Well, I could not avoid going today; a close friend got dunked and I had to go.
I was not even in my seat when I was already writing down egregious mind control BS: the first of the day and here it is:
(verbatim) "Obedience in the congregation to the elders is the same as obedience to Jehovah personally"
My day got started with that puker.
Ok, sit down and take more notes; not enough caffeine to take it straight. The discussion on obedience continues:
"And our obedience to Jehovah should not be grudgingly or against our will; it should be given with a willing heart."
OK; so, obey the [elders] cheerfully, or it's no good. Now the manipulation intensifies. But, as they say, WAIT, there's more!!
Fast forward to obedience in the family:
"Mental and emotional problems on the part of husband or wife are the result of lack of application of Bible principles."
Yikes; so much for respecting the concept of depression, emotional and mental illness. Back to the same old party line of if you are mentally ill, it's YOUR fault for not studying and obeying enough. NO mention of legitimate mental issues in this talk BTW.
Oh, and physical and verbal abuse "is the result of not applying Bible principles"; it is lumped in with screaming and abusive speech that is the fruitage of the flesh. SO, no actionable spousal abuse I guess; no legal issues were addressed, only the "lack of respect for good headship".
But, "the husband must correct the family, including the wife, when they are not following Bible principles." A discussion of how short a dress should be for the DC follows, a burning issue we are all concerned with I know.
Onward: "Obedience gets us a good conscience"; since we know that the obedience that they are talking about is to the elders, that means that we should feel guilty if we don't follow the elders requests. On this subject: (verbatim from the baptism talk) "Now that you have taken this very serious step, your attitudes toward the brothers are always under scrutiny, and how we act toward them." Oooh, creepy. Submission as the scriptures discuss is addressed: who was the submission to? The apostles of course. Who today would correspond and merit our submission: The elders. I am not making this up; a direct link is made from submission to the apostles, and the modern day elders in our congregations!!.
I wonder if this is new: a Bethel Patterson brother discussed the coming of Jesus; during one of his many Greek meaning ramblings he allows that coming can mean to visit more than once, or some such blather, and that Jesus came in 1914 to be king, he came again in 1918 to inspect, and again in 1919 to approve the FDS. Three comings; is this new stuff, Blondie? It was the most insidious stuff I have heard in a long time.
The other doctrine he laid out is the CURRENT priesthood status of the remnant. I always understood that upon resurrection the anointed would be kings and priests; this brother plainly stated that the remnant form a priesthood that corresponds to the old jewish priesthood, but TODAY! My mind went to the old, failing ones around the world that are NOT consulted about anything, and wonder how they act as priests in our behalf.
Three things that the great crowd must do as "companions" (the great crowd must "do business alongside the remnant but the remnant know that the talent was given to them by Jesus, and is their responsibility" )to Jesus' real brothers:
1. Individually have deep respect for the FDS
2. Uphold them when "some" criticize their decisions and leadership
3. Be quick to obey their instructions.
[[this was followed by a lengthy quote from a "commentary" (unidentified) that discusses the nature of obedience of Christians to Jesus, that it included not just obedience to the mind of God but also to the office of the leadership!!!!! You heard it here first! It was the wierdest quote I can remember hearing.
This was followed by the example of ingratitude for what "God" provides, or the FDS, I should say. For this example we go to Israel, of course.
The comment is made that even an ass or a bull knows the sound of it's owner, so "we are dumber than an ass or a bull" if we aren't thankful for what the FDS provides. SO: when we support Christ's real brothers, we support Christ.
And finally, the talk about obedience to the elders. The statement is again made outright, "the elders are appointed by Jehovah" even though when we really look we find the caveat that they are appointed by Jehovah "in that Jehovah and the holy spirit lay out the requirements for elders, and so they are appointed by HS."
Again the direct link to Jehovah through the elders. Our attitude to elders=attitude to FDS=attitude to God. How we treat the elders, we treat God. The speaker says that what Paul is saying to us in our day is, be obedient to the elders
And of course, Uzzah is dragged out. The outrageous line is given that even though David may not have made the right arrangements for carrying the Ark, still Uzzah is the one who "ran ahead of Jehovah". So even though David may have goofed, Uzzah was WRONG to go against God's arrangement. This example from the OT is now plugged into the idea of elders making mistakes; even though God picks them for us, and they make a mistake, we are wrong to do what is right if it conflicts with what the elders tell us to do.
Well, that is all I can stand to cover today; the new book was released, to much applause.
I tried to keep my lunch down (the one I ate from my just right size cooler, not going ahead of Jehovah's arrangement by going down to Egypt for worldly food) and came home.
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