You offered roses and he smelled a rat. You were incredibly tactful and showed concern for the position he'd be in if you answered his questions. But ultimately, there ain't no placating religiously-bred paranoia.
A Text Message Exchange
by Emery 33 Replies latest jw friends
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Emery
Alright, my friend responded to my question.
Friend: Ok… I took a look at these accounts that you are referring to. Matthew 24:45, 57 is the prophecy being foretold of the faithful and discreet slave. They would provide food at the proper time. At Luke 19, verse 11 it clearly identifies that it’s just an ILLUSTRATION (he was teaching Zachaeus and the others). Look for the teaching in the illustration. As far as the minas, he’s saying, if you know the truth and bring in 100, wonderful! If you know the truth and bring in 1, good. If you know truth and do nothing with it, good for nothing.
The two accounts are to be viewed separate. One's an illustration for the ministry and the other is a prophecy. Jesus used slaves as examples that people could relate to as different ways to teach them. Much like in talks today we use illustrations to get our points across for different things. For instance, Jesus referred to himself multiple times in the gospels as “the vine” (John 15:1). But at Revelation 14:19 the vine is used to illustrate the people of the earth that are harvested and will be destroyed. So clearly, those two are not referring to the same vine at all. Things in those days were used as illustrations for the masses so they could understand. I use the same illustrations when I give different talks. Sometimes I change the illustration a little to meet what I’m trying to convey.
Me: Thanks for doing that research. I’ve been so busy today and haven’t had time to gather my thoughts yet.
Friend: You get a chance to read over it yet?
Okay so I am not going to respond to him with any more objections. However, if I had to respond, how should I go about doing so? Also, what he said makes absolutely no sense at all. I want to ask him how does one determine what is an “illustration” and what is a “prophecy”? But I think he would respond with, “the holy spirit guides the slave to determine this” or something around those lines.
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dozy
Thanks for publishing the exchanges. They remind me of some of the roundabout conversations I had with an elders & a couple of family members when I started to fade.
The danger is that the deeper you go , the more problematic the conversation becomes. All he is doing is parrotting the WTBTS justification for their self appointment as the FADS. We all know that is rubbish.
Regarding his reasoning , we all know that the WTBTS decide what is an illustration and what isn't - just like they determine what figures in Revelation are literal and what are figurative. Often it is very arbritrary & doesn't make any sense. This is the problem that you have in the conversation with your friend - ultimately it is all about the authority of the WTBTS / GB.
The risk is that the more you discuss the matter with him , the greater the danger becomes that he views you as an apostate & reports you to the elders. Although he doesn't have another "witness" , perhaps he will keep the transcript of the conversation. Just be careful. Many of us have been "burned" by apparently well meaning relatives & friends - elders etc. Some even happily appeared in judicial committees relating at length all of these conversations.
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TTATTelder
Good advice Dozy.
It always leads back around to the GB saying "Because I said so". And you either swallow it or you get threatened with slander and extortion.
As far as texting goes, I even have stuff I save (on my phone) from people in case I need it for retaliation.
Such a loving environment of trust!
-TE