Posted by Friend [Friend] on March 30, 1999 at 07:34:30 {.Oe37V.qjQBao8LWLRQ.OgnjR4Br/g}:
In Reply to: **To Friend-why insult me? posted by spin on March 29, 1999 at 22:27:52:
spin
I did have some problems with your line of thought concerning rules set by a community.
Your biggest problem raised regards standards being modified in the future. That can be a real problem. Nevertheless, the JW community, to its own discouragement, has pretty much accepted even that as a standard. They have in effect accepted a standard whereby a governing body can change the rules in midstream. Given that a community has accepted that type of rule making standard then we are back to respecting their standards again. I wrote a post some time back about self-determination that discussed aspects of this same problem.
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 clearly 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.
Though individuals on this board will chaff at the idea, my opinion is that JWs don�t really have that many hard and fast dogmatic rules. Elders who have seen a lot of judicial situations and reported supposed judicial situations amongst JWs could testify that the gray areas are huge. Mostly JW detractors tend to pick on cases that have actually gone before judicial committees for hearing or else theoretical situations. However, usually ignored are all the reports of �wrongdoing� that are never assigned judicially because they fall into what either a local elder body or the Society considers a gray area. Where there are definite �rules� against something that is usually made pretty clear to individuals prior to baptism. I suggest that in sessions where baptismal candidates are asked questions that this issue is dealt with and standards are either accepted or rejected. You might be surprised how often individuals reject JW baptism at the point of �going over the questions�.
In the case of doing business with a religious organization, this would seem to fall into that area of "conscience matter".
For the most part, as far as published views of the WTS go, that is exactly where that entire issue resides, individual�s consciences.
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?
My thoughts are that your questions go to the heart of what individuals should ask themselves as adults when determining what communities they want to either support or be a part of. Each of us has the ability to think or believe just whatever we so desire. What we decide to do is another thing; how far we chose to yield is another thing. What you must do or must follow is ultimately determined by you. What God would have you do is the debate.
Friend