Yes, it is incredible. Back then, though, when we were not allowed to think...it made sense.
Frenchy
JoinedPosts by Frenchy
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10
anyone know who the current "annointed&quo...
by malian inok i have a question: these people that are running the organization that is the "faithful and discreet slave" and are being enlightened by god, who are they????
what are jws told about these people??
how do these people receive guidance from god??
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10
anyone know who the current "annointed&quo...
by malian inok i have a question: these people that are running the organization that is the "faithful and discreet slave" and are being enlightened by god, who are they????
what are jws told about these people??
how do these people receive guidance from god??
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Frenchy
Jehovah’s Witnesses teach and believe that there are two classes of people slated for salvation, a heavenly class (consisting of 144,000 ‘anointed ones’ referred to as ‘the anointed’, ‘heavenly class’, ‘brothers of the king’, and other designations from time to time.) and an earthly class (referred to as: ‘the other sheep’, ‘the great crowd’, ‘earthly class’, etc.) The ‘governing body’ is taken from members of the former class.
Jehovah’s Witnesses contend that the reference to a ‘faithful steward’ or “faithful and discreet slave” found at Matthew 24:45 refers to the “…the entire anointed Christian congregation… dispensing such truths. At the same time the individual members making up such composite body, or the ‘domestics’ making up the ‘house’ of God (Mt 24:45; Heb 3:6; Eph 2:19), would also be recipients of the ‘food’ dispensed.” –Insight book, Vol 1 Page 806. What this is saying is that the entire number of those ‘anointed’ that remain on earth (‘the remnant’) at any given time are the ‘faithful and discreet slave’.
Jehovah’s Witnesses are taught and must believe that: “All who want to understand the Bible should appreciate that the “greatly diversified wisdom of God” can become known only through Jehovah’s channel of communication, the faithful and discreet slave.—John 6:68.” Watchtower 1984, 10/1 p. 8
Now, here’s the kicker. They are told: “This faithful slave class has been appointed to provide God’s people with spiritual ‘food at the proper time.’ In this time of the end, Christ has appointed this slave ‘over all his belongings.’ Its position therefore merits the respect of anyone claiming to be a Christian.” HOWEVER, that statement would mean that ALL the anointed (women too!) would have a say in what is believed and how the ‘congregation of God’ is administered. In order to keep the power in the hands of only a selected few, the following reasoning is presented:
The purpose of headship is to preserve unity and ensure that “all things take place decently and by arrangement.” (1 Corinthians 14:40) To achieve this in the first century, a number of anointed Christians from the faithful and discreet slave class were chosen to represent the entire group. As subsequent events proved, the supervision exercised by this first-century governing body had Jehovah’s approval and blessing. First-century Christians gladly accepted the arrangement. Yes, they actually welcomed and were grateful for the fine results it produced.—Acts 15:1-32.—Same WT as quoted previously.
So there you have it. While the anointed ‘remnant’ (those of the 144,000 left alive here on earth) are, as a group, the ‘faithful slave’ they have no more say so than the lowly, non-anointed, ‘other sheep’ (those with an earthly hope) about anything that happens or what is to be believed and taught. They, through whom God’s holy spirit flows and instructs must, like the ‘other sheep’ (who have no such enlightenment ) wait for the ‘governing body’ to tell them what God’s spirit is revealing to them! -
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Discovery leads to change.
by AIRVIEW1 ini remember the all the gravel roads in mississippi where i grew up then someone dicovered asphalt and things changed.i remember my mississippi back woods country jw grandmother saying, "they will never.
make it to the moon, if jehovah would have wanted man on the moon he would have put him there....they will never make it!".
i also remember my grandmother speaking so negativley about the "high and mighty" government" but 1975 was coming!
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Frenchy
AIRVIEW: I was at that convention at LSU. I had been 'in' for some time by then and if I remember correctly I was working in 'trucking' at the time. I never full recovered from 1975. I waited to see what it was that I had missed while I wondered how it did not seem to bother the others that we had so altered our lives and put so much faith in a date that had been pushed so hard for so long and now that it had come and gone, everyone pretended it never happened. Why? Shame? Disappointment? Or perhaps the fear that questioning would bring the whole, fragile house of cards down on our heads and we would be left with nothing?
I took the house down card by card and found no reason for hope there. It did not dispel hope but rather enabled me to look elsewhere. I'm glad that you found God.
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Elder called tonight.......
by LB ingot a message on the answering machine.
our old po (former best friend) let us know that the traveling overseer is visiting next week.
told us there will be some fantastic information.
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Frenchy
An elder I served with stopped by the other day and told me that the meetings lately were just great. I was tempted to ask him who had moved in and who had changed the information being presented.
I once told a C.O. that an entire KS school had been devoted to telling us that the reason meeting attendance was dropping was because, in essence, of the way we were conducting the meetings. We were told that WE needed to improve the quality of the meetings. I told him that nothing had been mentioned about the CONTENT of the meetings and that perhaps THAT is what should be considered first and foremost.
I remember sitting on iron folding chairs in a drafty hall and hanging on to every word being said by men who could barely sign their names. It was because the promises were fresh then and the illusion was yet to be discovered.
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Inner Strength
by SixofNine ininner strength.
if you can start the day without caffeine or pep pills,.
if you can be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,.
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Frenchy
Hello, Red:
Isn't it interesting how these creatures came in out of the wild and adopted humans? And how we feed and nourish and house those unappreciative critters who do absolutely nothing in return but demand attention???Wait! That's what wives says about men!
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Remembering.......
by Undecided intoday i had to go over to reidsville, a little town where i lived for a while when i was about 22 or so and i took a different route home from my usual way.
along the way i remembered walking along the sidewalk with my first wife one night late, as it snowed, we had a great time that night.
a little further on the left was a school where we had a circuit assembly about a month after my dad died when i was 18 and i was the one in charge of the roomimg department.
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Frenchy
:::You mentioned the Kingdom songs. They were much better then, because many of the melodies were taken from classical music and church hymes. When they decided to get rid of this "pagan influence", it really bothered me. I thought the JW created music was terrible.:::-larc
Amen to that. Too sterile, they sound like sermons or WT articles with music in the background. Where's the emotion, where's the poetry and movement? I've been tempted several time to slip in Christy Lane's "One day at a time" in the cd player when no one was looking!
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A Down Side to Hope?
by Audrey inthe down side of hope.
(based on: "expectation postponed makes the heart sick.
" --the bible).
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Frenchy
Here's one I wrote when I was feeling especially sad.
Endless Night
I've never seen a night so long or so quiet
As cold winds whine and labor in their fight
To traverse through bough and limb and height.
If God made the day, then the Devil made this nightTonight my memories are chasing her in my mind
And what havoc they wreak in their desperate plight
To catch her, hold her, only to find,
She has vanished, slipped away into the everlasting nightStill I don't know what I did wrong,
What I should have said, should have done
I would never have guessed I could hurt so long
But then I never expected her to be goneI walk to the window and peer into the endless night
High above the tree lined horizon hangs the hunter's moon
Over tall, dark trees jutting up toward the ebony sky
A night bird calls out and my heart is filled with gloomUnbidden you came into my life and set my soul afire
Now you're gone and my soul is dark and cold
And it's another's lips that sets your heart on fire
On this cold, lonely night, it's someone else you holdI'm afraid this night will outlast the bottle of wine
Then what will I do, while I wait on the light
Of the sun breaking o'er the tall pines
To give me reprieve till the next eternal night. -
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A Down Side to Hope?
by Audrey inthe down side of hope.
(based on: "expectation postponed makes the heart sick.
" --the bible).
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Frenchy
Thank you very much, Audrey. Yes, I've written more poems. I'll try looking up a couple for you.
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A Down Side to Hope?
by Audrey inthe down side of hope.
(based on: "expectation postponed makes the heart sick.
" --the bible).
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Frenchy
Okay, the French Knight. "The French Knight" is a mysterios character, not quite real and yet...somehow he persists. It's a personna that slowly eased itself into my life, not quite an alter ego, and yet somehow adjoined to me in some manner. It happened when I first came here a long time ago, back when this was just a small neighborhood and everyone knew everyone else.
The French Knight still believes in chivalry and gallantry and is very quick to defend a lady in distress. He never uses profanity or off-color humor (actually he uses no humor at all!) and is just as prone to dismount his white steed, sit upon a rock overlooking some serene valley, and write a poem than he is to challenge a dragon to a fight to the death.
Sad to say, I don't see much of him anymore. He used to pop up in my posts (he's not allowed to register so he must use my account) and regularly chat with waiting (for whom he as the utmost respect as she is very outspoken for a lady) and of course he always enjoys talking to the Red Horse Woman for they share a common love of noble steeds.
He's in love with Seven Of Nine (although he would never openly admit it) and in his eyes she is the princess in the tower which, regardless of how much he tries,he is unable to scale to 'rescue' her. (What makes the poor chap think that she is in need of rescue?) Seven of Nine is always kind to the French Knight and one has to imagine that she sees him as perhaps no one else is able and she is kind enough to allow him his illusion. He is after all quite harmless.
He is a figment which exists in the mists which enshroud and cling to the outer borders of the mind. Like a shadow that disturbs the mists at dawn, at times he appears sihouetted against the pale dawn light and one is tempted to believe but only for an instant. The mist swirls and the morning sun pierces it's fragile fabric and the knight vanishes as the cold, hard light of reality evaporates the delicate mists and the fantasies and wonders of things that, might and perhaps should be, are replaced by the mundane realities which are so glibly termed 'the real world.'
I envy the naieve knight who is neither bound nor fettered by the 'realities' with which we are forced to contend. I envy his freedom to believe beyond the limits placed by logic, to hope beyond the dictates of reason, his courage to defend his timeless convictions and to dwell in that magical land where all things are possible, incorruptible by time or circumstances. I see him from time to time in those fragile, wispy morning mists standing there and pitying me.
So there you have it. You may see his comments here although he seldom visits anymore. (Now that you're posting poetry he seems to be easing out of hiding!) If you are lucky and if he takes a liking to you, you may even see him when you least expect it, standing there on that white steed and dressed in full armor peering at you just slightly beyond the borders of your mind. He will only be there for an instant but if you ever see him, I assure you, you will never forget him.
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Inner Strength
by SixofNine ininner strength.
if you can start the day without caffeine or pep pills,.
if you can be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,.
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Frenchy
What a weak bunch we are!