Posts by Arthur

35

Who REALLY REALLY is the "Faithful & Discreet Slave"? >>>IS<<<<

by Mad in

.

Arthur

The evil slave who says that "My master is delaying" and who beats his fellow servants (24:49), who is presented as the opposite of the faithful and wise servant, is cast off to "where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth" (24:51) and this is clearly parallel to the five "foolish" bridesmaids who are locked out of the wedding hall (25:10-12

I'm glad you brought up these parables Leolaia. I had forgoten about those examples. It reminds of a conversation that I had a while back with another ex-Witness about the whole subject of the "Slave Class"; particularly what Jesus' other parables revealed.

Even if one were to go along with the Society's assertions that the Faithful Slave is a "class", it still creates some serious issues for them. One of the characteristics of the Unfaithful Slave, and the Foolish Virgins, is that they had arbitrary expectations as to when the Lord should return. These unfaithful ones would no doubt try to set a time table for the Lord's return. I can't think of any other denomination that has fit this description more than the Watchtower Society. Not only that, but the Watchtower leaders; particularly Rutheford used such time tables to push, manipulate, and coerce their fellow Christians into accelerated activity in preaching a "New Gospel". (i.e. "Millions Now Living Will Never Die; Religion Is aSnare and a Racket, etc.)

30

You Never Did Enough As A Witness!

by minimus in

jw
friends

one thing that i will never miss is how you were made to feel inferior----that nothing you did was ever really good enough to satisfy the organization and of course by extension, jehovah god.

i know of sooooooo many witnesses that are truly depressed because they can never seem to satisfy god or the elders.. people even start getting mysterious illnesses and believe the "demons" are always trying to get at them.

the mentality is that "everyone hates us because we're jehovah's witnesses".

Arthur

that nothing you did was ever really good enough to satisfy the Organization and of course by extension, Jehovah God.

This is one of the ugliest aspects of the Watchtower as an organization. The Watchtower's version of Christianity is a twisted "performance-based" version of Christianity. The modern organization has taken on much of the characteristics of a large sales organization rather than the first-century congregations. It is a perversion of Christ's teachings.

The Watchtower organization is like a trinity consisting of first-century Judaism, nineteenth-century Adventism, and twentieth-century style multi-level marketing. It is like the AMWAY of Christianity. It's fetish with numbers, stats, growth figures, percentages, and field service reports has stripped so much joy out of serving God. It is one of the biggest reasons, I believe, as to why the organization has a revolving door in it's membership. They drive people away with their Pharisee-style approach to worship. And then, when people leave the organization; they have the audacity to blame the members. Ray Franz described the organization as an iron fist inside of a velvet glove.

When you have a micro-managed organization with a leadership that has a complete inability and unwillingness to accept any personal responsibility and accountability; you wind up with a cold, iron-like organization like the Watchtower.

35

Who REALLY REALLY is the "Faithful & Discreet Slave"? >>>IS<<<<

by Mad in

.

Arthur

The author "was telling us ALL to be Faithful & Discreet" at the time of his coming,

Yes Mad, Jesus' words were not limited to a short span of time before his return, but applied to all annointed Christians in the congregations beginning in the first century. This is in harmony with the apostlic writings.

1 Peter 4:10:

"Each one, as a good manager of God's different gifts, must use for the good of others the special gift he has received from God."

1 Corinthians 4:1,2:

"You should think of us as Christ's servants, who have been put in charge of God's secret truths. The one thing required of such servants is that they be faithful to their master."

35

Who REALLY REALLY is the "Faithful & Discreet Slave"? >>>IS<<<<

by Mad in

.

Arthur

The teaching that Jesus was prophetically identifying a future "class" of individuls just doesn't cut it. As has been pointed out by several writers including Ray Franz and Ron Frye - if there really was a "class" of individuals operating at Jesus' behest from the time of Pentacost, why did C.T. Russell have to seperate from all religous organizations to revive Scriptural truths?

If the Watchtower's assertions are correct, that means that there would have been a Faithful Slave Class serving progressive spiritual food for some 1,800 years by the time Russell came on the scene. Yet, Russell was confident that truth did not exist anywhere in the so-called Christians arena; hence he started his own Bible study group. The Watchtower has repeatedly insisted that no person can gain an accurate knowledge of the Bible without the guidance of the Faithful and Discreet Slave Class. If that is the case, then C.T. Russell was just another "apostate" who went off and formed his own group.

As Franz pointed out in his book In Search Of Christian Freedom; if the Faithful and Wise Servant is a "Class", then who is the "Class" of people who receive "many strokes" and the class of servants who receive a "few strokes"? Who is the "ten-mina class" and who is the "five-mina class"?

It's clear the Jesus' parbles were identifying types of individuals - those who are faithful, and those who are unfaithful.

24

Going back to the Watchtower Society right now would be like....?

by journey-on in

jw
friends

"the dog returning to his vomit".

"sticking a needle in my eye".

"spiritual suicide".

Arthur

Listening to Milli Vanilli music again.

64

Time to make my thoughts known......

by R.F. in

i have lurked around here for a little while and i've finally seen the need to post.

i'm 22 years old and a ministerial servant and pioneer in my congregation.

i'm not really here to knock the organization, but i must admit that there are some things(ex.

Arthur

Hi R.F. Welcome.

I was a Ministerial Servant, a Regular Pioneer, and later served at Brooklyn Bethel. There were many doctrinal issues that nagged at me for many years. What disturbed me most was the fact that I was going door-to-door and asking Catholics, Lutherans, and Baptists to ask serious questions of their churches and religious leaders when I was completely unwilling to do the same. You wrote:

I have come to realize that I won't loose God's favor because of wanting to be absolutely sure that i'm worshipping Him in the way that He wants me to.

You should feel good about that. In regards to what you wrote; I really like the following Scriptures:

1 Thes. 5:21; Heb. 5:14; and 1John 4:1

Any uninspired religious leaders who would discourage a Christian from heeding the council in these inspired writings is probably a false apostle. When Jesus told us to be innocent as doves, but cautious as serpents; there is no way that Jehovah would personally rebuke us for wanting to make sure of the teachings we are being given.

Even though my conscience did not allow me to remain in the organization; I do not try to tell JWs that they should leave the organization. You seem to have a very rational and sober-minded attitude toward your doubts; not wanting to make knee-jerk reactions.

I wish you the best, and welcome to the forum.

229

ALERT: All Child Abuse Lawsuits have been settled. Millions cashed out???

by What-A-Coincidence in

re: http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/8/116108/1.ashx.

a bethel insider in the know told me that all of the child abuse lawsuits where the watchtower bible and tract society was one of the defendants were settled back in the beginning of this year.

i questioned it and called napa myself and they were absolutely settled back then.

Arthur

Does anyone remember how the Watchtower's latest Kingdom News tract stated that one of the characterisitcs of false religion is that it tolerates immorality and the sexual abuse of children?

Notice what Jesus said:

Matthew 12:37:

"Your words will be used to judge you - to declare you either innocent or guilty"

14

Doofy/Creative Upcoming convention titles

by Threestars in

jw
friends

c'mon--let me see some creativity here.

i've been out of the loop for a while so help me get started.... for instance: "blind leading the blind" district convention!.

Arthur

2008 - Deliverance Closer At Hand

2009 - Follow The Christ And His Brooklyn Publishing Company

2010 - Deliverance Really Close At Hand

2011 - Follow The Chirst Under The Direction of Ted Jaracz

2012 - Invest In Brooklyn Real Estate - Hosted By Donald Trump

35

URRRRRRRRR

by Missanna in

i am getting so tired of people telling me what is wrong with me and that i have left jehovah!!!

i'm so angry.

Arthur

and the next thing i know i'm getting this Long ass e-mail about how i've broken his heart and that i should return to Jehovah and what made me leave him and his blessed organization.

Wow missanna, I think you lost the chance to date a really awsome guy. I'll bet this guy is one of those really chariming types who loves Star Trek and who wears a pocket protector. If you would have given him a chance, he could have treated you to a really exciting date - sitting home at his mother's house watching the History Channel and eating lime jello.

15

ONCE UPON A TIME....JESUS DIDN'T HAVE A BEARD. Watchtower silliness

by Terry in

when i started going to the kingdom hall it was late 1950's and jesus christ did not have a beard in any of the society's illustrations.. when did this begin?

what article justified this?.

i'd like to see either a watchtower explanation of why jesus went beardless or any scan of an article that was apologia for the contrarian view.. suddenly, years later, the watchtower society agreed with christendom!

Arthur

When I was a little kid, I remember going to a Kingdom Hall that had one of those early 60s Watchtower illustrations inside a frame hanging inside the mens bathroom. (sort of like a sports bar that has old pictures of Mickey Mantle in the bathroom).

Anyway, I remember that the illustration of the beardless Jesus in his clothing looked just like Charlton Heston in Planet of the Apes. I was confused and later asked my mom why the Society drew him without a beard. She said that they didn't want Jesus to look like a hippie of the 1960's.