http://thetruthaboutthetruthaboutthetruth.blogspot.com/2005/08/i-have-decided-to-leave-this.html.
i have decided to leave this organization!--a letter from a first century christian.
hi, brothers and sisters.
Bottom line is I am not going to let some old men in Jerusalem tell me how to worship Jehovah and how to follow in Jesus footsteps.
First century christians did not do this. They had the autonomy to interpret for themselves what it meant to be a Christian. They each had a personal relationship with Christ in contrast with the proxy relationship that the WT has sat up.
http://thetruthaboutthetruthaboutthetruth.blogspot.com/2005/08/i-have-decided-to-leave-this.html.
i have decided to leave this organization!--a letter from a first century christian.
hi, brothers and sisters.
First James and others say abstain from meat sacrificed to idols. Then Paul has the gaul to say, no, it is ok to eat that meat. Which is it, Paul and James?
Why didn't they ask the GB in Jerusalem?
http://thetruthaboutthetruthaboutthetruth.blogspot.com/2005/08/i-have-decided-to-leave-this.html.
i have decided to leave this organization!--a letter from a first century christian.
hi, brothers and sisters.
At first the apostles believe Jesus was setting up the Kingdom when he was on earth.
As did most Jews. Then Jesus sat them straight and that was the end of it.....for centuries. JW's on the other hand have had to change their failed predictions about the end of the world so many times it's hard to keep count, all over the course of a few decades.
These are two incomparable situations.
http://thetruthaboutthetruthaboutthetruth.blogspot.com/2005/08/i-have-decided-to-leave-this.html.
i have decided to leave this organization!--a letter from a first century christian.
hi, brothers and sisters.
The assumed parallels between Christians from the first century and JW's today is an ongoing tactic used by JW apologists. The real historical record, not the one JW's believe in, shows that the first century arrangement was nothing like the WT Corporation.
Here's one key difference. The first century GB was not an all-powerful entity. The Apostle Paul was not sent out by this supposed Governing Body in Jerusalem, he was sent out by one of the congregations. When he made his reports, it was not to some mythical GB in Jerusalem it was directly to the congregations.
Why did the matter of blood even have to be re-addressed? Because the brothers IN JERUSALEM were creating problems for non-Jewish Christians. If there really were some all powerful GB sitting in some supposed seat of autonomous power in Jerusalem, why did the matter have to be addressed from outside Jerusalem?
i was just typing some of the sessions out for someone (long story), but i heard the tesitmony again, of one of the brothers, who had served at bethel for 12 years.
the thing that was surprising, was that it was not a joyous testimony.
you can actually hear his sadness, and his voice breaking a few times, when he recounts coming back to "the system" (real world) from bethel, and being completely unprepared and untrained for a job, or to earn a living.
How sad. In five years time he could easily have earned a bachelor's degree in any number of fields. Instead he probably worked his way up to assistant manager for Bro. Betterthanyou's window washing business. His wife has probably enjoyed equal success with her house cleaning business, and now they can just barely afford to make it on two part time low-wage salaries. Jehovah's blessings in action!
"apostates can only criticize , tear down and destroy " say the active dubs, "where is their hope of something better?
what is their message to mankind ?
if they have nothing better to offer, how can they attack our faith, which at least offers a hope of a better world?".
The saddest thing I see in apostates is they have no love of Jehovah left in them all they do is shout from hardened hearts :(.
That is because you have been pre-programed to expect that. Therefore that is what you see. Again, this is a classic sign of cognitive dissonance. An outside observer would have a hard time seeing the same thing. "Apostates" have no unified emotional front towards the WTBTS. "Apostates" are individuals in a variety of stages of recovery.
Whenever someone attempts to classify an entire group of people as having the exact same agenda and emotional state, warning bells should go off. That type of fallacious reasoning is a sign of control attempts.
let's take my questions one at a time (since you said i had posted too many on my other thread):.
* can you please explain to me, using only the bible, why anyone should believe that today's governing body of jehovah's witnesses (or the "faithful slave class" of the jehovah's witnesses), is the "sole channel of communication" between god and men?.
* in addition, can you explain why we should believe that christ's parable of the "faithful and discreet slave" was predicting a "class" of anointed christians who would give orders to all other christians, instead of simply teaching that faithful christians will be rewarded by christ when he returns?.
Circular reasoning plain and simple. I couldn't have written a better example of circular reasoning. It is sad that so many fall victim to this logical fallacy, and act like they've found some secret path to God.
let's take my questions one at a time (since you said i had posted too many on my other thread):.
* can you please explain to me, using only the bible, why anyone should believe that today's governing body of jehovah's witnesses (or the "faithful slave class" of the jehovah's witnesses), is the "sole channel of communication" between god and men?.
* in addition, can you explain why we should believe that christ's parable of the "faithful and discreet slave" was predicting a "class" of anointed christians who would give orders to all other christians, instead of simply teaching that faithful christians will be rewarded by christ when he returns?.
As I expected our local JW apologist is unable to provide any proof that the GB are actually the Faithful and Discreet Slave. This is a critical point, because all faith in the WT springs from it.
Most JW's take it on faith that the GB really are in some special relationship with Jehovah. It's only when they are challenged to really think about WHY they believe that does any chance of deprogramming occur. That's how I got out. I used to be Reniaa. Ten years ago I would troll around ex-JW sites and argue for hours with "apostates" about how correct the Wt was and how crazy they were. Eventually, and it took years, something clicked. The illogic of it all finally worked through the years of JW programming and I eventually had to fade.
Reniaa, you really should take the advice of the GB and avoid us. Eventually the fog will clear for you. I understand you more than you may think, because I used to BE you......as many people here also once were.
I read Reniaa's words with sadness and pity, but also with hope.
By the way, if anyone around here used to hang around the Prodigy network in the late 90's and remembers sonofobed.......
has anyone who has attended a district convention this year seen any protestors or demonstrators?.
have you ever protested or demonstrated or maybe even handed out literature at a convention or assembly?
what happened?
I think protesting at a DC is a bad idea. JW's already have a huge persecution complex. Why feed into it? Better to just continue making all the facts about the history and nature of the organization available. People will believe what they want to believe.
"truth, i've discovered, will not be destroyed by questioning or scrutiny.
it will always stand unbeatable.
questioning only confirms truth and makes it visibly stronger; it never crumbles it.
I agree JD. Questioning is fine to them, so long as you're only questioning other religions and your questioning leads you to unbreakable love and devotion for God's spirit anointed channel (12 wrinkled old dudes in a Brooklyn Brownstone).
