Ah, dear LQ... peace to you, dear one. Well, I'm sure you can guess a lot came up in my heart after reading your post. What to actually say? Maybe nothing. Maybe we should all just go our way and let what will be... be. I mean, what's the point, right? I can do that... but I think the better course would be to say what I need to here. Please know I mean absolutely NO offense... but if you can just open your MIND, if not your HEART and grasp the truth of this, it just might help. Maybe... maybe not:
Except to the matter of your response to the accusation made as to you (Job 2:6; Revelation 12:10)
IT... IS... NOT... ABOUT... YOU.
If you believe that statement inappropriate/out of line... offensive... I implore you: go back and re-read your comments... slowly and carefully. Then ask yourself, "Isn't it"... and have you not made it so?
I am learning... in my few years in this life... that most don't truly understand this truth. They SO want it to be "about" them, even think it is "about" them... and so get SO twisted out of shape... to the point they literally lose faith... when they come to understand that it is not "about" them. Yet, not a one of them have given themselves... been asked to give themselves... to be impaled... on a stake... while alive... and have their life poured out for people who not only don't even bother to get to know them... but even hate them.
We've not been asked to do anything like that, but only to listen... and obey, when called upon to do so. And that "doing" is usually either something that helps another... or benefits ourselves and our own households. Nothing major. Ever. Not even literally sacrifice our children on some altar, as Abraham as asked to do.
If folks could just come to understand that. Fathom what that truly means (to "do")... and that "doing" always, always, benefits someone.
Just as many don't understand it but continue with their own pursuit of "happiness"... rather that the pursuits that Christ said makes one TRULY happy. And this, dear, dear brother... is why they're actually MISERABLE: because they don't truly grasp what TRULY creates happiness. Ah, well - I won't quote the plethora of verses about that.
So, what is it "about", then? You already know. ALL of us here know (or should, by now), don't we? Not a "what" but a "Who." And that Who said:
“Keep on, then, seeking first the Kingdom and his righteousness, and all these other things will be added to you."
Notice, he didn't say, "Keep on seeking first YOUR wants and needs and YOUR kingdom and YOUR righteousness." Yet, that is what many... most... do, isn't it? Continue to pursue our own wants and needs... and our own righteousness. And BEFORE that of Christ and HIS kingdom. And so... in TRUTH... what is one to expect? Christ did not lie when he made that exhortation. Any more than the Father lied to Ad'Ham when He told that one IF he ate from the TOKGB he would die. Or when Christ said "With the same judgment that you judge, you will be judged." They spoke the TRUTH. Yet, who believes them?
Christ also did not lie when he said that one "cannot slave for TWO masters"... because they would love the one and hate the other. If one's OWN desire(s) is one's MASTER, then... should one be surprised that they "hate" any other (master)? And, if one truly believes Christ's words are true... should they be surprised when seeking their own desires FIRST does not bring them the "happiness" they expected?
For ME... that sounds like a total lack of wisdom: Christ said "seek my kingdom, follow me, do what I tell you and you will be happy and truly free,"... yet, I think I'll seek my own "way". But, wait! Why aren't I HAPPY??? Forgive me for saying so, but such thinking is TOTAL WTBTS ignoramus hubris! Sorry, sorry... I could not help myself. Please forgive me. But it is truly what I think.
Sadly, I have seen a lot of that occurring for some time: folks all unhappy because... what, their lives aren't "going" the way THEY "want" them to. "I've was a slave ALL of my life and although I THOUGHT I knew "something" really knew nothing... and then I was set FREE... but, wait, I don't need someone to tell ME how to live; I know how to live (as a free person) on my own." But... do they? Do their lives show this? Perhaps. Does their demeanor? Their faith? Their conduct (under the NEW Law, not the Old Law)? I'm not so sure.
What is says to Me is that some want to "rule" NOW. Probably wanted it as JWs. Want the "blessings" of the kingdom NOW. Calling to the Father to "Prove to me that I'm a son"... versus humbly offering "Let me prove to YOU, Father, and to the one taunting you that I am your son!" Matthew 5:43-48.
Want "riches" NOW and to be rewarded BEFORE DOING THE WORK ("Give me something/make something "happen" to prove that you love me!" versus "Let me prove that I love YOU, because I KNOW you loved me first! The death of your precious Son PROVES that!").
How does that WORK, exactly? How can we demand these things when (1) we are the sinners (and not a one of us can deny that unless we are not being TRULY honest with ourselves - and no, the whole "Well, I'm not THAT bad," won't work - sin is sin); (2) we are not willing to DO THE WORK first? Who of us gets paid in THIS world... BEFORE we complete the job? We don't even get paid according to the (Old) Law, which called for a worker to be paid DAILY.
JAH and Christ, however, pay... daily; one does not have to wait a week, 2 weeks... a month... for a "paycheck."
Folks want a "good" life... NOW. Which illusion the ruler of THIS world is MORE than ready... and happy... to give. And so many are ready... and happy... to receive. The "appearance" of happiness, though, because although they can do what they want to do... rather than what Christ directs... they're not happy at all. Quite to the contrary, actually.
I just don't get it, though. I mean, I truly don't. Because I am LIVING proof of what occurs when one puts JAH and Christ first. LIVING right now in your own day and time... and very... very... happy. I have NO complaints, misery, regrets, angsts, issues, sadness, etc., and the only challenge is the deterioration of my flesh (aging, arthritis, diabetes, and few other "things"). None of which is no worse than as with anyone else who have the same conditions.
MORE, though, I live in a country... and state... where I can get anything I want or need to make my aging as comfortable as it can possibly be.
And even more... my little "aches and pains" are NOTHING compared with what some experience on a minute-by-minute, let alone day-by-day basis. I have NOTHING to complain about.
But I PROMISE you... it is not because my life is "all peachy keen." It could very well have been as with many others here (and at times was, and perhaps was even worse). That it is NOT... is because I gave it OVER. I accepted the FACT that I could not, alone and on my own, make my own life "happy." But I believed... put my faith in... One who could... and did.
And I would consider it a slap in his very face to now turn around and complain... about anything. Most of all... complain about my "lot in life." Because, after age 18 or so, my "lot" was and is entirely MY CHOICE. I chose who I married. I chose to have children. I chose where I live, what kind of work I do. Whether to go to school or not... or pay attention if/when I did. I... chose.
We are all products of our choices. I know, I know: "I didn't choose to be a JW; my parents made that choice and my life is screwed up because of it."
Please... stop. Up until you became an accountable adult that was very true. Perhaps for a time after that... when you didn't know the TRUTH. Meaning know the truth about the WTBTS. The truth about your parents' (unintentional) ignorance (and any maltreatment that stemmed from that). The truth about religion in general. The truth about JAH... and Christ. And, most importantly, Christ himself AS the Truth.
From that point on... EVERYTHING you think... and do... and do NOT do... is on you. Your choice. There is no one else to blame. No one else to hold accountable.
And so, I get it when someone says they no longer know if they believe. Because that is the next step, is it not? Since there is no one left to blame, to hold accountable... except oneself... that last thing left is to prove the Adversary true... and curse JAH. Indirectly or to His face... doesn't matter. The result is the same:
"Skin in behalf of skin and a man WILL give EVERYTHING HE HAS"... including his eternal life AND that of his household...
But of course, God doesn't really exist, does He, so it really doesn't matter what we do... or do not do. Right?
But thank you, dear, dear brother. Because your confusion only makes me run to clinging closer and tighter to skirt of a certain Jew. I will beg him, as soon as I'm done here to NOT just let me grab onto his fringe... but him to take my hand... my arm... all the way to my shoulder... and DO NOT LET GO OF ME.
My heart breaks for some of you dear ones. I know that all of the "virgins" fall asleep, but I hope you know which of the two groups you are.
May JAH and Christ bless you all... and send you whatever comfort, strength, will... and COURAGE... you (might) need to persevere. May you be willing to "see", though, where your own choices may be the result of your unhappiness... and stop "blaming" the Holy and MOST Holy - they didn't do it. They will, however, help you through/out of it... if you truly WANT them to. If, though, you are unresolved in your heart... well, you're still on your own, then.
Peace to you and to your households!
Your servant and a slave of Christ,
Shel, who obviously isn't much of a (pity) party-goer...
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