Posted by spin [spin] on March 29, 1999 at 22:27:52 {7nb3mCfGvUAcPlvYuq3Q7tFTogXeic}:
In Reply to: *To Friend-why insult me? posted by Friend on March 29, 1999 at 19:28:06:
Friend, I enjoyed reading your response, and I have to agree with you that it isn't fair to lable all witnesses in a negative manner. I did have some problems with your line of thought concerning rules set by a community. In a nutshell, what you said was that "we witnesses have the right to set our own rules, and if you choose to be a part of us then you must follow those rules". In theory you are right, but the case in question concerns business dealings with certain types of people and organizations(a topic not cleary covered in the Bible)When a person joins our religion, they are not given a list of "Do's and Don'ts". Most of these rules are arbitrary and are made up as we go along. In the case of doing business with a religious organization, this would seem to fall into that area of "conscience matter". You said "we can all choose our own community of association and in every case we must yield something in order to belong." True, but does that include our right to decide certain matters not covered in the Bible? Is that yielding absolute? In other words, does that mean I must follow not only the present rules but any rules that pop up in the future? I find this a bit unfair and doubt this is what God had in mind for us. What are your thoughts?
spin