Are Christendoms Sheperds any Better than Witness Sheperds?

by gumby 31 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  gumby

  Some people say they "attend" church when they mean they "may" go on a Sunday sing a couple of hymns, listen to a sermon and are out before the last Amen has been said. Probably don't even know the ministers name.

  I have known people who called themselves "regular" churchgoers because they went at Easter, Christmas and for anything special in between.

  Well if your refering to me aniron.......your off.

  I went every Sunday, I knew the pastor well....he baptised me, and I ate over at his home....we were friends. He asked me onetime to talk to a young couple in which the girl was studying with Jehovahs wWtnesses and he wanted me to accompany him on meeting with them in his office at the church.

  How well do you suppose those at Penecost knew each other who traveled from different part to observe the festival of booths? People sold their valuables to aid those who needed financial support......A phone call to me wasn't too much ask....was it?

  Actually....I remember after I started this thread that I even e-mailed the pastor with some bible questions he never bothered to answer. He was a good teacher and a friendly guy.......but seemed to have forgotten about me a bit too easily.

  Gumby
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  luna2

  Prolly depends on the congregation...and that goes for dubs or other churches. They are all just groups of people, some more friendly than others. You'd think that if one of them represented GOD, they'd be more interested and concerned when someone who's been a regular suddenly stops coming 'round. Makes it easier to leave, though, when they don't bother.
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  tetrapod.sapien

  ya, what scully said. that and scully is my dream atheist apostababe, ;) right on scully.

  but as far as your question sir gumbitron, i have met xians since being out of the wits that are **WAY** more christ-like than anything we ever knew in the borg. i really like xians like LT and jgnat. liberal and caring and christ-like. but even a lot of born agains and other firery protestant types are often very very loving compared to the company men that we knew in the borg. so i would saY that we had a crappy version fo xianity, and out elders were corespondingly crappy. sad hey? i know.

  hope all is well dude,

  ts
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  gumby

  Makes it easier to leave, though, when they don't bother

  Actually, thats true Luna. If I would have had call and visits, that might have bugged me much more. I guess my point is.....they SHOULD HAVE done their christlike deed and went after the stray sheep. I figure as others have said......it was simply that particular church.

  Hey I just thought of something......maybe everyone was afraid to call cuz they knew my wife was a witness and they were afaraid she's offer them some magazines or a bible study......yea, that's gotta be it!

  Hey TS....glad to see your still kickin

  Gum-lost-tribe
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  FlyingHighNow

  Hey Gums, I know you aren't looking for a church to belong to. It never hurts to know what different churches are about though.

  By the way, the Anglican Church, which the American Episcopal Church is part of, is the church that made it possible for English speaking peoples to have an English translation Bible. It's important also to know that they don't believe the Bible was written by God or that it is infallible. They recognize also that the collection of books it contains were chosen by the Catholic Church. In addition they use reason and tradition when approaching the Bible. They know the books have been translated repeatedly over the history of the books and that men do translate with prejudice and influence. The Anglican Church does not discount science when reading scripture. They are the exact opposite of the JW's.

  The Anglican Church and its Via Media was decided by a woman, Queen Elizabeth the first. Andy's Aunt Francie, 73, said what the Catholic Church needs is a Rosa Parks for women. They had one, it was Queen Elizabeth I.
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  Shining One

  Flyinghighnow,
  >They recognize also that the collection of books it contains were chosen by the Catholic Church.
  Actually, the Catholic Church used books that were not recognized as inspired by the Jews. That was corrected in the Reformation.
  
  >In addition they use reason and tradition when approaching the Bible. They know the books have been translated repeatedly over the history of the books and that men do translate with prejudice and influence.
  So, do you really think that they ignore the fact that you can compare manuscripts of 1000 years difference in age and that have NO substancitive difference in them? Have you studied their theology?
  
  > The Anglican Church does not discount science when reading scripture. They are the exact opposite of the JW's.
  So, how do they 'draw the line' so to speak? What I mean is this, do they accept some of it as inspired and some not? If so, how do they maintain any consistent belief or do they just revise everything according to the world-view of the popular culture?
  Rex
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  LittleToe

  Gumby:Like so many things in life, you only get out what you put in...

  Rex:
  To be fair, the Eastern Orthodox is a closer approximation, though debating the rights and wrongs of various denominations is kinda outwith the scope of this thread.

  Josh:
  Good to see ya hanging
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  Undecided

  I went to a church for a while with my wife who believes in the bible and is a christian person who prays for people all the time who need help. She does this privately, I've never seen her pray.

  I went to see what goes on in Christendom's churches and if I could be influenced to believe in it. The people seemed loving and would give help to people in need. I didn't really like the emotion they showed at times in church when they would testify and talk about being saved.

  I became friends with the pastor and we would go together to visit people in the hospital and have dinner together. I helped them build a new church to meet in. I never could really accept it all as God's way of dealing with humans.

  The true colors finally surfaced and there were some in the church who wanted to control what happened in the congregation and went contrary to others and it finally split up and the pastor left. The church was sold and we quit going.

  I now feel like Gumby about religion and the bible, it's mans way of dealing with the unkown, not God's way of dealing with humans, if there is a God or Christ. I'm still waiting for some real clue as to what is truth in the universe.

  I think religion is anyones choice, but sometimes causes more trouble to the human race than good. Just look at history and the current religious conflicts that influence so much evil to other humans. Oh I forgot, the Devil makes them do it, but where did the devil come from?

  Ken P.
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  Honesty

  Thanks for the replies folks......but yer makin me feel like damn bastard oddball now! You all got luvins and the Gumbastard didn't get a call Gumby

  Gumball, there are plenty of flavors to choose from. Some churches are great and growing in their love for Christ and each other and some are stagnant. I am a member of a very large church body. It is 25.5 miles one way to church. Multiply that by 2 and I drive 51 miles round-trip. I go on Sunday A.M., Sunday P.M., Wednesday P.M. for worship. I also go at least once and most of the time twice or three times a week on hospital or ministry visits. Most of my church family lives either near the church or north of church so my driving on church related activities is close to 300 miles a week. I am not a paid member of the staff. I am not a deacon nor will I ever be elected as one because I had enough of 'privileges' while in the cult and since I divorced over the WT 'Truth' when I started reading my bibles instead of WT litter I am n ot the husband of one wife.

  I miss church sometimes dure to illness and always receive calls from my church family who ask if they can bring me food, etc. Once when I had car trouble my Sunday School class gave me an envelope filled with more than enough $ to cover the costs of repairs.

  But the most important reasons I know these people have something the JW's will never have is because I have never heard any of them gossip about another person. When something happens to someone and they hear about it they are there to help. It doesn't matter if the person/family goes to church or not. I have even seen practicing pagans/Wiccans receive help from them without being asked. Almost 20 years associated with the JW's and I never saw them help anyone who came in off the street unless they were a 'Book Bible Study.'

  Wanna know how I found this church?

  I prayed to Jesus for almost 3 weeks asking Him to make sure that I was led to a place of worship where people love Him because I knew if they love Jesus they would love people.

  I hope you are led by Christ to the place where you can grow.
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  FlyingHighNow

  So, how do they 'draw the line' so to speak? What I mean is this, do they accept some of it as inspired and some not? If so, how do they maintain any consistent belief or do they just revise everything according to the world-view of the popular culture?
  
  Rex

  I encourage you to inquire about this for yourself, it's all very fascinating.

  In the Episcopal Church the Nicene Creed is recited every Sunday and sometimes for services during the week. They read a passage from each of the following: the old testament, the Gospel accounts and one from the Epistles. They are not however dogmatic about scripture. They see a lot of it as history and accounts of Jesus' life and then the Epistles. They have found what they call the Via Media which took the best parts of the Catholic Church and Protestant Churches. The recognize that men are imperfect and they do write with prejudice and make mistakes. They recognize that the popular culture of the times are reflected in Bible writing such as with polygamy and women being property to their husbands.

  They are an ecumenical church that is governed by a system of checks and balances, so that no one can develop too much power or influence. They do not demand that people believe every single thing the Bible says or that they teach. They recognize that people will have doubts. They recognize that different people have different concepts of heaven, hell, God, Jesus, evolution, etc. A church can demand you believe something, it doesn't mean you really will.

  The approach they take is to teach of God's infinite love and unfathomable (by humans) grace. They don't ban books or movies or tell you what to do. They respect your intelligence and do not try to act as your conscience. They recognize that all people are on unique spiritual journeys, with varying degrees of progress. They have a very healthy and balanced view of God, the Bible and people. They believe the earth is good and that life is good and we should enjoy most things in moderation. They don't ban alcohol or gambling, etc.

  The Episcopal Church teaches that fear is the opposite of faith.

  As for the Catholic Church and the Bible we have today: yes, the protestant reformation has left out some of the books the Catholic Church chose for the original collection, but the books they left in were chosen by the Catholic Church in the first place.