Posted on 11/24/2004 7:56:32 AM PST by hawkaw
The JW's are a very high control organization. They are traditionally forbidden to have close relationships with 'worldly' (their term for non-JW) people lest they be contaminated.
The web has provided an outlet for JWs who long for freedom to speak openly without fear of being disfellowshipped (which would mean their familes are supposed to disown them). Some have found the courage to leave and tell the world what really lies behind the 'nice' lady who wants to have a 'Bible study' with you. It's like the Bendini, Lambert, and Locke of religions. There is no easy way out.
So they discourage internet use for their members because they have social lives over which their organization has no control and is unable to monitor. But there is the occasional 'jerri' who monitors the web for them to spout the official line.
I know you weren't.
I was talking to jerri.
I thought so. You sure went through the ringer that day. Geez, though, I saw the date, just as I pushed post. I'll check it better next time. Sorry.
Do you vote? No, I don't vote and I don't discourage others from voting. That is a personal decision for each person to make.
Why are you at FreeRepublic? This is where the breaking news happens.
And besides the language and mentality over here is much better than it is over at DU.
Sounds like you've got the whole low down on this crew. Are / were you a member at one point?
Please do not make further posts to me. You can say whatever you want (true or not) about whomever you please but do not include me on it.
The New Testament required clergymen to be married:
1 Tim 3:1 This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work.
1 Tim 3:2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach;
1 Tim 3:3 not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous;
1 Tim 3:4 one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence
1 Tim 3:5 (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?);
1 Tim 3:6 not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil.
1 Tim 3:7 Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.
The New Testament also warns us that requirements of celibacy are a characteristic of false teachers who have departed from the faith and are demonically influenced:
1 Tim 4:1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons,
1 Tim 4:2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron,
1 Tim 4:3 forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
Incorrect. St. Paul was unmarried. Christ - the ultimate role model and ideal of the ministry was also unmarried.
St. Paul's episcopal specifications rule out divorced men from the ministry - he was not disqualifying himself.
The New Testament also warns us that requirements of celibacy are a characteristic of false teachers who have departed from the faith
No, it says that teachers who forbid marriage are in error. The Catholic Church does not forbid marriage. I'm married and I'm a Catholic in good standing.
No Catholic is required to be celibate.
I saw what it did to my family. The JW patria potestas concept of 'scriptual headship' and their certainty in the moral superiority of their 'perfect' community from which the sins of 'worldly' people have been excised (which makes them refuse to see evil in their midst) provide fertile breeding grounds for sanctimonious bullies.
There is never any room in the JW world for questioning authority. And for underclass and working poor parents who can barely control their children and keep them away from street culture that order and obedience can seem very attractive. Like a totalitarian state it radiates order and cleanliness and wholesomeness and chastity but at an incalculable psychic price.
This contains a paradox that John Wesley once remarked on. John Wesley noted that when the underclass of his day got religion they cleaned up their act. They worked hard and got off of gin. But this will lead to socioeconomic advancement that will cause them to distance themselves from their earlier faith. JWs who stay in the church remain at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder. They are utterly without initiative or ambition and the JW religion discourages 'worldly wisdom' (education) and storing up 'worldly riches'. JWs who leave reap the benefits of having kept their nose clean, avoided drugs, crime, and illegitimacy, and retain the fierce work ethic that comes from a 'salvation by works' religion. The Wayans brother, the Williams sisters, etc. Much of the Black middle class came from ex-JWs.
So then you have been a member of this sect, yes?
It certainly appears that you are encumbered with some unresolved issues.
Best of luck with that.
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