There was also a District Convention in south Florida this past weekend. At the Christian Convention Center in W. Palm Beach. I had the “pleasure” of having to go all three days -- yes it was boring. I tried to take notes on all talks -- couldn’t, way too boring. I kept nodding off. [[my comments]]
Here are the notes that I got from the Saturday afternoon Symposium “Do Not Follow…
“Do Not Follow After the Crowd”
-- Matt 7:13,14To not follow after the crowd means (1) Not to bow to negative peer pressure & beware of negative peer pressure. Stay away from entertainment that is immoral and spiritistic.
(2) “It is customary in some lands for teenagers to date” -- more experiences & interviews
[[The thing I got from these interviews & experiences is not every teenager who dates gets an STD or unwanted pregnancies. They made is sound like if you date this will absolutely happen to you]]
Heb 5:14 -- Emphasis that we need to stretch-out our consciences… We are guided by our consciences [[yeah, right]]
“We do not need a long list of things we can’t read, movies we can’t see & games we can’t play.”
“Do Not Follow Your Hearts and Your Eyes”
[[ bottom line on this section: Another warning on the latest styles of clothing & materialism ]]Our clothing will set us apart from the world. Our hearts are attuned to Jehovah’s principles; and not just to be different.
Modern clothing that are tight and revealing are often used by designers on purpose -- just to sell more clothing. [[ oh, really?!? ]]
Scriptures used: 1 Tim 2:9,10; Jer17:9; 1 John 2:15-17
“Do Not Follow Unrealities”
Definition -- A lack of substance. They may promise great things but deliver very little.(1) Human political schemes
(2) Materialism
-- materialism promises a dgree of security that the world/money can’t provide.
[[ here is an experience that emphasizes on retiring early in order to expand more it the ministry, i.e pioneering. Don’t wrry about money. Jehovah will provide. Uhhhg ]]
(3) Worldly view of romance [[hmmm… never heard of this one before]]
-- worldly view of romance comes through movies, songs and novels
“Do Not Follow False Teachers”[[ this sparked my interest ]]
“False Teachers are like dry wells; they will bring us utter disappointment. Who are these false teacher today? They are not the ones interested in just leaving. Where do they come from? From among the congregation -- Apostates. What do they want? They want to take others with them.” Acts 20:29,30
“How do they operate? They prey on trusting brothers; try to deceive us. They try to twist the Scriptures.” 2 Pet 2:3 “They will exploit and use counterfeit words”
“We avoid them by (1) not letting them into our home (2) not reading their literature (3) turning off the TV if we happen to see them there, and (4) do not examine their websites.” [[ok, I failed on that last one J]] “We love the congregation. The Faithful Slaves is following the congregation -- they provide us with refreshing waters of truth.”
“Do Not Follow False Stories”
Bottom line on this section: What is it today? (1) the view that right or wrong is determined by how we feel. This is promoted by the media & the world (2) the belief that God will NOT intervene in the world’s affairs. Will give us a “live for today attitude.” (3) to believe all stories & news exerts from e-mails. Often contain confidential matters, exaggerated Bethel accounts & disaster reports. [[ drats, where else are we supposed to get this info from? The Society takes months or years to tell us things. And of course it is all the good reports, filtered through the GB ]]“Do Not Follow Satan”
Satan mislead Adam & Eve. 1 Tim 5:11-15Beware of the age of technology, technology is wasteful [[ I never got the meaning of that point ]]
Be careful not to gossip, which often leads to slandering. Gal 6:5
Keep busy in kingdom pursuits.