[From ws15/04 p. 3 for June 1-7]
“There is an appointed time for everything.” – Eccl. 3:1
A friend who is still serving as an elder was complaining to me that more than half his elder body is too old or infirm to function as overseers. Of the few remaining, all are in their sixties. The amount of work he is called upon to do, what with preparing parts and handling all the paperwork and administrative duties that the Organization imposes, has stripped him of all joy. He feels overburdened and tired all the time, and would like to resign from his position, but can't because that would just add to the burden of the others. They have many younger ones, but none are reaching out. All keep their hours down to the point where they are just at or under the congregation average so that they will not even be considered when the circuit overseer comes. Another friend who is getting close to 70 complained that his annual convention assignment is getting more and more difficult to fulfill, yet no one wants to take over for him and it's becoming increasingly harder to get volunteers to help out. I remember a time when we were all eager to volunteer to work at the conventions, and when such overseer assignments as my friend has were esteemed. Now he's looking to offload it but can find no takers.
As I have traveled from congregation to congregation, I’ve taken note of who the elders are and find this situation is common. The elder bodies are aging and fewer and fewer young ones are stepping up to the plate.
Based on the May broadcast, donations are declining. Now we find evidence that enrollment in areas of service is also declining. What is happening?
The two opening articles in this month’s study edition of The Watchtower are an attempt to reverse this trend. This is going to seem glib, but I’m afraid that this is the Organizational equivalent of “Take two Aspirin and call me in the morning.” The problem isn’t a lack of adequate training. The problem is a lack of spirit!
At Ps 110:3 the Bible prophesies:
“Your people will offer themselves willingly on the day of your military force.
In the splendors of holiness, from the womb of the dawn,
You have your company of young men just like dewdrops.” (Ps 110:3)
God’s holy spirit and a steady diet of Bible truth are what cause young men and women to willingly offer themselves for service to the Lord. (John 4:23) If the spirit is lacking, if the food consists of a mixture of truth and falsehood, then no amount of spiritual training will help.
Jesus was the best teacher who ever walked this earth, but people didn’t follow him for his training abilities. They followed him because he loved them and they felt the love. They wanted to be like him. Those who succeeded, learned how to love others as he did. They became filled with the holy spirit.
This week’s article encourages elders to want to train others. If the holy spirit is in a man, then he will manifest that first fruit of the spirit: Love! (Ga 5:22) Willingness to train others will follow as night follows day.
There are elders who are full of the spirit, but in my experience, having worked with them at all levels of the Organization and in several countries and branches, these spiritual men are in an ever-shrinking minority. When I look back over the past 40 years and reflect on every case I’ve seen where elders (and others) were mistreated, it is always—and I say this without exaggeration—those who were the most faithful, loyal, and loving. Those who were persecuted were the exemplary ones, the ones who stood up for what was right. If you really wanted training, they were the ones the “learner” would be drawn to. If the student feels little or no respect for the teacher, it is very difficult to learn from him and almost impossible to imitate him.
So the issue isn’t lack of training. The rank and file are not sitting on the sidelines waiting for someone to train them. Having received a steady barrage of organizational indoctrination, repeated calls for loyalty and obedience to men, and a steady McDiet of ‘food at the proper time’, the evidence is now plain for all to see that this people is not offering themselves willingly on the day of Jehovah’s military force.
Jehovah’s word cannot fail to come true, so the Governing Body must look to themselves and the food they are dispensing to explain why the offerings, both of time and money, are now declining.
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Comment by bobcat3 on 2015-05-31 07:52:11
Good observations, Meleti.
But if the new convention brochure, the one that purports to hold a hand out to the 'lost sheep,' is any indication, there will be no return to reality for the GB.
If you've left or faded (according to the brochure), it was because of some spiritual or moral fault on your own part. It is not imaginable to the GB that someone backed away due to trying to keep a good conscience toward God. It appears (to me) that they cannot fathom such a possibility. And for any 'fader,' trying to come back, to admit to such a thing . . . he will be forced to either recant/repent or face being labeled as one of the WT's boogeymen, a dreaded apostate.
By the way, I see this same attitude when the WT has an article or paragraphs trying to appeal to former ms/elders to take up serving again. Whatever the reason was for them not serving, it was somehow a fault on their part. The WT can't imagine someone not serving due to conscience towards God.
BobcatReply by Meleti Vivlon on 2015-05-31 08:01:36
I tend to agree.
Reply by bobcat3 on 2015-05-31 09:03:41
I neglected to add Acts 23:1, 2 to my post:
Looking intently at the San′he·drin Paul said: “Men, brothers, I have behaved before God with a perfectly clear conscience down to this day.” 2 At this the high priest An·a·ni′as ordered those standing by him to strike him on the mouth. (NWT)
The WT is not dissimilar to the religious leaders here. Paul was struck because, from the point of view of the Sanhedrin, it was not possible to be a Christian AND have a "perfectly clear conscience" toward God.
Bobcat
Comment by Mailman on 2015-05-31 08:40:40
I was recommended to become an elder 3x but turned it down also 3x. Since waking up early 2013, it dawned on me it would be a nightmare to accept that privilege. Still clinging though to being an MS since then. Serving God is different from giving into all the whims of the Organization, the Governing Body. Being a YES man to every organizational command is very far from the truth.
Reply by qspf on 2015-05-31 10:22:19
I still recall with awe (awe-inspiring in the sense of picking my jaw off the floor after I read about it) that some elder made a statement to the circuit overseer to the effect that because of the verse in Acts ("we must obey God as ruler rather than men) he reserved the right not to obey a GB directive if he sincerely believed it to be unscriptural. Not that he ever did disobey, but he felt had the right and obligation not to obey an unscriptural request, even if it came from the GB. The story ends with this elder being forced out for disloyalty. If this story were true, it would be a case of the GB putting themselves above God himself.
Reply by bobcat3 on 2015-05-31 14:56:31
I told a CO that I trust God and Christ, everybody else (including the "faithful slave" had to 'sign the paper.'
I was trying to quote a DO from a few years before who told the audience at a CA that 'we trust God and Christ; everyone else had to put it in writing.' So my 'quote' was a little less than perfect. Nevertheless, the CO wasn't impressed. He wanted to arrange a meeting with a couple of elders and report me to the Society.
So I don't doubt the story you heard.
BobcatReply by qspf on 2015-05-31 15:13:54
They wanted to "report you"? You mean, the same way that informants "report" to the Communist Party about the activities of their neighbors and "friends"?
Truly, more is required of us than to simply 'wake up'. We must finish 'waking' and start 'walking'.
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
Reply by Mailman on 2015-05-31 21:55:43
Aren't these brothers - DO's. CO's, local elders - supposed to be "gifts in men"? Or every time there's a "divergent" in the organization, they transform into "burdens in men"?
Reply by Truthseeker on 2015-06-01 01:37:44
To Mailman below: Ephesians 4:8 says (in the nwt) "when he ascended on high he carried away captives; he gave gifts in men." Every other translation I have says (in slightly different ways), "he gave gifts TO men." Not a big difference, and yet the meaning carries such a greatly different connotation.
Reply by bobcat3 on 2015-06-01 05:06:43
I made some comments and links to posts on the DTT site with regard to how this mis-rendering of Eph 4:8 affects their explanation of the parable of the talents. (See comments and links in the third paragraph under the title "The Parable of the Slaves Entrusted with a Lot of Money," here; See this post for why "people" is preferable to "men" in that verse.)
Bobcat
Reply by qspf on 2015-06-01 09:40:28
To TruthSeeker: Ephesians 4:8 is a quote from Psalms 68:18. The interlinear I found online has this literally saying, "you have received gifts among men". I suspect that perhaps no one has translated this correctly, and in any case, using this verse to somehow give scriptural support to the provision of elders and MS's in the WT organization is going beyond what is written. Whatever Ephesians and Psalms is discussing, that isn't it.
Comment by life2come on 2015-05-31 09:30:25
I seem to recall reading in a WT article back in the 70s, a statement from a clergyman who admired the tenacity of the witnesses for their preaching work and asked "why cant our people be so eager to share their faith." WT answer: Their spiritual diet was lacking. In other words, it was the churches who were at fault because they served up non nutritious spiritual junk food. Well, well, well, NOW look whose serving up the McDiet menu and reaping lethargic Christians.
Comment by on 2015-05-31 13:31:00
Elders how do you feel about training others . The article seems to be saying that the problem lies with the attitude of the elders toward other younger brothers in the congregation as the reason why many are not reaching out . ! I know when my son was approached about reaching out he declined and said no hes quite happy as he is . The reason he cited was he had seen how overworked and stressed i was !! one elder in our congregation had a nervous breakdown and i was close .! The yoke is supposed to be kindly and light . . How much more are the elders supposed to give Its a pity they need to include 1 timothy 5 v17 and 18 in this series . And start giving the worker his wages instead of sending all the money off to the society . just seem to be scapegoats if you ask me . Kev
Reply by anderestimme on 2015-05-31 17:27:26
It's funny that, while acknowledging that elders are often stretched thin as it is, the article doesn't even hint at any plans to alleviate their burdens. Instead, elders are asked to stretch their time even more to include teaching the next generation. Now that reminds me of a scripture I once read....
Reply by Mailman on 2015-05-31 21:59:47
I hope there would be a site or a separate forum aligned to this site where privileged brothers - active and former DO's, CO's and overseers, can be invited to participate, air freely their TRUE concerns about their responsibilities outside of the claws of the GB.
Comment by smolderingwick1 on 2015-05-31 15:11:33
What can I add? For how many decades I served, loyally putting heart and soul into my ministry. Now that I've seen the mistaken doctrines and attitudes I once preached and taught, from which I now repent, there are those who believe that mere silence accuses the GB of their own lack of repentance. Whether my repentance bears any consequence on them is of no consequence to me, but for the sake of my own conscience and all others being marginalized in the wake of this current organizational rejuvenation, I now see more clearly that silence speaks louder than any protest among those humble enough to admit the errors we taught exclusively of ourselves.
Call me an apologist if you like but I see the GB on the horns of the greatest dilemma since Christian Judaism insisted on circumcision. Am I any different from Paul who had slayed his fellow Jews before Christ appeared to him? Now that I have changed and use my own quiet repentance to underscore their lack of it, the GB has made me feel no better than Franciscan friar, William of Ockham who did nothing but quietly accuse Pope John XXII of heresy for his part in enriching the church while marginalizing the oath of his fellow friars for their conscience toward God and Christ.
swReply by smolderingwick1 on 2015-05-31 20:07:34
Sorry, this was a mis-post meant for another thread.
Reply by smolderingwick1 on 2015-05-31 20:32:57
Now, regarding the article, I'm somewhat mystified how anointing my car with oil to prevent it coming to a grinding halt has anything to do with Samuel anointing Saul to become king. And let's bear in mind that Samuel was an appointed judge who was specifically told by Jehovah to anoint him. Can we really be so presumptuous?
Comment by poetryofprovidence on 2015-05-31 18:06:05
about rolled outta my chair on the "McDiet" statement ...one can't marginalize the above truth ever ...my own digress is here ..which in this case is the "apology" one makes for one's own error and attempts to "cover" the errors of "the system" of abuse ..this piece fully reinforces this "sunday talk "
https://poetryofprovidence.wordpress.com/apology/Reply by Meleti Vivlon on 2015-06-01 08:04:09
I think your poem expresses sentiments we all share these days. Thank you.
Comment by yobec on 2015-05-31 18:17:06
I noticed that the elders without empathy usually last longer than the empathetic ones. I suspect that it is because not many turn to the ones without empathy. Whereas the ones with empathy attract a lot more individuals who need to pour out their pains. And that can take its toll after a while.
Comment by Ray B on 2015-05-31 18:54:11
I remember years ago a CO talking about keeping our spirituality alive & all that we need to do. He said that if we are prestudying for all the meetings, attending all the meetings, commenting at the meetings, personal study, family study, the weekly Bible reading, daily text, keeping up with reading all the magazines & other publications & having a meaningful share in field service then we are just keeping our head above the water. [My wife still brings this up at times when she wants to guilt trip me into DOING more for Jehovah] He said that we have to do more than just the basics (the previous listing were classified as just the basics) if we are to grow spiritually.
Maybe this is a lot of the problem, our brothers & sisters are tiring out from the heavy burden of all we have to DO to be a good little Christians & satisfy the GB's demands as we are constantly being reminded to keep busy in Jehovah's service. Unlike Jesus' yoke, the GB's yoke is hard & their load is heavy. How many brothers really want to take on more burdens for the sake of so called privileges in the congregations?Reply by on 2015-06-01 11:18:21
The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the seat of Moses. 3 Therefore, all the things they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds, for they say but they do not practice what they say.a 4 They bind up heavy loads and put them on the shoulders of men,b but they themselves are not willing to budge them with their finger.
sw1
Reply by qspf on 2015-06-02 10:19:35
Ray B,
You asked, "How many brothers really want to take on more burdens for the sake of so called privileges in the congregations?
"Matthew 17:24-27: "After they arrived in Capernaum the men collecting the two drachmas [tax] approached Peter and said: “Does YOUR teacher not pay the two drachmas [tax]?” 25 He said: “Yes.” However, when he entered the house Jesus got ahead of him by saying: “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth receive duties or head tax? From their sons or from the strangers?” 26 When he said: “From the strangers,” Jesus said to him: “Really, then, the sons are tax-free. 27 But that we do not cause them to stumble, you go to the sea, cast a fishhook, and take the first fish coming up and, when you open its mouth, you will find a stater coin. Take that and give it to them for me and you.” "
The English word "privilege" comes from Latin, with the basic meaning of 'private law". In the verse here, the 'sons of the kings' were free from paying taxes, because their was the 'general' law that applied to everyone, and a 'private law' that only applied to the nobility. Those under the much more liberal 'private law' were "privileged".
How many abuses and excesses have been committed by elders and servants who thought they were "privileged"? I heard a story once where some teenagers and 20-something JWs were caught at a hotel having a wild party. When asked why they were there, when they knew it was improper, their reply? "Oh, there was a ministerial servant here, so I thought it was OK." Really?
Being an elder or servant does not in any way make a person "better", or entitle them to any "privilege" not due to others. All it really means is that they have more work to do. At least, that is all it SHOULD mean.
Anyone who takes on the role of elder or servant because it is a 'privilege' - as though their ego was being coddled or as though other people now 'owed them something' - are operating under false and selfish assumptions.
IMHO, the word "privilege" should be banned from the WT. Jesus said we were good for nothing slaves, and what we do is what we OUGHT to be doing. Are we now, REALLY, going to say we are "privileged" good for nothing slaves ?
Comment by Wild Olive on 2015-05-31 23:56:00
Just this weekend past I was in field service with our congregation coordinater, all he talked about was his work load and how he was struggling even to sleep ,he wanted me to requalify as an elder,I just looked at him with compassion and said " Ime going 4wd driving with the family in the snow next weekend wish I could help."
Comment by on 2015-06-01 04:19:07
In our congregation it was like as if there was a policy to keep us permenantly under staffed .There were quite a few fine brothers that i felt could have come on board but were knocked back by some crazy reasoning . Even though we couldnt cope to do all the things asked of us . .most of us had to go to work as well . It was like having 2 jobs . And then got moaned at because we hadnt worked hard enough . we had missed out this or that .!! That seems to be the gist of this article why make this a watchtower study for the whole congregation to read .? Its directed toward the elders . . Then again as i was told you cant do it under your own steam you have to rely on the holy spirit ! Yeah right . Kev
Comment by Katrina on 2015-06-01 09:16:10
Think they are making the article for the congregation because of the brothers present that are not reaching out, and perhaps the wives of some that may not want their husbands to have the responsibility and less time spent with them, just a thought.
Also down under there are many very young elders, seems they are becoming younger as the years have past, some in their mid twenties, many in their thirties, I know from talk among sisters that they find would be difficult to go to a much younger elder for advice, think some of the older brothers not in positions would probably feel the same, after all they do look at field service activity and meeting attendance first, actually have found that those in in positions seem to be more spiritual or easier to talk to, maybe not the pressure.
So many young brothers married with children in their early twenties, have a huge responsibility with commitments to their family.
Comment by smolderingwick1 on 2015-06-01 11:25:08
The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the seat of Moses. Therefore, all the things they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds, for they say but they do not practice what they say. They bind up heavy loads and put them on the shoulders of men, but they themselves are not willing to budge them with their finger. (Mt23:2-4)
Comment by on 2015-06-01 12:01:07
I'm no longer serving as an Elder due to health reasons and matters of conscience. However, I can bear witness to the fact that the workload is overwhelming. I now watch the brothers from the sidelines struggle to keep pace with the organization and am so glad I'm no longer part of this spiritually exhausting rat race. I find brothers come to me for counsel because they feel, as I've been told, I can be more objective in understanding their situation. My comments, based on many solid scriptural reasonings from this website, push the envelope to the limit during the WT study, but I don't care. I speak my mind, having served as an elder for over 40 years, and have not been challenged on any of the points.....................yet. I thank Jehovah through our Lord Jesus Christ every day for this site.
Comment by Peter on 2015-06-01 16:34:42
In all these comments it seems right to quote our Master's own words in Matthew 11:28 "Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Comment by brendaevans32 on 2015-06-02 10:00:44
Hello everyone
When I saw the title of this study, I was in two minds whether to simply read it and think about it rather than copy it like I usually do. I opted for the latter in the hope that there would be, as usual, some thoughts that would come to form my responses to the 'questions'. Mind you, most of the time, I wouldn't answer with too much connection to the spirit of the question let alone what the GB would probably want.
In saying this, could I just share a thought I had during the study . . . (this was the final comment I made on the study)
If you have love for another, you will want to ensure that any teaching is the best you can give. In the Scripture, Jehovah shows His Love for Jesus by showing Him all the things that He does, and more beyond. The main underlying theme is love.
Following what Jesus says at John 15:15, a person who can pass on teachings out of love for another, does so as a friend and not as some master/servant class – this is very very positive for both the one teaching and the one being taught. Jesus is a great Teacher, and taught us with love – He taught us everything He knew. He taught us also what we needed. He did not think to Himself ‘I am too busy’ or ‘Why should I teach you this or that?’ He taught everyone and anyone, do we listen?
Although you need leadership, someone to follow, we also have our own responsibility. Our responsibility is asks do we follow men or Jehovah?
Leaders, and in this case elders, have a great responsibility in leading. The best way is leading through example, voluntarily. What the study, and likely the GB are saying in this study, is telling folk to make extra time to encourage others. And that is the key isn't it - to encourage.
We are encouraged to imitate Jehovah and to imitate Jesus. I tend to see each day with freshness thanks to just keeping it simple and with Jehovah and Jesus in mind. I will leave you with these thoughts.Reply by brendaevans32 on 2015-06-02 10:11:20
Following reading the poem called 'Apology' (thank you), I found another poem about the Chariots of Heaven.
And I share with you a sentiment expressed - that the Truth is a most very precious find.
Much much love to you all.
Comment by peely on 2015-06-02 12:56:17
Meleti, your words:
“When I look back over the past 40 years and reflect on every case I’ve seen where elders (and others) were mistreated, it is always—and I say this without exaggeration—those who were the most faithful, loyal, and loving. Those who were persecuted were the exemplary ones, the ones who stood up for what was right.”
This is what happened to my husband who served as an elder for many years – persecuted by the elder body in serious ways, yet searched out by the congregation members for his understanding and attention to their needs. Many cannot fit the mould required to be the company man necessary to survive within the organization, and there is a reason.
Consider the use of “breast plates” in the bible:
For the garment of the priesthood, it was a breast plate of judgment. Ex 28:15
For the “Redeemer of Zion”, it is a breastplate of righteousness. Isa 59:17
For those bondservants of Christ, again it is the breastplate of righteousness in imitation of their Master. Eph 6:14
It is described more thoroughly in 1 Thess 5:8:
“But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.”
Faith and love in Christ completes righteousness.
There are two more breastplates referred to in Revelation. One is the breastplate of iron, spoken of in Rev 9:7-10 that I find intriguing. It is worn by the locusts who swarm out of the abyss – the abyss which is opened by a fallen star. (WT doctrine implies this star as Christ, a truly deceptive dark teaching. More rightly so, this fallen star identity of Rev 8:10; 9:1 eludes to unfaithful anointed ones, presently the GB. Luke 10:18; Dan.12:3; Phil.2:15; Isa.49:6; Matt.5:16; 1Pet.2:9 )
These locusts wear women’s hair, a sign of submission to their ultimate “king”. Rev 9:11.
Notice how the WT describes these locusts:
“The authoritative Bible-based statements in the publications of “the faithful and discreet slave” contain a stinging message. (Matt. 24:45) This message corresponds to the locusts’ tails that have “stings like scorpions” and the horses of a cavalry, whose “tails are like serpents.” Why? Because these publications warn of the “day of [Jehovah’s] vengeance.” (Isa. 61:2) Let us be courageous and zealous in distributing them. “ W09 1/15 p 30-32
So, we have a conundrum here. There seems to be a confusion of which breast plate to don – one of iron or one of righteousness in imitation of Christ. (I cannot agree more with the above words that the GB relays a “stinging message” – that of death for those who accept them.)
The elder body (organization) in submission to the GB’s message is the epitome of the Wild Beast in submission to the Harlot of Revelation. It takes a hardened heart to wear this breast plate of iron.
“This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.” Eph 4:17-19
By even referring to the locusts of Revelation as being Jehovah’s Witnesses carrying out the preaching work shows just how Satan has had us hoodwinked!
Persecution comes with wearing the breast plate of righteousness, as well as the helmet of salvation, in Christ. Instead, the GB and all who choose the side of iron as their breast plate, seem to prosper as they grease the engine of the organization.
Jer 12:1 They are “past feeling” love for the sheep; that which is sourced in the breast plate of righteousness, never in the hardness of iron.
“So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night.” 1 Thess 5:6,7
Eph 4:17 explains their understanding is darkened/ they sleep at night and they “get drunk at night”. And what are they drinking, but the wine of the Harlot. Rev 18:3; 17:2
No one can wear two breast plates….”for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other” Luke 16:13
As we know, there is another prophetic reference to this iron in mixed company with a more malleable substance, that of clay.
Dan 2:33 - its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.
“O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?” says the Lord. “Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!” Jer 18:6
It is time to flee to the hills and escape the Babylon we face today.
“You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces.” Dan 2:34
2 Thess 2:3,4 speaks of the "son of perdition", the man of lawlessness being revealed. One Greek meaning for "perdition" is "destroying, utter destruction
of vessels" . Which vessels? Those of Israel, the House of God. Rev 12:4
Christian love,
peely
Comment by Wild Olive on 2015-06-02 18:58:48
@Bobcat & Mailman, yes isn't it amazing that the GB are blind to the idea that THEY are the problem along with their atrocious doctrines and procedures.
The other problem which gets back to the actual spiritual diet,it isn't a diet at all, without real truth the problems just become self perpetuating and around it all goes again.So all these new young elders and COs are going to go through their cognitive dissonance in the future , in the meantime the only ones who suffer are the faithful who think they are following Jehovah,the whole thing stinks.
Comment by kev on 2015-06-03 03:04:51
They used to have a strange view of 1 john 5 v 3 in our congregation . They used to use the verse to show that all we did on behalf of the religion could not be a burden . So if we were finding it so . There was something wrong with our attitude !!! It must have been our fault perhaps we were spending too much time making a living or relaxing . . The theme of the article is true .There is an appointed time for everything but only if it involves serving the organisation .!! . Of course now i realise that if we are finding sticking to the watchtower rules a burden then what it really means the commandments are from men and not God at all . Kev
Comment by on 2015-06-03 12:34:10
I may be old school, but how I envy the simple, uncomplicated life of the first century Christians. I think having an organization has brought with it a corporate mentality that allows human reasoning and spiritual "profits" to dominate. This perverted form of so-called Christianity has caused some of our finest Elders to lose their joy, and it shows. The GB are not helping these men do what Jesus did-help those that are toiling and loaded down. So glad I'm no longer a part of this madness.
Comment by on 2015-06-03 12:48:27
They want brothers to be trained by following along from an outline while the Elder gives a public talk. For what? So he can learn how to sling the same hash that's been doled out over the last few years? Nothing original; nothing spiritually refreshing. I remember back in the sixties and into the seventies when brothers, (and some exceptionally gifted), would put together their own talks. The GB put a stop to that for whatever reason.
Comment by Anonymous on 2015-06-03 14:10:37
Do you think the following stated position of the Watchtower Society, builds respect for the bible, God's Holy Word or insidiously destroys it.
*** w08 4/15 p. 7 par. 19 Repudiate “Valueless Things” ***
"A sound rule is found in the words of the apostle Paul: “Do not go beyond the things that are written.” (1 Cor. 4:6) Elders do not go beyond the things that are written in the Bible. And by extension, they do not go beyond the Bible-based counsel written in the publications of the faithful and discreet slave."
Now, you can address the question of whether God's Holy Spirit is with the Watchtower Society, Jehovah's Witnesses, or not. Should Jehovah's Witnesses who are truly "beroean" (Acts 17:11) endorse such a public, obviously blasphemous statement? Or, should they "Repudiate" such "Valueless Things" as the title of the article says.
Anonymous
Comment by on 2015-06-03 14:38:48
Just think how "valueless" all those publications from 1919 onward have been; outdated and discarded by the GB. Books collecting dust in many KH libraries.
Reply by Mailman on 2015-06-04 01:24:55
In contrast, the Bible never becomes valueless nor outdated. Why? It contains the TRUTH. And the truth never changes. How about WT publications? They are perhaps the GREATEST SOURCE of unending revisions, adjustments, and corrections that are purportedly done with the help of God's spirit. By comparison, we now know where the truth truly belongs. :)
Comment by John boy ndala on 2015-06-07 01:09:40
Im a one of jehovah witness , im deaf.
Reply by Wild Olive on 2015-06-09 19:09:51
@John boy ndala, you can't hear with your ears but your on this site because your heart has heard something, welcome.