A QUESTION NOBODY EVER ASKS.... (page 2)

Captain Obvious

Well if the Catholic Church theology is 100% correct, then god is still megalomaniacal twat....

Jus' sayin'

Terry

Religion is from man's "get it right" point of view.

I'M RIGHT is from man's competitive ego-driven nature.

Worship, on the other hand, is something entirely different from getting something right.

Worship is man's natural reaction to an encounter with the living god.

Remember how those young teenage girls came apart when they sat in the audience as the Beatles were singing?

That wasn't about "getting it right" it was about a natural reaction and hero worship.

The spontaneity of worship is heartfelt and the encounter is real.

Religion, on the other hand, is like any other competitive sport and equally fanatic in its fans.

In the Cain and Abel scenario the approval by God of Abels sacrifice seems to be arse about , but then again a bloodthirsty God would approve of the slaughter of one of his living creations in the shedding of blood, as opposed to Cains more civil grain offering , food that is vital for human survival ,as a sacrifice .I know apologists will suggest this prefigures the shed blood of jesus christ for the forgiveness of sins , but that only magnifys what a bloodthirsty God this is .He/she has shown no respect for the sanctity of life that he/she has supposedly created....just my 2 cents worth.

smiddy

konceptual99

Once again Terry you've proved why you are one of the most important posters on this site. Great analysis.

ProfCNJ

Hi Terry, you nailed this one. One of the best posts I have seen as of late.

This had led me to contemplate again the JW faith. In spite of the inaccuracies in predictions or speculations about dates, would God be so rude and unfair to pass judgment on them, negating all the other exemplary things and sacrifices their members have shown in their service to Him? Despite about hardline stance on disfellowshipping, shunning, and other rigorous practicies, would He simply ignore their zeal to explain the truth to others with unwavring faith and sincerity?

Would he just be turning a blind eye on their efforts to teach others change their attitude, behavior and habits that have benefited society as well?

How about those well-meaning, sincere JWs who, in their hearts, know pretty well that they are happy serving Him (without much reverence to the Governing Body)?

1 Samuel 16:7: But the Lord says to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the HEART."

Any enlightened JW is at the crossroads. Either he leaves or stays. But by staying, he knows that he can find ways to influence his fellow brothers to discover more - not only the incorrectness of his beliefs but discover how to continue doing good things the Christian way while recognizing JW core beliefs cannot be changed overnight.

For if one leaves that fast, how can others be helped to see other perspectives? Who knows it is God's purpose for enlightened JWs to stay for a mission He only perfectly knows?

Terry

The ZERO SUM GAME approach to religious thought is creepy and rude and says all we need to know about the persons espousing such ideas.

Let's face the fact that we who were such suckers for JW theology were not in a good place inside our own thinking when we embraced it as "truth".

What we were doing was analyzing scripture and history and worship ritual as though it were a skillset. The Watchtower writings amounted to a course you take to improve yourself and "get into shape" for Armageddon competition.

Our competitor's were a surly lot who just happened to be everybody else on planet earth!

The JW "take it or leave it" offer of absolute Truth sets the teeth on edge in the humanitarian department of mental health.

cantleave

Terry - Great post.

As for Michelle's drivel about the Catholic Church - Ha Ha Ha

mgmelkat

Cain's gift was unacceptable because of his bad attitude(or so the WBTS taught me). I think God accepts our worship/gifts if we give them to Him with a good, genuine and loving heart, regardless of what we believe. It's our thoughts and heart condition that matters. Regardless of how we play the piano. :)

OnTheWayOut

Isn't that what Jehovah's Witnesses really think?

Yes, they are all about being RIGHT.

I learned early on in this forum from a poster named Garybuss that all JW's are really about is being RIGHT while proving (at least to themselves) that all others are WRONG. Much of their proselytizing work is not to make converts but to keep convincing themselves they are right.

I personally feel that, were there a God anything like what Christianity believes in, He should not be so petty as to assign eternal damnation or oblivion to those that sincerely worshipped in any way, even if it were not doctrinally correct. To be so petty, He would at least have to be more clear and provide actual evidence of His purposes for us.

That said, there is RIGHT and WRONG, but there are other degrees in-between that technically fall into WRONG, but are not always seen that way. There is also NOT EVEN WRONG which means you are not even close enough to the truth to be told that you are wrong. In NOT EVEN WRONG, you are so far off-base that WRONG isn't strong enough to describe how wrong you are. Then there are WRONGS that are not so wrong, like saying the earth is round like a ball. That's way closer to RIGHT than saying the earth is flat. Saying it's a sphere is even closer to RIGHT. Even saying the actual shape of the earth is that of an oblate spheroid could be debated and pinned down further by some absolutists out there, but that is even more RIGHT than saying the previous choices.

When it comes to religions involving belief in God, they all seem to be NOT EVEN WRONG.

JW's can distract from that matter by arguing over stupid details like whether Jehovah lives in the Pleiades System or not. The idea would be to establish that there is a Jehovah out there who is as Watchtower describes Him, but some details are unclear. So saying "Jehovah lives in the Pleiades System" is NOT EVEN WRONG.

garyneal

It's not just Jehovah's Witnesses the Independent Fundamental Baptists are equally bad about trying to prove that they have the right theology, they right Bible (KJV), and the right view about the world. Michelle mentions the Catholic church and how they may have had the right theology given to them. IFB's largely view them as idolators (worshippers of Mary) and the Catholic church itself is largely regarded as modern day Babylon. Of course, that is how all religions are viewed by the witnesses.

This is what makes Terry's original post so powerful.

A QUESTION NOBODY EVER ASKS....

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