i saw a rumor a few weeks ago on reddit that the new imitate jesus convention is supposed to present new light and clarified understandings on the disfellowshipping/disassociation practices.. supposedly, if this rumor has any truth to it, there will be a talk given at the convention about how we should not be strict like the pharisees in how we shun people, loosening up some of the jw rules about this practice.. has anyone here heard anything about this or have more info on it?.
Sorry, it was not March, it was July. July 15, 2014 WT study edition. The first two articles on that publication. Among the things you read, there is also a picture that caught my attention. I am not sure if they just missed that during proof. See the picture bellow. In real life WT, arguing with someone with "apostate tendencies or attitudes" would never be allowed to challenge an elder. Much less do so in front of the whole congregation.
so sat thru yet another "new light" session this past sunday.
as you may already know, it is a continuation of the previous study.
you know the speech... no more type/anti-type.
lol cap...
Another thing I noticed was quite an influx of people heading towards the donation box. They played the latest broadcast at the KH this Saturday. The ones I saw were not dropping change. Only $20 bills.
i saw a rumor a few weeks ago on reddit that the new imitate jesus convention is supposed to present new light and clarified understandings on the disfellowshipping/disassociation practices.. supposedly, if this rumor has any truth to it, there will be a talk given at the convention about how we should not be strict like the pharisees in how we shun people, loosening up some of the jw rules about this practice.. has anyone here heard anything about this or have more info on it?.
so sat thru yet another "new light" session this past sunday.
as you may already know, it is a continuation of the previous study.
you know the speech... no more type/anti-type.
So sat thru yet another "new light" session this past Sunday. As you may already know, it is a continuation of the previous study. You know the speech... no more type/anti-type. No more looking for meaning where there is none. Is so obvious that no one is paying attention. I was falling asleep and yet I was able to catch this.... bolds mine
3 We noted in the preceding article that over recent decades, the faithful slave has gradually come to explain the Scriptures with less emphasis on sym- bolic prophetic pictures and more on practical application. In the past, our lit- erature at times assigned specific sym- bolic meanings even to small details of Jesus’ parable of the ten virgins, includ- ing the lamps, the oil, the flasks, and so forth. Is it possible, though, that we were allowing the spotlight to shift from the parable’s simple, urgent message? As we will see, the answer is of vital im- portance. (No more idiotic meaning to parables?)
“The bridegroom came.” (Matt. 25:10) As was discussed in the July 15, 2013, issue of this journal, Jesus’ prophecy record- ed in Matthew chapters 24 and 25 con- tains eight references to his “coming”; in each case, a form of the same Greek word is used. In every instance, Jesus was referring to the time during the great tribulation when he will come to carry out the judging work and then the destruction of this world system of things. Evidently, then, this parable ap- plies during the last days, but its climax comes during the great tribulation. (So is it a parable or a prophecy?)
The second quality that helps those virgins to be ready is vigilance. Would it be possible for individual anointed Christians to get sleepy during a long nighttime vigil? Indeed. Note that Jesus says of the ten virgins that “they all be- came drowsy and fell asleep” during the apparent delay of the bridegroom. Jesus knew well that even a willing, eager spirit may be hampered by the weakness of the flesh. Faithful anointed ones have heeded that implied warning and have worked ever harder to remain vigilant, watchful. In the parable, all the virgins responded to the nighttime shout: “Here is the bridegroom!” But only the vigilant ones endured to the end. (Matt. 25:5, 6; 26:41) What about faithful anointed ones today? Through- out the last days, they have responded to strong evidence that, in effect, cries out, “Here is the bridegroom”—just about to come. They have also endured, keeping ever ready for the Bridegroom to arrive. However, the climax of the parable fo- cuses on a more specific period of time. How so? (So if they all were drowsy, how did the discrete half remained vigilant?)
Side note: In the parable, there is a distinct interval be- tween the shout, “Here is the bridegroom!” (verse 6) and the actual coming, or arrival, of the bridegroom (verse 10). Throughout the last days, vigilant anoint- ed ones have discerned the sign of Jesus’ presence. They thus know that he is “here”—ruling in Kingdom power. They face the challenge of enduring until his coming, or arrival. (Thought we were done putting meaning were there is none)
So, all and all, provided that things are supposed to be turning simpler, this is the most confusing study I've seen. What struck me the most was the language of the elder directing the study. When speaking on regards of the new understanding he would ask questions like "What could have happened if we tried to append too much meaning to the parable?" Speaking in that past tense tells me (and excuse me, second hand english speaker here) that he was speaking as if this has never happened. In my perspective, the practical lesson was somewhat highlighted, but they still failed at the temptation of putting meaning where there is nothing. Even without considering the side note, to say the discreet virgins remained vigilant until the end (despite the fact that the fell asleep just like the other ones) is not wha the lesson is. The lesson has more to do with preparedness than vigilance. Just like a survivalist that stocks up food despite not knowing when a disaster is going to hit. He does not have to worry himself with watching out for everything. He knows he will be ready not matter what comes or when.
allow me to begin with a clarification: when i say i am one of jehovah's witnesses, i don't mean that i am an advocate of the watchtower society or a devotee of some of its more controversial false teachings.
i mean that i am a christian, a disciple of jesus christ dedicated to jehovah god, and who remains in union with my brothers and sisters who make up the family of faith that globally refers to itself as jehovah's witnesses.
some totally understand the distinction between the family of brothers and sisters and the corporate organization known as the watchtower society (wts).
Hey Brother! To be honest, I do understand what your stand is. I use to think just like you. In fact, my wife still does. We use to think we could be in that position and no one would ever mind. Figure that jehovah wanted us baptized so we did. It was then that I began to realize that we were now under a different set of rules. Wife still thinks she can believe whatever she wants. She does not share her doubts with others and neither do I. The difference is I realized that I am more isolated than ever before. I could express my doubts before, even if someone heard me, well I was not one of them. Now I am baptized. I have to be careful because if kids hear me, they will most likely tell other kids and that is how they will find out. If not, there will be another way. Point being is that I am having to watch what I say and when I say it.
Just like others pointed out here. You will not be able to live like that forever. Sooner or later someone will find out. My personal stand is that people like you and, before I changed, me, do not understand the bible, God or religion for that matter. They have been separated from the path. They are now so far off that they can utter things like the ones you do. My mother in law is the same. She can rant against Babylon the great all day. When you tell her that as long as she is part of an organization as hypocritical as this one, then she is in the same position, then she will respond that she does not care what the org does wrong. She only cares about being ok with God. :/
Go figure.
allow me to begin with a clarification: when i say i am one of jehovah's witnesses, i don't mean that i am an advocate of the watchtower society or a devotee of some of its more controversial false teachings.
i mean that i am a christian, a disciple of jesus christ dedicated to jehovah god, and who remains in union with my brothers and sisters who make up the family of faith that globally refers to itself as jehovah's witnesses.
some totally understand the distinction between the family of brothers and sisters and the corporate organization known as the watchtower society (wts).
So please explain my bitterness away...
When Jesus was on Earth he preached to the nation of Israel, which had been poisoned by the hypocrisy and bad practices of some (though not all) of the religious leaders. And many of the people were misled, which is why John the Baptizer gathered them to repentance in preparation for Jesus. Yet poisoned as Israel was, it was not "all wrong." What Jesus sought was repentance, not retreat.
-So you mean to say we should be preaching to the GB and the rest of the brothers who fail to see the difference between the WT and the JW?
But they are quite simply wrong.
Generalizations are easy and convenient. They give place to negative and reactionary impulses, and permit scapegoating, whereby one can lay the abundance of blame upon something or someone as the cause of all their problems.
- So you mean "generalizing", like calling all apostates mentally diseased? Like try telling a dad: Your son has decided to leave the organization and therefore he is by definition an apostate (replace "an apostate" with "mentally diseased")
Now excuse my sarcasm. I fail to see how this is a matter of choice. Please explain.
if we look at all doctrines, we see an overall effort to conserve unity and control.
- assuming most birthdays, if allowed, would probably be oriented to children, then that means 40 celebrations per year.
so all in all, this give a total potential attendance to a birthday of 30 families (120 attendance / 4 family members).
$ 1 dollar a week x 8 million jws = $ 8 million dollars a week.
$ 8 million x 52 weeks in a year = $ 416 million dollars a year.
and its all tax free.. you know jws donate more than $ 1 dollar a week!
Not all donations go to the society. The hall needs to cover expenses too. In my hall, we were asked to attend a meeting once. All male publishers, regardless of what kind of privileges you were spiritually mature to deserve, had this one privilege. To attend a meeting were we were told the hall did not have enough to cover the current month.
True as well it is that the fact that they are asking for money is not proof there is a real financial problem. I do happen to think there is one because other evidence points to it. At best, the hardship may come not from a lack of donations but from the growing pains of transition. I happen to think that the WT is transitioning from a voluntary donation/voluntary mag subscription type of business model to a more real state dependent model. That takes time and some initial expenses to survive while the new model kicks in. I believe we are all going to see our halls changed at some point in the future. Unless you are in a hall where the real state market is busting, then you may get relocated. Other than that, the new model will demand that your hall gets changed for the new design. It is more efficient in every way.
i know there are another 100 threads probably started on this.
i can't help but to wonder how would anyone be able to defend the existence of the fds at this point.
could anyone play devils advocate?
I know there are another 100 threads probably started on this. I can't help but to wonder how would anyone be able to defend the existence of the FDS at this point. Could anyone play devils advocate? The only thing I can think of is by means of relating other things. For example.. we know we can get disfellowshipped for questioning the GB. If we were to be told that we no longer have faith and we argue that we still believe in God, then the GB and Jehovah will be equated to be the same and therefore throw you out.
Based on the NWT, Jesus asked the question "Who is the FDS..? You could then say that while the bible does not literally calls this a prophecy, the fact that there is an open question, then there must be an answer. Other bibles translate that paragraph different. We all know that other bibles do not apply here.
i was thinking of this when i was sitting at the kingdom hall today.
one of the paragraphs in the watchtower stated that the type/anti type teachings were too hard for some to understand.
i could never figure them out never made sense to me.
