Excellent thread by oompa that elaborates how often they went beyond what is in the scriptures.
Hoffnung
JoinedPosts by Hoffnung
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WT Study 11DEC2010 - Keep on seeking first His Righteosness
by Hoffnung insome comments on paragraph extracts from the wt 15oct2010 pages 8 & 9, will be studied this week.. under the subheading :.
the danger of becoming self-righteous.
5. in writing to the christians in rome, the apostle paul highlighted a danger we all need to avoid if we are to be successful in seeking first gods righteousness.
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Attention Born in Lurkers
by stuckinamovement indo you feel that something has changed within god's organization?
have you noticed that in the past several years there has been a more authoritarian spirit displayed in the publications and from the platform?
i am in the beginning stages of a fade away and wanted to express my thoughts.
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Hoffnung
Good thread. I totally agree with you. My own research confirmed everything you wrote. When I was younger, congregations used to be groups of people feeling connected by working together on the same projects. It just felt right, I had real friends I could discuss just anything with them. No fear for being reported, nobody would say he could not trust the info you just brought forward, people would share their research freely, even if it was not confirming WT teachings. That is totally gone now. Everybody is sitting on his own island. All the control tightening is wearing everybody out.
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WT Study 11DEC2010 - Keep on seeking first His Righteosness
by Hoffnung insome comments on paragraph extracts from the wt 15oct2010 pages 8 & 9, will be studied this week.. under the subheading :.
the danger of becoming self-righteous.
5. in writing to the christians in rome, the apostle paul highlighted a danger we all need to avoid if we are to be successful in seeking first gods righteousness.
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Hoffnung
Some comments on paragraph extracts from the WT 15OCT2010 pages 8 & 9, will be studied this week.
Under the subheading :
The Danger of Becoming Self-Righteous
5. In writing to the Christians in Rome, the apostle Paul highlighted a danger we all need to avoid if we are to be successful in seeking first God’s righteousness. Speaking of his fellow Jews, Paul said: “I bear them witness that they have a zeal forGod; but not according to accurate knowledge; for, because of not knowing the righteousness of God but seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness
of God.” (Rom. 10:2, 3) According to Paul, those worshippers did not understand the righteousness of God because they were too busy trying to establish their own righteousness.Footnote: According to one scholar, the original-language word translated “to establish” can also mean ‘to erect a monument.’ So those Jews were, in effect, erecting a figurative monument to their own praise and not God’s.
You got to admit: The governing body has guts. If you compare this paragraph with all the stuff they wrote about themselves in the Study watchtower of last month (15SEP2010), they were indeed very busy to establish their own righteousness. The WTBTS perfectly fits the description given by Paul in Romans 10. The Footnote just highlights the point made by Paul: they (the Governing Body) did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God
8. The person who becomes “righteous overmuch” sets his own standards for righteousness and judges others by them. Yet, he fails to realize that by doing so, he is elevating his standards above those of God and thereby proving himself to be unrighteous in God’s sight.
This is an interesting sentence. Who is setting the standards for Jehovah's Witnesses, and then judges others by these standards? Is it the Governing Body or is it the bible? What is the Scriptural definition of apostasy? What is the definition of the Society? Why the difference? Why is the shunning verse totally pulled of context to apply to "sins" that the GB choose to make DF offenses. What is the biblical standard for an active publisher, pioneer, Circuit overseer, district overseer, bethel elder? Where in the bible is the word 'active' or 'inactive publisher' anyway? (I could go on and on...) Setting their own standards: the GB knows what they are talking about - 1st hand experience and leaders in the field. The judging bit, most of us have had the 'joy' of being judged in one way or another. Conclusion: The Governing Body is elevating their standards above those of God and thereby proving himself to be unrighteous in God’s sight.
It is themselves who wrote it in the WT
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KS Blood-Handout s-55-e (PDF)!!!
by yknot inwe interrupt your forum posting for this 'just in' item...... it appears an elder has not locked his doctor's bag and a member of the conscious class has brazeningly swiped & scanned a copy of the s-55e.
(((thank you anonymous cc jw!.
for the purpose of our bethel audience i want to assure you no actual elder was willingly involved in the obtaining of this scan.. link: http://www.sendspace.com/file/mnf7a0.
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Hoffnung
Randy,
excellent elaboration. Did not know the reasons why the no blood doctrine started in 1945. It makes me sick.
Happy to learn everyday here a little more truth about the truth
Hoffnung
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Father just named an ELDER...party! or not to party!
by Smoky ini just found out that the named my father an elder in his congregation.
which i find suprising for many reasons, but thats another story.
anyway my brothers & sisters invited me to go out to dinner with them and the families, in honor of my fathers new appointment, (2 of my bro are also ms, and had similiar "parties" after appointments).
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Hoffnung
Hi Cold Steel,
That is pretty cool research you did there about Armaggedon. Is there a thread on this Forum about it or can you PM it to me? Thanks in advance.
Hoffnung
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What the WT requires for reinstatement
by sabastious init's creepy that they require you to "study" for all meetings and show that you "underlined" to get reinstated.. think about that for a second.
before they let you back in they make you prove that you have been at least partially re-indoctrinated.. i mean, in the end, what does "underlining" really prove?
true repentance?
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Hoffnung
indeed it is required to show an underlined watchtower and bookstudy book. It does not mean you have to study though. It is neither going to make you a better person. Regular meeting attendance is also required. But that is really it. In my case (my disfellowshipment lasted less then one year) I definitely was worse on the day that I was reinstated than the day that I was DFed. When I was DFed, I wanted the elders' help, and I got a kick in the butt. The appeal comittee gave one kick in the butt more, just to make sure... Funny thing as well, you go to the elders to get help, and their idea of 'helping' is... organizing a trial by the judicial comittee where you 1st have to prove you deserve that help. As my 'proves' were not strong enough: Ciao. Thank you for asking our help, but we are not going to help you out of your darkest depressive days, oh and, by the way, as you have followed our recommandations about friends in the world very well, nobody out there is going to help you either. It is a cold dark world I was kicked in to. So I had lots of time (I was a quite active JW before) to examine the doubts that came up. I also had lots of time to get over my cold feet to visit the websites about the witnesses, and lots of time to order Ray's books and to read them.
When they called me for the meeting for reinstatement, they were only interested in that particular thing for which I was DFed. No interrogation about my lifestyle the last few months, nothing. That meeting did not even last 10 minutes. I could have done anything I wanted, I was accountable to no one! And nobody has ever asked how I survived these months, if I gave in to alcohol, drugs, immoral conduct, not even my parents. (I did not, but I could have). Needless to say that this proved to me there was no Holy Spirit involved in all of this. If I was not disfellowshipped, I might never have woken up.
Dear elders, thank you for help. Please help kick more of my bros and sisters in the butt the same way as you helped me.
Hoffnung
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KM (Elder School) Brief Highlights
by XBEHERE inbesides the usual drivel there were a couple interesting things.
1. an entire 1 hour discourse on helping our children become little innocent martyrs for the wt via.
their flawed and unreasonable blood doctrine.
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Hoffnung
No education = higher unemployment rate = more time to preach = more pioneers +
less educated people = easier to indoctrinate +
unemployed or poorly paid people = less hope of improving their own circumstances = more desire for the paradise to come (you will wait forever, by the way)
Got the picture?
If you are into controlling people: Higher education = a big nono
the GB got it all right, but of course it is not in the rank & Files interest.
If you don't want to become poor, hopeless and indoctrinated, it is time to start your fading program 2.0
Hoffnung
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Hoffnung
GB 1.0 is no more, live GB 2.0.
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High Profile Case: Seeking Reinstatement
by headisspinning inbut our situation is very difficult and quite high profile.... i was raised as a jw and my mother was very strict and abusive.
i got baptized at age 14.. my mother actually called on my (present) husband's mom in service.
she was on the initial call resulting in his mom coming in the truth and him being raised in it from about age 8 or 9.. despite a very abusive step-father, he followed his mom's lead and came into the truth.
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Hoffnung
Hello Headisspinning,
It is not a nice thing to learn 1st hand what the dark side of the org is. Your story brings up alot of sadness and pain. And I am afraid you will have to endure a lot more of that before you reach your goal of reinstatement. If your case really has this amount of notorioty, then indeed it is going to take at least 2 years before you will be accepted back in. From the organizations side, you are on your own. And they will make you feel like you are worth nothing. But that is not true.
You and your hubby are people Jesus died for. Jehovah is still there, and so is Jesus. They will not as easily forget all the efforts in his service as the organization. The connection wit them is not lost, and as the bible repeatedly states, Jesus is your direct representative with God. Use that. Jesus would not approve of immoral conduct, but he would not reject the person for it. The bible is full of stories of people who did a lot worse than you, and were afterwards friends of God. You have the people on this board as well. If you want to be reinstated, that is fine. You want your family and friends back, you need it for yourself, or whatever. As the mix of people on this board is very colorful, some will encourage you to leave the org for what it is. These people have very good reasons for doing so, but if that is not what you want, just ignore their comments. There are others on this board who will give you good advice that helps you in the direction you want to go.
Everybody messes up one time or another in life. When you do, you need help to get back on your feet. Sadly enough it is the organizations policy that right on that moment, your difficult life will be made even more difficult. What is the logic in that? It is indeed ironic that now you have to turn for help to the people you considered "enemies" or "worldlings". but you will not regret that. You will find help with some issues here, and you will help with other issues on other places. Keep on sharing your feelings here, there are lots of us who were where you are now, and will understand what you are going through. If your hubby was abused, report it to the proper authorities. There is no word strong enough to express the necessity that the people who commited these crimes have to be stopped. Your hubby might benefit in contacting www.silentlambs.org.
Don't loose your hope. Use the opportunity to do what you did not have the time for when you were still in: real bible study.
Best Regards,
Hoffnung
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Is the donation of Blood allowed for JW?
by Hoffnung inthis might seem to be a silly question, but if jw are allowed to accept certain blood fractions, they could consider participating in providing these fractions?
would be ok for a jw to donate his/her blood, if it is under the condition that it can only be used for the production of specified fractions?
has anyone asked the society (gb) this question, or is there already a thread on this?
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Hoffnung
Hi Marvin Shilmer, thank you for your reply. I never heard of these letters. Are they also available somewhere on the internet?