?

I would be greatly interested in reading the comments from any of those who carefully read through the comprehensive list of 101 "do's & don'ts" and "must & must nots" outlined by "lilAngel" 22 hours ago.

What was your personal reaction? How did it make you feel? Had the scope and breadth of these rules been fully realized & understood or, did you find some element of surprise in the totality of the control excerted by the organization, both directly and indirectly?

Did it bring up feelings of pride in the organization or were you inwardly, silently repulsed by all the rules and procedures controlling each and every member of the organization on a daily basis, night and day?

How does the idea of being under the watchful eyes of your brothers & sisters, wherever you are and whatever you are doing, whom are ready to report you to the elders when "rules" are perceived to have been broken?

Does all this square up with Gal. 5:1, in your view, and, if so, how does it? Or, does it go against all the principles of Christian freedom, love, faith, mercy etc... made possible by the death of our Lord, Jesus Christ? And, has the precious Christian freedom lovingly afforded to all of us been replaced by another "written code"? (Romans 7:6)

I thank you in advance for your sincere and honest replies....

I recently answered a question entitled "Why do Jehovah's Witnesses use magazines as supplements to the Bible rather than reading only the Bible?" Some of you may recall the question and possibly my answer. If not perhaps restating the 1st paragraph may help, as follows:

"As an ex-JW with 20+ years of activity, they cannot claim to actually wanting to help you study or understand the Bible. Their offer of a "free home Bible study" is a ruse, a subtle means to lead you to Watchtower publications and away from the Bible, it becoming secondary to their publications. The Bible will be given complimentary and occasional reference only when a single verse, often times taken out of context, seems to support their teachings. Students beware!"

The staff at Yahoo Answers deemed this answer to be "insulting and ranting" thus deleting it from this site as well as the removing 10 points from my account as penalty. I appealed their decision and, in reply, Yahoo staff refused to reinstatement either the answer or the points citing the original reason as valid.

I would like to throw this "out there" to all of you, both current and ex-JW's. Was this answer, in fact, "insulting and ranting" as Yahoo staff claims? Thank you for your reply...

Kitledge

Jehovah's Witnesses are well known, if not defined by, this method of preaching, claiming that it is soundly based on the examples of 1st century Christians who, in similar fashion, also went "door to door" preaching the "good news of the Kingdom" (Matt 24:14). They offer Acts 5:42 & Acts 20:20 as evidence that the early Christians went 'door-over-to-the-next-door', in a literal sense, such as a salesman would canvassing a neighborhood door-to-door selling vacuum cleaners.

Is this understanding correct? Do the Scriptures describe instances where Jesus' disciples went "door to door", in a literal sense, while preaching the good news about the Christ and the coming Kingdom? What did the apostle Paul mean when he referred to their going "from house to house"?

Many consider JW's to be a Christian religion while, at the same time, that view is not universally held. However, despite some claims to the contrary, JW's are usually accepted as a mainline Christian religious group.

For instance, they are organized into congregations with bodies of elders taking the lead and providing oversight, just as was in the 1st century. Also, elders, mature spiritual men, are appointed on the basis of consistently displaying the qualifications of "older men", in both their public/private lives, as set out in Scripture (1Tim 3:1-7). In addition to the organizational format noted earlier, JW's are also dedicated to the "preaching of the good news", going "door to door", active in well over 200 lands, again, similar to the preaching of the early Christians (with one major difference, the 1st century preachers did NOT use the literal "door-over-to-the-next- door" method, as have JW's for decades). As another Christian characteristic, they consider Jesus Christ, as God's Son, to be King of "heavens and earth", and, that as the 2nd Adam, also acknowledge that Christ, having taken human form, had offered his life as ransom sacrifice for mankind (1Tim @:5). There is one caveat, however, in that they believe that Jesus' death applied only to 144,000 (not to all Christians who, according to their teachings, must meet additional future testing in order to prove their worthiness).

So, in general, JW's appear to follow the Christian model. Yet, consider these facts that may challenge their version of "Christianity":

1. Acts 11:26 states that by "divine providence" Jesus followers were to be called Christians. On the other hand, in the 1930's, JW's adopted the name of "Jehovah's Witnesses", based entirely on Isaiah 43:10, which had direct application to ancient Israel (circa 700 BCE). Does that contradict Jesus' own words "you will be witnesses of me"? (Acts 1:8)

2. The Nation of Israel, under Law (Torah), was distinguished by a priestly class, the Levites, and then, there were "all the other tribes". The Levites, as priests officiating at the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, offered sacrifices in behalf of all the other tribes in order to petition Jehovah for forgiveness of their sins. In the JW's system, we see a similar 2-class system, one being the "little flock" or the anointed, whom are destined for heavenly life as "kings and priests", vs. "all the others", the "great crowd/other sheep", composed of all the non-anointed ones, destined for Paradise life here on earth, according to WT teachings. Is the WT's interpretation of the "anointed"/"other sheep" soundly based on Scripture?

3. By the 1st century, the Pharisees had established the Talmud, a set of stringent laws and regulations that governed nearly every aspect of Jewish life, above and far beyond the already comprehensive Mosaic Law (Talmud). Similarly, the modern-day organization of the WT, through its Governing Body, its elder arrangement, the secretive "Shepherding the Flock" manual, has imposed both formal and informal rules governing every aspect of the lives of JW's including education, dress codes, personal grooming, type of work, dating, marriage etc..., many of which have gone "beyond the things that are written" (1Cor 4:6) Does a centrally controlling authority violate the spirit of Paul's words at Gal 5:1 "For such freedom Christ set us free. Therefore, stand fast and do not let yourselves be confined again to a yoke of slavery"?

Your comments will be appreciated, whether supportive or not....