I am giving everyone on the board...

by The Rebel 19 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  The Rebel

  a new COMMADMENT to the posting guidelines. We must LOVE one another.

  If I read the posting guidelines and saw the lurking presence of that new COMMADMENT " We must love one another" I would feel very uneasy about registering. It sounds more like a threat than an expression of love. In fact it's totally unreasonable to COMMAND someone to love each poster.

  Yet John 13:34 Jesus gave a " A new COMMANDMENT: Love one another. As I have loved you, so YOU must love one another"

  Anyway I will post this O.P under friends not " Bible study" because I think it reasonable to make a few friends here. However despite my enthusiasm I think if the posting guidelines COMMANDMED us to love each other it would be a little optimistic, arrogant and presumptuous.

  So from the above you can draw your own conclusions on what I think of Jesus COMMANDMENT that we love each other. Strangely as a witness they talk about loving each other, and possibly because they interpret it as a COMMANDMENT, they can disfellowship so easily, and think it a loving arrangement.
• 

  Landy

  I think there's a rule about posting gibberish as well.

  Just sayin ....
• 

  blondie

  Thanks, The Rebel. It doesn't hurt me to be reminded that for the most part the posters are not the enemy. I am always surprised to see how some people present a personality I find it hard to believe that they would present if we were with them in real life...I could be wrong. The anonymity sometimes brings out the worst.

  (exceptions, I was stalked by someone on this board I knew had met in person, their online presence was not the same...and scary)
  
• 

  The Rebel

  Thanks Landy, point taken.I didn't give you the dislike, however I was tempted. But then I thought you may have made a good point. Let's see how the O.P develops, maybe "gibberish" is the only point my O.P made?

  Blondie, thanks for the post. You made an interesting point . Anyway what I intended with the O.P. was simply to say that Jesus COMMANDMENT to love was unreasonable.

  Personally in my life, I am capable of loving only a few people, and I think that's true for all of us. However going off O.P I think I can care for many people in my life, fortunately that includes a few on the board.

  But the O.P is about what I consider the unreasonableness of Jesus COMMANDMENT to love.
• 

  Landy

  I gave you the like - and tbh after reading it a third time I started to see what you're getting at (I think).

  I've always been a big believer that it's fine not to see eye to eye with someone; to disagree with them and not particularly like them as a person. That's fine. That's life.

  That doesn't mean that basic human decency shouldn't be present though. If someone I didn't particularly like, my mother in law for instance ;), turned up on my doorstep in need of help I hope I would do my best to help her, as she would do for me I hope.
• 

  tor1500

  Hi,

  I think it's a good idea to suggest we love one another...some on here may have an issue with the word command...especially since many here were JW's and were always commanded what to do....

  If everyone on this web-site showed respect and love for one another not because you have to but because we should want to...many come from an un-loving environment...now many are out of that environment...so then show it...many complained no love in the hall, then it's your turn to show it...Imagine if most of us helped each other with our wounds and try to heal one another instead of debating one another...

  Many on this site are out...show love and help those who want to come out or sitting on the fence that there may be conditional love in their families and in the hall but not out here in the world....when lurkers come to this site they should see what they never saw in the hall...Love and if not love than respect...We are the new lights and the new understandings of the scriptures....we know what God wants of us (I'm talking to those who still believe in God).

  Most witnesses have no idea what love is...talk to many of them about their home environments, most kind of shaky....most joined when they were at the end of their rope....When a knock came at the door it was a life saver and many grabbed it....many came into the society & they had nothing left in their hearts....

  Witnesses can DF so easily because they have no idea what love is...it's not something you can turn off or on...it's this feeling that grabs a hold of your heart and most of the time you can't shake it....when a friend says to me how they commend someone for not associating with their love one because they are df'd and they were faithful to Jehovah...I just shake my head (in my mind) and say, how sad you are...how can say something like that & think you are impressing God...and believe me....that's what they think...what type of person would think that....a person with no heart.....I can see if the df'd person was a mass murderer or some type of criminal but just because they don't want to be a JW....phooey...

  DF'ing is just a form of control...just like in the churches...hell is another form of control to instill fear in the masses...Man has always held type of fear over our heads to make us act right...

  So, what I take from your heading is that we should show the lurkers that even if some are not witnesses anymore we should be kind to one another so they make take the plunge and get out or at least change their minds about folks who are not witnesses or who left or told to leave witnesses...

  We on this site should treat each other the opposite we are treated at the hall...so we can say to those who are lurking on here....Come on in The Water is Fine....Welcome...

  Tor
• 

  Island Man

  I think what you're getting at is that love is not something that can be compelled or forced and if someone commands you to love someone then that person would seem like some kind of sick psychopath.

  However, I think the real issue is probably that the text does not actually command love. "Love" is how it gets translated in English. The English word love carries connotations of sentimentality. It's a kind of involuntary emotion. However the greek word in the text is devoid of sentimentality. It's more of an obligatory attitude of seeking the best interests of others.

  So "love" is actually not a good translation of the greek word even though it's probably the closest single english word that we can use. The koine Greek language is just too nuanced and complex for the simple English language.
• 

  The Rebel

  The point I am making my friends, is nobody can " COMMAND" we love anybody. But "Island Man's " post has made a great observation " The Greek word Jesus used about " LOVE" is not a good translation.

  So lets take the " O.P" further what is the most over used word in the dictionary? I would say it's the word "LOVE". As children we say we " LOVE" ice-cream, we "LOVE" a bath. Then as teenagers we say we " LOVE" pop songs that sing about the most ridiculouse " LOVE". We also as teenagers have our first puppy "LOVE" ...So now I am thinking about the most over used word in the dictionary " LOVE."

  What does the word " LOVE" personally mean to you?
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  mgmelkat

  i am now an atheist, but despite being brought up a JW, I do believe in the Golden Rule, and I endeavour to be loving to everyone I encounter...... because I believe in kharma.
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  scratchme1010

  Strangely as a witness they talk about loving each other, and possibly because they interpret it as a COMMANDMENT, they can disfellowship so easily, and think it a loving arrangement.
  

  They are conditioned to be told everything, what to say, how/what to think, what to do. Not surprisingly, they have to be told how to love. The commandment part sounds like an arranged marriage.