Posted by Farmer on November 19, 2004 at 02:46:05
In Reply to: hey achieck.. posted by ray on November 18, 2004 at 18:25:52:
As much as I want to & can understand the grievances to have still loved ones in TF, I think it's really important, if faith in God/Christ is really fanned & will be burning (also through obedience...to the written Word/Bible), that one "simply" puts things into HIS mighty & loving hands.He loves all of HIS more than we do, so in some way, a lot of our care & concern could be at times"selfish"/selfcentered, cause we miss these people & want them well...for our sake!!!???
(Meaning, if they're adults, God is dealing with them in their lives & mostly, He doesn't need so much our help to teach them, what they need to grasp!!)
God wants their best too & He definetely is not deaf to the prayer of a "sinless" believer [us] (I mention that, cause us coming from TF we should see, where we've gone astray ourselves, getting straight with HIM,IMHO it's a whole whole lot..repentance & baptism wasn't stressed so much..a little prayer was enough...but adhering to the BS-rules of TF was Oh so important)...& I don't mean a state of perfection...but TF had that "Faith", we were the darlings of God & He'd surely give us all we wanted & if that didn't happen, some mighty devil or warfare was responsible, because we were doing soooooo well....back to what I meant: believing in a loving God & putting all our cares in HIS hands means a relief from much care & strife.It's waking up to the fact, that much we can't do, although we should do what we can, without a Martha/Galatians-workstrip...that makes nervous, unkind, pushy & all the awful rest...it's glorifying your own self or doubting HIM.
As far as the platforms are concerned: I read & read & discussed with Christians for 10 years after leaving TF, before I ever went on boards like these & it did me lots of good...for one, I found it's not all gold out there in the churches either, I supected that anyway all the time, no surprise, just I learned more details.There are churchpeople so fed up with the church, they don't go to any service anymore...people, who really know lots about the Bible, knowing nothing about TF, that is...as you surf around, you'll find, that there are many other Exer-boards of other religious groups, Christian & not Christian...it's interesting to see the parallels...appalling was my recent visit at a Jehovas Witnesses Exers site.
One old man in his 90ies??, faithful member for 70 years voiced privately some doubts about the secretely coming back of Christ in 1914...he's cut off from any fellowship....those BSing leadership structures are everywhere & I'd say, one danger is, that we take our opinions too serious, as being the very "oracles" of God, having now - out of TF - more access to the truth.I'd say I definetely made progress, unlearned/unloaded a lot of BS, stemming from the past, but I still have quite some way.May be some try for some time the more hedonistic way, enjoying life all they can, cause they feel having been deprived, allowing themselves some "wordly values"...however, I must say, that in the end I - & a good many others I assume - joined, because we had a hunger for THE
truth, looking for it....we can easily prove by the standard of the Bible, that TF is not it...
For this purpose the boards like this & especially also moving on are very good, to expose some of the rubbish, also them being in denial about a lot of things.
(However there are many other boards of Christian organisations, which are much more faithbuilding than these sites here...sorry folks.That's the truth IMO, cause that much I don't learn here regarding the Bible at the moment & in that regard Acheick could be right...but then go surfing somewhere else!!!)
The problem with TF is, it addresses a lot of things, ministers also to flesh & feelings with some faith mixed in, that people get deceived into thinking: "This must be heaven"...(for all, that were/are not in horrible homes... & the ones still in horrible homes, enduring all that, well, I guess they're enduring & take it as some affliction/peersecution - that was a real mispelling, I left it now, never thought of it - of the righteous)...
So what other board could be helpful?? To expose their sins...of course, you could have more ideas,
like really organising things in a Christian way,
Kathy's corner was a beginning...however, I wasn't really too fond of it, cause how many people does God have to have, to answer my pleas & prayers.
Is it quantity or quality of heart?Of course there
is some point also for that, but I prefer going in my "closet"...instead of publicly praying
I also don't see, that we can't express on journeys, what we'd like to say...as Christians.
The point is for me, the Christian should also learn to hear out the other...even nonbeliever & that skill definetely was/is lacking!!!
(What's the point of being only with people you naturally agree with, yes for strength & felloship,... that's what my local church is for, BTW with quite a few compromises & things unaddressed)