Channel C²

I'm a Jehovah's Witness - means what?

Posted by JJ on Sun - Jul 13 - 1:35pm:

After i discontinued going to the WT meetings (for various reasons), i did not discontinue giving a witness about God's kingdom nor did i stop viewing myself as a christian. At times, when asked what my religion is, i hesitated before answering. If i said i was a jw (colloq.) or a Witness of Jehovah (grammatically correct) i would be associated with the wts and all the prejudice that person had against that organization, and all the burden of their reputation would come upon me. I said to myself why should i have to answer or have to explain issues where the wts's own explanations didnt satisfy me.

The truth of the matter is that - i truly am a witness for jehovah - and for many reasons.

The point in all this is that

1) The wts claims exclusive rights to that name, Jehovah's Witness, almost dealing with it as if it were a product name.

2) Anyone that does not conform to the teachings of the WTS is not viewed as a real witness.

Needless to say, the bible itself provides the standard for determining whether a person is a witness for jehovah or not. The wts can only determine if a persons conforms to their teaching.

RESULT: You have a person here, namely jj, who is an upholder of the bible, a believer in the kingdom and a preacher of the word who is hesitant about using the name: Jehovah's Witness, when giving a witness about God's kingdom, because it might unnecessarily burden the person or obstruct his way to accepting the good news. Nevertheless the good news of the kingdom must be preached. I will continue to do my part as well as i can, in jehovah's strength.

AT THE SAME TIME you have a situation where a sincere christian, and student of the bible (which we all want to be) that is sitting at a wt meeting cannot

1) Ask a question concerning the explanation or interpretation of a scripture. Why not? Because the wts has no provision for that!!! - think of it. Attendees at the meetings are expected to sit and listen and not ask any questions. If they say anything at all it is only to answer a wt pre-designated question by giving the wt pre-designated answer. He may of course do this 'in his own words' !?

2) One attending a meeting cannot even give expression of his own faith, which believe it or not, might upbuild or encourage his fellow christians.

It took me a while to understand that according to the wts even a person that has been 'in the truth' (wt expression for) someone who's been 'walking in the truth', (3jo3-4), for many years, basically has nothing to impart faithwise, to his fellow christians, UNLESS of course, he happens to be a wt appointed elder (wte !?). In that case he has EVERYTHING to impart to his fellow christians including those that began their course of faith when such a one was still sitting in a high-chair. The fact that the experienced christian could ask the wte doctrinal questions that he couldnt answer doesnt diminish the wte's competence.

3) Contrarily, that experienced christian mentioned, might find himself in 'field service' in the home of an 'interested' person and family. SUDDENLY the exact same christian (who has been 'in the truth for so long') is entirely qualified to 'explain or interpret scripture'-see 1), and to 'give expression of his own faith'-see 2), in addition to that, he is suddenly qualified to begin and end the study with prayer, conduct the study, read the paragraphs, things that within the bounds of the kingdom hall only wte's or m.servants are qualified to do and what's more, he is expected to answer all the 'interested person's ' questions.

Since, the wts does not allow the issues raised above to be discussed, persons affected have no other alternative but to keep quiet and stay with the wt organization until they feel their faith is suffering under the immense psychological pressure, at which time they may decide to leave to prevent their faith from suffering even more.

Since, as shown above, persons that have left the the wt organisation have not necessarily left jehovah, i have often wondered how the Lord jesus, who has been given responsibility over jehovahs sheep will react, if he has to gather up the sheep again, and who he will hold accountable.

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I'm a Jehovah's Witness - means what? - Posted by JJ - Sun - Jul 13 - 1:35pm

Re: I'm a Jehovah's Witness - means what? - Posted by Euphemism - Tue - Jul 15 - 1:41pm

Re: I'm a Jehovah's Witness - means what? - Posted by Echo - Tue - Jul 15 - 10:07am

Re: I'm a Jehovah's Witness - means what? - Posted by JJ - Tue - Jul 15 - 11:33am

Re: I'm a Jehovah's Witness - means what? - Posted by Echo - Tue - Jul 15 - 1:32pm

Re: I'm a Jehovah's Witness - means what? - Posted by JJ - Wed - Jul 16 - 4:38pm

Re: I'm a Jehovah's Witness - means what? - Posted by Echo - Wed - Jul 16 - 11:17pm

Re: I'm a Jehovah's Witness - means what? - Posted by JJ - Thu - Jul 17 - 09:56am

Re: I'm a Jehovah's Witness - means what? - Posted by Truthseeker - Sun - Jul 13 - 2:32pm

Re: I'm a Jehovah's Witness - means what? - Posted by JJ - Sun - Jul 13 - 4:18pm

Re: I'm a Jehovah's Witness - means what? - Posted by Truthseeker - Sun - Jul 13 - 5:18pm

Re: I'm a Jehovah's Witness - means what? - Posted by JJ - Mon - Jul 14 - 04:15am

Re: I'm a Jehovah's Witness - means what? - Posted by JJ - Mon - Jul 14 - 12:03am

Re: I'm a Jehovah's Witness - means what? - Posted by Truthseeker - Mon - Jul 14 - 5:48pm

Re: I'm a Jehovah's Witness - means what? - Posted by JJ - Wed - Jul 16 - 1:19pm

Re: I'm a Jehovah's Witness - means what? - Posted by morloc - Mon - Jul 14 - 12:18am

Re: I'm a Jehovah's Witness - means what? - Posted by JJ - Mon - Jul 14 - 3:34pm

Re: I'm a Jehovah's Witness - means what? - Posted by morloc - Mon - Jul 14 - 4:03pm

Re: I'm a Jehovah's Witness - means what? - Posted by JJ - Mon - Jul 14 - 5:52pm