Posts by Listener

95

I think my faith might be returning. Feeling very confused.

by jambon1 in

jw
friends

i've been out the organisation for around 8 years.

when i first left, im positive that i suffered from some sort of post traumatic stress.

i was very angry at myself for accepting the really bad parts of the religion that i strongly disagreed with.

Listener

It was wonderful to read the New Testament with an open mind and it was surprising to feel a different understanding of the 'Good News". My appreciation for Jesus grew on a different level.

Reading Ray Franz's book "Crisis of Conscience' made me realize how unimportant religion is and that having a personal relationship with God is possible if not desireable without it. Other people get something different from his book and this is because he leaves it to the reader to draw what they want from his writings.

29

Who is the FDS class from midweek meeting....last night

by Legacy in

last night we had our midweek meeting.

the bible reading was from "who is doing jehovah's will....the part where they asked who was the fds.

i thought because of the past sept. wt, every hand would go up....all you heard were crickets.

Listener

No, there is no new teaching that is just a few months old relating to the FDS. Cedars blog is still current light.

There are two appointments. The first is when Jesus' returns and appoints the FDS to feed the domestics. They say this occurred in 1919. He then leaves and returns a second time to appoint the FDS over all his belongings. They say this will happen at Armageddon and applies to all anointed, not just the FDS.

I am confused with the comments that are being made that they are no longer teaching that the FDS is a class. Their old teaching was that this class were all the anointed. The current teaching is that the FDS are all the Governing Body members only when they come together and make their decisions as a group. Given that the FDS is not one individual but the group of GB members working together, doesn't this mean that the FDS is still a class?

22

WT Study March 15 on jw.org

by Gayle in

only scanned,,couple articles on necessary on having a old-age long-term plan now.

reality is hitting them more than ever.. also, australia showed "publisher" amount.

i assume it was the "peak" stat.

Listener

Study article - being in the faith

Apparently being in the faith "is the body of christian beliefs revealed in the bible." The support of this is 2 Corinthians 13:5 which states

"5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?"

So rather than having faith in the truth regarding Jesus it is the relgious beliefs that require JWs faith.

The article then goes on to explain how you can test yourself to see whether you are in this faith.

Firstly, by giving money to the organization

Secondly, by giving your time to the organization

Thirdly, by recognizing the help given by your superiors within the organization

Then at the end of the article JWs are told that they can use the bible to prove to themselves that they are in the faith.

This study article makes no sense and like most of their articles today, there is no logical flow to it as most comments are pretty much ad hoc.

3

Witness Hypocrisy

by wallievase in

if you follow the bible and the bible says to love all, how in the convention letter about special needs can a person be disqualified from receiving help if they arent in good standing?

what does that have to do with attending a convention?.

you are supposedly following the 1st century model- why dont the c.o.s work like paul did?.

Listener

"in good standing"

This is often mentioned and what do they really mean?

At times they are referring to being in good standing with God. No-one can judge whether a person is in good standing with God or not.

At other times they are referring to being in good standing with the congregation. When a person is not there is little if no consideration given to them. It would be interesting to see the scriptures that back up their idea that this disqualifies those persons from recieving any help from the congregation.

A person may well be in good standing with God but the organization has determined that they are not in good standing within the congregation.

23

Governing Body humility: crapping their pants and admitting it stinks

by Terry in

we've all heard the old saying:.

any job worth doing is worth doing right the first time.. but, this would not seem to apply in the only organization on earth claiming to be solely guided by jehovah!.

in the watchtower society, the governing body gathers in a board room and prays, discusses and votes.. presumably the prayer invokes holy spirit of jehovah.

Listener

Once again Terry, a well written piece.

"Jehovah's witless claim God corrects them."

How does he do this? If he in fact does this, then why wouldn't he use this same method to allow them to get it right in the first place? The fact is, it is only from their own understandings, research, comparison's to other understandings and reflection that forces them to change things. They should not be printing anything without first having a complete conviction to being correct but they let so many other things influence their thoughts and none of that stems from God.

"3. God is not the author of confusion and yet what could be more confusing than being "in the Truth" and being wrong ?"

They will carry on about how unified they are and that they truelly are an organized organization and this proves they are the true religion because God is a God of organization. You make a good point here because their teachings are confusing and more so when they keep changing them.

11

BOE - CONVENTION 2014

by WatchTower87 in

re: convention service meeting part for week of january 6, 2014. .

http://adf.ly/ayq16.

instruction: press the 'skip ad' button top right, you should then see the download screen more easily.

Listener

Quoted from BOE letter "This is causing difficulty in working with some hotels and can bring reproach on the organization."

If they didn't get involved in these commercial arrangements then they wouldn't be exposing themselves to any reproach.

Another quote "Our annual conventions will afford us a fine opportunity both to take in divine instruction and to enjoy the warm association of our brothers and sisters. (Deut. 16:15) May Jehovah bless your efforts as you prepare to at-tend the 2014 conventions!"

Unbelievable, they are calling their accommodation arrangement 'divine instruction'. Divine being considered Godlike.

4

An Unusual Event - Riot in Singapore.

by fulltimestudent in

the singapore government keeps a very tight rein on the streets of singapore.

if you misbehave.

you may find a policeman's truncheon meeting up with your head.. .

Listener

I can understand why they would want to have bibles but there are many alternative translations around. God's law does not include the command that they have WTBTS publications and bibles. The WTBTS should be instructing them not to break the law but they put their organization and publications on a par with being considered above any man made law.

11