I used to say this to an authentic Christian who happened to be a Jehovah's Witness. It was because he allowed himself to be abused within the organization. They knew the kind of person he was and they took advantage of his faith in God. They would use him for physical work and then pass over him because he was not a company man. Over and over he would serve with sweat and money. All out of faith. He worked whole souled to Jehovah but...........he was not a company man. His faith was in God. Many suffer from this cycle of abuse because they wait on Jehovah. They are taught to overlook abuse by waiting on Jehovah. Their weakness is their faith. Time to grow up. Our moral character is ours to hold within ourselves and it needs to be demonstrated only to the worthy. The tricky and deceitful are not worthy of a faith based honesty. Therefore in dealings with the WTBS and its representatives it is not dishonorable to deceive and if necessary lie outright. They lay traps and those with faith in God fall into them. Instead of making faith your strength , they make it your weakness. So , as this thing unfolds, don't be handicapped by their rules. When they stand to lose according to the rules , they do away with the rules.
Your weakness is your Faith
by Siddhashunyata 5 Replies latest jw friends
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Introspection
Hi Siddha. Interesting things you bring up. I'm sure there's a significant amount of background which I'm not up to date on, but I'm sure you can imagine that there are some who will have trouble to deceive and lie outright. However, you certainly bring up things worth considering.
edited to add: (by the way, I'm writing this for others too so though I'm sure there are things here you already know, I'm giving more of an explanation for people in general)
Lets talk faith. Instead of trying to define a word which people will have issues over, lets just be clear what we're talking about here. In the case of this person that you're talking about, it's evident you are distinguishing between two factors - his faith in God and his belief/attachment/whatever to the WTBS. It seems to me the failure to distinguish between the two is where the problem begins. Of course, the actual problem in a more general sense is mind, just as any mind who is reading this now is probably having some reaction to words like faith and god. But because we do use the mind to distinguish and most people aren't willing to go into some territory unfamiliar to the mind that doesn't involve belief, we might as well stick with mind. It seems to me most people will agree that faith in general in whatever form it takes is not a problem, but faith in the JW doctrine is. This of course is what we call illusion eh? But I think maybe the most important point is the fact that any doctrine is simply dead, rules and concepts. For faith to be worth anything it needs to be alive in some sense. For most people faith in life itself is too big and not comprehensible, so unless they come to that point on their own I guess the most useful thing might just be to put their faith in something that's alive. (well, I want to make the disclaimer "not elders" here but ..) The point is one has to develop this thing called wisdom of the heart. It's not even a matter of their rules and regulations because again it's all dead whoever they're from or whatever they are. Anyways, since trusting in people is an iffy issue, I say trust your heart - but be completely and totally honest with yourself, don't believe what you want to or what happens to make you feel good. In other words, you have to REALLY want the truth, whatever it is. Don't get attached to some authority or parental figure (for either knowledge or comfort) but do test it out over time, always see what's going on now in this moment. I don't say that like you can just listen to them blindly after awhile, but rather you won't need to blindly believe in anyone once you have what I'm calling 'wisdom of the heart' here. Now this may sound like you can't trust anyone, but in fact you know when there are people you can trust because 1. They're not in some kind of authoritarian-ish position even if they are smart and wise - there's this thing called humility (besides wisdom would dictate that they let you find your own way) and 2. They trust you. They have faith in you.
I'm not gonna get into the issue of integrity, because as you said it is an internal business and for that matter we have no choice but to leave it up to the individual. I would suggest, however that one dispenses with the ideas (yet more mind stuff in the form of belief) of things like morality and honor since they are only models as I like to say, doctrine. Just be yourself. Ultimately, one cannot help but return to their true nature, right?
Edited by - Introspection on 14 December 2002 1:38:33
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Siddhashunyata
Of course, the actual problem in a more general sense is mind, just as any mind who is reading this now is probably having some reaction to words like faith and god. But because we do use the mind to distinguish and most people aren't willing to go into some territory unfamiliar to the mind that doesn't involve belief, we might as well stick with mind."
Yes, this is my justification for exchanging ideas (which, as you know, are "objects" of the mind).
The reason for my post ( aside from my own indignation) is the news that in the months to come many here will be made uncomfortable by JWs asking them "Do You Still Consider Yourself One of Jehovah's Witnesses?". The question is a trap. It is in this context that "lock-step" honesty is a handicap.
"For most people faith in life itself is too big and not comprehensible"
Am I correct in assuming that your "wisdom of the heart" and "faith in life" are synonymous? That the objective is perception ( the present instant) rather than the highly conditioned forming of concepts, images or ideas?
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Introspection
Hi Siddha,
I think given the background you've shared, it's not so useful for us to get into any technical details, but I think it's worth pointing out that the issue is one of identity. But there again, concepts have to be seen for what they are. This question "Do you still consider yourself one of Jehovah's Witnesses?" is merely a question of conceptual identity.
Dear readers, what you consider yourself is not the same thing as what you actually ARE - and what you are is not changed in one instant regardless of your answer to any such simple question, one way or the other. The fact that such a question might be asked is itself a betrayal of the lack of any kind of real faith on the part of the person asking the question, because they are, whether they realize it or not, interested in only what you THINK rather than YOU. (not that we're talking about 'faith in men' as you know it, but just faith in any living fact rather than a dead concept) Of course, my invitation here is for you who may find it useful to also consider any kind of identity crisis you may have, to see it's very nature - that it is secondary (by far) to the real thing. I am not really concerned with how you choose to identify yourself or what kind of identity you might want to wear, but just look at your own self rather than these ideas. The real thing is always better than some representation, especially highly symbolic and simplistic ones like "I'm one of .." whatevers. If you insist on that approach why not atleast start with considering yourself one of the human race? Just don't go looking in the dictionary to see what the definition of a member of the human race is, just look in your heart.
Edited by - Introspection on 14 December 2002 22:33:2
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Siddhashunyata
Introspection, with respect, what technical details are you refering to?
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Introspection
Nothing, actually. (and literally) I just don't want to lay out anything too complicated but point to the simple fact that thoughts are only thoughts. As you can see I'm mainly addressing to the rest of the board at this point.