Some are JW's in rebellion, some are people who have moved on from JW to different churches, some claim they are agnostic. I don't have a problem with "discernment". And it grieves me as well to realize that while I have not condemned you, I believe that one shouldn't judge others. I agree that we disagree. Like you, I feel I need to speak out to the "truth", not everyones agrees, apparently. I think you love God, and I know I do. I continue to keep you in my prayers. After reading thru my posts - not just on this thread but on the 3 threads where it has been discussed - I have said that I don't agree with the two groups theology, apparently for the same reasons as you and most others. When I run into such, a debate with them is sure to happen. I haven't run into any in ages - could be because I am blacklisted by the JW's in my locality - dunno, don't care. I'm opinionated but I don't waste time judging folks. Altho, to be fair, I guess I can agree with your points on lambasting misleadership of groups of people. If that's what you have been talking about, in essence - we agree.
1 Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured unto you.
I'll try this onchttp://
www.christianforumsite.com/threads/god-is-not-everywhere.34811/page-4#post-281460e more because you, just, seem not to be agreeable to agree to disagree and go forward. Verse one cannot be extracted and used as a stand alone example of Christian conduct.
1Cor. 6:3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more, things that pertain to this life? 4 If then ye have to judge things pertaining to this life, [2] do ye set them to judge who are of no account in the church? 5 I say this to move you to shame. What, cannot there be found among you one wise man who shall be able to decide between his brethren, 6 but brother goeth to law with brother, and that before unbelievers? 7 Nay, already it is altogether a defect in you, that ye have lawsuits one with another. Why not rather take wrong? why not rather be defrauded?
Paul is dealing with this very thing in the Corinthians. It is appointed unto mankind to be a judge for the Angels in Heaven and that being the case how can we not look at our brother's sin and then, judging him to be in error seek to correct this problem for his benefit?
3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me cast out the mote out of thine eye; and lo, the beam is in thine own eye? 5 Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye. 6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast your pearls before the swine, lest haply they trample them under their feet, and turn and rend you.
Here we find the directions from the Christ by which we must judge. The beam and the splinter are references to both my sin and to the judged. Before I can, righteously, judge my brother, I must not be hooked into the same sin I am judging. i.e. If I am sneaking over to the leggy blond's house on the corner, I need to get my own life in order before I can help my brother in the Young Adult's Class that is running around on his wife.
The fact that I have judged him to be in sin is not at issue here. The issue is, "Is my house clean?" You do not know me but I promise you, since Jan. 1, 1990 I have been sweeping the floors, scrubbing the walls and hosing the windows... regularly. Am I telling you that, like Jesus, I am without sin? God forbid! I work on recurring sins every day. I was justified by the death of Jesus on the cross but now I am busy seeking righteousness while seeking to lead people like the JWs and the Mormons to be justified and to begin the journey to seek after righteousness.
If I, and this is me, fail to confront sin and take the position that they have found their own path when there is, in reality, only one door into Heaven, I need to begin a Spiritual Inventory, immediately! Old Testament or New, God demands obedience and I have chosen to serve... even the Lost.