In WT, November 2018 study edition, the WT/ GB again plant the idea about never leaving the religion when they change Jesus’ words, as Ray Franz pointed out in his book, “Crisis of Consience”, from: “Lord, WHOM shall we go away to?” to, “WHERE else could we go??” - as though teachings of decency and love toward others should be found in them only, and in their special places, and not in a person’s own home, or school, or charitable organization, or having hearts filled with love and graciousness, and empathy, compassion.. toward others....
They take an ideology (the bible and Jehovah) and then make decrees (and commands and doctrines of men) and then bind up heavy loads...
they become Pharisees, measuring the tenth of the dill and the mint and the cumin...
and hmm, something else.... ?
... forgetting about love and mercy...?
... is this (gasp!) possible with the leaders, I mean fine examples of our faith, whom we should emulate... blah blah ... and meet at certain exact times in certain exact places wearing certain exact clothes to do certain exact same things ... ?
- is this what JESUS wanted?
He, who said, “where two or three or gathered in my name, there I am...” (a spirit of friendship, love, sharing, and oh, you know, maybe just having a spirit of being guided by LOVE, right?)
Hmm. Imagine that. Is it really so .... simple....?
... especially if...
god is ....
Love....
...
“And they bind up heavy loads upon the backs of men, teaching commands of men as doctrines...”
(but certainly not WT/ GB, right...? Not them...)
“... do not put your trust in nobles, nor in the sons of earthling man, with whom there is no salvation...”
”... and Satan himself appears like an angel of light...”
(Hm, personally, that last one is a little dramatic for me, haha, but I’ll put it out there for the seekers or questioners..)
and yes, it is okay to think and judge and ‘test out the inspired expressions” and weigh them out... (remember those Boreans? They don’t talk much about them anymore, do they?) so it’s okay to keep seeking...
... To those who are questioning, try to change your vocabulary - they always want you to improve or develop your vocabulary, don’t they? Use positive words and frame things thru a lens of love, gratitude, caring, forgiveness, etc., rather than the words they use which keep you down, which create fear, obligation, guilt... (fog)
Think of having a question as a way to continue seeking for truth,
rather than the scary, loaded, threatening language and words (seasoned with salt?) of “doubts, independent thinking, giving way to Satan, becoming murmurers, following the path of Korah...” (boy, they do go on & on and get ya, don’t they? Sheesh. 200 pages of bible compared to over 2,000 pages WT literature annually, but that was back in the day...
It would be interesting to recount and compare it now, especially in WT’s embracement of the digital age, (and which they now count as “placements in field service!) .... (so surreal) !
...the WT, back in the day, used to subject us to 3 weekly meetings (which they counted as “seven”) and we used to study a total of over 2,000 pages of WT “bible study aids” annually, again, compared to only 200 pages of bible pages, and of those bible pages, most of them are the same scriptures used repeatedly, over and over again, the scriptures which could best highlight or fit (or be made to fit) their doctrines.
... doctrines described to be “truth” yet need changing and adjustments and new understanding all the time.
(And which you cannot question or move forward, or backward on, haha, until they say so. To question is fearful... very frightening, bad, etc... David facing Goliath... we wee worms... like Jacob... like grasshoppers... so unworthy... (yet god loved the world* - insert special WT definition of that world, world - god loved the world so much, that he gave his only begotten son... and he gave us such incredible brains to think with too, lol... but we not supposed to use them too much...)
Well, I digress muchly. Thank you for listening. 😄🤗
...(this comment reposted from an earlier thread, highlighting other aspects from the November 2018 WT study edition:
Bit of a rant - WT twisting Jesus’ words, (to whom shall we go/ where should we go), etc.
by Muddy Waters 5 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Muddy Waters
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TTWSYF
exactly what the WTS does. They consistently twist words and phrases to conform to their own twisted ideas of Christianity.
Christianity without Christ. Try to figure that one out.
TTWSYF
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Finkelstein
The main problem with the WTS and its leaders is that they disregarded Jesus words and instructions for preaching his Gospel of a new Kingdom and how to become in his grace, instead they put the power of god onto them and their personal agenda of literature proliferation and publishing .
Jesus also instructed his true followers to not listen to men (false Prophets) who say things he didn't give them to say.
So in reality the entire JWS organization is apostate and unloyal to god through Scripture.
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Newtonian
I guess you all have never studied our book on Acts ("Bearing Witness).This is one of the many times Jesus' faithful slave has encouraged us to apply Acts 17:11 so as to know what we are being taught is from Jehovah, not originating with men.
See this link:
https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1102009061
Click on the subheading on the right - "They were more noble minded."
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carla
"... our book on Acts"- how about studying the actual book of Acts? and not with the ungodly perverted jw sorry excuse of a bible.
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Hendrixgrip
Newtonian, I believe you are concerned about us, otherwise you wouldn't have posted. With that in mind, I went back and read Acts 17:11 as well as the information you linked on JW.org. The thing not discussed in Acts 17 (at least that I can find), is how to react when we determine that what we are being taught does originate with men and not with God. It appears that the Boreans were not faced with this so Acts doesn't give us a template to follow.
Fortunately, we do appear to have instructions from the scriptures on how to respond when someone says they are speaking for Jehovah, but it cannot be corroborated. Deuteronomy 18:21 seems to provide guidance when faced with this difficult challenge.
I assume you are not on here to argue, but to save us from the path we are on. With that in mind, I would like to humbly suggest that we all have basically the same training on how to deal with people. Starting your sentence with "I guess you all have never studied our book..." has an insulting tone that most here will interpret as sort of an ad hominim attack. That is, begin the sentence assuming something is wrong with us, because clearly nothing could be wrong with your position. In any conversation, when someone has to attack the person rather than the idea, I generally believe the idea must be pretty good.