Another way to control people. Here I was, putting in good field circus times (20+ hours a month of honest field circus), and getting nothing while others were doing much less--or not even being witlesses--and getting all the benefits. God never plays fair, and He always wanted to use me up and then throw me away (and He wonders why I just give Him slaps in the face and worship the Satan of Eden).
"Blessings"----Did You Believe If You Were "Bad", You'd Get No "Blessings"?
by minimus 17 Replies latest jw friends
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Deputy Dog
minimus
It's not just the Jws that are on a performance basis with God, many "mainstream Christian denominations" teach this kind of thing. This always leads to a hatred of God or a feeling that one can't measure up. A true loving relationship with God, is by faith. Faith that God has done, and will do, everything necessary to maintain the relationship. Law keeping, can not save, or keep someone saved.
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blondie
I always trotted out this scripture when someone attributed God to the doing of bad:
(James 1:14) " For with evil things God cannot be tried nor does he himself try anyone.
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minimus
I really do think that some JWs might think of "blessings" more than others. The ex Catholics who become JWs still bring in that mindset.
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OUTLAW
Jerry Sienfeld..Soup Nazi:"No soup for You!".....................WBT$..Jehovah the Blessing Nazi:"No Blessing`s for You!"..
...OUTLAW -
halcyon
I believed half of it ... I think it was more superstition than anything, when I look back on it.
I believed "blessings" came to all good people, whether we could see it or not. Blessings weren't always obvious. Blessings had nothing to do with money or prosperity, it was more about being provided what you needed when you needed it the most, or even random good things happening to you that you didn't expect.
I did, however, expect to be struck down with Bad Things the moment I ever did something Bad. I was always tying in negative events to things I may have thought or done. I was CERTAIN that if I ever did something really bad, that somehow Jehovah would cause elders to stumble upon me at that very same moment and catch me, or else if I managed to get away with it, somehow a video would surface somewhere, like an unnoticed security camera video or something, showing me doing whatever it was. Or maybe at the Final Day, everyone would assemble in front of a large video screen and watch a movie of all the Bad Things I have done in my life, and then I would be led off to the firing squad. THAT though kept me the pure little witness I always was.
And now, well heck, I've done enough Bad Things to make a body of elders faint, and yet I feel I receive almost more blessings than I ever have in my life, AND direct answers to prayers. Sure, bad things happen too, but I'm now convinced that A) I'm not alone in the universe and I'm not on God's "Bad Side", and B) Life in all its imperfection is stunningly Beautiful, even the bad things, because of the freedom we have to be HUMAN, and C) I really am superstitious and always have been. :) -
zagor
I know a lot of Witnesses that believe if something good happens----it's an indication of Jehovah's blessing and if bad things continue to happen----either you're not getting Jehovah's blessings or you might have demons.
True enough. In dub’s state of mind it is always someone else’s fault, devil, world, fallen flesh (for which Adam is responsible BTW)...
So when you remove all of that they stand perfect. It is the mindset that never accepts responsibility for their own actions. It is always something else or someone else. And of course when they somehow hit it and manage to do something useful then they can’t see a logic that few smart moves brought them where they are either. It is a constant battlefield between good and evil, dark and light. The sad thing is that they never realize life is actually full of colors and very few things have a clear cut to them. No wonder they are dumbfounded and confused. -
cameo-d
A proper blessing requires BLOOD.
Exodus 24: 8
And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, "Behold the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words."
...OUTLAW