Do JW's still believe this?

by ctrx 25 Replies latest jw experiences

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  mia_b

  I think that is what they still believe, that is certainly the belief i had (up to 4 years ago anyhow). i remember my sister (now pioneer) complaining that someone could live however they wanted and if they never found out about the truth they could be resurected and she had to live the way she did because she knew the truth.

  as far as i knew if someone was given the opportunity to know the truth and didnt want to then they would not be resurrected, this did not mean the people who said "not interested" without knowing what they weren't interested in but people who knew and still werent interested.

  i was also under the impression that most clergy would not be resurrected because they knew the truth about the bible but kept it from the lay people.
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  Junction-Guy

  The Watchtower has flip flopped so much on the resurrection doctrine, who even knows what they believe anymore. When I was growing up everyone who had died before Armageddon, with the exception of DF'd, Apostates, people Jehovah had personally destroyed, would be resurrected. They flip flopped on those who had been personally destroyed in the bible, Sodom and Gommorah for example. They change their doctrine to suit their audience. It's not unusal for 2 different Watchtower publications within the same year to have 2 different answers. and they used this as an opportunity to work the situation to their advantage.
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  Junction-Guy

  They could use a watchtower to show the public-"See we believe this way" while they could use one of the books at the kingdom hall to tell the flock differently. They are deceptive, and looking back this was probably why I was suspicious of the JW teachings all along, everything seemed confusing and very contradcting.
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  Threestars

  It is very confusing--but I think an important point being made here is that the org keeps all its members in a state of fear one way or another. My Mom recently told me that she had always hoped armageddon wouldn't come soon because she wanted all her family to have the chance for paradise and most of them were either never a JW or DFed (like 2, sometimes 3 of her kids).

  Then I had an amazing talk with my currently active JW brother who does talk to me. He was in town to visit our Mom and came to my house. I knew what was coming by the "look" on his face. Sure enough, he began by asking me why he and I had grown up with the same teachings and it had stuck with him but not me. (BTW he has been DFed 3 times and is on wife #4--he had to do the old commit adultery, get DFed, get remarried to the one you want, and then get reinstated routine that so many of them go through. I don't disdain him for this--I feel sorry for him) I won't go into all the bickering back and forth we had, but what he said at the end of our conversation just blew me away.

  Our mother is in her mid eighties and in poor health. She is inactive and only goes to the Memorial. She herself tells me that she is doomed. My only sister is inactive but still claims to be a JW. My other brother is Dfed, as I am. Our Dad died fifteen years ago--still an active JW. Anyway, my JW brother at the end of our conversation put his arms afound me and was crying quietly. He said:

  "Please, please honey, think about what I've said. I don't want to have to tell Dad in the new system that I'm the only one here."

  Now, I can understand his attitude about my DFed bro and me--and maybe, possibly my sister, but what kind of mentality asumes that God is going to murder an 85 year old woman who has been a good person her entire life, never cheated on her husband, did her best to raise her kids, never cheated, lied or stole a thing--she is honest to a fault--and at this point her only sin is that she does not attend meetings or go in field service because of physical fraility and extreme shyness?
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  Leolaia

  The Society rehauled all their resurection doctrines in 1964 and 1965, and there was an article in the 1 January 1965 Watchtower that claimed that people who hear the good news (like those in Chorazin and Bethsaida who heard Jesus) would indeed be resurrected along with those from Sodom and Gomorrah, but that through pride would have a harder time accepting the good news in the resurrection than those from Sodom who did not have an opportunity to hear the truth, "whose reforming after their resurrection will be more difficult than that of those coming back from Sodom and Gomorrah. Maybe, because of their stubborn disposition then when Jesus was on the earth nineteen hundred years ago, they will show an even worse disposition when raised from the dead and they will be more resentful of what is taking place" (p. 26). That was the teaching at least until 1988 when the Society changed their mind on whether people from Sodom and Gormorrah would be coming back from the dead, and implied that the people of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum would be destined for Gehenna.
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  Wasanelder Once

  The way I understood it was that the JW's are no longer doing a judgement work, ie: the seperating work of sheep and goats, (Jesus does that at the end of the tribulation) and anyone who dies before judgement is assessed will have paid for their sins and be ressurrected.

  Now here's the part that made me feel as if preaching were a freakin waste of time; Not everyone will hear the good news and have a chance to respond before the end. It will be in Jehovah's hands to determine their heart condition and decide if they survive if they are not one of JW's. Well, what the hell is that about? WHy preach at all if he can do that? Just bring it on and let him sort it out.

  That sort of thinking invalidates the meetings, the works of faith and all the rest. It makes all those works of faithfulness null and void. Give me the life of the ignorant good person who will be judged ok to live by God at the end. Isn't that what most all of mankind is counting on? "I'm a good person, I don't hurt anyone and I love my neighbor," they say. SO, who cares what church you attend, eventually it won't matter to the big J anyway.

  Morons.

  W.Once