Well,
This board sure beats working all night...
CZAR
Does This Board Have A "Teaching"?
by rocketman 16 Replies latest jw friends
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PurpleV
You think that 50% of us think disfellowshipping is OK?
Ummm.....
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rocketman
Purple V, I struggled with that one. But I have noticed comments made by many such as "so and so should have been df'd" , so I think there are some here who feel that dfing may be okay if done strictly by bible law with no shunning included. It would kind of be 'active disapproval' perhaps rather than dfing per se.
Farkel, the reason I put the word "teaching" in quotation marks is that I am using the word very cautiously, maybe for lack of a better term. Perhaps resistance to a teaching is a better way of looking at it. I am simply exploring an idea.
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funkyderek
There are more, of course, and maybe some of my categorizations could be changed, but the general idea I am trying to explore is whether we have, in a sense, formed a body of teaching or even, in a very loose sense, a religion. What do you think?
All the topics you mentioned were related to our having been JWs. While nearly everyone here will agree that "acceptance of tranfused blood is a matter of conscience" some believe that because of their interpretation of the bible, some because they believe that saving someone's life is more important than following the letter of the law, and some because the don't give a flying figment for the Jewish war god and his silly rules.
The reason most people disagree with the JW teachings you highlighted is because they're silly cult teachings. Almost everybody who's not in a cult disagrees with them. Take those away and you'll find a whole spectrum of belief here, same as anywhere. The biggest difference is probably that we care more about religion than the average person, but whatever we've got here, it's not a religion or anything like it
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PurpleV
Rocketman
I suspect that many who say 'so and so should be df'd' are saying in the context of it wasn't fair that someone would be DF'd for say, getting caught with one cigaret and who's repentent, and then someone who has been blatantly shagging everything in sight gets away with a slap on the wrist because he/she is an elder's kid.
It just points out the utterly complete hypocrisy, politics and arbitrariness of the DFing policy, along with everything else about the borg. It's all in who you are and who you know.
Yeah, saying he 'should have been' DF'd according to the WT rules, is not necessarily the personal sentiments of the author.
Just my $.02 cents!! (I'd insert a smiley but they don't work from this computer.)
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Francois
Let me squeeze in my two cents worth here. In my opinion, religion is that which takes place within an individual's heart/mind and between that heart/mind and the indwelling Spirit of God that Jesus, The Master of these things, says lives within us.
When a group of individuals shares the same religious beliefs, they tend to get together and form an organization of like-minded believers. This is an organized religion. Organized religions tend to seek other members; they attempt to convince others that their religion is, if not THE true religion, close enough to guarantee survival. Many organized religions use FEAR as a motivator to at first join, and then later to continue association with the organized religion in question.
Have we formed a religion here? I don't think so. By definition, we would all have to agree on a great many things, and I don't see that level of agreement. Besides, we agree that we disagree with the same things that are taught by the WTBTS. That's not quite the same as agreeing on specifics.
We could all agree to worship a black flag with a red snake on it, but that wouldn't mean we had formed a religion.
My feeling is that we have, as individuals, decided that religion is a personal interior phenomena, and has nothing to do with organized groups. I'm not sure about the rest of you, but my association with Jehovah's Witnesses has effectively innoculated me against organized religion forever.
How 'bout you?
francois
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Satanus
Rocket, you've missed some toastey flame wars and arguements. While some people agree on some things, there are generally a few arguements going on at any given time. If you've missed them, just stick around.
SS