What about the poisitve things learned?

by aud8 19 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  philo

  LOL@Billygoat

  1. How to stand up for what I believe - even if family believes something else. (Boy that backfired on 'em, didn't it???)

  Damn, that's a good point!

  philo
• 

  bboyneko

  I find that you need to take a BIG step back and look at what your talking about first. Bible truths? Ypou need to do some research on the history of the cannonized bible, the old and new testaments. These are two totally different religions, with two completley different Gods and Devils. The Old Testamant god has a name, the tetragramteon, YHWH. The New testament god does not have a name. The tetrtragramton has never been found in any new testament scrolls. Also, why were those particular books included in the bible and not others? The gospel of Thomas gives us many new stories of Jesus, and it is a book written in Aramaic, the language jesus and his disciples spoke while poon earth. This book is considered heretical by the catholic church, im not sure the stand other religions have on it. The bible contradict itself many times. The gospels give two completley different lineages of Jesus from david, and also conflict as to when exactly in jesus life his overturning of the merchant tables in jerusalem occured. (some historians beleive this was because the real reason jesus was executed was because of this incident...i mean think about it..jesus had been teaching for years now..why all of a sudden does the roman government, a government that cares little about religious bickering, step in to execute jesus? maybe because when they heard of this crazy guy throwing tables around in jerusalem they feared riots and revolution so close to a major festival, a festival they were nervous about anyway)

  Theres a lot more to the history of the bible. You shouldn't just assume it's holy because you were raised to beleive that. It's just a book wirtten by many many men and revised and reritten by many many men. It's not a very reliable book to base your life on. Jesus is portrayed as racist (helping only fellow jews and despising gentiles) and god is shown to be a heartless murderer. C'mon he drowned little kids and babies along with their parents in the great flood.

  -Dan
• 

  Yerusalyim

  Those points you say the Society got right, Trinity, hell, etc, etc, I say the society is dead wrong on. Not much TRUTH to the "truth".

  Yeru

  YERUSALYIM
  "Vanity! It's my favorite sin!"
  [Al Pacino as Satan, in "DEVIL'S ADVOCATE"]
• 

  DrunkWithLiberty

  HI aud8,
  Welcome to the board. I just finished reading your post about dissassociating yourself. Your feelings of guilt are something I can totally relate to. I lost my virginity on graduation night. I felt so guilty that I ran away from home with a friend. We were on our way to Los Angeles. I reasoned that I was already a horrible person that becoming a hooker wouldn't make much difference ( oh my, the reasoning of a teen-ager). thank God my friend came to her senses and talked me out of continuing our trip after a couple hundred miles).
  As far as the positive I learned from the organization. I think Billy goat said a mouthful for me. The "bible truths" I thought were true no longer are viewed that way to me anymore. I have found very convincing arguments that contradict what I was taught by Jehovah's Witnesses. I am not saying these new thoughts are the truth. I just came toj the realization that the only way to know the "real truth" is to talk to God directly. For example, did Jesus die on a cross or a stake? I have read both sides of the issue and both have all this historical evidence and physiological claims to what is possibe, all backed up by experts. Now if this is really important to God to know the truth on the matter, how does someone like myself who is busy with children, college, and everyday living supposed to research this subject to the point knowing for sure. I do not have the time to pour over archealogical records and the such. Does that mean God expects me to take someone else's word for it? I already did that, and that did not work out so well. So I have come to the conclusion that I will know the truth about this matter if or when I ask Jesus himself.
  I would sugest to you, like so many others have said, to research all those teachings we all held as truth, and find out if what you believe to be truth is as solid as you have been taught.
  The only truth I have come to know is this. Love always works.
  Take care aud 8 and keep us posted about how you are doing. We all understand the place you are at right now.
  By the way, my youngest child who turns three today is named Ireland.
  My family is Irish and I hope to visit that Emerald isle soon.
  Much love, Angeleah
• 

  Grunt

  Aud8 and Troubled,
  I am grateful for the accurate information on hell and for the fact that joining the witnesses got me to become more religious. However, I have to agree that they do denial and anti stuff much better than any positive beliefs. They are best at denouncing other religions and worst at showing real love, for each other or for the people of the world at large. Friends are only friends as long as they tow the line. Miss a few meetings or become inactive and suddenly you are "weak" and have become "bad association." The doctrinal things that I hold most against them are getting people to deny christ as their mediator and to accept that they are second class and don't deserve to be in the new covenant. Christ says his blood is the blood of the covenant, not in the covenant, don't get the benefits. By separating the blood from the covenant they make it seem that if you give up christ and keep his blood you get a different deal. They bribe them by dangling a paradise earth in front of them. They will agree to anything and abandon anyone for "eternal life on paradise earth." I think that is the other thing I hold most against them, that they get children, parents, brothers and sisters to sell each other out for this promise. Smacks of plea bargains and the prison system to me. I wouldn't sell my parents down the river for eternal life, or my children, or my friends. They are pretty blatent about it, as in asking who the most important relationship is, who the only one who can offer them eternal life is. If you only believe because of a reward then I don't think much of your sincerity. If the devil could offer more I guess they would switch over. There are relationships that you should be able to take for granted, in the Jehovah's Witnesses they take that away, they buy it.
• 

  Farkel

  : What about the biblical truths explined by the Witnesses?

  So what?

  Here is the REAL issue:

  "A religion that teaches lies cannot be true." - WTS

  Farkel
• 

  voltaire

  A brother in our congregation just died from cancer. They couldn't operate without blood. So, he just sat back and wasted away. . Why don't you ask him?
• 

  roykaye

  Hey
  get it out of your head that the WTS is the ONLY organisation that does not beleive in the Trinity, Hell, Soul etc. There are many churches and sects out there who believe the same as JWs do. The only thing unique among the teachings of JWs is the emphasis on the year 1914. Many other churches believe in the invisible presence of Christ that he has already arrived etc.
  Except for 1914 no other teaching is exclusive to JWs. in fact many of the teaching can be dated from the 2nd century itself. Read some histories of the church fathers and you will learn the facts. In fact most JWs are brought up reading only WTS literature and they only consider these half-truths as the real facts
• 

  68storm

  Roykaye,

  Right on bro!! Truer words never spoken!

  The thing that gets to me is the fact that jws have to spend 24/7 always studying in order to believe these things (and a whole bunch of other horseshit) while other Christian sects believe the same things and only spend an hour a week at it.

  I guess they need the extra time for the bunch of horseshit to sing in and stay in.

  68storm
• 

  julien

  Who says the society is right about the Trinity, Hellfire, and the Soul? I have seen convincing biblical arguments from both sides. Considering the bible is so ambiguous that it can be used to prove anything (just look at some of the nutty beliefs that fringe Christian groups have) this is not surprising.