More Russian Jehovah’s Witnesses get asylum in Norway

[Patiently waiting for Truth]

@James Thomas Rook Jr.  Quote "Never ONCE have they been right about anything in the real world.

If they did not have an unlimited and constantly flowing waterfall of "Free Money", they would have imploded, years ago. " (end of quote)

And have they been right about much spiritually ?  

But James, you and many others still follow them, still go to conventions, still put money in their pot. Still listen to the words of the GB and read the words of the Writing Dept. 

Why ?  If, as you know, they are not guided by God's Holy spirit, then isn't it all just a waste of your time ? Of every JWs time ?  And those people in Russia are suffering for nothing. Just because they serve the GB and it's Org. 

Well in my opinion the GB have much blood on their hands and have no chance of being Anointed servants of God at all. 

 

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

2 hours ago, 4Jah2me said:

But James, you and many others still follow them, still go to conventions, still put money in their pot. Still listen to the words of the GB and read the words of the Writing Dept. 

Yes.... but here is the way I look at it ... I am also an American, a citizen of the United States ... and as we have seen this past week .. fully a half of Americans (less one Senator), are certifiably evil, insane, mad as a hatter, full of hate and vitriol, and obsessed with invoking the principles of Justice, without allowing it for another, willing to convict in the absence of law, because they despise someone, and do their best to destroy them ... under color of law.

Does that make me less of an American, or less dedicated to the principles of Justice, Truth, and the American Way?

NO

Same thing.

Either you get that.... or you don't.

[Patiently waiting for Truth]

Um, I'll just go with the fact that you are American. And each to their own ways.  

[Witness]

52 minutes ago, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

Either you get that.... or you don't.

 

Dear James,

I just don’t get it .  No one but the WT is telling you that an earthly organization is vital to worship God.    The Bible never mentions it. 

Jesus was a renegade for truth.  It was simple.  People either followed him because they loved truth and life, or they didn’t.  Paul was a Roman citizen, but he followed Christ.  He never bowed down to men and false teachings. 

"But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ."  2 Cor 11:3

Not that my opinion matters.  I speak solely from the heart.  

 

[Isabella]

Several Russian citizens have sought asylum in Norway due to religious persecution. Norwegian authorities confirm that they have accepted applications from Russian Jehovah’s Witnesses.

“Yes, there have been asylum applications in 2019 from Russian nationals seeking protection for fear of persecution because of their religion, mainly Jehovah’s Witnesses,” UDI communications adviser Oda Gilleberg told Vårt Land.

She says there has been a slight increase in applicants who claim to be Jehovah’s Witnesses from Russia in 2018 and 2019. Last year, nine Russians received protection under the asylum law. Some of these were Jehovah’s Witnesses, the UDI confirms.

About 175,000 people in Russia belong to Jehovah’s Witnesses. The organization was banned by a Supreme Court ruling in 2017. The order stamped Jehovah’s Witnesses as an extremist organization, and the translation of the Bible, the New World, is considered extreme literature and is forbidden.

The Helsinki Committee points out that members of Jehovah’s Witnesses are being persecuted in Russia and, among other things, restrictions have been placed on owning property.

Last year, 18 Jehovah’s Witnesses were convicted in the country of participating in an extremist organization.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (UD) states that Norway is concerned about the situation of the religious group.

“Over time, the Foreign Ministry has had close contact with Jehovah’s Witnesses about the situation of their fellow believers in Russia. We are therefore well acquainted with the situation and are concerned about how this group is being treated,” writes State Secretary Marianne Hagen in an email to Vårt Land.

https://norwaytoday.info/news/norway-grants-asylum-to-russian-jehovahs-witnesses/

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

1 hour ago, Witness said:

Dear James,

I just don’t get it .  No one but the WT is telling you that an earthly organization is vital to worship God.    The Bible never mentions it. 

Let me give you an illustration:

After two pitchers of beer, many years ago, a friend and I sat down to a lobster dinner.

I had never even seen a lobster, much less one on a plate .... and it was a WHOLE lobster, with its beady eyes staring at me.

Being totally ignorant, and sloshed, I started at the head.

It was the WORST thing I had ever eaten, before or since, and the only reason I ate as much as I did is that I did not want my friend to think I was a stupid hillbilly. 

I learned an important lesson that day, after I sobered up ....

NEVER eat what is presented to you without knowing what you are doing.

This is true for lobster ...

.... and theology.

There are 15% core truths, unavailable elsewhere, that have served me well my whole life, but in my considered opinion there is about 85% that is inedible, even when served by cooks with the finest motives.

I stay for the precious 15% ... and endure the rest.

[Witness]

47 minutes ago, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

I stay for the precious 15% ... and endure the rest.

So, basically, the tables are covered in vomit.  The core truths are hidden at the bottom of the pile.  (Speaking of beer….Isa 28:7-10)

It’s not worth it.  It’s not worth digging through someone’s bile…I mean vile thoughts…      to cling to the 15%, already buried in years of rot.  (Matt 7:15-20)  We don't lose the truth, the 15%, when we walk away from lies.  

Core truths are “captivating”, to say the least.   (Jer 5:26-51; Rev 13:10)

Again, my opinion motivated by sincere concern. 

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

I understand these principles better than you do, Witness

It is clear to me that in Jesus' time on Earth, the system of theology practiced by the Jews he fulfilled without exception, until it was God's time to change it,  The Jewish System had the EXACT same problems we do today in Christian Congregational arrangement.

Such are the limitations of we poor souls, made of DNA, and dust.

We are just big ugly bags of mostly water, but the fact of the matter is ... that is the best we are capable of.as humans, of which I have a realistic expectation of little or nothing.

If you know a global Christian Congregational Arrangement that does NOT have these common problems,, and still has a core of pure Truth, let me know, and when verified, I will abandon what I have and switch to what you have discovered.

Until then, your opinions as expressed are irrelevant hyperbole, and

I will wait in expectation, content that loyalty to God, common sense, and Truth (where I find it), will be enough to "make do".

 

[Witness]

41 minutes ago, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

I understand these principles better than you do, Witness

 

41 minutes ago, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

The Jewish System had the EXACT same problems we do today in Christian Congregational arrangement.

This is what I know and you know.  It was only those who left the Jewish system and its problems behind in the first century, who had any chance of survival.

Matt 24:15,16; Luke 17:22-37; Rev 18:4-8

 

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

59 minutes ago, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

If you know a global Christian Congregational Arrangement that does NOT have these common problems,, and still has a core of pure Truth, let me know, and when verified, I will abandon what I have and switch to what you have discovered.

Even Jesus stayed on the "old leaky boat", until it was time for the launch of the "new boat".

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

10 hours ago, Witness said:

This is what I know and you know.  It was only those who left the Jewish system and its problems behind in the first century, who had any chance of survival.

I am not interested in survival at any cost ... it did not bother me one wit the 4-1/2 billion years before I was born ... and after I am dead, I strongly suspect I will not be upset about that for longer than about four minutes.

I have found that those who serve God as a mechanism to try and live forever have TOTALLY missed the point of why we should serve God.

A coward dies a thousand deaths, the valiant only once.

[Witness]

2 hours ago, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

I have found that those who serve God as a mechanism to try and live forever have TOTALLY missed the point of why we should serve God.

I couldn't agree with you more.  

No faithful prophet of God from old, or faithful disciple of God and Jesus Christ, have as their agenda, a personal vindication.  Jesus vindicated His Father, knowing also that he would be glorified. But his motivation was out of pure love; firstly, for God and then for those whom he knew, and whom he desired to experience the love which becomes mutual between God and man.    

When I was a JW, the paradise promise was always put before me.  Obey the direction of the organization and that reward was waiting.   I see it so differently now.  I can understand how one yearns to please the Father and Christ.  It is not because of the reward, but it is through an awareness of THEIR love for a mere worm wriggling in the dirt. Isa 41:13,14   I know that obedience brings its reward; but having the fear of God within one’s heart, the respect for His power, patience and love, His blessing bestowed on those shown Truth, helps comprehend that earnest desire to be where truth, Christ and God reside.  It is the connection that love makes through the blessing of Holy Spirit.  It is “the bond of perfection”.  Col 3:14  

Michael – “Who Is Like God?”  That is the call of Christ’s faithful servants in the last days.  Rev 12:7  Through the developing an authentic love for the Father only possible through His grace, nothing should stand in our way of making that call – no organization that demands to be glorified, no man who expects obedience to his failures, no man-made rules that cannot be verified by God’s Word.   Isa chapter 48