we should treat others as we want them to treat us
This is why it's necessary to shun JW's.
It's what they want, and it's so loving.
Blondie's Comments You Will Not Hear at the 07-13-08 WT Study (DOING GOOD)
by blondie 17 Replies latest jw friends
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moomanchu
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carla
Even in the Christian congregation there may be an environment or association that is spiritually not most helpful. Some who recently came out of the world and symbolized their dedication to God by water baptism may tend to bring into the congregation something that still clings to them—a measure of worldliness.
Basically this is saying to be wary of new converts? At some point to they become 'good enough' for the cong or to they forever carry the label of convert rather than born in and may always harbor some 'worldly ways'? I know my jw likes to believe that he is emulating the first century Christians, however didn't they welcome with open arms new believers with no such warnings attached?
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Mary
The first-century Pharisees judged others harshly, in keeping with unscriptural traditions. Any of Jesus' listeners who did that were to "stop judging." Instead, they were to keep on releasing," that is, forgiving the shortcomings of others. The apostle Paul gave similar counsel regarding forgiveness, as noted above.
Yet another example of the WTS not bothering to actually read what they write before it's put to print. Here they are yet again bashing their favorite target: the Pharisees, this time for 'judging others harshly'. Here's something the Writing Department fails to address: Did the Pharisees disfellowship those who didn't believe absolutely everything they taught? Were these people cut off completely from family and friends for not abiding by one of the rules the Pharisees had laid out? Yes we all know they had a personal vendetta against Jesus, but we're talking about the average Jew here.
As far as I know, there is no example of the Pharisees doing anything that resembles a modern day Judicial Committee even under the most serious situations. Best example is that of Jesus' early disciples----all Jews, who came to believe that He was the long-awaited Messiah. While the Pharisees (obviously) did not share either their beliefs or their enthusiasm, there is no record that the early 'Messianic Jews', including Jesus' disciples, were 'disfellowshipped' for believing Jesus was the Messiah, even though this was a serious breach of doctrine. Even after Jesus' death, the Jews and Christians still spoke and associated with each other and the early Christians were even allowed to still use the synogogues until the Roman invasion in 70CE.
As you'd be hard put to find a more serious 'sin' than accepting a new Messiah, I think this is a good example proving that the Borg's 3-man Kangaroo Courts are far more "harsh" and "judgemental" than what the Pharisees practiced.
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
Mary, Mary, Mary,...
Don't you understand that these janitorial triumvirate Judicial Committees disfellowship the straying sheeples out of love? LOVE I tell you !!!
If it weren't for us unqualified FDS anointed elders, who the he!l do you think are going to separate the sheep from the goats in the congregations... the angels? Nope, when Sister Noseybody rats out a fornikater, we have to dismembership the fornikater for fornikating. And then we'll dismembership Sister Noseybody for gossip. And it's all because of love... LOVE I tell you!!!
At the Kingdom Hall today, this lesson was officially...
B O R I N G
It was only about 2 months ago we had a lesson on "stop judging". I guess the ARM in Writing Department got stuck this year. Oh, ARM is an acronym for "Article Recycling Machine". You didn't really think they were coming up with new material for every week, did you?
B the X
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blondie
Hi Snakes,
Because Jesus (if you believe the whole Bible account, and for the purposes of this discussion let's make that presumption), could read hearts. If Peter had been alive today and been in a Watchtower controlled congregation and had denied the GB, Peter would have been labeled an apostate and DF'd and shunned immediately...
That is why men should not be in charge. This always bothered me since I saw that more was in play than the scriptures. My husband was an elder for about the same amount of time but was willing to stand up against unloving and unscriptural decisions. It finally contributed to his stepping down as an elder even though he received much resistance from the other elders.
Thanks yknot. And much thanks to Mary who sends me the scan each week.
Well isnrblog, I always thought that when it came to a general business deal, a reasonable amount of interest could be charged, but if it was a case of being in bad financial straits, that a person was not to make money off someone's misery. But in general, jws tend to be bad about keeping their financial obligations to other jws, which is why I never loaned money to another jw but would give them whatever money I could afford losing or never seeing again.
Hello, WTWizard, I was able to miss meetings on occasions when I had been directed to help jws. I think so many jws are missing meetings today, that the elders are being hounded themselves by the CO to bring up their attendance records, something the CO checks when he visits. I can remember the CO discussing the stats of the meetings during his talk after the book study, even comparing us to other congregations. It sounded just like a sales meeting.
Hi, jgnat, nice to hear a comment from a non-jw perspective. Yes, jws are sucked in with the promise of seeing resurrected loved family and to live forever on a paradise earth. Not love of individuals or of Christ. And most even think that they will never have to die at all. As you point out it is a very self-centered organization.
Hey, jehovahsheep, not just ex-jws but all non-jws are considered enemies. It is no wonder that little effort goes into reaching people in the jw territory, they consider them a lost cause.
Yes, OTWO
Maybe we could string together some whole chapter or book of the Bible to
say whatever we want. If the words are not there, we could resort to picking
the letters that spell something- as long as we put the three dots inbetween.And what jw would even notice since they don't look up a scripture with an ellipsis.
Thanks Atlantis for all your hard work too.
I left the WTS after 45 years because no matter what congregation I was in, what elder body presided, and who the rank and file were, I did notsee these things applied. The WTS pats itself on the back saying it is the only religious organization that does these things.
Same here Blondie! We were third generation JW's and in the organization for almost 46 years. We saw the hypocrisy first hand, and the lack of love for people who were JW's and those who were not JW's.
Billy, aint that the truth.
jws love to judge and condemn. So true are your comments. The FDS puts itself between humans and Christ. How can God answer anyone's prayers since they are not rendered through the FDS.
No kidding, moomanchu. There are jws that are peeved with me because I shun them, not many, but a few of the really dangerous ones emotionally. It has been 6 years now and I feel so much better.
Hi carla, yes, and no matter how long they are jws, jws who were born into the organization and have one more more generations that are jws, will always be given more consideration for "privileges." There are some exceptions, people with a lot of money, famous people, and people with a lot of education. But it takes longer for a person who was never a jw to be trusted.
Mary, thanks for your comments and your support.
Billy, they had to have a new article because the rank and file are judging the elders, COs, DOs, and FDS too much.
Great comments everyone. I learn so much from all of you.
Love, Blondie
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smiddy
In the 70`s I grew a beard ,was counselled and removed from priveledges until I shaved it off.I recall a magazine,not sure if it was the watchtower or awake,front cover I think,showing jesus on the stake clean shaven,I don`t recall any comments associated with the illustration(a picture is worth a thousand words)Anybody remember that article?
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blondie
In 1968 the WTS started showing Jesus with a beard...new light I guess.
*** w68 5/1 p. 288 Questions From Readers ***Nevertheless, as already shown, it is apparent that Jesus did wear a beard, and so artistic representations of him in future Watch Tower publications will harmonize with the Scriptural evidence to that effect.
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james_woods
I also had to serve on a number of judicial committees - only once did I vote for the DF, and in that case it was simply because I fully believed that the person involved was "playing" us for fools by pretending to be sorry. I still feel badly about this - of course, this girl is no longer going to the JWs and I did have the opportunity to see her a year or so ago and can say that she is now doing very well.
What I came to realize was that fully 3/4 of the elder body were "into" disfellowshipping as a sort of weird rite of powers. They were often practically orgasmic at the pleasure of getting all the dirty details and pretending the great sadness of having to DF. It was even something of a letdown when the "public reproof" secondary DF came into being - a lot of the hardliners did not want this complication, being believers in the death penalty (DF) in all cases.
This is a very sick and judgemental arrangement - and it is built on a totally faulty scriptural basis: IMHO, the texts used in support of it were actually meant for individual Christians in guidance of their habits of association. Notice that no Biblical instruction was ever given for forming committees, voting on a persons guilt, DF letters read without "naming the sin", or any of this veritable black mass of shunning.