Posted by a.j.w. [aw] on April 02, 1999 at 06:35:35 {ppHCdFLRUMgy8SS8Re/Q9b2GZPq.rk}:
Far more upbuilding, I must say.
Stirring. Challenging.
Motivating. Transporting.
The setting would have challenged most dubs - the local Cathedral
Church of the Church of England - but a much better acoustic environment
than
a Kingdom Hall - plus they have a very nice instrument (a pipe organ),
and room for a choir and chamber orchestra. As there was standing
room only, and I am the type to arrive right on time, I got the
somewhat
incongruous (a fundy doing the High Church bit) job of being doorman -
I am sure many there thought I was the official one ;-)
There was only one baby there, in a pram, and it slept the whole time
(see only baby dub
misbehave, but it might have something to do with being
dragged out in field service all day, and then being expected to be quiet
all through a meeting ;-).
Whole sections of scripture were sung (or perhaps it's better to
say
performed), and a far more compelling and interesting story was presented.
ASIDE: what does the WT think about Handel's Messiah - do they
object because it uses the KJV? Do they object because it is just
scripture and not the food from the slave? Do they object because
Handel was not a bud? Do they object because it is sung in BtG? -
I would be interested in your observations - I'll have to look on the wt
cd.
"every valley shall be exalted, and every hill made low, the crooked
straight (see there's hope for the Society yet), and rough places plain"
- A great
prospect when those who would exalt themselves today will
be brought low, and those who humble themselves will be exalted - see,
even that's hard to say. Far more searching than the poor exegesis of the
memorial.
"And the
glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall
see it together, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it" - the society
has adjusted this to "must" see it. A pity, and I suspect that it
is a change driven by
doctrine.
"Thus saith the Lord, the Lord of Hosts, yet once, a little while
and I will shake the heavns and earth, the sea and the dry land, and all
nations, and the desire of all nations shall come. The Lord
whom
ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant
whom ye delight in, behold he shal come, saith the Lord of hosts" -
once again the Society has made a few (cosmetic?) changes - "And
suddenly
there shall come to His temple the true Lord ...", I guess suggesting that
the temple belongs to someone other than the "true Lord". I guess
they expect this to happen soon - a brother just the other day
explained
to me that the reason there had been a directive to move back to the congregations
of the territory you live in, was so that it was easy to track down brothers
when the expected earthquake and things came. Here of
course, not
only are the physical things being shaken, but all nations as well.
"But who may abide the day of his coming, and who shall stand when
he appeareth, for he is like a refiners fire, and He shall purify the
sons
of Levi that they may offer an offering in righteousness unto the Lord"
- of course this has to apply somehow to the refining that happened in
the society when he returned invisibly. But, the offering
in
righteousness seems to have got mixed up along the way - instead we have
a pretty poor offering in untruthfulness. Could it just be
that the day of his coming is yet to appear, and that a purification of
the
(literal) sons of Levi so that they can worship in righteousness is
something yet to be seen?
"Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His
name Emmanuel - "God with us"" - God's son, who
demonstrated the family
characteristics of his father - but was also a man, the son of a woman.
In the place of those facts, the society say he was an angel. Hmmm
- makes me think of Heb 2:14 - "he also similarly
partook of the same (flesh
and blood) that through his death ...". No, in reality he was
a man uniquely able to live a sinless life because of his Divine parentage,
but in all points tempted like we are, yet without
sin.
"O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion, lift up thy voice with
strength, be not afraid, say unto the cities of Judah, behold your God!
Arise, Shine for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen
upon
thee, and the gentiles shall come to thy light. For behold, darkness
shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people, but the Lord shall
arise upon thee and his glory shall be seen upon thee, and the Gentiles
shall come to
they light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising"
- Let's be sure not to unnecessarily clutter this prophecy with spiritualising
everything. The prophet forsees a time when the glory of the Lord
is risen upon Zion
(Jerusalem), and when all nations (gentiles) come to
the light of Jerusalem. This is the reality of the kingdom of God
- a real kingdom with a capital city to which all nations will flow when
Jesus Christ establishes his
kingdom there.
"The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light, and
they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death upon them hath the light
shined, for unto us a Child is born, unto us a son is given,
and the government
shall be upon his shoulder, and His name shall be called, the prince of
peace, Wonderful, Counsellor, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace"
- interestingly Isaiah sees this one reigning on the throne
of David -
now perhaps the Society plans to set this up again, but it'll be hard because
David was king of Israel - the real legit literal nation, and the throne
of that nation will be yet reestablished with one who can truly be
called
all those things. Since the Watchtower king sat on his throne
in 1914 there has been not peace - the peace in Serbia, for instance, not
to speak of the other thousands of wars since 1914. No -
real
peace comes with the establishment of the Kingdom of God on the reestablished
throne of David in Jerusalem - that is how Paul could say "for the hope
of Israel I am bound with this chain" - he could see how that the
kingdom
of God was bound up in the nation of Israel (literal). To spiritualise
all this, is to render his statement pointless.
Anyway, I could go on, but I must say I really enjoyed the Hallelujah
chorus.
"Hallelujah - the Lord God Omnipotenth reigneth, the kingdom
of this world is become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and
He shall reign for ever and ever". Pity the poor watchtower Christ
who has had some
difficulty effecting these changes from heaven since 1914.
One brother even suggested to me last night that if the Society came out
and said 1914 was a mistake, and that Jesus hadn't been reigning all these
years, that most
of the brothers would accept it - and he went on the refer
to 1975 (smile). No - the change to be effected with the Kingdom
of God will see the real and immediate end of men's rule, and in it's place
the real
beneficial rule of Jesus Christ onearth with those blessed to
reign with him as kings and priests - a true Christian hope.
"But thanks be to God who giveth us (not just the 144000) the victory
through our Lord Jesus
Christ"