Patiently waiting for Truth

Few fundamental things which Jesus thought.

You made excellent point... question is not should we preach, but what to preach. 

I haven't been on here for 4 days and there are  23 comments that it seems I've 'missed', but reading a few here it is the same old same old. 
My Harley continues to hide behind that wall of shooting down other religions, to hide the faults of JW Org. 
Just because a person, such as myself knows that (quote) "those teachings referred to—trinity, immortal soul, kingdom is in your heart, all good people go to heaven, etc. ?" are lies / false teachings. It does NOT follow that GB / JW Org teaching are correct or true. It's a bit like saying, just because my car isn't yellow, it must be red. No, there are other choices of colours. So it is with beliefs and faiths, there are other choices. However there can only be one TRUTH.  But it does not have to be GB / JW Org's version on truth. 
I see @Arauna is back to her OCD accusations again too. And she directs people to the Insight Book, which of course is JW Org beliefs / teachings. 
I'm not for one moment saying that I agree with @Witness completely. However I do see some good reasoning in her comments. 
The F&DS was once taught to be the complete number of the remnant here on this Earth, by JW Org. Now the GB or others that give themselves 'authority', teach that the F&DS is only those 8 men of the GB. However it seems that those 8 men do not do the writing of the Watchtower mags, so are not the ones actually 'feeding' the 'sheep'. Add to this that NONE of them are inspired by God or by Christ. So they are all just guessing what scriptures mean and still guessing when the Judgement time will be. Yet, millions of brain dead 'sheep' keep following and serving this GB and it's Org. 
I do wonder if there is any F&DS yet. After all it is not the place of humans to decide, or to give that tittle to anyone. It is the place of the Master to decide. 

Does anyone actually pay money for web space for this forum ? Because the last 4 or 5 pages on this topic have been total rubbish.   I've noted only 3 sensible comments, 2 from @Srecko Sostar and 1 from @Anna . 
I do love @Anna 's comment comparing the GB / W/t / JW Org to a fortuneteller.  And we know where fortunetellers get their info from don't we  , and it isn't from God or Christ. 
As for this :-
 
On 12/23/2019 at 11:09 AM, b4ucuhear said: Stuff will happen when Jehovah says it should happen. We should be more concerned with whether we will be ready for it. 
Well yes you should, but, you should also be concerned that what you preach is honest truth. Going around frightening people with an 'end is nigh' message and a 'only baptised JWs will be saved' message is not teaching truth to anyone. To pretend that JWs door to door witnessing is doing God's will. well I'm sure you know it isn't.  
 

I don’t know what in the world you are talking about. There are no such brothers in the USA. Maybe in other places.

Thanks for these insights.  Yes people have their flaws and in my experience, having high secular jobs can give one a kinda priviledged outlook to life.  One can have this attitude at work but not amongst  brothers.
I have a very friendly personality (personable voice - I sang opera) and a very inquisitive streak about ....everything.  BUT I never talk about other people - just subjects.  I have noticed as a woman that I have to be careful to not come across as being smart.  I do not think I am smart - I am interesting..... lol.
But one can easily get yourself in a fix....... so I am very alert regarding this.  I keep my place.  However, I do not tolerate any form  of discrimination.  I speak up but choose my time very carefully.   I think this discretion has come with age and it serves me well where ever I go.
I have no problem with authority. When I earned a good salary, I used to ask my husband when I wanted to spend my own money on things outside the normal budget - such as getting his permission to give money to a struggling sister.  Why did I do this? Because I believe it builds trust. My husband may have depended on it for something else. He trusts me and knows I will never act independently.
Recently, I gave this advice to a young sister, newly married. Do not act independently, be obedient, respectful and build trust.  Why can't  some men not work on these qualities in the congregation?  I think men have larger egos than women -  which can be a major obstacle in being humble and eeking out a comfortable place for themselves in the congregation. 
 
 

There is a line one does not cross when it comes to loyalty.  The line is when one looks like an opposer...... then you have gone too far.  I have seen this happen on this forum where on thinks one is speaking to an opposer because their ideas have strayed so far from the truth...... and then you find out they do still attend meetings.   
I have noticed here that some are so careful to see both sides that they get their loyalty to jehovah mixed up with secularism and all other kinds of other worldly ideas.
I knew a brother in USA who had an extremely quirky personality and his ways were sometimes unacceptable to others. He was a good man but struggled to bring his personality in line - to control his really offbeat way of looking at life.  He had grown up in an orphanage and had a lot of issues .....and it showed.
I liked him but struggled to relate to him at times.  
We all know we have to try to accept others with their warts and flaws...... but it is hard when one detects disloyalty to Jehovah and the truth.  Yes we are a very imperfect nation with all kinds if weird personality traits as individuals because we all carry baggage from our lives (before and after becoming witnesses).  
 
 
They are human - just like you.  Bring me anyone on earth who has not shot themselves in both feet on occasion

There are good detectives ..... and there are bad detectives.
.... Bad detectives do not detect much.
They cannot tell the difference.
The difference between a Pirate, and a Privateer is whether or not you have a "Letter of Marque", which no one sees unless you need one to keep from being hanged by the neck until dead.
Knowing the difference between one thing, and a similar thing that to the uninitiated looks EXACTLY the same .... and being able to PROVE it ..... makes all the difference.

It may be that you do not, but what you do so closely resembles it that no one can tell the difference.

..probably a dozen or more.
I do not malign and ridicule theocratic headship.
They seem to be doing quite well without my help in shooting themselves in the foot.
... both feet.

Several times you have likened yourself to Mickey. Now you are proposing a trinity of sorts—you, Mickey, and Joe.
It holds in some surface ways. All three would stand up for the little guy and be angered if that one is treated unjustly. All three have thick hides—they can take it as well as dish it out. All three have a personality that might chafe at the “corporate” nature of the theocratic organization—though I have no evidence that Joe ever did not easily work it out.
Similarities end after this. I can’t imagine Mickey indulging the same complaining spirit as you. One reason that I cannot imagine it is that he had the perfect stage on which to do it and never made use of it. Disfellowshipped at least once, he humbly worked his way back towards reinstatement.
Why? Unlike you who carries on ad naueum about how the Mighty Eight can ruin someone’s life forever, they had no power to “ruin” his. His 2nd wife was not a Witness (she is intensely political—I follow her on Twitter—my guess is that she has no high regard for JW, and may hold it responsible for sabotaging his best work), no family members in the truth so far as I know, professional success and thereby lots of friends—he was a close friend of John Wayne, for example....He could have told those brothers to kiss off—he had no need of them. They couldn’t “ruin his life” at all. Still, he submitted to congregation discipline and took steps to get reinstated. I believe that he feared God and realized that such fear included treating with respect those taking the lead for the work they do. I think he was able to “man up” and not cry when discipline came his way, even if it was not discipline spot-on in every regard. 
Certainly Joe and probably Mickey was able to overcome any distaste for “organization” to appreciate that it affords far more benefits than liabilities—particularly since the earthly organization strives to refine itself. I think Mickey, and certainly Joe, would see the disrespect you show for those taking the lead and become fed up in a hurry. Joe was familiar with the ways of the mob—speak out against their headship and you lose your life, though they might on first offense merely cut out your tongue as a friendly warning. So we may imagine him seeing your rabid maligning and ridiculing of theocratic headship today, coupled with whining should you receive any kickback. “What does the idiot expect?” he would say, and Mickey, too.
That’s one dissimilarity I see. There are more.
 

No Tom. Water is already muddy. And not because of you or me.
We made them irrelevant. Don't we?
Some of them ( practices) seems acceptable, to general public. And for people in one part of world. In other part of world and their society different practice is acceptable to them. 
We can conclude how different and sometimes opposite practices are relevant today too, as were in the past.   
Me personally, accept practice when we making effort to not hurt each other. At least not too strong, too hard :))))

If in the travails of life, you see no evidence of "Love Never Fails" ... perhaps you should associate with a box of puppies.

I remember during the Jimmy Carter years the gas shortages.
You could fill up your tank if your license plate ended in an odd number, on an odd numbered day, and if your license plate ended in an even number on an even numbered day.  If you had "out of state" license plates you could fill up at any time, but not in your home state.
To me, this entire discussion is like that.
For 20 years I worked around the East Coat of the US, and kept Texas license plates on my truck.
I had the original 23 gallon gas tank, and in the bed of my truck, two auxiliary 50 gallon gas tanks, with a three way valve on the floor by my left hand.
It is my considered opinion that NO ONE has the correct understanding of all these conjectural timelines.
But then again ... some people never get their dandruff cured ... because they like to scratch it.
 

I agree with you. The problem with this date is that no one can actually prove that it is wrong, but it can't be proved that it is right either. Jesus' enthronement was "conveniently" invisible, so we can claim he was enthroned in1914, in correlation with WW1, because that is when he was supposed to have thrown Satan down to the earth. The truth is, I feel its a little bit like a fortuneteller predicting someones future. You can always find something applicable, and it makes it look like the fortuneteller has got it right.....
 Exactly
 
 

I would say this way. The year 607 is real year. The year 1914 is real year. But it seems that only thing that connecting this two subjects is, numbers. They ARE numbers. And for people who lived in those times, these years meant something. To us today, meaning lies in .... discussion only. 

Well said. The sooner we stop "going beyond the things written" and stick to our Christian mandates the better. The fact that we have been totally wrong about numerous other dates (every other date?) should give anyone legitimate pause for concern and to be skeptical that not only might the hallowed date of 1914 be wrong (including the fact that certain expectations regarding that date never materialized) but whether Jehovah even blesses that presumptuousness. We have lots of more important things to accomplish than to pin our hopes on the prognostications of well-meaning, but uninspired, imperfect men who sometimes go beyond what they have been authorized to do. Making predictions is not part of our mandate. Proclaiming what Jehovah and Jesus actually tell us in his Word are. Yes, I believe Jehovah is using his organization and the GB is doing an admirable job in organizing his people to accomplish many great things. But since it is (generally) forward-moving, it should not surprise us or cause us to get too excited about discarding things we may have held dear - as in the past - and may need to let go of now. Maybe 1914 is one of those things. Although we each individually may have "core" truths we adopt as proof this is the right organization, I personally don't believe 1914 should be included in those core truths - or any artificial, man-inspired date for that matter. Maybe we need to put 1914 on the "date pile" along with the others promoted as being significant. Even if per some unexpected chance the date turns out to be right, should our relationship and dedication to God be based on a date anyway - or either way? I think too much focus has been place on dates anyway. Stuff will happen when Jehovah says it should happen. We should be more concerned with whether we will be ready for it.

Then, it would be correct to notice how JW organization is not enough separated themself from this old world wicked system. Because evil thing founded its way how to spread spirit of this world into congregations and to win over spirit of Organization (whatever name to spirit you would give to be behind Organization) . 
So much about self praise WT Society making as the only true organization (religion) that is not "dirty" as rest of the world. For sure, JW's want to be as much is possible approved by God. But this individual intention not making Organization to be "clean".... or to be the cleanest organization in the world.

How about " Pi are round ... cornbread are square". ?
 

I propose that they change from 1914 on April 1, primarily to get Allen’s reaction. The next day they change it back. April Fool.
Who cares, if the word is not translated properly? It seems to me that you have fallen a long ways. A) you don’t trust JW’s, but B) you don’t trust anyone else, either, since Holy Spirit hasn’t gotten around to inspiring a true translation that can be trusted.
You have a very strange view of Holy Spirit and what it is supposed to do. It sometimes seems to me that the day you stopped believing in Santa you started to believe in Holy Spirit as a one-on-one substitute.
Throw another window in his Kingdom Hall, and the spiritual wuss will be stumbled and out by the evening.

I worked with someone in field service recently who was—shall we say—in over-enthused mode. The householder, accordingly, was doing all he could to ensure that the brother did not lay a glove on him. He did not want a fire and he was trying for all he was worth to hose us down. He brought up how he believes each one has his own belief, and furthermore, each one has the obligation to respect the other person’s belief, and so forth. 
Did the brother take the hint? Not a bit of it. He remained convinced that just one more point—just one more sentence from him would turn the whole situation around—and so he kept pressing, while the poor householder was practically working himself into a frenzy.
I interrupted. I rarely do. Contrary to those videos in which the two witnesses stand side-by-side in oddly choreographed behavior, or at least it seems that way to me, I usually hang well back and give the appearance that I am just barely paying attention—this is so it does not appear to be two ganging up against one. I especially do this if it is a woman that answers the door.
With the householder getting agitated—an entirely reasonable response given the brother’s full court press, I interjected: “Let me tell you how it works with Jehovah’s Witnesses.” They both paused. “We ARE going to ask you to convert,” I told him. “But it is not going to happen until the 100th call, and what are the chances anything will go that long? In the meantime, it’s just conversation.”
The tension instantly broke. The person visibly relaxed. “Oh—it is just conversation,” he reflected. Then he allowed that over the years JWs had already probably called upon him 100 times, but even so he (and the other brother’s) demeanor changed. We wrapped up without fuss and moved on. It is a method I heartily recommend, having seen it bear good fruit many times. Search for those who are interested without putting into a panic those who are not.
I probably also said something at the end about how we come without appointment—something that is almost unheard of today—so if someone is gracious to us—as he had been (for he was not at all unpleasant)—we truly appreciate it.

I haven't been on here for 4 days and there are  23 comments that it seems I've 'missed', but reading a few here it is the same old same old. 
My Harley continues to hide behind that wall of shooting down other religions, to hide the faults of JW Org. 
Just because a person, such as myself knows that (quote) "those teachings referred to—trinity, immortal soul, kingdom is in your heart, all good people go to heaven, etc. ?" are lies / false teachings. It does NOT follow that GB / JW Org teaching are correct or true. It's a bit like saying, just because my car isn't yellow, it must be red. No, there are other choices of colours. So it is with beliefs and faiths, there are other choices. However there can only be one TRUTH.  But it does not have to be GB / JW Org's version on truth. 
I see @Arauna is back to her OCD accusations again too. And she directs people to the Insight Book, which of course is JW Org beliefs / teachings. 
I'm not for one moment saying that I agree with @Witness completely. However I do see some good reasoning in her comments. 
The F&DS was once taught to be the complete number of the remnant here on this Earth, by JW Org. Now the GB or others that give themselves 'authority', teach that the F&DS is only those 8 men of the GB. However it seems that those 8 men do not do the writing of the Watchtower mags, so are not the ones actually 'feeding' the 'sheep'. Add to this that NONE of them are inspired by God or by Christ. So they are all just guessing what scriptures mean and still guessing when the Judgement time will be. Yet, millions of brain dead 'sheep' keep following and serving this GB and it's Org. 
I do wonder if there is any F&DS yet. After all it is not the place of humans to decide, or to give that tittle to anyone. It is the place of the Master to decide. 

What would you say about those items, then—those teachings referred to—trinity, immortal soul, kingdom is in your heart, all good people go to heaven, etc. ?
Is there any longer for you any concept of some beliefs being biblical and some not?

Elders as "counterfeit priesthood" and "man of lawlessness".
I would explain this to myself in this way: Elders in JW congregations as individuals are not "bad" people itself. Many of them have loving concern and are self sacrifice in helping others. I am sure how no one want (@Witness too) to discredit this aspect and quality of such individuals. 
But this qualities is not what is problematic and it is not in focus. Legitimate is to ask: Are they "appointed" to this service by God or by Human?! Are they supporting and promoting Jesus' teachings and instructions or those made by GB and WT Corporation?! 
That explanation can be very good trap.
Dangers is outside and we are inside, so we are safe.
:))))

The WT has long identified the “man of lawlessness” as the clergy of Christendom, not primarily for its conduct, but for its teachings—trinity, immortal soul, kingdom is in your heart, all good people go to heaven, etc.
If Witness truly thinks that the “man of lawlessness” is JW elders, does that not mean that she finds no problem with all those teachings of the churches?