Aunty Jane
Well-Known Member
To the majority, Easter is a commercial occasion first, and a religious one second....if at all.I don't see any hatred in @Grailhunter .
Just let me say that Christians don't celebrate bunnies and eggs, but the resurrection of Jesus.
Like the trinity, there is no "Easter" in the Bible....not the word, nor the celebration. No one celebrated Easter until Christendom adopted it, like it did many other pagan celebrations. You can't make a pagan event into a Christian one by changing its name, and incorporating all the original traditions that went with it. God was there observing the originals....remember? If he hated them then, he hates them now, regardless of what you call them.
And what do you really know about JW's? From hearsay? Do you judge on hearsay, or can you listen to both sides of an issue before you pass judgment? Would you like people to do that to you? Do you have first hand knowledge? I do....having been raised in Christendom, I know what they teach and I know where all their beliefs come from.....but the church did not teach me the truth about these things.As to the JW, I know that if someone leaves that community, they are shunned by their very own family members, if the also happen to belong to that group.
We do not shun anyone who has left our brotherhood unless they are guilty of some serious offense for which they are unrepentant. Pride prevents them from admitting their guilt and like the first humans will often blame someone else. Then like petulant children, they will then cry foul when they are disciplined.
We have a saying that 'green fruit, once it has become mature, does not go back to being green....it just goes rotten'.
We are told to....."remove the wicked one" (disfellowship them) from our brotherhood and this is exactly what we do with those who sin without repentance. No repentant person or one who simply stops associating is ever disfellowshipped....
1 Corinthians 5:9-13 is clear....
"I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people; 10 I did not at all mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the greedy and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to leave the world. 11 But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is a sexually immoral person, or a greedy person, or an idolater, or is verbally abusive, or habitually drunk, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a person. 12 For what business of mine is it to judge outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? 13 But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the evil person from among yourselves." (NASB)
Unlike Christendom, we do not tolerate those who sin and think that God doesn't see.....nor do we impose "grace" where it clearly does not apply.
2 John 10-11 reinforces how we should respond to those who want to cause dissension or division....
" If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; 11 for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds." (NASB)
It is because Christendom does not follow through on these commands that they are rife with those who think God can be fooled by appearances, or that those who take the lead are not authorized to judge when a wrongdoer is guilty of serious sin.