Posts by BluesBrother

"*** w97 11/15 22 Faith Makes Us Patient and Prayerful ***
17 If we are not patient, we may misuse the tongue when under stress. For example, we may rashly make oaths. "Stop swearing," says James, warning against frivolous oath taking. Constantly affirming statements with oaths also seems hypocritical. Hence, we should simply speak the truth, letting our yes mean yes, and our no, no. (Matthew 5:33-37) Of course, James is not saying that it is wrong to take an oath to tell the truth in court."

The matter has been up to the individual for several years.

26

Colored Shirts?

by Marcos in

jw
friends

what is the wt policy on shirts for the brothers?

are they supposed to be only white shirts?

my son, no a sort of waning mormon said that he thought it was funny that the witnesses here copy the mormons (white shirts only).

BluesBrother

Perhaps it is time to lay this urban myth to rest. It was the Watchtower itself that gave this ruling ,by a certain congregation, as bad example and not to be followed :-

***

w89 11/1 30 Do You See Only the Outward Appearance? ***

We will "not go beyond the things that are written." (1 Corinthians 4:6) This is especially important for Christian elders to take to heart.1 Peter 5:2, 3.

We can illustrate this in the matter of dress. The Bible requirementGods requirementis that a Christians clothing must be neat and clean, well-arranged and not betraying a lack of "modesty and soundness of mind." (1 Timothy 2:9; 3:2) Obviously, then, the elders in one congregation went "beyond the things that are written" a few years ago by requiring every public speaker in their congregation to wear a white shirt, even though pastel colors were generally acceptable in that country. Guest speakers who showed up with a colored shirt were asked to change into one of several white shirts kept in the Kingdom Hall for just such emergencies. How careful we have to be in order not to impose our personal taste on others! And how appropriate Pauls counsel: "Let your reasonableness become known to all men"!Philippians 4

In practice speakers follow local custom. Around here coloured shirts are definately "In"

6

commentary on the letter of James?

by ffeidrik in

jw
friends

when i was loyal jw my favorite book was the "commentary on the letter of james".

only later i heard that it was written by someone who later became "apostate".

is it true?edited by - ffeidrik on 6 january 2003 14:15:10.

BluesBrother

I dont know, but I was petty surprised to discover that my old favourite book "Aid To Bible Understanding" was largely compiled by Ray Franz.

That book is the foundation for the current Bible Dictionary and major reference tool "Insight on the Scripures" .Much of the text is a straight lift from the "Aid Book"

I ~~wonder~~ know that the dubs dont generally know of the Franz connection.

6

Serving Shoulder to Shoulder - Jan 25 Study Articl

by jgnat in

i have seen gossip and innuendo split a church and wound a good man.

this was my church, and i loved it dearly.

the whispered conversations late in the night were distressing and disturbing.

BluesBrother

Several disturbing points in this article for today, 05.01.02.

p12. "Murmering about the men whose duty it is to shepherd the flock of God may lead to reviling .......Unrepentant revilers will not inherit Gods kingdom"

Elders have carte blanche to carry on un criticised. Not a humble attitude

p17"Avoid becoming judgemental" - are they not the most judgemental of organisations?

p23 "Christian congregation is a place to find loyalty " To the borg even at the expense of natural family ties

10

Should Christians Expect Divine Protection?

by Kenneson in

this is one of the current topics at http://www.watchtower.org  .

we are told that sometimes jehovah intervenes for his people and sometimes he doesn't.

i'm wondering if this is a shift in thinking or whether jws have always believed this.

BluesBrother

I do not see anything new in their current explanation. Basically, If you escape disaster you thank God , but if disaster strikes thats just bad luck!

"Should Christians expect God to rescue them miraculously in every case of impending disaster? The Bible record does not support such an expectation.

Of course, Jehovah God could choose to intervene directly in behalf of any of his servants. And if anyone believes that he has escaped harm by divine intervention, he should not be criticized. But when Jehovah chooses not to intervene, it should never be taken as a sign of his displeasure.giving us the strength to endure it or, if we die, by resurrecting us to everlasting life in his new world.Psalm 37:10, 11, 29; John 5:28, 29.

Appeared in Awake! April 8, 2002

Reminds me of a talk I heard following the bomb in an Australian Kingdom Hall. A senior speaker of Circuit or District Overseer level . He tried to explain that it was all Gods will and He still protected them by not allowing it to be worse than it was . It did not make sense to me then either .

As someone said, they want it both ways.

40

HELP!!! Hubby turning home into 'Book Study'

by Skeptically Yours in

jw
friends

my husband, who's a ministerial servant, was approached by an elder and asked if he'd offer our home to become a 'book study' meeting place.. i'm a bit of a loner, and need lots of peace, quiet, privacy, and solitude; plus to boot you all know i'm living this sort of double life, you know, just doing the very minimum to remain a witness.. this is awful!!!!!!!!!!

i can't deal with it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

take care!

BluesBrother

Just returned to the thread. Had a thought too for husband who has to go back to the elders and say "Sorry, despite what I said, we cannot have it at our house after all" ..

I know that the elder/M/s world is so damn macho that to admit that you have to consider your wife's feeelings is a real humble pie experience . after all they always say "Yes" to what ever they want and their wives just put up with it.

You are considered a real wimp if they think that you're wife has put her foot down .. This is the circle he is trying to progress in . Better he learns it now.

42

Another Victim lost BACK TO WT - how sad

by JT in

jw
friends

a few days back a dfed black woman came to this site - asking for help and looking for answers, so lady "c and myself decided to offer our help, being black we understand that black jw face some issues that a white witness would not, black congo operate many times in a somewhat different fashion in my exp at any rate , we offered our help, we discussed many issues, but in the end she has decided to return back to wt despite the fact that they treat her like dirt- one of the hardest things to watch is to see a jw get so close to freedom and then return to slavery, it reminds me so much of blacks during slavery who were just afraid to run for freedom , even many times when they only needed to cross the river -as a single black mature woman she is facing an uphill battle, if she approaches an elder more than 2 times the elders wife will think she is after her man, if she wants to marry her selection is reduced to some guy with a plaid suit on, instead of the regional director of her company who notices how intelligent she is, but since he don't sell books on the weekend she must let him slide- well here is just a glisp of what we dealt with and how sadly it ended with the jw doing what they have been trained and indoctrinated to do run and deny below are just 3 different sets of dialog .

---- dfed person--sorry, but i don't really think that it is a black and white issue.

jt- o i fully agree it is not a black and white issue, i was merely commenting on what my observation have been, when i was an elder, white bro in meetings would always challenged the co and do if they made some off the wall comment, while black elders would consistently just go along,

BluesBrother

Since "failing" to help both my sister and this old friend, I've wondered: did I try to tell them too much too soon? And, would it have mattered if I'd done it a different way?

Teejay.

Sound like this man is just so far in, that nothing would shake him .Motivated dubs are just not wanting to hear anything else, for the reasons that Nathan Natas said above.

Over Christmas we visited by wifes family . Our brother in law just would not take in anything I said - totally blinkered, although a decent fellow._

25

Abusive JW Elder to be released from jail...

by zenpunk in

...in 6 months for good behavior.. this man, james barratt of rugby england was put in prision last summer for molesting boys, including one of my relatives.

the fact that he is only going to spend a year in jail sickens me.

not being familiar with the british court system, i need to ask the board: is there a parole hearing like in the us?

BluesBrother

Rugby is not a million miles from here. My impression from anecdotal comments that I heard on the grapevine (Notice my careful disclaimer of any firsthand knowlege) is that many in his congregation believe him to have been innocent all along. They do not place much credibility on the testimony of his accusers because they are no longer Witnessess. Therefore they would not appear and give testimony at a judicial hearing and if he still denies any wrongdoing they may not have a case against him , according to their own judicial rules.

Of course this disregards the central plank of their policy because "two witnesses" have testified against him

35

Interesting phenomena regarding Witnesses

by JamesThomas in

jw
friends

first, and most important: thanks to all those who read my introduction-post last saturday, and especial thanks to those who replied.

like many who have been disfellowshipped (and especially those raised in the org) i've been dragged through icy waves of agonizing hurt and anger; often followed by times of peace and letting go; only to be hit by another turbulent and bitter bout of animosity and grief.

the tides do run deep, don't they.

BluesBrother

Is it possible to TRULY LOVE something that threatens you with death and destruction if you don't!

I always had sneaking thoughts like that. They would come back every so often when I thought I was in "spiritually weak" period. I knew there was no answer so I just kept busy doing all the jobs and stifled the thoughts - until they got too much and the penny finally dropped , that it was just not true.

Everything has been clear since then.

The trouble with witnesses is that they are so very sure that they have "The truth", they just cannot even consider any view other than that which they read in the Watchtower. It just does not get through .