on page 103 of the revised flock book (1991 edition) where it discusses disfellowshipped ones (and social gatherings), it states that "loyal worshippers of jehovah will want to adhere to the inspired counsel at 1 corinthians 5:11.
" the "counsel" given there involves "not even eating" with a disfellowshipped one.. if the rank and file aren't allowed to have a literal meal with the df'd person, how come they're allowed to have a "spiritual meal" with that same person?
why should the df'd person be subjected to the torture of going to the kingdumb hell just to be ignored by everyone?
Because they are not allowed to participate or talk to anyone, they think there is no spiritual fellowship involved. Besides, it is just a show to prove to everyone that they can make you dance to their beat. It is a mental and emotional subjugation for all to witness.
Mind control at it's finest!
okay, as most of you know, my sisters and brother in law are in town for a wedding.
the girl getting married is a really good friend of mine.
we kind of sorta dated, but, since she was not scriptually free, and i wasn't about to wait for that, nothing ever really came of it.
Sounds dangerous. If you go, maybe you shouldn't drink. Or if you drink, you shouldn't go. Sounds logical to me if you want to avoid confrontation and not risk upsetting her special occasion.
i believe that in the past i've started threads about ghosts and such but i haven't started one about me asking others if they have had a personal experience with a demon.. a couple of days ago i was talking to my dub son-in-law about how i wish i could believe in the unseen....such as ghosts, the paranormal, or anything out of the ordinary.. he said to me......"well what about demon stories"?
he related some stories that were given at an assembly from some who were greatly bothered by demons, mostly from africa.. so, what are we to make of those with such stories?
are they lying?
Always had trouble believing that demons had nothing better to do than inhabit objects.
On the other hand, I always had a facination with possible contact with "the other side". You would think that demons would come around to take advantage of that curiousity. But no, never had a real life encounter of any kind.
I am still open to any real experiences though. Watched the movie "The Sixth Sense" the other day. I hadn't seen it since it was released in theatres years ago. It was great when you didn't have a clue about the ending, but not quite as good when you did. Still facinates me to think of contacting the other side or breaking through the veil.
i can confirm (as there seems to be some doubt) at the service meeting last night during the item about the new watchtower, a letter was read by the po.
the public talk is to be 30 minutes long.
this is to allow for more association and ministry.. lengthy negative introductions about the state of the system of things/deep last days etc are to be heavily curtailed.
The part about lengthy introductions about negative things is something to be applauded. I used to come away from some public talks so depressed that I wondered why I came.
I think the downsizing will continue.
i had my jc about a month ago now and thanks to my dad i keep thinking "shoul i have appealed?
" has anyone ever heard of a decision being reversed because of an appeal?
do very many people appeal?
I don't know much about winning an appeal. I have known of 1 case where it happened. The statement made by your father spoke volumes, though. It is your sister who is choosing not to talk to you and I rather doubt that is what you wanted to achieve.
To break up a family over the use of the YMCA is totally insane. I think if you asked 100 normal people what they thought about such a religion, they would all agree that it is a dangerous and cruel cult.
current breaking story on sir isaac newton's prophecies of the second coming of christ, confirming, the research of many of us ex-jw's.
check it out!
the sage.
Heathen,
I don't mean to say that Christ has abandoned the earth. I do think that the word presence is more easily understood than coming. He cannot return in a literal sense, but he is and always has been present. The change that needs to be made is in human consciousness. Christ said he was the vine and we are the branches, as long as we remain in union with him. So we are already part of the divine if we choose to be right now.
I still find myself wanting someone (Christ) to come and magically make everything all right, but I don't believe that is what he meant by the statements you quoted. All we can do is choose to live in the present and take care of the small, but important role that each of us plays in this moment. This is where all life takes place in, the present. If we take care of our inner selves, we will also choose to take care of this planet.
my great uncle found out last week that he has to have triple bypass surgery.
he was raised a jw back in the 1930's and 1940's, but left and joined the navy.
approximately 8 years ago he started studying again.
Sending my thoughts and prayers for your uncle. Have you gone over the different fractions and procedures that jws do accept? Cell salvage and storage of blood during the operation which is shortly reinfused would both be helpful and are accepted by jws.
i remember a topic a couple months ago, something about whether the gb actually believed in what they taught.
other topics have been similar lately, and today i noticed the topic about google 'proving' that the wts deliberately lies.
but is it deliberate?
If nothing else, they are lying by leaving out information that they should be giving out to their supporters. They should be totally transparent when it comes to reporting what is done with the hard earned money of the rank and file members.
How about when they told us they were changing to a strictly donation arrangement for literature? Did they not forget to tell us that they were involved with a lawsuit with Jimmy Swaggert and lost and were now trying to avoid being taxed?
i think it would be safe to say that most people do not want to die when that time comes...yet, i wonder, how many people have really taken a hard cold look at the prospect of living forever...life without end.
wouldn't there come some point in time when insanity would set in....boredom would drive you over the edge.
i think you would go mad and want to kill yourself.... any thoughts?
I'm with Purps, I still want to live forever. I have always had problems with the concept of physical immortality. Nothing physical can last forever. It goes against all the laws of nature.
I don't believe that our existence is dependent on our physical bodies. I don't think I could get bored if allowed to experience the universe or a spiritual dimension, so to speak.
current breaking story on sir isaac newton's prophecies of the second coming of christ, confirming, the research of many of us ex-jw's.
check it out!
the sage.
Interesting article. I don't believe that Christ is ever coming back to the earth in the future tense. He exists outside of time and has always been present. We may reach his level, outside the realm of time.
