Hmmm... who to listen to...?
"Give freely...." -or- ask for financial support?
here's just a few random observations from tomorrow's wt study:.
jesus’ command to make disciples was not limited to christians living in the first century.
jesus concluded his instructions to his followers with the words: “i am with you all the days until the conclusion of the system of things.” (matt.
Hmmm... who to listen to...?
"Give freely...." -or- ask for financial support?
just been reading former long-time brooklyn bethelite tom cabeen's very encouraging article entitled "where is the body of christ?".
(can be found at http://divinetruth.homestead.com/bodyofchrist.pdf) .
in his article, tom says: "when john received the revelation around the end of the first century, there were hundreds of thousands of christians, even by conservative estimates.
If the number was that limited, why didn't Jesus mention it to His followers? According to the Bible, He did not specify who the "other sheep" were and if their fate were any different than what he held out to His apostles!! "One flock, one shepherd" actually implies same treatment, does it not?
it seems the news always has another report of a pedo stalking children or hurting them.
i know this has gone on forever but i read another report of an illegal alien with a history of abuse taking advantage of another poor child.. i just don’t understand why some people do this.
is there an actual brain abnormality?
Rattigan: The logical conclusion to your reasoning as you wrote it is:
A pedophile is someone that prefers children.
No one prefers children.
Therefore no pedophilia exists.
We know that is not a true statement.
And if it were that simple, by your own logic it would have to look more like this:
A pedophile is someone who prefers the easily manipulated
Children are easily manipulated
Therefore pedophiles prefer children
... or rather listen to the advice on their jw news website:.
show love to others.
while we all know the importance of attending christian meetings and participating in the public ministry, if you are sick, it is best to stay home to avoid infecting others.
It's sad that the WTS misses the entire point of such a remembrance. It seems, rather, that it reinforces their caste system, IMHO. Rather than celebrate the mission of Jesus on earth, they use it as selfishly as possible. No, the JW brand of memorial "celebration" is not something I would find a good use of my time.
what is the benefit of god's kingdom?.
the watchtower said when it started out in 1879 that god's kingdom had already arrived in heaven in 1874 and that its work would be complete by 1914. .
with heroic slogans of "destroying the kings of the earth" and "all enemies of christ the king" etc by 1914, "god fearing" humankind was to have been restored to prelapsarian innocence and the earth to a global edenic paradise.
“Even faith has to have some evidence!” -HB
You will never prove spiritual realities with material facts. They exist on differing levels. One is inner and the other outer.
Faith evidence is as personal as faith itself is. An outsider to each person cannot determine the extent or reality of another’s personal faith. It isn’t real to anyone else but the person experiencing it. What may prove spiritually true for one person cannot necessarily be proven true for another. This is precisely why organized dogmatic religious organizations are in error. Each person must decide for themself what constitutes ‘credible evidence’ about anything in the inner life.
For some the kingdom of heaven IS a spiritual fraternity with others who likewise believe in God. The idea is that God exists because they have inner evidence of that existence. For those looking on but without that “evidence” they clamor for the evidence the believer has. Well, how could they possibly know that the believer does not know? They can’t. But they will hypothesize delusions, etc., ignoring that no evidence exists that the believer does not know!
Back to the original question: “What is the benefit of God's Kingdom?” This again is what each person makes of it. If it should become the idealized fraternal bond that exists between those who believe, it could do wonders in how people relate to each other. Then it could become the question: What is the benefit of treating each other with the same love with which a real, kind, long-suffering and honorable parent treats their child versus treating each other with judgment and hate?
But if you are asking what is the benefit of the so-called kingdom of watchtower creation? I haven’t seen spiritual benefit to anyone in that interpretation!! (Financial benefit to WTS, perhaps...?)
the jehovah's witnesses are taught by their organisation that christ's body was disposed by jehovah god, they deny the physical bodily resurrection and explain that he rose again as a spirit creature.
as we take into account what the watchtower teach, i explain from the bible that christ rose again from the grave in his body, and showing forth that the jehovah's witnesses are in error.
in this video i cover:
If you are going to use the Bible....then what about what Paul said about having a spiritual body? It implies something different than the human (natural) body.
(1Cor 15:44--"It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.")
the first two study articles of the latest wt raise the usual sense of urgency with more of the same theological quackery russell would be proud of.. first up, something we've always known, the embarrassing admission that jws think they are the center of the universe:.
even though god’s servants make up only a small portion of the world’s population, they are often at the center of major world events.
because satan and his entire system have one prime objective—conquering those who serve jehovah .
Will the others of the "anointed" also understand it? Or is the GB somehow even more special?
it seems the news always has another report of a pedo stalking children or hurting them.
i know this has gone on forever but i read another report of an illegal alien with a history of abuse taking advantage of another poor child.. i just don’t understand why some people do this.
is there an actual brain abnormality?
Perhaps it can also be influenced generationally. A person once afflicted and with certain personality or mental tendencies, but never treated, can also become one who perpetrates. I know of a case where that was so.
It does NOT mean that those who suffered will perpetrate...at least, not without the other conditions also being present. I also know of those who were perpetrated against who became healthy adults.
But it is striking that a boy who was 3 and perpetrated against by an older girl...not old enough to know better, mind you, continued to "have issues" with young girls the age of his perpetrator, all the way into his adulthood. (From the way it was told, I am certain the little girl was also being abused. I was not there, however.)
the "financial" new system of things!.
yes, in the new system it will be "business as usual" with the watchtower society's financial arrangement.
all those beautiful homes are to be built to make paradise complete.. .
One must wonder if WTS understand how a financial sector even works on such a global scale. What is worth more...money or food? Salt used to be currency. It was edible and even necessary. Gold is not until or unless another entity sees it as desirable and is willing to trade for it..
A "financial authority" would have no power if the "minions" decided they had none. It is a numbers game in the end. Do you think the scenario described by the OP would "wake" others during such a time?
At any rate it does not sound like the WTS is planning to wait on J for their instructions. Not with those kinds of declarations!
my wife and i are not religious nor do we want to be.
we are very set in our spiritual beliefs.
we have worked with a jw who's family have been like a part of our family for 6 years.
Just a note here...I agree with the comments above. However, even if you should have a heart to heart talk with these people, you must understand they think nothing of violating any religious preference you may instruct them about. e.g. "Please don't take my kids to meetings or read your literature to them." They would consider that God does require them to do so and they must obey God, not the children's parents. This also shows up when a JW has enough and quits, thus becoming an ex-JW. The JW's will attempt to show up for the children of the ex-JW, especially if said children were baptized. This is NOT OK.
I would also recommend talking to your children about why it is not OK for them to go to meetings and not OK to listen to the religious propaganda. But if the children are exposed to this indoctrination anyway, they may be encouraged to lie about it. And the JW's will further encourage them as your disapproval will be looked at as persecution (i.e. support that they are the "true religion.")