And again, WT/ GB plant the idea about leaving (the religion) when they change Jesus’ words, as Ray Franz pointed out in his book, “Crisis of Consience”, from “Lord, WHOM shall we go away to?” to, WHERE else could we go?? - as though teachings of decency and love toward others should be found in only their special place, and not in a person’s own home, or school, or charitable organization, or having hearts filled with love and graciousness, and empathy, compassion.. toward others....
They take an ideology (the bible and Jehovah) and then make decrees (and commands and doctrines of men) and then bind up heavy loads...
they become Pharisees, measuring the tenth of the dill and the mint and the cumin...
and hmm, something else.... ?
... forgetting about love and mercy...?
... is this (gasp!) possible with the leaders, I mean fine examples of our faith, whom we should emulate... blah blah ... and meet at certain exact times in certain exact places wearing certain exact clothes to do certain exact same things ... ?
- is this what JESUS wanted?
He, who said, “where two or three or gathered in my name, there I am...” (a spirit of friendship, love, sharing, and oh, you know, maybe just having a spirit of being guided by LOVE, right?)
Hmm. Imagine that. Is it really so .... simple....?
... especially if...
god is ....
Love....
...
(“And they bind up heavy loads upon the backs of men, teaching commands of men as doctrines...”)
(but certainly not WT/ GB, right...? Not them...)
“... do not put your trust in nobles, nor in the sons of earthling man, with whom there is no salvation...”
”... and Satan himself appears like an angel of light...”
(Hm, personally, that last one is a little dramatic for me, haha, but I’ll put it out there for the seekers or questioners..)
and yes, it is okay to think and judge and ‘test out the inspired expressions” and weigh them out... (remember those Boreans? They don’t talk much about them anymore, do they?) so it’s okay to keep seeking...
... Try to change your vocabulary, they always want you to improve or add to that, don’t they? Try thinking positive words and framing things thru a lens of love, gratitude, caring, forgiveness, etc., rather than the words they use which keep you down, which create fear, obligation, guilt... (fog)
Think of having a question as a way to continue seeking for truth,
rather than the scary, loaded, threatening language and words (seasoned with salt?) of “doubts, independent thinking, giving way to Satan, becoming murmurers, following the path of Korah...” (boy, they do go on & on and get ya, don’t they? Sheesh. 200 pages of bible compared to over 2,000 pages WT literature annually, but that was back in the day...
It would be interesting to recount it now, especially in this digital age, and figure in what amount of digital movies and such they have which now count as “placements”.... (so surreal)
the WT, back in the day, used to subject us to 3 weekly meetings (which they called “seven”) and we used to study a total of over 2,000 pages of WT “bible study aids” annually, again, compared to only 200 pages of bible pages, and of those bible pages, most of them are the same scriptures used repeatedly, over and over again, the scriptures which could best highlight or fit (or be made to fit) their doctrines.
... doctrines described to be “truth” yet need change and adjustments all the time.
Well, I digress muchly. Thank you for listening. 😄🤗