What would you have done?

by defd 90 Replies latest jw friends

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  TD

  What would you have done back in the 1ST Century when Jesus came on the earthly stage and started Christianity. Would you have became his follower? How about After he left the earth and Christianity began to spread by means of the Apostles, would you have been involved in the many Congregations that were started throughout the area? How about the Congregation started by Paul in Corinth? If you answer yes to this, ask yourself as a Disciple of Jesus how would I have handled all the PROBLEMS that existed in that particular Congregation? The Bible speaks of MANY problems that existed within that Congregation. It had people problems. They were not acting as Christians. They would shun, discriminate, form clicks, allow blatent wrongdoers room freely within disrupting the peace and unity. People were backbiting, fornicating, teaching wrong doctrine and the list goes on and on. That is not the only Congregation that had people problems. Pauls letter to the Ephesians, Philippians, Hebrews and so on ALL had to be addressed for problems. What would you have done? Would you have left the Corinthian Cong. to go to the Cong. in Ephesis? They too had severe problems unique to the area they lived in? Would you have concluded that this must not be Jesus Congregation? What would you have done?

  Defd, Problems like you describe above can be overcome as long as you are free to do what is right yourself. However in an environment where you would be forced to go along with wrong doctrine, etc. something obviously would have to change. This is the problem with JW's. You can't just keep your mouth shut and have everything be fine. Eventually you will be forced to either go along with a wrong doctrine or you will have to leave.
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  defd

  Td

  If that ever came down to it with me. I would follow the advice of the bible. "We must obey God as ruler rather than men,"
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  OldSoul

  defd,

  What if you were asked to teach things as truth that you could not personally support by Scripture? What if you were ordered (commissioned) to preach things as truth that you could not personally support? Would Acts 5 apply?

  Curiously,
  OldSoul
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  defd

  What if you were asked to teach things as truth that you could not personally support by Scripture? What if you were ordered (commissioned) to preach things as truth that you could not personally support? Would Acts 5 apply?

  Curiously,
  Than i would image you cant teach someone something you dont agree with or know yourself, right?
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  defd

  gotta go, my shift has ended. Be back 2marrow
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  jaffacake

  good thread defd.

  I'm still amazed that you seem to think God has an organisation, when the Christian Greek Scripures make it abundantly clear that Christianity is about individuals.

  2 Cor 13:8

  “for we can do nothing against the truth”

  Let me share with you my favourite Watchtower quotation that contains within it some well known Bible verses:

  Fred Franz (later to become Watchtower President until his death in 1992) wrote as follows in the Watchtower:

  “The written Word of God does not therefore need the addition of traditions which are the private interpretations of man and of religious organisations. It is not on our own authority that we say the Bible is sufficient without such. The inspired Apostle, Paul, writes his faithful and fellow worker Timothy to that effect saying: ‘from thy infancy thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which can instruct thee to salvation, by the faith which is in Jesus Christ. All Scripture, inspired of God, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice, that the man of God may be perfect, furnished to every good work.” (2 Tim 3:15-17)

  Had the oral traditions of religious men been necessary to complement the Canon of the Bible, Paul would not have said that the inspired Holy Scriptures were profitable to the point of making the men of God perfect in faith and devotion to God. It would have been inadequate and would have left the man of God unperfected…(quotes 2 Tim 2:15)…This faithful instruction all those who seek to serve God as his witnesses do well to follow.”

  poor old Fred Franz would be disfellowshipped for such a stetement these days.
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  TD

  Hi Defd:

  If that ever came down to it with me. I would follow the advice of the bible. "We must obey God as ruler rather than men,"

  That's a good maxim to live by.

  Remember though, that "Obeying God as ruler rather than men" is exactly what many who have either left or been forced to leave feel that they have done.
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  jaffacake

  Watchtower 1884 February

  “We belong to no earthly organization…we adhere only to that heavenly organization ‘whose names are written in heaven’ (Heb

  “What think you?...suppose…all man made creeds and forms …and names were laid aside, or that all Christians met in the One name of Christ, and in earnest simplicity, studied HIS words under the direction of God’s Spirit and the explanations furnished in the Apostles’ writings, would there be long and serious differences, even of opinion?... And so, by whatsoever names men may call us, it matters not to us; we acknowledge none other name than ‘the only name given under heaven and among men’ – Jesus Christ. We call ourselves simply CHRISTIANS and we raise no fence to separate from us any who believe in the foundation stone of our building mentioned by Paul: ‘that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures’; and those for whom this is not broad enough have no right to the name Christian.”

  WT 1895 15 September article “How to Conduct Group Meetings”

  “Beware of ‘organisation’. It is wholly unnecessary. The Bible rules will be the only rules you will need. Do not seek to bind others’ consciences and do not permit others to bind yours. Believe and obey so far as you can understand God’s word today, and so continue growing in grace and knowledge and love day by day”.

  It seems to me that because of the nature of man, nearly all Christian religions who may start with the best motives, very quickly move away from the true message of the Gospel. By the fourth century men had already strayed away from Jesus teachings and made creeds and rules themselves. Are additional rules or guidance needed? (See 2 Tim 3:5-7). Should all Christian groups be watchful to ensure they don’t stray from the Scriptures? Is there not a danger in all religions, given human nature, that they could assume authority that God has not clearly given, and interpret Scriptures with error? Should even the Watchtower Society constantly examine itself to see whether there is a danger of it taking on some of the hallmarks of the religious hierarchies they originally set up to oppose? Would it, after all, be only human nature, and perhaps haughty to believe this could not happen to them?

  Dictionary: Haughty: “proud of one’s self and looking down on other people.”
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  upside/down

  What would you have done?....

  I would probably do the same thing I did...now....take 20 years of their bullshit...finally pull my head out...and FADE.

  Then be a good person anyway, without their dogma BS.

  u/d(of the hates and has no need for dogma class)
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  thinker

  Hi Defd,

  What would you have done back in the 1ST Century when Jesus came on the earthly stage and started Christianity. Would you have became his follower?

  If I was jewish I would see Jesus as causing divisions in my religion. Jesus also had little regard for the 613 rules of conduct that were based on my religious leaders interpretation of the bible (OT). Jesus often tried to simplify those 613 rules into just two rules: love God and love your neighbor (even your enemy). John simplified it even more into just three simple words: "God is love". How could I follow someone who disregarded all the teachings of God's chosen priests in the Temple? Jesus rarely quoted the bible and sometimes misquoted it. He even twisted scriptures to fit his own ideas. For example, who ever heard that Jonah in the whale three days had anything to do with a messiah in the ground three days? The man was an apostate, so I'm sticking with "God's organization", the jews.

  How about After he left the earth and Christianity began to spread by means of the Apostles, would you have been involved in the many Congregations that were started throughout the area?

  The apostles were dimwits who didn't understand the simplest language of Jesus. Jesus gave them plenty of advance notice that he would be killed and then rise from the dead in three days (Matt 16:21, 17:22-23, 20:18-19, 26:1-2, Mark 8:31, 9:31, 10:33-34, Luke 9:21-22, 9:44, 18:32-33) but they still didn't understand (Mark 9:32, Luke 9:45, Luke 18:34). They didn't even know what a resurrection was: "And they took the word to heart, but discussed among themselves what this rising from the dead meant." (Mark 9:10)

  So why would I follow them?

  Thinker