this site is called "a discussion forum for jehovahs witnesses.
" maybe "for jehovah's witnesses entertainment" would fit better..
palmtree: thats exactly what I thought, since teaching bible principles, living a moral life etc, is certainly positive, however, like the Pharisees in Jesus time, who also had the law of God, they went overboard, and made it a burden, became judgemental and puffed up.
I really wonder what would happen, if Jesus came again and would tour as a CO through the congregations, or even better, went right to the headquarter....
we have friends who say that they have had some awful shepherdings,the things theyve been told in them were far from encouraging.. we havent ever had one so to be honest i cant comment...but would love to know if you had one?
were they regular and were they ever encouraging?
?.
isaasaustin: I guess a lot depends on the congegation, the make up of it, and mostly the elders...here we are pretty liberal, elders concentrate on more important things (according to the standard of the WTS) but at least not so much additional personal opinion garbage...
we have friends who say that they have had some awful shepherdings,the things theyve been told in them were far from encouraging.. we havent ever had one so to be honest i cant comment...but would love to know if you had one?
were they regular and were they ever encouraging?
?.
well, I can contribute from 2 sides:
I got a couple of sheperding calls, mostly encouraging, no big issues discussed, seemed ok
and I made SC myself, tried always to be encouraging, listening, clinging close to the bible and not forcing personal opinions, is sometimes not so easy, because some brothers want to hear, what they should do, instead of thinking for themselves and applying Gods word.
Isaacaustin: I was raised in the "truth" and one thing always bugged me, was the attitude towards beards, why in all the world should something God created in men be unsuitable for his people ??? stupid rules...fortunately lately it seems to become less and less an issue here in Europe at least...
this site is called "a discussion forum for jehovahs witnesses.
" maybe "for jehovah's witnesses entertainment" would fit better..
I´m also still in, trying to sift through information here and elsewhere, evaluating pros and cons,
always had doubts about some doctrines, but the core beliefs I did not doubt (like trinity, hellfire, paradies earth etc)
however, what got me thinking is theses endless rules about holidays, blood, sexual matters etc, all smelled very much "man-made" to me,..
a couple years ago the cos and dos were pushing a letter at elders meetings about being more critical of so-called repentant wrongdoers and being tougher on such claims.
do their recent works prove it.
don't just believe tears.
this is another example of a typical approach of the WTS to scriptures:
while there is scripural basis for handling wrongdoing ( 1 Cor 5 ) and even for repentance, the WTS creates numerous rules around it that actually hide the real purpose and meaning, much like the Pharisees did with the Mosaidc law...
I come more and more to this conclusion: WTS = modern Pharisees
i have attended just a handful of meetings over the 2 months.
i went yesterday, because i had an assignment and i really wanted to see my mate talk about masturbation from the platform, knowing he would be very uncomfortable about it!!!!.
anyway after the meeting i was approached by the cobe.
nice plan, I think they will bug you for a while afterwards, and then they might get used to your situation, that you only come once in a while....
we did the same to an elder, who resigned, and slowly fades, always was perplexed, because he is a real decent guy, pretending to have problems, now I wonder, whether he just fades for the same reason as many on this forum here....
however, I can hardly talk to him, since he is raraley at meetings...
anyway, I think about a similar plan for myself, first I have to talk to my wife, soon.....
it is my understanding that the scholars of the wts say that the "70 years" began when the land was "completely depopulated", not when jerusalem was destroyed.. .
if that is the case, they should have jumped from their 537 bce date back to the removal of inhabitants during nebuchadnezzar's 23rd year, thus making that 607 (or 606) bce.. .
did russell start the 70 years (and hence his 2520 years) with the destruction of jerusalem or with the depopulation of the land?.
scholar
its one thing to debate such a topic, even good to consider the pros and cons, however I never undertstand this strange "celebrated JW scholars" thing ...who are they ? why celebrated ? sounds more like a joke to me ...
ok, i couldn't let it lie.
i showed my wife some of the scientific inaccuracies made by the wts over the years .
my wife was concerned that i have been reading apostate literature.
very interesting, will try a similar thing with my wife soon, fortunately she is not a die-hard witness, however, born in, she really knows nothing else...like me in fact...
oh, cantleave, you have a pm...
there is no truth...i know that.
to please my mum while she's alive and wife i go to meetings and the 3 day convention coming up.
i would rather go to the dentist.
I fake, have to, no way for the next few years to change otherwise would loose family, friends etc...
meanwhile, in order to maintain kind of a good conscience, I try to use my influence to soften things, to make the load lighter, even occasionally question harsh doctrines, but have to do this very carefully...
its not a way I prefer, but atm the only way...
yesterday as our family entered the parking lot of our kh, we realized it was not our congregation entering.
soon afterward we remembered that this week was our co visit and we had missed the tuesday night meeting.
i think it's the first time in over 20 years that i missed a meeting with the co. tonight is our bookstudy/co talk, i wonder if anyone will ask where we were (not likely, everyone is so over us).. it's weird though because a large part of me could care less, and we were laughing about it all the way home.
I completely undertstand, being still in, meetings are more and more boring, and I see more and more the brainwashing done there , however, I also fear, by fading out (only longterm option for me right now) I will loose my spirtuality.
being used to have a strict program on spiritual things may make it hard to keep up a spiritual program on your own..
and this can also cause feelings of guilt...
