deep, dark secrets.. horrible, ugly things that dwell in shadows.. things no one speaks about.
topics that are avoided.. in some groups, it might be a murder, or an act of incest.. but with the watchtower, of all the dark secrets hidden from view,.
there is one uglier and more horrible than any other by far.. it is this:.
Metatron, you are absolutely right!!!
Speaking about Fred Franz the Great Pharisee; he was so adept at interpreting the scriptures to his own philosophical conception, that he even fooled the others at the GB, as they were all too afraid to counter his "findings" since they came from Above as Fred the Pharisee so often asserted....A one-man's show for sure and all in the guise of being God's spokesman...
:*) Richie
You are the music as long as the music last...............
i believe i have set the wheels in motion for what i believe will lead to my disfellowshiping.
i have been inactive since 1987 and still getting along with the witnesses (invited to gatherings etc.
) but something came up that finally push my buttons just enough to make me explode.
Freeman, The bible makes mention of shunning only in extreme circumstances, such as persisting in adultery, fornication, grand theft...boasting about such things and not showing any repentance...
For those and similar wrongs (if they persist in them) one should be reprimanded or even df'd for a little while because it is a relevant danger to other Christians. But here is where it stops; the Society has grown into a man-made organization by elaborating on "biblical rules and regulations" (remember the Pharisees?) by adopting additional directives toward disfellowshipping...., such as questioning scriptural meanings or disassociating yourself and the like....For these there is NO scriptural proof that they should DF you in any way whatsoever!! But then again, how different were the Pharisees? I leave that up to you to answer....
Regards...,
:*)
You are the music as long as the music last...............
what are the feelings of jws towards worldy people they know?
i know if you're some woopdeedoo jw you didn't mingly with the 'worldy' but those who did or do or will or...argh...ok. they think 'wordly' people are going to burn and be destroyed in armageddon so if they have love or friendship for a worldly person how do they deal with this 'truth'?
do they look to convert?
About the question of how JW's view people in the world....Let me see.., I will try to answer that from a viewpoint of having been a witness for 24 years and being an elder at that.
Well, JW's love their fellow brothers and sisters to the point where they would die for such ones. Now, let me be straight by saying that this kind of love may be sincere or may not be sincere. Let me put it in another way; when you have been taught to love your neighbor (meaning your brothers) unconditionally for many years, you don't know how not to love them, whereas any outsiders (people of the "world") are just tolerated in the sense that they are human beings created by God and perhaps by any possibility a future brother.
For that eventuality the brothers are conditioned to love outsiders, albeit in a limited sense.
Whenever an unbeliever has died where the spouse was a believer, the witnesses will console and comfort the surviving (believing) spouse but at the same time not have any fellow feeling for the departed one. It's strange in a way..., I myself (when I was a witness) never felt any closeness or affinity to worldly people because I have been conditioned to feel that way; only to faithful witnesses (and I stress the word "faithful") are we allowed to show this agape and filia love.
Now that I departed from this make believe world of "brotherly love", I possess a better capacity to genuinely love other people in general rather than categorize them on the basis of a religious affiliation.
Incidentally, when my first wife died of cancer, there were many witnesses who felt sorry for me and my surviving children, but this sadness on their part was always forcefully accompanied by the assurance that "she will be resurrected again" so what's the point of mourning too long. By extension, the longer you mourned the weaker you were in the faith...yes that's how they subconsciously analyzed situations like that. The most memorable and heartfelt condolences I received were from my "worldy" friends outside the congregation; those who were associated with me through my employ and my literal neighbors from my neighborhood as well as the ones who were related to my wife but were not Witnesses. Those who were not in the truth were in that way closer to me in their sincerity and I felt a reciprocal attachment to them which I never felt with the witnesses.., no not then and not now or ever!
:*) Richie
You are the music as long as the music last...............
i know that this has been done before, but i am new to the board and i would like to get an idea of where everyone is located.
as an aside .... plesantries or animosities, moderators or no, i am grateful to have this board.
bobsgirl
lived most of my years in Montreal Canada but was born in The Netherlands (1952)
You are the music as long as the music last...............
just an observation; when a witness decides to write the congregation that he or she does not want to be associated anymore for personal reasons, why is it that this person must be disfellowshipped?
or why is it that if someone makes an issue about a wrong in the congregation such as pedophilia, and this witness decides to officially warn the elders about this wrongdoing or suggest to contact the police, that this person must be disfellowshipped?.
get my drift???.
Thank you Blondie for the article on how the Beroeans viewed the study of the Scriptures; this is exactly the point I was trying to make: we should always search (not in a critical sense to find fault) but rather to make sure that what the Bible has to say on matters directly and indirectly, that these matters merit our utmost consideration... Yet the Society does not allow us to individually examine the Scriptures whether these things are so as they claim...
It must only come from the Society first and then one can "study" it in accordance with their line of thinking..., that way the WT is able to control your scope of inquisitiveness that one doesn't go "out of line" with the accepted mode......
You are the music as long as the music last...............
it was just one single day in the life a 14 year old boy, yet i can remember it just as if it was yesterday.. i had started working my very first part-time job attending gasoline pumps at a small service station.
i began this day with much anticipation, yet at the time not realizing that this one single day would prove to make such a lasting impression on my memory.
as i pumped gas for customers (remember when they did that), from my outdoor one room shack about the mid part of the day i noticed the sky began to darken.
I was baptized in the summer of 1975, just to make sure that I would be "spared" in case the end would come around September/October 1975 (as was the quiet understanding of many) - Yet the strange part of it all was, although I knew at the time that the witnesses were the ones always talking about the system maybe ending in 1975, that I was made to believe that the Watchtower never ever said or even suggested that the end would come in 1975. In fact, the WT made it a point in several articles that only "the weaker ones were worshipping a date and they were not faithful enough to look for Jehovah". Only recently did I find out (after I severed my ties with them) that the WT was the only channel through which this "prediction" came forth, yet they never admitted it in the first place. How many articles by the Society where they even commended the brothers who left their jobs and livelihood to go pioneering before the end would come in 1975...
To deny this by the WT and putting the blame on spiritually weak persons is similar to a selling out by abdicating responsibility for their actions. This is only one example of many where the Society led us up the garden path by covering up mistaken interpretations as they understood it at the time, by declaring that it was Jehovah who "enlightened them sothat the light is getting brighter and brighter". Not to mention the many lives of humble people they changed and ruined because of their erroneous directives throughout many decades..... How presumptuous and sad....
:*) Richie
:*) Richie
You are the music as long as the music last...............
just an observation; when a witness decides to write the congregation that he or she does not want to be associated anymore for personal reasons, why is it that this person must be disfellowshipped?
or why is it that if someone makes an issue about a wrong in the congregation such as pedophilia, and this witness decides to officially warn the elders about this wrongdoing or suggest to contact the police, that this person must be disfellowshipped?.
get my drift???.
The pillars of human society are based on individual freedom; not to do bad but to move forward, to do good and search out what is best for mankind emotionally, socially and spiritually...the Beroeans were the ones who were critical in a positive sense by dissecting the Scriptures to make sure that these things were so (they did so without an organization prodding them...)
:*)
You are the music as long as the music last...............
just an observation; when a witness decides to write the congregation that he or she does not want to be associated anymore for personal reasons, why is it that this person must be disfellowshipped?
or why is it that if someone makes an issue about a wrong in the congregation such as pedophilia, and this witness decides to officially warn the elders about this wrongdoing or suggest to contact the police, that this person must be disfellowshipped?.
get my drift???.
Just an observation; when a witness decides to write the Congregation that he or she does not want to be associated anymore for personal reasons, why is it that this person must be disfellowshipped?
Or why is it that if someone makes an issue about a wrong in the congregation such as pedophilia, and this witness decides to officially warn the elders about this wrongdoing or suggest to contact the police, that this person must be disfellowshipped?
Get my drift???
Is it any different then that you can make a comparison such as this:
If one believes in the doctrine of hellfire meaning that when you sin you will be punished by everlasting torture, that this would in principle be similar to the decision to disfellowship someone for the above reasons!!!.....
I cannot see any difference in mentality; i.e. the absurdity of both is markedly similar showing the exact same mindset...
This was another reason why I could not conscientiously remain with the organization; I knew that their policies were designed to keep you strangled in their fold making it extremely difficult to tear away from their tentacles of fear and guilt...
What a waste of human thinking...
:*) Richie
You are the music as long as the music last...............
i've been reading this forum page for about a year.
at first i thought it was a meeting place for practicing jw's but after reading many posts found that most people here have been hurt or don't see things eye to eye with the wt org.
i am not a jw but i have been associating with them for about 3 yrs.
My previous post was actually directed to Trumind!!!
Welcome to this board!!
:*)
You are the music as long as the music last...............
i've been reading this forum page for about a year.
at first i thought it was a meeting place for practicing jw's but after reading many posts found that most people here have been hurt or don't see things eye to eye with the wt org.
i am not a jw but i have been associating with them for about 3 yrs.
Thanks for your participation in this forum and may I say welcome to true friends who will genuinely listen to you since we all have many things in common, that is being or having been involved as one of Jehovah's Witnesses.
Most of us are not here to be negative or just slamming down JW's, on the contrary we do love and respect JW's very much as we do also other human beings so long as they are honest and insightful enough to see things in a fair, civilized and intelligent manner.
I must commend you on your resolve to make an educated decision whether you continue to make use of this board of not. It shows that you are openminded and ready to observe and discuss matters pertaining to JW's versus our value of freedom of conscience.
:*) Richie
You are the music as long as the music last...............
