at last night's clam the circuit overseer made this comment, "we elders sometimes have to act as judges in the congregation.
but we (the elders) are imperfect, and so cannot know everything about judicial matters.
that is why we (the elders) have the biblical rule that there must be at least two witnesses to wrongdoing.
It can be troublesome when there are not two witnesses, but when it comes to pedophilia, no adult who is not a child's parent should ever have lone access to a child. Pedophile attacks happen in privacy, which makes it tough to witness. Thus, no elder or other adult should ever be given the opportunity to be alone with a child.
The two witness rule was meant to be equitable to both parties. But it can't operate behind closed doors.
those of you who know my story are aware that i'm currently disfellowshipped and living with my parents.
up until now, my plan has been to be reinstated and then fade, but recently my plans have changed.
in a conversation with my mother a few days ago and she made it clear that she would not be okay with me getting reinstated with the purpose of going inactive.
Saethydd » if I'm gonna be damned anyway I may as well be damned for what I really am.
That's one of the issues. Why would you feel in any way under condemnation when The Truth is not the truth, but a sham that rests on a bunch of self-appointed shysters making claims they can't possibly sustain? The ancient church had bishops, priests, elders, deacons, teachers, seventy and evangelists. And the apostles were called and ordained by Christ. "For yew have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you." The JWs have put it's Governing Body in a position where they have chosen Jesus, but Jesus has not chosen them or ordained them.
The WTBTS bears no resemblance to the ancient church, and they have chosen themselves and are thus a manmade church. You have nothing to apologize for and they have no power to bind or loose (disfellowship). You are thus under no condemnation. So please stop thinking like that.
If you go to the internet and research Armageddon (forgetting everything you think you know about it), you'll discover it's far different in the Bible than what the JWs teach.
I hope you can find others you can bring out.
those of you who know my story are aware that i'm currently disfellowshipped and living with my parents.
up until now, my plan has been to be reinstated and then fade, but recently my plans have changed.
in a conversation with my mother a few days ago and she made it clear that she would not be okay with me getting reinstated with the purpose of going inactive.
That may be counter productive.
If you send those letters, the people you send them to may simply see it as confirmation that you're an apostate. Such letters may sound one way to you and completely different to someone else, and you may say things you'll later regret.
If you're reinstated, that will remove the stigma of excommunication (and allow people to communicate with you), but it sounds as though your mom's on to you.
You may just want to consider a clean break. The greatest weakness of the JW movement is that it claims to represent God, yet there is not a single instance of God communicating anything to the Society, one way or the other. They quote Matthew 24 about the faithful and discreet slave who, when the Lord comes, will find him distributing spiritual food to the Lord's household. So they appointed themselves the Lord's faithful slave. But since the Lord allegedly came in 1914, technically this servant's duties should have already been fulfilled.
The Lord stated that when He returns, He will reject self-appointed servants, saying, "I never knew you!" And He gave the parable of the blind guides leading the blind, an obvious reference to false teachers leading foolish followers, neither of which receive revelation from God.
Your best bet might be just making a clean break. Staying in it will destroy you emotionally and spiritually.
it's possible human were living in southern calif 130000 years ago.
yes young people were surfing at the beach, snow skiing down the mountains unaware that adam and eve believe they were the only ones on earth...lol.
That's it? It's possible?
Sounds solid to me.
First, I question most of the crap seen in these posters. Having studied mythologies, much of it is pure garbage. If the stories are read next to each other, the similarities pretty much vanish. Where, for example, does it state that Krishna or Horus were born on December 25? And why should it matter since Jesus was born in April or early May? Anyone can post anything without documentation, and there's precious little of it in such charts.
when i studied as a young adult, it was in one of those congregations.
having viewed the religion as a quaint little band of christians it conpletely dumbfounded me when i was told about such rules as 1 - no beards.
2 - you must wear a suit to meetings and while giving a talk.
But what are the consequences of not grooming according to rules set by the elders? If someone moves from KH-1, where there are liberal grooming rules, to KH-2, where they're considerably more strict, what happens then? Are they counseled to follow the new rules and if so, how would that happen?
Are people encouraged to visit KHs just off the street, or are they expected to have a few lessons first? If a stranger walked in, I'm sure he'd be welcomed, but would he be openly proselytized? (I'm sure there are certain meetings where visitors would be less welcome, though.)
some bibles use the term "worship" when refering to jesus...at times people did fall down and bow to him........this doesn't show he was god!
the greek term; proskeyneo, means to prostrate oneself, to bow down and show honour.
now, this was done for jehovah.....and his representatives....jesus israelite kings and priests....but for the honour of jehovah not as creature worship which even angels would refuse.. also i studied the non-biblical early church gospels which really does show a slow decline over 150 years, into the trinity as the watchtower claims...........although i still hate the watchtower society at least i learnt something that wasn't a lie..
My own belief is that Jesus is Jehovah, but that Jehovah is the SON, not the FATHER. When MAN fell, the FATHER no longer could communicate with MAN directly. He needed a mediator. Yahweh was that mediator, and in morality He was known as Joshua/Jesus. This is why their titles were the same. At the end of the Millennium, Yahweh will return the earth to the Father redeemed and glorified.
And thus His role will be complete. Remember that Jesus overlooked Jerusalem and lamented over it, saying, "How oft would I have gathered thee under my wings as a hen gathereth its chicks, and ye would not."
How could he have said this if he were not Jehovah?
last night at the meeting, a local needs talk preempted the regularly scheduled part.
an elder who is the most society following elder talked about loving god and then he talked about bible principles such as marry only in the lord.
he talked of deut.
Stuckinarut2 » Wow, so he actually said this was a "marking" talk? That is not supposed to happen nowadays.
What's a "marking talk" ?
if you had to choose to belong to 1 religion, i was curious as to what any on the forum would pick.. i realize most here are likely atheist (i would have to say i'm agnostic), but if any would like to share their opinion, and maybe why?.
I'm a Mormon as many of you know. BUT if I were not a latter-day saint, I'd be an Orhodox Christian. (I might join Blondie's church, but there's a waiting list.)
today i went to a large talk.. there was no arguing or swearing, just kindness and respect.. it was orderly and calm.. trash was put in the proper place.
people were even picking up litter that wasn't even theirs.. the speakers were passionate and inspiring.. the entire event was orchestrated by volunteers.. it was march for science, not a dub ass-embly.
so much for "only jehoopla's people" behaving like this at large events..
Rebel8> It was March for Science, not a dub ass-embly. So much for "only Jehoopla's people" behaving like this at large events.
Yes, but they're gonna be destroyed during Armageddon while all those stuffy old elders at the Kingdom Hall and the people at those events are going to be saved in Paradise Earth. (Gloat, gloat!) The birds of prey are gonna eat those science march people to the bones. Pick a little, peck a little.
