by Gram 7 Replies latest jw experiences
I wonder how this would be viewed -- a JW or "new one" selling for $$ their Xmas stuff at a garage sale or other. Would they be wrong in profiting financially and/or propogating the celebration of Christmas? Donating to a thrift store? If so, what thrift store could they donate to? Many are religious, etc.
Any thoughts?
I was not born-in, baptised at 28. So I celebrated Christmas. I cannot tell you how much I had in decorations. It was a huge thing in our family. I had a huge collection of snowmen. Alot of handmade things. Most all ornaments were handmade or collectables. I just went all out, seriously, at Christmas. It was rediculous actually.
I was told all had to be burned, so that is what I did.
I am having an especially hard time this year, as I am at my son's and all that stuff would be nice for my kids and grandkids to enjoy.
I really hate to think about it......but I made that choice.
We could have nice family traditions and memories.
But yeah, I was told to burn it all, just like I did my old crosses and even pics that were Christmas oriented, old Christmas Cards that I saved over the years too.
purps
Purps,
That is so crazy! Snowmen? Burning everything! I am sorry to hear that.
I hope Blondie reads this, as I had to do all this before baptism, if I am not mistaken. And write a letter to the Catholic Church seperating myself from the church and why.
purps
You can sell them as long as you donate the profits to the WTBS
My parents destroyed all before they got baptized. It was not appropriate to sell it or even give it away.
On a related note, a young woman was studying about 15 years ago. Her mother had died just a couple of years earlier and she was having a difficult time coping with the loss. Prior to her study, one of her prized possessions was a cross necklass that either belonged to her mother or was given to her by her mother. Of course, to progress in her study, the necklace had to go. She just could not bring herself to throw it away.
So she dug I little hole at her mother's grave and buried the necklace there. I thought it was a nice compromise at the time.
I'd be angry if I did that and then later found it was all a crock of sh*t.
-Aude.
As my Christmas decorations were all common-date material easily available at department stores, I had no heirloom quality decorations to worry about saving, so it wasn't more than replacement cost at issue.
However, I did have the issue come up with my records. There was a market for used records, and the humanoid that dragged me into the cancer told me that if I sold the "bad" records, I would be passing my "sin" onto someone else and be held bloodguilty each and every time that record was played or copied onto tapes and the tapes were played. They had to be thrown away (not burned--thrown away was enough). But no giving them away or selling them--value had to be destroyed, not transferred.
Ornaments would probably have come under the same category as crosses and other religious items. The WTS uses this scripture to justify destruction of such things. I can't believe that some crosses would burn much being made out of metal. I knew one woman who buried them in the back yard. Then she left 4 years later and dug them up.
(Acts 19:17-19) 17 This became known to all, both the Jews and the Greeks that dwelt in Eph´e·sus; and a fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus went on being magnified. 18 And many of those who had become believers would come and confess and report their practices openly. 19 Indeed, quite a number of those who practiced magical arts brought their books together and burned them up before everybody. And they calculated together the prices of them and found them worth fifty thousand pieces of silver. . .
*** w02 7/1 p. 6 Worship God "in Spirit" ***
Athena, from the island of Lesbos in Greece, was an extremely active member of the Orthodox Church. She was a member of the choir and scrupulously followed religious tradition, including the use of icons. Jehovah’s Witnesses helped Athena to realize that not everything she had been taught was in agreement with the Bible. This included the use of icons and crosses in worship. Athena insisted on conducting her own research regarding the origin of these religious objects. After digging deep into various reference works, she was convinced that the roots of those objects were not Christian. Her desire to worship God "in spirit" led her to get rid of her icons, despite their monetary value. Athena, however, was happy to take any loss in order to worship God in a spiritually clean and acceptable way.—Acts 19:19.
*** w94 9/1 p. 26 "Oppose the Devil, and He Will Flee From You" ***Through her study Nora came to appreciate that there are many false religions and false prophets but only one road leading to life. For many years she had been looking for answers to her questions in false religions, but after learning what the Bible has to say about demons, she acted like the ancient Ephesians mentioned at Acts 19:19. She cleaned out her library and, over the course of several days, destroyed more than a thousand books dealing with the occult and false religious teachings. Among the publications destroyed, one set of four books was worth more than $800!
*** w93 4/15 p. 24 par. 18 Guard Against Unwholesome Music! ***Perhaps you need to make some changes in the type of music you choose. If you have records, tapes, and discs that carry immoral and demonistic themes, you should immediately dispose of them. (Compare Acts 19:19.)
