avoid slacking off."

  in other words, it brings into play the elements of peer pressure and the fear of provoking a withering review from the local elders, who know that retention of their jobs depends to a large degree on the pressure they maintain to keep the congregation's numbers up.
• 

  OHappyDay

  An excellent point, A Paduan: The WT article says "works alone," but Ephesians says: "It [salvation] is not owing to works." Period.

  But the mask is off: Though seeming at first to exalt undeserved kindness, or God's grace, both the opening and closing songs to this WT Study were firmly about works:

  Song 213: "Working Together in Unity.'

  Song 30: "Zealous for Fine Works."

  So just in case anyone mistakenly thought that the Society was finally adhering to the Scriptures, the message is clear that for them it is really all about works after all -- first, last, and all the time.

  They don't trust anything to God's grace (undeserved kindness). They can't even understand the concept.
• 

  ithinkisee

  There were many things insulting with that WT article.

  The part that talked about how the timeslips helps to keep tabs on who is "slacking off".

  The part about not giving undue honor to those that have more "privileges". Can anyone say "pioneer picnic"?

  And of course ... the fact that they omitted the most important part of the them text - about how "undeserved kindness" is a "gift from God".

  Also, how they slyly changed from "not due to works" to "not due to works alone" by the end of the article.

  Sneaky bastards.

  -ithinkisee
• 

  heathen

  I think the apostle Paul did contradict himself on that one . Jesus did say you must do all the things I commanded which was centered around the preaching conversion work . The point I think was not to declare yourself righteous nor superior to others based on your own works because in the end it's the shed blood of christ jesus that offers the salvation and he required a mild spirit in all humility .