Can you defend your faith ?
NO. It is impossible to defend the indefensible.
Can i defend my Faith?
by mrbunyrabit 52 Replies latest jw experiences
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sir82
Please provide the Biblical reason for the Watchtower's doctrine that accepting certain fractions of blood is morally equivalent to eating blood and thus punishable by disfellowshipping and eventual eternal destruction, while accepting other fractions of blood is a "conscience matter" and thus not deserving of any punishment whatsoever.
Please provide the Biblical basis for private judicial committees composed of 3 elders.
While you're at it, provide the Biblical basis for the practice of assigning "restrictions" to persons deemed "guilty but repentant".
Heck, while you're at it, provide the Biblical basis that God expects a group of 3 elders in a judidical committee to be able to accurately measure the "degree of repentance" of someone who commits a "serious sin".
Oh, and please provide the Biblical reference that defines what a "serious" vs. a "minor" sin is.
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LouBelle
okay don't know if some of these questions have been asked:
1) prove that 607 is a bonafide historical date and is supported by historians
2) how do you know that the JW faith is the one and true faith? What proof do you have?
3) how is it that the JW bible differs from so many other bibles, and not only talking about the insertion of Jehovah, I'm talking gramatical and translation
4) who is the bible written for? The 144 000 or all of mankind?
5) why has the organisation failed in it's prophecies? Please do not use man in imperfect becuase when god spoke through his prophets in the past, imperfect as they were, their phrophecies came to pass.
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outsmartthesystem
4) Why do you ask God to protect you, when he cant and doesnt protect you, because he only protects his "organization as a whole". Because bad things happen to all of us, so if you ask god to protect you, and you get shot, its not Gods fault, because bad things happen to everyone, but if something good happens to you, its God who blessed you? So why ask for his protection?
Good question. Compounding the matter.....read this: A Watchtower from March 15, 1988 (p7) says "One of Jehovahs's Witnesses was reading the Watchtower in his car when someone suddenly grabbed him around the neck. He prayed fervently to Jehovah God. The attacker became motionless and his grip slackened. The Witness started up the car, bade the man farewell, and left him standing like a statue in the middle of the road. In a world of increasing skepticism and doubt, lovers of God and truth can take heart from the positive assurance that prayers offered to Jehovah God through the right channel, in the right manner, and with the right attitude of mind and heart are heard" Why insinuate that this man's prayer was answered and he was protected by God.....when thousands of others receive harm even when they pray? Did they not pray hard enough?
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outsmartthesystem
well lolhazleft, i would defend that by saying that it protects the congregation. Why they shouldnt be talked with, well i think its obvious i dont listen to that... But doesnt the bible say you shouldnt even eat with that person anymore?
Does it really say that? The scripture you are referring to is in 1 Cor 5:11. " quit mixing in company with anyone called a brother that is a fornicator or greedy person or an idolater or a reviler or a drunkard or an extortioner, not even eating with such a man. "
This scripture does not say to totally shun the wrongdoer. Rather it says "quit mixing in company". This, at least to me, plainly appears to be in reference to socializing. Perhaps you wouldn't join him for a picnic, a movie or a cup of coffee..but nowhere does it say to completely shun the person. There is a big difference between mixing in company with and being polite and cordial. I can recognize you as a human being and be friendly to you without mixing in company with you. As Paul mentioned at 2 Thessalonians, wouldn't it be spiritually encouraging to admonish such a person..to acknowledge that they exist? Given your comments above....it appears as though you agree. So the question is......why do JWs completely SHUN DFd people when the bible does not tell them to do so?
The scripture at 1st Corinthians is also specific about whom to apply the words to. It says "anyone called a bother" who "is" a wrongdoer. Nowhere does it say to continue such treatment once the person is no longer recognized as a Jehovah's Witness. Nor does it say to shun a person who has stopped in their course of wrongdoing. Paul's words applied, not to persons claiming to be Christians who have at some time been guilty of an act of immorality, greed or drunkenness…….but to persons claiming to be Christians who ARE immoral…….who ARE drunkards……. or who ARE greedy. A person's getting drunk once does not make him a drunkard any more than a person's isolated act of immorality makes him a "fornicator". Paul's words clearly refer to a continuing course of life……….a distinguishing factor in who this person is/what they represent.
Granted, common sense would tell you that if a person is removed as a brother for a particular unrepentant sin and he continues in his way, perhaps you should not regularly associate with or mix in company with such a person, as he has plainly demonstrated that he is bad association. But what about a person that is disfellowshipped for fornication when they are 18 years old? 12 years later, this person is no longer practicing this sin but rather is married with children. He is well respected in his community, is a loving and moral person and leads a very good life. Unless he goes through the formality of reinstatement, he must be forever shunned by every Jehovah's Witness, including his own family, even though, according to scripture, he is no longer considered a brother and he is no longer practicing the sin. The reality of the situation is that this man is viewed to be in a perpetually disfellowshipped STATE OF BEING. It is no longer a question of what he IS doing or the wretched life he IS living…….rather it is a matter of what his category or status is. Yet this man's brother, who never got baptized, decides to slowly fade away from the congregation and live a quiet life of debauchery. While those in the congregation may or may not socialize with him regularly, they certainly talk to him when they see him and might even have a cup of coffee with him if they happened to be at the same restaurant. And why? Because he was never formally disfellowshipped. Somehow that technicality makes it ok to speak with him but not ok to speak with his brother who is a morally sound person that is living a good life.
Again.....the bible does not command witnesses to completely shun......yet that is what they do. Why? Where is the scriptural basis for it?
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InterestedOne
outsmartthesystem - Man, that story from a 1988 WT comes across as a little too fanciful. Does the WT still publish accounts of supposed miraculous events of that calibre, or have they toned it down in recent years?
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outsmartthesystem
I think they've toned it down.....at least in writing. But the stories and folklore continue in testimonies and talks given from the stage
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cuv
Hi mrbunyrabit and sd-7
No 1 of mrbunyrabit kept me pundering daily if women are actually among the 144000 considering the high profile task of evangelism and governing the faithfulls they are billed to do.
If they can teach and pray in the congregations now then when will they....
Please those with answers should throw more lights
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mrbunyrabit
So... its been a while since i wrote on here... What has happened in the meanwhile?
-- Thinking about the WTS
-- Reading every freaking 'apostate' website and literature i could find
-- Thinking about the WTS some more
And you know what, i think im becomming an Athiest.... (now that i type this its freaking me out a bit... only thought about that before, never actualy said or typed it...)
Why am i becomming an Athiest?
Allot of the questions on here pisses me off (coz i cant answer them ;) ) and i know that there isnt an explination for them (besides to "just believe").
And the fact that i cant believe that a rich man in America fired up a religion, because God guided him , but guided him halfassed in his ways.
And for that matter, i watched one of the videos on one of the forms on here that i read, about the Religious people freaking out, calling themseleves Jesus and what not. I really just dont believe in anything anymore...
Im starting to think that when you die.. you die.. and that all these other believesystems are just man made.