De-sensitization

[Arauna]

No, it is not good to be de-sensitized....  this is what is happening in this world with all the bad things going on - we are all brutalized because we see and hear too much violence and we lose our empathy.... Soldiers who have faced combat are all brutalized in some way.... but we can also become like this even if we face lesser combat.....  This is far removed from the love that Jesus taught. 

While the secular world believes all  will be Ok if everyone just shows humanism - I believe this type of philosophy is not a solution to mankind's problems.  Only the ideology of Jesus can work - the philosophy of self-sacrificing love.  If all of society cares more for others than themselves - no one will have to watch their rights because everyone will look after each other and make sacrifices to look after each other..... but first the wicked - who do not buy into this life-style - who have their own selfish goals and agendas must be removed from this earth........ As you can see from this comment I am totally sold on the ideology that Jesus taught.  There is no other solution for mankind's problems to get everyone cooperating to the collective benefit of a world-wide society.

I think this is also why the governing body is focusing more on our life-style at present and how we should change our personalities.... but most of us are just imperfect humans beings and we do not listen very well.  We know we have to do this but we do not always apply it because most individuals bring their past baggage to the table when they become Witnesses - and this can bring some discord..... and I am sure you are aware of the scripture where Paul said " miserable man that I am".

I read Isiah 64: 6 the other day.... and I realized how contaminated and unclean all humans are in the sight of a sublimely supreme God and how far we all still have to develop.  He really is a great forgiver! (Some translations refer to our uncleanness as a menstruation rag).... Tells it how it is!

 

[Witness]

Hi Arauna,

I enjoyed your post, as it is good to hear such words.  I am very, very glad you are “sold” on the “ideology” that Christ taught. 

Isa 64 holds information as to why the prophet said what he did in verse 6.  He goes on to say:

“When You did awesome things for which we did not look,
You came down,
The mountains shook at Your presence.” Isa 64:3

“You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness,
Who remembers You in Your ways.
You are indeed angry, for we have sinned—
In these ways we continue;
And we need to be saved”. Isa 64:5

“But now, O Lord,
You are our Father;
We are the clay, and You our potter;
And all we are the work of Your hand.
Do not be furious, O Lord,
Nor remember iniquity forever;
Indeed, please look—we all are Your people!
Your holy cities are a wilderness,
Zion is a wilderness,
Jerusalem a desolation.
Our holy and beautiful temple,
Where our fathers praised You,
Is burned up with fire;
And all our pleasant things are laid waste.
 Will You restrain Yourself because of these things, O Lord?
Will You hold Your peace, and afflict us very severely?”  Isa 64:8-12

The reason behind the filthiness of God’s people at the time was their fall into idolatry and the desecration of His temple.  Isa 65:1-5,

^“ I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people,
Who walk in a way that is not good,
According to their own thoughts;
 A people who provoke Me to anger continually to My face;
Who sacrifice in gardens,
And burn incense (prayers) on altars of brick (idols made with hands);
 Who sit among the graves, (1 John 3:14; Jude 1:23)
And spend the night in the tombs;
Who eat swine’s flesh,
And the broth of abominable things is in their vessels;
 Who say, ‘Keep to yourself,
Do not come near me,
For I am holier than you!’
These are smoke in My nostrils,
A fire that burns all the day.”

The sins were the result of God’s own people diverting from the true God; following their own suggestions and thoughts, which is false prophesy.  By doing this, the spiritual food, (“broth”), offered by God’s chosen ones (vessels – Acts 9:15) was considered swine’s flesh in the sight of God  – impure and an abomination to indulge in.  Their eyes turned toward the work of their own hands as salvation.  Do we see this with God’s people today?

“Come to Jehovah’s organization for salvation”. Wt ‘81/11/15 p. 212

Is this not a hand crafted organization, the work of man’s own hands?

The anointed ones are God’s Temple – the Body of Christ.  While they have God’s laws written on their heart, they have become unable to understand them, as the avenue to their mediator, Christ,(who is everyone’s mediator) has been cut off, revoked, for fear of disobeying the GB.  Do you see this?  John 16:30; 1 John 2:20; Heb 8:10; 1 Cor 7:23

If we truly want to understand the ideology of Christ’s words, we learn that all that Christ taught is based on love, pure teachings and pure worship, as I see you are becoming aware of.   The apostle Paul, Christ’s chosen one, taught that each member of the Body must uphold the other, the least is the greatest among them, they serve one another, and each one in faith cannot live without the other. 1 Cor 12:14-26; Matt 23:5-12; 1 Cor 6:15-17; Rev 3:12; Eph 2:20-22; Matt 25:40 This is the arrangement of the Temple, of which these anointed ones are -  Mt. Zion - and the formation of New Jerusalem. Heb 12:22; Gal 4:26

Do you think it would be right for the organization to disfellowship those in Christ when disagreeing with the GB who follow their own suggestions, with a proven record of failing and are replacing suggestions with new ones as time goes by?  Could this be a sign of desensitization?

“In the past, we thought that the great tribulation began in 1914 when World War I started. We thought that Jehovah “cut short” those days in 1918 when the war ended so that the remaining anointed ones on earth could preach the good news to all nations. (Matthew 24:21, 22) After that preaching work would be completed, we EXPECTED that Satan’s world would be destroyed. So we thought that there were three parts to the great tribulation. It would begin in 1914, it would be interrupted in 1918, and it would finish at Armageddon.”  “Tell Us, When Will These Things Be” ws13 7/15 pp. 3-8

Christ is everyone’s judge, not man. Rom 14:4; James 2:4; 4:12; 5:9  Should men decide they are holier than any disfellowshipped one?  Do you see how the words, ‘Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am holier than you!’ describes shunning and disfellowshipping by the organization?  Would you not consider this as desensitization?

The philosophy of self-sacrificing love is not practiced by the anointed GB when they deem their brother in Christ as “spiritually dead” for rejection, not of Jesus’ words, but for the ideology of men, which is called doctrine. 

“For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous.” 1 John 3;11,12

“We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brotherabides in death.  Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” 1 John 3:14,15

I certainly do believe God is a great forgiver, if we are repentant for our actions, but he does bring reproach upon those who stubbornly follow their own thoughts and ways and refuse to listen to His Son, even though it appears on the surface to be otherwise.  2 Cor 11:3,4; Matt 24:24; 2 Thess 2:1-4 

Rev 18:4-8

I do hope you keep your focus on Christ’s teachings, even by starting with Matthew and reading through Revelation.  Holy Spirit is available to all of us who are searching for that hid treasure within Christ’s own words. 

Who Is the Faithful Slave? - http://4womaninthewilderness.blogspot.com/2013/04/who-is-slave.html