Personal Decision,

by PureAlb 67 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  WTWizard

  That is the principle of religious neutrality. I value religious neutrality--meaning people being free to believe what they want, and I am not pressured to force my beliefs on others.

  Once you start forcing people to change their beliefs, you are violating this. It is one thing to provide advice and references. I do this--however, I also encourage people to go to other independent sources and study the Bible totally without bias from the religions. No one is forced to do this--I believe that anyone can join any church if they see value above and beyond the total opportunity cost from doing so. And that's even if one chooses not to believe in that religion. Usually, I will not recommend a specific religion for anyone, unless someone has a specific want and a religion fits it perfectly.

  That's what I hate about the witlesses. They are required to force their beliefs on everyone around, and they are not allowed to independently research the religion or their beliefs. They are not allowed to weigh the opportunity cost against the benefits. They are required to believe the Filthful and Disgraceful Slavebugger even if they can prove it wrong using their own Bible. Witlesses that become atheists or that want to join another religion are coerced and threatened to stay witlesses. No room for personal decision there.
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  PureAlb

  well i guess thats what religion is,once u accept any religion u have to live with it,its not JWs who decide to preach,but we have to agree its the Bible who says so,but there is one thing i would agree that religion devides people and thats for every religion. and i would say people who really understand the religion are good people. and u know what life runs very fast, so at the end we can say we tryed something for good or bad,at list anyone can try to be good person good family person etc etc, the only family's who have good standards are the religious people, i mean from any religion,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, wether u ppl agree or not JWs do have high standards,and i do not think they preach hate, they just follow the Bible.
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  Fadeout

  PureAlb: wether u ppl agree or not JWs do have high standards,and i do not think they preach hate, they just follow the Bible.

  Couple of points here:

  1. JWs do not follow the Bible, they follow the interpretation of the Bible provided by the WTS corporation, to their own detriment and that of those around them.

  2. What causes you to believe the Bible is a good thing to follow?
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  LovesDubs

  ,,,,, wether u ppl agree or not JWs do have high standards,and i do not think they preach hate, they just follow the Bible. You were doing good until you said the above. Setting high standards and holding everybody else but THEMSELVES up to those standards is where they part ways with reality. Having been on the planet 53 years now and spent 13 of those as an adult JW...I saw more double standards double lives and double speak from JWs than any other group of people I have encountered. They dont follow the bible they follow the Society and the Societys OPINION of what the bible says. Do they preach hate? Girl wake up! Go find me even ONE ARTICLE in all of their literature where they say ANYTHING NICE ABOUT ANY OTHER FAITH! You are either a baptized JW in good standing or you are under SATAN. Those are the ONLY two camps according to the very HIGH standards of the very SELF righteous JWs.
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  OnTheWayOut

  Brother, I don't understand many of your points. You don't make them clear in English.

  I can comment on some of what you said:

  its not JWs who decide to preach,but we have to agree its the Bible who says so,

  The Bible does not tell people to go door-to-door as JW's do. Most JW's would not
  distribute WT literature if WTS did not insist upon it. There are plenty of people
  preaching in plenty of ways. The JW method is not the most successful in these
  days.

  i would say people who really understand the religion are good people.

  Do most JW's understand their own religion's doctrines? I would challenge that.
  Most people here understand WTS's doctrines better than most JW's. I would say
  that many scholars of the Bible and psychology and philosophy understand what's
  going on in many religions better than the people within them do.

  the only family's who have good standards are the religious people, i mean from any religion

  Bull sh^t. That's all I need to say about that.

  ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, wether u ppl agree or not JWs do have high standards,and i do not think they preach hate, they just follow the Bible.

  Many JW's have high moral standards, but don't elevate them above others.
  When WTS distributes literature that hypocritically points out problems in other
  religions, calling outside Christianity by the term "Christendom" and all of outside
  religion by the term "Babylon the Great [Harlot]" then they are preaching HATE.
  It's nicely disguised so that you don't figure it out, but it is HATE.

  They don't follow the Bible. They follow the WTS. Doctrine is loosely based on the
  Bible and firmly based on WTS's spin on the whole thing.

  Start learning and you will see these for yourself. No, I am not mad at you. I just
  say that you are inviting our thoughts, and these thoughts of mine were desparately
  needed here.
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  PureAlb

  i have read the bible in other interpretations as well, catholics, orthodoxs its the same, and the bible does say preach the word, the curan says so as well, believing in something u dt loose anything anyway,,
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  AudeSapere

  PureAlb wrote: well i guess thats what religion is,once u accept any religion u have to live with it

  Here's a catch. What if you accept a religious belief and your whole family joins you and you become completely involved in the religion. What if then the religion changes its doctrine and you really just cannot understand what the new teaching is. What if it just does not make sense to you? What if you deep in your heart feel that parts of the doctrine have changed to something that is really wrong??

  Should you stay? Should you leave??

  What if your family and friends don't notice the change and the couple of people you mention your own feelings to tell you to be quiet because if you say too much you will be expelled?

  What if you really believe that following the revised doctrine jeopardizes your own standing before god?

  So, suppose you leave.

  Then your family and friends avoid you because they think you are dangerous. And they probably think you are covering a 'secret sin' and have a guilty conscience. But you don't. You just have a troubled conscience because you really want to be a part of the religion but it's this new doctrine that is hurting your conscience - not anything that you personally have done. The religion changed.

  So now you have separated youself from the religion just a little bit - but the religion and your friends and your family have separated themselves from you a whole lot more.

  You are sad and lonely but you still believe in God and pray for his love and guidance. But you have noone (no human) to talk to because family and friends have distanced themselves and are afraid to hear what it troubling you and people outside of the religion do not understand the dynamics of the group. Plus, those outside the religion are considered 'worldly' - and that's a bad thing to Jehovah's Witnesses. And you beleive that all 'worldly' people are bad and immoral, too.

  Now what do you???

  If you are like many of us here on JWD, you quietly close the door to your study and turn on the computer hoping noone will see you or find out what you are doing. You start doing some research for yourself to understand what this new doctrine is about, the reasoning behind it, and how it can affect you and others. You research to match it to bible doctrine. in your own personal, private, 'secret' research and study you find that there are others who have been feeling the exact same way about this doctrine and whoa!! there's a slew of other issues that don't make sense either.

  Now what do you do??

  And what do you do when someone pops in and tells you that the reason you are no longer part of the religion is simply because you cannot live up to the high moral standards of the religion?

  Maybe its the religion that hasn't lived up to yours.

  Think about it.

  -Aude Sapere (meaning: Dare to Know; Dare to Have Wisdom/Understanding)
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  PureAlb

  we do live in a world that is all hate, form race to race,thats nothing abt religion anyway, maybe the world without religion would have been nicer, we dont know it just happen for us to live where we are, and i guess its not very hard to do the right things,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
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  PureAlb

  AudeSapere u are right, but well thats like a policy u sign,if u dt live to its standards then u have to pay the price, its like ok if u are friends with someone and u break their heart to them in anythink ok, then i guess the friendship wont be the same, and if u think that something its rong then u have to say it, free will, u became JWs cos u wanted to, and who cares what others do or say,u just live yr life the way u want and understand it, and i mean when u think something its to yr understanding from the bible. if im no satisfied with something i have to find out why and what would that be.
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  PureAlb

  and im not here to make a research or in the secret way, somepeople do not understand what self belief is.lets say im not JWs what would that change nothing, does that mean i should be angry in something and just express it to people, its like ok guys i like drugs so yeah u should have it cos im having it, i think thats what some are doing here, they ar upset in something and thats the only way to express it,