by Check_Your_Premises 90 Replies latest jw friends
Defd, when you share, are you hoping the visitor will some day be just like you
When I share I do it because thats something I do out of my heart. I do not EXPECT anything in return. When a visitor comes to the hall and I have never seen them before I make it point to go talk to them before the meeting starts. I see if they NEED anything, if they do, I would get it for them.
And yes my desire is that ANY visitor would show interest in Jehovah God and Jesus, like me.
Hmmm...maybe this WT study article explains why two different people specifically invited me to this meeting.
Nothing like a side of guilt to go with that serving of fear.
Could it be possible that you may be reading their motive wrong? I know I have done that and NEVER thought those things.
I just had a feeling I could expect a challenge to this assertion...
The important thing to realize defd, is that we have to take responsibility for the messages we communicate. If a person misreads us, if we expect to be understood, we are obligated to clarify. Of course I never made it known that I interpreted these things that way. But that is not the point.
The point is that I don't come over to them and turn their pages for them. I dont' hold their book for them. I don't point to the words and read it for them. If I did, it would be clearly communicating that I don't think they are capable of doing those things themselves. An adult is going to be a little annoyed by such things.
Same deal dude. I know you can't see it that way because, you, like all of us process info through the filter of your world view. Your world view requires that no critical statement ever be true about your beloved organization. It also requires that you can't possibly admit that thoughts of superiority ever crept into your mind when you were offering your stuff to someone who didn't have it. I guess only you and God know the truth.
"I am so good that I have my material just as I am ordered, and am able to offer it to this person who doesn't have theirs... hmmmm I really must be faithful"
Not even for a fleeting second I am sure.
I sure wish I was perfect like you. Maybe I need to follow the regimen and regulations of some group of imperfect men. All this faith in the sacrifice of a perfect Christ and the aid of a perfect Holy Spirit are just not enough.
Yeah, I need to be in the right group!!!
And yes my desire is that ANY visitor would show interest in Jehovah God and Jesus, like me.
You share the trappings of your faith (books, magazines) as any self-respecting evangelist would do; your church or mine. It is assumed the visitor is spiritually deficient in some way. C_Y_P instinctively knows this, thence his comments.
Same deal dude. ; I know you can't see it that way because, you, like all of us process info through the filter of your world view. Your world view requires that nothing critical statement ever be true about your beloved organization. It also requires that you can't possibly admit that thoughts of superiority ever crept into your mind when you were offering your stuff to someone who didn't have it. I guess only you and God know the truth
I dont feel that way at all.
I sure wish I was perfect like you.
If you only knew!
D.
defd, I have done that, too. With no thought at all of whether the other person was superior or inferior to me. But then, we are both here—posting in an apostate forum. Maybe anyone who is sincere winds up in places like this.
AuldSoul
And yes my desire is that ANY visitor would show interest in Jehovah God and Jesus, like me.
You share the trappings of your faith (books, magazines) as any self-respecting evangelist would do; your church or mine. It is assumed the visitor is spiritually deficient in some way. C_Y_P instinctively knows this, thence his comments.
This is exactly why I dont respond to you. I knew I would regret it. I was being sincere and non confrontational and answered your question respectfully and nice. In return, you dog me by stating my faith is trapping, I am self respecting.
I am self-respecting. Books are trappings. All groups do it. Boy scouts have their uniforms. Chefs have their hats. All groups have those signature items that mark them as "belonging". When a visitor walks through the door, the group wants them to "fit in". Hand them a trapping.
I realize we may have a misunderstanding in the use of language here. This is a trapping, noun, Merriam-Webster.
Main Entry: trap·ping 
Pronunciation: 'tra-pi[ng]
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from gerund of trappen to adorn
1 : CAPARISON 1 -- usually used in plural
2 plural : outward decoration or dress : ornamental equipment; also : outward signs <conventional men with all the trappings... of banality -- Robert Plank>
auldsoul
I am here not as a final destination. I am here for the same reason why EVERYONE else CLAIMS to be here. To encourage.
D.
:Maybe anyone who is sincere winds up in places like this.
That's my theory. That and having a good bull-shit meter.
GBL
