not a captive

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Posts by not a captive

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  134

  Are You Eccentric?

  by snowbird in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  one of the words of today was concentric - sharing a common center.. which set me to thinking about eccentric - out of center.. i've been told that i'm eccentric.. have you ever been told that?.

  thanks.. syl.

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  not a captive

  Oh yeah!.... but when I married my husband no one noticed it any more.
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  16

  What I don't regret about my experience with JW's

  by tec in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  they taught me to think for myself.. yes, you read that right, and no i'm not being sarcastic.

  if i had walked into the church down the street, i might not ever have walked out.

  i'm sure the doctrines are easier to swallow, and the freedoms are greater.

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  not a captive

  garyneal,

  I just want to copy your post word for word. Reading through it twice, it represents my feelings and thoughts so well that anything I would say would just be repeating you.

  That comment especially about mistaking the conformity that molded us in so many ways and was foisted off as "unity". So true.

  I read in a book once that referenced words of Jesus from scripture that never made it to the canon. In it Jesus is looking at a dead jackal its lips in a death grimace. Instead of making a disparaging comment, he remarked "Look how bright his teeth are!"

  It is okay to see the good in a thing that has harmed us.

  P.S. But it's hard to bury the jackal decently in a sheep herder's camp.
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  347

  Why do all intelligent Christians disobey Jesus?

  by StoneWall in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-slagzjmdu.

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  not a captive

  PSac,

  You said something that is pretty relevant, at least in my thinking. Yesterday you mentioned that even when a Christian might 'know Jesus is real', doesn't prevent keep them from having preconceived notions.

  That seems confusing even to believers themselves. Which is why so much damage is done in the name of serving God. You get "saved" and start standing on Friday night street corners to damn the sinners coming out of the bars.We need to proceed with due humility of the wisdom of the ignorant.

  Most, not all, realize that the OT accounts reflect what happened in the history of the Jews, not exactly what God wanted. Example: David was second in a line of kings--a kind of government that was essentially a rejection of God's direct authority and protection. Still, God dealt with this less-than-perfect situation. And in his mercy he deals with us in our delusional states--and usually he absorbes the blame for our incompetence, imo.

  It looks like Paul recognized the problem of separating personal prejudice and holy spirit in many of his letters but the clearest example I know of is 1 Cor. 7. There he weighs in on SEX. God help him! he goes back and forth reasoning this way and that, saying one thing and referencing the scriptures and then another way and says that it is his own opinion. In fact he concludes the chapter saying "She would be happier, in my opinion, if she stayed as she is--and I too have the Spirit of God, I think."

  And this is the same thought in all translations I have.

  If our own opinions are powerful and can masquerade as truth so often, how dare we lay down the law for another? We can do as Paul does and give reasons from the scriptures and recognize there are limits to personal freedom--even as he points out in 1 Cor. 6--"You are associating with a brother who's having sex with his step-mom??!!!" ---NO WAY!

  So, if we are wise Christians we should get used to being accused of vacilating. There is the holy spirit and then there is ourselves-.Sometimes they concur, even as non-christians so often do what is right without making special claims of holy spirit- Burt does it seem proper to force this on anyone , including a believer until God brings them along to it? Because how wise are we to know how God is dealing with another?

  Maeve
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  21

  Intro-

  by LostnFound in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  well i figure since i have been posting on this site, i might as well share my little bit.

  it's in no way unique or special, it just is what it is.

  from the time i was a tot, my parents took us to meetings.

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  not a captive

  Great to hear your story. Too bad it is such a struggle to grow up in that snoopy outfit. Great to be out and able to live in honesty. Hope you and you husband have a great life w/o the baby sitters watching now!
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  26

  My Daughter Just Graduated From College!

  by GoingGoingGone in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  she was about 13 or 14 when i first started having serious doubts about the wts.

  when i informed her of my doubts a couple years later, she took the information and ran with it.... she never looked back.

  i told her she could be whatever she wanted to be if she only worked hard enough.

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  not a captive

  I am proud of both of you, all of you! Congratulations!
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  260

  Who Are Your Past Circuit Overseers? It's a small world..

  by mentallyfree31 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  who were your past circuit overseers?

  i'm sure a lot of us actually know mutual people, as the co's relocate all over the country.. here's a few from the southeast us: (let me know if you recognize any names and post yours too please...).

  ellwood johnson (new york/philadelphia area for several years also).

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  not a captive

  Burge, Purini, Wm. Goram
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  12

  A Tribute to Ray Franz - Touching Comments on How he Helped People

  by flipper in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm sure this link has been posted already- but i wasn't sure.

  but this was a well done tribute by wt comments .

  in case some missed it.

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  not a captive

  Mary, Those crazy bagpipes in this song shake my celtic soul. It is beautiful. And I felt like that when I saw a short video of Ray Franz when I was preparing my letter to DF. He was in Romania at answering questions for a group of ministers. I knew he was a truthful man. I knew that he had stood as well as a haman can. God gave me the light to see the wrongs but he gave me Ray Franz that day to begin to feel the calm comfort.

  Ray had come out on the other side and he was as a Christian ought to be--simple, knd and faithful.

  Thank you both for the music. It says more so often than our words. Thank you God for music and friends who make it.
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  27

  Another JW in the news

  by TweetieBird in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://www.news-journalonline.com/breakingnews/2010/06/man-follows-wife-with-tracking-device-slashes-new-boyfriend.html.

  i know this guy and he is one of the meekest, mildest guys i ever knew.

  he just stepped down as an elder recently to work on his family life.

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  not a captive

  I feel the peace outside, too.

  What a sad, sad mess for everyone.
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  3

  A Christian Standard

  by snowbird in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/n/e/nercross.htm.

  i love it!.

  syl.

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  not a captive

  Hi. Syl,

  I wish my computer could play the music. It looks like the old songs we sang at a little community church I went to years ago.
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  347

  Why do all intelligent Christians disobey Jesus?

  by StoneWall in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-slagzjmdu.

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  not a captive

  Superpunk,

  In what I know of Christ there are these things: knowing him has a beginning and spaces in between. But it does begin with just knowing he 's really there. Like the story in John 9:

  A blind man is healed. All he knows of the man who healed him is that a man, Jesus, put mud and spit on his eyes and he washed his eyes-- and he could see. He didn't really "know" who the man was. But later when he was asked by some hostile questioners, he said the man who healed him had to be a man of God. The Jews reviled the man and told him he was a sinner through and through and drove him off. Jesus found him and asked if he believed in the Son of Man. Trusting this Godly healer of him, the man said simply "Sir, tell me that Imay believe in him." "You are looking at him; he is speaking to you." "The man said Lord, I believe."

  I say this because it pretty well describes some of my beginning of "knowing" Jesus and God. That story was my defense when a fine Christian woman challenged me on being a Christian at all because of doctrinal issues. Her Bible study group that I was in for several weeks, claimed to be non-denominational. But they emphasized that they teach that any who do not believe the Trinity and election cannot truly know God and certainly do not know Christ.

  I told her that the blind man knew Jesus without her doctrine. I know him that much and am trying to know him more by trusting him and wanting to do God's will.

  Something else I think about is why we make rules for others even other Christians: Jesus is speaking to crowd when a man called out "Master, tell my brother to give me a share of our inheritance.""My friend, Jesus replied,"Who appointed me the Judge or the arbiter of your claims?...Watch, and be on your guard against avarice of any kind." Not too helpful? Jesus put responsibility on the man who asked the question. He wanted --what? fair play? an orderly neat existence?

  So it looks like Jesus calls us out (that's what ekklesia means, after all) to take responsibility for our own discipleship. Including sexual issues.It would seem that only in institutional religion you make rules for conformity of behavior. But the way it looksto me, is that Jesus worked the message of reconciliation by introducing God to people and it was on them to decide if they wanted to do God's will and then search it out--not take a vote on it. If someone makes a homosexual Church, it may lack a certain amount of open discourse on some things -- the way an Army chaplain has to scoot around the verses that talk about loving you enemy. But my dad was a soldier, a friend I discover now is gay. They will have to reckon with what is true from Jesus. I talk to them about the Jesus I know an dthe Bible as I understand it.

  Have I described a Christianity that resembles a poorly organized camp-out? Strip all the veneer and robes away and put infra-red sensors to detect spiritual brain activity, and watch what people are really doing now, it already looks like a goofy scout jamboree.

  I know one thing, if you force conformity to make it look like everyone is in agreement, you will breed hypocrites.

  I don't thing making doors on churches makes good Christians. Jesus didn't get real exclusive. Don't go "inside". Go "outside".People will follow or they won't. And people will come together and talk if they want to, "wherever two or more are gathered together..." If people are going to not keep peace and want sectarianism, they will divide. You don't have to throw them out. "By their fruits you will know them" is a way to figure if some are on the right road. Talk to them . Gather with them. Meet together to encourage one another and be a Christian.

  Who's to stop you? The "Church"? Well, yes, if you have to go mainstream-- then you'll have to deal with all these doctrinal things once and for all. Have some occasional "new light", pick a great one to rule over you, and figure a way to disfellowship dissenters.

  That's what I've been thinking I am learning from Jesus.