Posts by sloppyjoe2

35

Before knowing TTATT did you really believe in things as...

by roberto avon in

jw
friends

did you really believe in things as ;- the earth is only 6000 years old- the 144.000- 1914, based upon the destructiono of jerusalem- harmagheddon or the end of the world coming soon???

?i married a jw when i was an interested person and studying with the jw's ( not the way they wanted) but i told my wife before marrying her that " most probably " i would never have been a jw.she accepted me as i was and married me.

after that i had interrupted the study for one year, i started all over again with an elder of my wife's cong.

sloppyjoe2

I believed everything as I was born in. I used to carry things in my pocket so that if the great tribulation started and I wasn't home I would have the particular item I wanted with me.

My first realization that something was wrong was when I was 13. I was sitting during the watchtower study and it was the one that the generation that saw 1914 wouldn't pass away was changed. I sat there thinking, they changed it because time ran out, not because there was anything revealed to them. The first apostate web site I ever went to was freeminds.org as an apostate in an AOL chatroom sent a link to it to the whole room. I was too curious to not look. Even then I didn't buy into a lot of what was said, but some of it held true. As time went on I would read different web sites that JWs posted on but they usually argued with apostates such as H20 I think it was called.

102

A couple questions for atheists on Suffering

by little_Socrates in

who told you that the world should be free from suffering?.

do you find any value in suffering?.

do you think it is possible to experience all the beauty and goodness and pleasure the world offers without also experiencing the bad?

sloppyjoe2

I'll take a crack at this while I do not profess that I am atheist...yet. I find the hardest part for me to swallow is a believer saying they prayed to God to help them decide what job to take, find their car keys, get a promotion, while there are literally MILLIONS of people who starve to death while praying to God for help. There is no rational and loving explanation to say that indeed God helped someone do something so meaningless as get promoted, while allowing someone to die.

I will give an example of our CO talking about the power of prayer. In the 90s a little girl prayed out loud when she was about to be killed in the genocide in Rwanda. After her prayer they let her and her family go. He was pointing out how the power of prayer caused Jehovah to save their lives. So I looked up and noticed in JW literature, over 400 witnesses were killed in the same time period in Rwanda. I am sure everyone of them was praying to Jehovah, and their prayers went unanswered. So why did Jehovah decide not to spare them?

I believe most of your questions are irrelevant to an atheist since you are asking them to pretend to believe in something that they say they do not believe in.

9

Did they believe in Heaven?

by sloppyjoe2 in

psalms 17:14 rescue me with your hand, o jehovah, from men of this world,* whose share is in this life,+ those whom you fill with the good things you provide+ and who leave an inheritance to their many sons.

15 but as for me, in righteousness i will see your face; i am satisfied to awaken in your presence.

*+as a jw i was always under the impression that prior to jesus death, all those who died had an earthly hope of resurrection.

sloppyjoe2

I have found some ambiguous reference that it was david saying he would awaken in Jehovah's favor but another scripture I always wondered about was Psalms 90:10

The span of our life is 70 years,

Or 80+ if one is especially strong.*

But they are filled with trouble and sorrow;

They quickly pass by, and away we fly.+

Away we fly..fly where? Two references in psalms that sure seem to indicate heaven to me.

9

Did they believe in Heaven?

by sloppyjoe2 in

psalms 17:14 rescue me with your hand, o jehovah, from men of this world,* whose share is in this life,+ those whom you fill with the good things you provide+ and who leave an inheritance to their many sons.

15 but as for me, in righteousness i will see your face; i am satisfied to awaken in your presence.

*+as a jw i was always under the impression that prior to jesus death, all those who died had an earthly hope of resurrection.

sloppyjoe2

DATA-DOG so how would they believe they would awaken in the presence of God? OR what did that mean?

9

Did they believe in Heaven?

by sloppyjoe2 in

psalms 17:14 rescue me with your hand, o jehovah, from men of this world,* whose share is in this life,+ those whom you fill with the good things you provide+ and who leave an inheritance to their many sons.

15 but as for me, in righteousness i will see your face; i am satisfied to awaken in your presence.

*+as a jw i was always under the impression that prior to jesus death, all those who died had an earthly hope of resurrection.

sloppyjoe2

prologos, if it was a personal belief, wouldn't that bring into question the bible being inspired? If a writer puts in his personal opinions, where else did they put in their opinions? For the record I do not believe it is inspired, merely the what ifs posed to a JW.

9

Did they believe in Heaven?

by sloppyjoe2 in

psalms 17:14 rescue me with your hand, o jehovah, from men of this world,* whose share is in this life,+ those whom you fill with the good things you provide+ and who leave an inheritance to their many sons.

15 but as for me, in righteousness i will see your face; i am satisfied to awaken in your presence.

*+as a jw i was always under the impression that prior to jesus death, all those who died had an earthly hope of resurrection.

sloppyjoe2

Psalms 17:14 Rescue me with your hand, O Jehovah, From men of this world,* whose share is in this life,+ Those whom you fill with the good things you provide+ And who leave an inheritance to their many sons.

15 But as for me, in righteousness I will see your face; I am satisfied to awaken in your presence.*+

As a JW I was always under the impression that prior to Jesus death, all those who died had an earthly hope of resurrection. While sitting at the meeting in boredom yesterday this scripture was read to promote not pursuing riches in this system. When I read verse 15 it gives me the impression that the belief was that once you die you would awaken in the presence of God, which I take as in heaven. Any thoughts on this or did I miss something?

11

the GB stole my idea

by user100 in

so in the early 90's when i was about to get baptized the elder asked me a million questions and one of them was: .

who is the faithful and discreet slave?.

my answer:.

sloppyjoe2

I had this argument with my mom 15 years ago. She swore up and down that all of the anointed would do research and send in articles. I told her it was only the GB, and I got the same apostate song and dance line. Today she has no recollection of ever having this conversation with me.

50

Lett briefly addresses the child abuse issues in new JW.org video

by Richard_I in

jw
friends

i just read about this on the ex-jw subreddit.

link to the video (10m06s).. skip to 7:35 where he says: "another way we can contribute to the oneness - rejecting false stories that are designed to separate us from jehovah's organization.

as an example, think about the apostate-driven lies and 'dishonesties' that jehovah's organization is permissive toward pedophiles.

sloppyjoe2

This video is why I said on a thread a few months ago that the organization is not going to get hurt or fall a part. Most JWs are clueless to the lawsuits. Lett saying this will not make them go search for what he is talking about. All it will do is when they do actually hear about it, remember what Lett said and dismiss it as apostate lies. They know what they're doing and it will work.

44

It's Over Johnny....The Demise of Jehovah's Witnesses

by ctrwtf in

jw
friends

i think i've mentioned before that from time to time my commute on the bqe takes me past the old factory buildings and the soon to be former headquarters building.

i was struck the other day with how shabby they've become.

even 25 columbia heights, still currently occupied, its facade is filthy.

sloppyjoe2

Sometimes I think ex JWs are the same as current JWs. Current ones take whatever evidence they can to prove the system is crashing. Exjws take whatever evidence they can to talk about how the org is on it's demise. It's not going anywhere!

16

crazy analogy question regarding Jesus' divinity [or lack of]

by TTWSYF in

i heard a preist pose this question and i'll admit, it made me think.. if your neighbor had a dog and a monkey and his dog bite you.

would you accept an apology from the neighbors monkey?.

just asking.

sloppyjoe2

A more fitting (and even more incomprehensible) analogy is: A man has a dog that craps on his lawn so he kills his son.

Don't forget to add, he kills his son to offer a sacrifice to himself.