Double Edge,
The link you gave is dead. But I do agree with you on the small-pox. But didn't they admit that was a mistake? Same goes for 1975? JW's are people, and people make mistakes. I now they say they are the organization of God on this planet, but that doesnt make them angels, it means that they do God's work, but can and will make mistakes in doing it. And as I said before, when a problem arises you should try to solve it, not hide it (like some of the child-molesting threads suggested that JW's did), not demand that no one talks about it... but solving it!
poppers,
Well, I am convinced that God exists, and that the bible is the Word of God, and that we should follow the way of the apostles, and I think a religion that does that helps, encourages you to do so. It is always much harder to do things by yourself then if you do it with a group. Why do the former if you can have the latter?
TD,
Actually, the word used in Exodus, Deut, and other passages doesnt come from the hebrew word "le'ochel", which means eating, but it can better be described as taking. So I don't think JW are wrong there. Furthermore, the Jews also believe that its wrong not only to take blood, but even to have it on your hands. Remember that when a priest touches blood he is unclean? And remember the story about the samaritan? So Jews were even stricter then JW are. Why then do Jews take bloodtransfusions? That's because they believe in a very hypocritical rule which to my believe is against some points in the bible. They believe they should hold on to God's word UNLESS its life threatening. In some cases this makes sense, if you are not to eat (some days like Jon Kippur you are not allowed to eat and drink, theres a word for it forgat what it was in english) or drink and you feel bad, then of course you are allowed to eat or drink some, theres no reason to die from that (and this also is written in the Thora). But there are countless examples. like bowing for another God, etcetera, where God specifically says that its not allowed. I think it was Maimonides who started this rule, at the time jews were being persecuted by christians (medievals) and they could only flee to muslim areas. But afrer a while the muslims gave them a choice, die or become muslim. And the 'great Maimonides' told the jews that they could convert to the islam, but remain Jewish in their hearts. And I was like, you are kidding me. You Jews know the story told in Daniel.... did the 3 there bow for the statue but remained jewish in their hearts... no! So at the end I think that JW interpret that statement very well, not too light, but also not too strict.
NewLight2,
Well, In the few days ive posted here so far I found out the following. You have different types of posters. You have people who:
Attack the person for being stupid ("Well, if that's the case you're an idiot, sheep, whatever the word is")
Tell the person about the horrible things/stories they have about the WTS and/or prtoblems they had with the elders.
Tell the person to make up their own mind
Tell the person that they should watch carefully, and think through every step, because this is an important decision
Tell people how every religion is bad and God loves everyone
Those are, I think most of the answers people get here when posting. But what I still miss is this one: What makes the religion itself bad? And, is there any religion that is better without having to resort to "yourself" etcetera? Because people can change, organizations can change, but the basis of them, the religion itself cant. And I am not calling the bible the religion. I am calling the bible + the interpretation the religion (so no trinity, no blood) etcetera. From the things above, only people who tell you to watch carefully are actually helping and being nice. The othes are disgrunted (for good reason perhaps) or are longing to a normal life or dont believe at all (ive see thats the case with some people whos family and parents have been JW and were pushing them etc). But these do not falsify the religion itself. Note: Doctrines arent interpretation. Theres are diference between not believing in the trinity because it says so nowehere in the bible, and having 3 meetings a week because thats handy for the organization etcetera.
And again, don't think that what you all say doesnt help and that im brainwashed and that kind of stuff. I am building up a tekstfile with things im gonna need to ask to an Elder, and as I said before, I'm a critic. Here I criticize what you guys stand for, but in the KH I criticize what they stand for. Thats the best way imo to get to knowledge. Sometimes you cannot show thats a religion is true, but often you can show that its not true ;)
