true indeed willyloman - here's my brothers email socking it to me:
I have thought about the subjects we discussed last week and wanted to provide answers to the points you raised. As this is the most important letter I have ever written, I hope you will consider its contents very carefully. Did Job’s family celebrate birthdays – Job 1:4? A few translations use the word ‘birthday’ but most that I checked used the word ‘day’. Why the difference? The Hebrew word for day is ‘yohm’ and birth is ‘hulledheth’. However, only ‘yohm’ appears at Job 1:4 whereas ‘yohm’ and ‘hulledheth’ appear at Genesis 40:20 where the pagan Pharaoh celebrated his birthday. As mentioned, secular reference works confirm that the Jews and early Christians did not celebrate birthdays. People just need to ‘believe in the Lord Jesus and be saved’ – you said there was no need to worship with a Christian congregation. While Scripture does highlight the importance of belief in Jesus to be saved, it also clearly indicates that it is vital to meet and worship with the Christian congregation to remain spiritually strong. Numerous Scriptures highlight the importance of the Christian congregation – most of Paul’s letters were to Christian congregations and Jesus wrote to the seven congregations in Revelation chapters 2 and 3. Scriptural qualifications are set out for men to serve as elders and ministerial servants to help take care of the spiritual needs of congregation members. We benefit by accepting their Scripturally based direction – see Hebrews 13:7, 17. Also, congregations need to be organised to accomplish the global preaching work – Jesus’ main command to Christians and our principal activity. You said Jehovah can deal with individuals in isolation from an organised group of his people – you quoted the example of Job. Job lived in a distant land prior to Jehovah establishing his covenant relationship with the nation of Israel. He was without doubt a worshipper of Jehovah as Satan testified to. However, once the nation of Israel was established, individuals wishing to serve Jehovah did so as proselytes and alien residents in association with Jehovah’s people. You are not in a similar situation as Job – spiritual food is readily available in congregations of Jehovah’s people. You don’t need to go it alone, in fact in the times we are living, isolating yourself in this manner is positively dangerous – see Proverbs 18:1; You said many children have died due to their parents refusing blood transfusions. Remember the command not to take blood dates back to Noah’s time, was in the Mosaic Law and subsequently reiterated to the Christian congregation. I personally know of no baby who has died due to not having a blood transfusion. Bloodless surgery is now viewed by many clinicians as the gold standard for surgery. It requires faith to do what God commands and there is a very large reward for keeping Jehovah’s laws. In cases of trauma due to serious loss of blood, alternative non-blood medical management with safe transfusions operates very effectively. You said that 99% of Jehovah’s Witnesses do not think for themselves. Individuals dedicating their life to Jehovah and being baptised as Jehovah’s Witnesses have usually made a careful study of God’s Word. They have thought things through for themselves, seen the alternatives this world has to offer and are pleased to join themselves with Jehovah’s Witnesses. We are positively encouraged to check our beliefs against the Scriptures and to keep “building up yourselves on your most holy faith and praying with holy spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love” (Jude 20, 21). You said that secular sources date the destruction of Jerusalem some years after 607 BCE. The date 607 BCE for the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians is arrived at from within Scripture itself. That the exiled Jews would spend 70 years in Babylon was prophesied in many places – 2 Chronicles 36:21; Jeremiah 25:11; Jeremiah 29:10; Daniel 9:2. 539 BCE is a pivotal date – both Scriptural chronology and secular history point to 539 BCE as the date for the fall of Babylon. Scripture then shows that the Jews returned to Judea in 537 BCE. We give primacy to the scriptures that the exile was 70 years, thus the destruction of Jerusalem must have been in 607 BCE. So, when deciding when we think Jerusalem was destroyed, we can either accept the Scriptural chronology (with 1914 following from this evidenced by dramatic and irrevocable change in the world situation i.e. “the last days”) or go with uncertain secular sources of evidence which are often subject to change, revision and new archaeological discoveries. The Scriptures will never change that the exile would be 70 years and everyone agrees with 539 BCE for the fall of Babylon, and 537 BCE as the date of the return from exile. You said our organisation is “obsessed with dates”. Whilst some in the past had unfulfilled expectations, the Scriptures are clear that we cannot know the date of Armageddon. However, Christian watchfulness is very much encouraged. When we dedicate our lives to Jehovah it is not with a date in mind but as the prophet Micah said, “For all the peoples, for their part, will walk each one in the name of its god; but we, for our part, shall walk in the name of Jehovah our God to time indefinite, even forever” (Micah 4:5). In 40 years of attending Christian meetings, I have never heard the date of Armageddon being given, so I would suggest that it is the enemies and opposers of Jehovah’s people who are “obsessed with dates”. You said that as the ‘faithful and discreet slave’ has adjusted its understanding of some Scriptural truths, it is acting as a false prophet. The faithful slave and its Governing Body do not claim to be inspired, infallible, or made up of perfect individuals. However, Jesus’ appointment of them and assigning them care of the Christian congregation and the preaching work indicates his trust and confidence in them (similar to his trust in the apostles even though being human they erred at times). No other group on earth could claim to be carrying out the divine will by trying to closely adhere to the apostolic pattern of congregation organisation and ministry. The Scriptures show that we should focus on the fruitage of individual Christians and the Christian congregation. Whilst some may ridicule us, the words of Gamaliel about the first century Christian congregation apply to them: “Do not meddle with these men, but let them alone; (because if this scheme or this work is from men, it will be overthrown; but if it is from God, you will not be able to overthrow them;) otherwise, you may perhaps be found fighters actually against God” (Acts 5:38, 39). This is so true, apostates and critics have made many charges against Jehovah’s people, but they give no evidence of “who really is the faithful and discreet slave?” and whilst they may criticise, just as Gamaliel predicted, it makes no difference to our ministry as we continue to go from strength to strength in fulfilment of Matthew 24:14; Matthew 28:18-20 and Acts 1:8. Below is a paragraph from a recent Revelation Climax study – page 45. Can you identify who is being described? “How does sectarianism get started? Perhaps a self-styled teacher sows doubts, disputing some Bible truth (such as our being in the last days), and so a splinter group breaks off and follows him. (2 Timothy 3:1; 2 Peter 3:3, 4) Or someone criticizes the way Jehovah is having his work done and appeals to a self-sparing spirit by claiming that it is neither Scriptural nor necessary to go from house to house with the Kingdom message. Sharing in such service after the example of Jesus and his apostles would keep these ones humble; yet, they prefer to split off and take it easy, perhaps only reading the Bible occasionally as a private group. (Matthew 10:7, 11-13; Acts 5:42; 20:20, 21) Such ones concoct their own ideas about the Memorial of Jesus’ death, the Scriptural command to abstain from blood, celebration of holidays, and the use of tobacco. Moreover, they downgrade Jehovah’s name; very soon they fall right back into the permissive ways of Babylon the Great. Even worse, some are moved by Satan to turn upon and ‘beat their fellow slaves,’ their onetime brothers.—Matthew 24:49; Acts 15:29; Revelation 17:5.” The progress such ones make is described at 2 Timothy 2:16, 17: “But shun empty speeches that violate what is holy; for they will advance to more and more ungodliness, and their word will spread like gangrene.” How sad when the only progress individuals are making is a systematic rejection of more and more Scriptural beliefs and replacing these with “the wisdom of the world which is foolishness with God” or with the God-dishonouring falsehoods which have been pedalled by Babylon the Great for thousands of years. Thus, a desire for “independent thought” leads people to imitate the world outside the Christian congregation – the counsel at 1 John 2:15-17; 1 John 5:19 and James 4:4 applies. I am pleased that you said you will meet with the congregation elders and I hope that as you freely express your views, doubts and concerns to them, they may be able to assist you to regain spiritual health and “the joy of Jehovah which is our stronghold” (Nehemiah 8:10). Jehovah is holding out a very precious gift to you and your family – a happy life now and an everlasting future and my reply, which went unanswered as far as I can recall: Thanks for your obvious concern and the time you have spent looking into the points we raised. We only raised those points with you because, perhaps mistakenly, we felt obligated to let the family know what our doubts were. It is not our intention to pursue this any further with you or with the local elders. Rather we would prefer if religious belief is a subject not up for discussion with us as it is clearly too painful on all sides. I spoke to Mum on the phone last night and once again was the object of a variety of hurtful character descriptions. In all of this I have never personally criticized you or Mum or Dad, nor expressed bitterness about my upbringing or time spent whilst a Jehovah's Witness - simply that right now I will not be going to meetings for conscientious reasons. Jehovahs Witnesses fought numerous court cases to establish religious freedom, yet organizationally and personally they seem unwilling to extend religious freedom ie without penalties - to members wishing to leave.
In any case, we unconditionally love you all and want to stay in contact with you so we can all enjoy the boys growing up together.
Like I said in my story I could have deconstructed his email line by line, but I had lost interest in doing that and didn't feel it would accomplish anything. I don't need to be right. He evidently did though. And that was that pretty much. One terse email with some essential family business and a repeat of the request for emergency contact only.
And the world turns one more day.