If a Christian or a Catholic or an anything is ONLY its best manifestation as embodied in its most perfect human exemplar, then, a Chevy is only the car that gives top performance and doesn't leak oil.
In the real world, a thing is what it is. You get people, religions and cars that are poorly put together. All advertising to the contrary.
Religion is for improvement; right? If the improvement doesn't happen then the product is a failure.
Would you say taking a medicine that doesn't relieve symptoms is a good medicine?
To cop out and say the medicine wasn't taken according to label instructions is pointless. Why? Because it is the Bible itself that tells us man is incapable of saving himself. It is the supernatural agency of the HOLY SPIRIT which enables the believer to accomplish what the natural man cannot. There simply is no evidence of this aid. None. Man is as helpless and error prone and awful AFTER conversion as before. Where is this promised HELPER? In the imagination and no where else.
There simply is no evidence of this aid. None. Man is as helpless and error prone and awful AFTER conversion as before. Where is this promised HELPER? In the imagination and no where else.
Well, Terry. I can only say that this is not true for me, and for many people I know personally.
Most Jehovahs Witnesses are sincere people, who have in many cases been attracted to the movement by a genuine desire to understand the Bible and serve God as best they can. They are often very kind people who have become unwittingly involved. Their distant and sometimes hostile attitude towards those outside the movement is a result of what the Society term Mental Regulating, in the form of books, magazines, lectures, question and answer discussions and private counselling - coupled with a fear of expulsion if they associate with anyone who their Society see as a threat to their cause.
Most members would show a great deal more empathy if they were not actively encouraged to view all outsiders as sinners who are about to be killed by the God they love. After many years in the movement and being trained to view all outsiders with suspicion, believing that they are a threat to their salvation, it is inevitable that some Witnesses have lost a great deal of their feeling towards people who are not part of their organization.
They are encouraged to hate what is bad and they are told that anyone who questions their claim to have the truth is bad and must therefore be hated. To some degree all Bible based religion follows this pattern.
