@heathen;
Fair enough, but there's a forthcoming study article about helping the elderly that mentions Jehovah and the FDS being appreciative for the efforts and faithfulness of older Witnesses. Once again the WTS put themselves in the place of Christ and on the same level as God.
Their arrogance is stunning.
Blondie's Comments You Will Not Hear at the 08-17-08 WT Study (PURSUE)
by blondie 15 Replies latest jw friends
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passwordprotected
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Pistoff
Ugh, it is just awful to read these articles.
There is no longer any pretense at the art of appealing to the minds and hearts of the audience; it's just a rehash of scripture snippets and tortured syntax.
It is interesting to see the watchtower quote Jesus words about the world hating his followers; some scholars feel that this is an added layer to the original sayings of Jesus because it addresses a situation that did not exist in Jesus day. In fact, it is hard to envision that the simple wandering preacher who was Jesus thinking that a large part of the civilized world would form a religion around him.
The same reasoning has been applied to his statements about enduring to the end; it addresses the failed expectations of Jesus followers not only just after his death but later in the first century when Jesus failed to return and disappointed the apocalyptic expectations of the earliest Christians.
great job, Blondie. I love the way you keep hammering away at the constant reversion to the Old Testament, and their use of loaded language regarding true Christians, unbelievers, etc.. -
RULES & REGULATIONS
Q 10. What must we do to keep our faith strong? 10. Read Romans 10:17. To attain and maintain strong faith, a Christian must keep meditating on the precious truths found in God's Word. "The faithful and discreet slave" has provided many fine publications. Three exceptional books are The Greatest Mall Who Ever Lived, Leam From the Great Teacher, and "Come Be My Follower," volumes that are designed to help us get to know Christ better and thus be in a position to imitate him. (Matt. 24:45-47) The slave class also arranges for meetings, assemblies, and conventions, many of which highlight "the word about Christ."
Do you see any ways in which you could take greater advantage of these as you pay "more than the usual attention" to what God provides?-Heb.
2:1.The only way to attain and maintain strong faith according to the writer is to ''read all the fine publications provided from ''the faithful and discreet slave,'' attend all the meetings,assemblies,conventions,and meditate on God's word.''
A couple of questions they don't have an answer to is: From the time the last Apostle died to the time Charles Taze Russell appeared,were there any people on earth who were faithful? If there were,what meetings did they attend and what publications did they read? Would reading only the Bible given them a strong faith? Jesus said,''I will be with you until the end of time." Did he skip this period because ''the faithful and discreet slave'' were given their duty after 1914?
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
Thanks Blondie !
I think the "examples" are really the "issues" they want to address to remind the sheeples to keep in line. They could have used examples that fit with the subject of the subheading, but they don't. Frankly, when you look at the examples, they are randomly assigned to subheading issues.
GAME TIME
Of the following bullet-points, which goes with the following subheading: Godly Devotion, Mildness of Temper/Peace, Endurance, Faith, Love, Righteousness
- Para 5 about marrying only dunked dubs points to the growing problem of not finding suitable mates in the bOrg. How many JWs have had to remain single, or 'settle for less' because they're only allowed to pursue approved dubs?
- Para 9 about appropriate dress is a recurring subject. If one person in Bethel was dressed 'immodestly' the whole family had to listen to a condemning lecture sometime in the next week at Morning Worship. They should have just issued uniforms for every dub in the world.
- Para 11, increase your share in the preaching work. Wow, what a surprise that the bOrg would tell the R&F to "apply ourselves to having an incresed share in the preaching work. That will likely produce in us a deep happiness." Actually, it will likely not produce any happiness, just waste time and money.
- Para 13, be forgiving, don't nurse grudges against our brothers. Jeez, how many times have they addressed the lack or peace, love, harmony, and unity in the congregations during the last 6 months?
- Para 15, advertisement for the NWT, "and accurate, easy-to-read translation of the Bible". Uh-oh, sounds like some of the dubs are comparing apostate Bible translations. It's the NWT that's God's word that dubs should be "keeping it alive in our hearts and minds."
- Para 18 they make an odd stretch from talking about defending our faith to outsiders, to not fighting with fellow believers. They highlight the need for "preventing differences of opinion from escalating into heated arguments, both with people we meet in our ministry and with fellow believers." Wow, they hit it a second time in one article about not fighting with fellow dubs. I guess para 13 didn't address that same issue sufficiently.
So, dear reader, can you match the example with the subheading? If they didn't have specific axes they wanted to grind, they could have easily come up with examples that would have fit the subjects. It's nothing new. What was the actual subject matter of the WT lesson that brought up the issue of oral sex? Marriage? Singleness? Sex? Disfellowshipping? Nope. It was about 'conscience'... and how yours should be in line with the mandates of the boys in Brooklyn.
Q 8. (a) Adam's sin raised what question? (b) How was the answer to this "sacred secret" revealed? 8. For thousands of years after the perfect man Adam sinned, the question could be raised, "Can any human display perfect godly devotion?" Over the centuries, no sinful human was able to live a life of perfect godly devotion. But in his own due time, Jehovah revealed the answer to this "sacred secret."
The question "could" be raised, but it never was... until Watchtower fabricated issues to sell books.
Ah yes, the "sacred secret". Here's some of the sacred part borrowed from pagans - post by Leolaia
And the secret part that historians living in Judea in the first century never heard of Jesus - post by ISPPara 10. The slave class also arranges for meetings, assemblies, and conventions, many of which highlight "the word about Christ."
"Slave class" doesn't appear in the "the word about Christ", not even the NWT.
15. Jesus knew that his followers would face hatred from unbelieving relatives and the world in general,
Few JWs I know have to "face hatred". "The world in general" is quite tolerant of their beliefs and practices. In other articles, the writers have to stretch the idea of "opposers" to include people who are simply not interested in taking JW give-away litteratrash. The bOrg has to fabricate the idea of persecution to keep the dubs from straying from the church.
Excuse me, but now I have to go take a shower to wash the cult-speak off of me.
B the X
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Jankyn
Thank you, Blondie. My mother and aunt are coming to visit this week. Forewarned is forearmed--it helps if I know what's fresh in their mind, because that's the only thing they want to talk about. Since I've been in the business world, I've met a number of people who simply parrot whatever the last thing they heard is--I finally recognized that the reason it makes me so uncomfortable is because it's the rule for my JW family. Whatever the last thing they heard at a meeting is, that's what they talk about until the next meeting. Jankyn
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blondie
Hi heathen,
Don't worry about obedience to Jesus, the next week will focus on obedience to the WTS.
Hey, password,
I have heard many a jw say that the other jws were put here on earth to test the other jws..........barf.
Thanks independent. The WTS says but does not do just like the Pharisees.
mooman, aint that the truth...... I didn't realize there were so many terms for apostate.
WTWizard, that is too simple for the WTS to understand. It is what Jesus said that love for others summed up what he taught.
Blueblades, the WTS is into controlling people, love does not enter into it.
Hi Ismael, few jws actually look up the scriptures and definitely not in context. jws who have had their eyes opened and many left.
Meetings are 1) reading the paragraph in the WTS publication, 2) asking the question, 3) jws answering by either reading from the paragraph, rearranging the words a little bit, many saying "the paragraph says" rather than "the Bible says."
Good points, Robert. The WTS holds grudges for 1 year against poor df'd jws and then puts them on restrictions for sometimes another year. I wonder how long Peter was df'd and on restrictions.
Hi, pistoff, yes it amazes me how much the OT is used. When I took the test on Belief-O-Matic as to my religion, I came up Orthodox Jew....
Yes, bluesbrother, nothing mentioned about showing love.
R&R, growing up I always wondered who the Christians were between 100 AD and 1879 AD and where was the organization...a dangerous question to voice publicly.
Thanks Billy, maybe you should be the WT conductor.
Hi Jankyn, you are an example of why I try to post the WT articles. It helps to know what the poisonous food being fed to the sheep.
Love, Blondie
Love, Blondie