so let us begin, eh?
i haven't read the whole book, so this thread will be a "work in progress":.
http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/thomas_paine/age_of_reason/index.shtml.
Craig,
There is a certain amount of truth, that humans need to be "faithful" to their own beliefs. However, unconditional love has proven to be a "better" belief system than hatred, for example. My point is simply that, despite the fact that the JW's believe that they are right and they therefore need to validate that thought to themselves, it is still a fact that they are missing out on a deeper happiness and it would still be "better" for them to get out, despite their denial of this.
Brad
i've come up with a few (made up and real):.
- rebecca of bethel farms.
- cries and judiciary meetings.
"I used to be a Jehovah's Witness, but I'm OK now."
i just wanted to share something with you that i believe is very important.
2 tim 3:16 states: all scripture is inspired of god and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness, that the man of god may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work.
now we are told that in every thing we do, every day of our lives we can turn to gods word to help us, to equip us, to feed us for every good work.
I am also a big supporter of the missionary position, Michelle, however I am all for many of the other positions as well.
Just had to add a little levity to an otherwise stale topic. No offense intended.
Brad
i just wanted to share something with you that i believe is very important.
2 tim 3:16 states: all scripture is inspired of god and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness, that the man of god may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work.
now we are told that in every thing we do, every day of our lives we can turn to gods word to help us, to equip us, to feed us for every good work.
Michelle,
Thanks for your thoughts on "who is the faithful and discrete slave." I'm not sure if you wanted people to give their opinions or not, but here goes, anyway.
To be honest, my opinion may be a little tarnished due to the fact that the formative years of my life were spent believing only ONE theory on that question.... only to determine, (for myself) that that theory was far less than an accurate or fair interpretation.
Therefore, I tend to feel that any single interpretation of the FDS is likely false. I think we tend to make it what we want it to be. If your theory makes you feel comfortable, without it interfering with other peoples' freedom, then you go girl!!!!!
I personally feel that the Bible is nothing more than a bunch of writings from fairly wise men, (not directly inspired by God but perhaps more siritually enlightened than the "average" human) and that those thoughts CAN help us in finding happiness and peace in life. The problem is that the EXACT opposite can happen as well. Those same writings have been interpreted to incite people to wars and hatred....... the words didn't change, necessarily..... just the people who were interpreting them.
Brad
come to the wedding.
' for i say to you that god is able to raise up children to abraham from these stones.
' for i say to you that god is able to raise up children to abraham from these stones.
I just read PART of the first post on this topic and the last few, but I think it might be of help to all who are posting on this topic to read Ballistic's recent post entitled, "My ponderings on religion, etc."
Honest.... everyone who is giving their opinions on this topic... check it out. It MIGHT help put things into perspective...... I think Jesus, Paul, Peter, etc. all had open minds like Ballistic, etc. ...... I just think it may have been the ever evolving, ever searching human tendency to find deeper answers to their simplistic yet profound thoughts that has caused such dissention in the "religious world".
Just my two cents and we all know what that's worth....... teehee.
Brad
of course, we of all people know just how wrong you can be.
so what about the rest of life outside of religion?
politics maybe, or just general life situations?
Ballistic,
Interesting point!! I had a cousin, who asked me, (when I said that I was leaving the JW religion because there were just things that I couldn't accept anymore), "isn't it nice to not KNOW EVERYTHING?!!" It was shocking,when I sat back and honestly analyzed my past, how close-minded I was. I am appreciative of the fact that "I KNOW" less and less every day, in an absolute sort of way.
The interesting thing is that, as I have become less and less absolute, the more valuable and important things have become clearer and clearer for me: the simple joys found in my kids' laughter, their peaceful and worry-free times, and just an inner happiness that I think I would have been incapable of finding had I stayed in ANY high-control religion.
Thanks for reminding me!!!!
Brad
i had one of my infrequent phone conversations with my jw-elder-father yesterday.
he's been "in da troof" all his adult life, over 5 decades now.
it's all he knows.. so naturally, on those rare occasions when we talk, he launches into a "come back into the truth" soliloquy.
Their fixation on numbers being important is only due to THEIR own interpretations of which parts of the Bible are important.
It reminds me of a time, in grade 8, when I had about a three hour conversation argument with another classmate about creation evolution, wherein I was absolutely certain that I had done a great thing for Jehoober, by standing up for him. Reality was that I was a shallow-minded, uneducated jerk who never listened to a damn thing that my friend said.
Similar to their "number" fixation, we were all convinced that if people disagreed with us it PROVED that we were Jehoober's true people, when in fact reality was that we were just small-thinking people. I feel so much smarter, now that I don't "KNOW" everything.
Brad
we, as witnesses were taught to believe that our giving the "truth" to people was the most important gift we could give!
forget about giving money to charities or helping any other group out----we needed to give them the "real life".
do you find yourself giving back to the community or to others now that you're out?
Having four kids, my time is pretty occupied as it is, but I do coach my kids' soccer teams and help out with cross-country running and track and field. I know it sucked for me when I was younger, that we weren't allowed to participate in these things.
Does anybody know if the JW's have gotten any better in this area or do they still suggest order that it's better not to "associate" with worldly people?
Brad
i did not know where most of my schoolmates lived, but i knew they were out there... somewhere.
i dreaded the thought of a door opening to a face i knew from school.
it was like walking through a minefield for me... every door was like another step... would my next step be my last???
ABSOLUTELY!!!
I wasn't the most self-confident kid to begin with, so it was traumatizing knowing that the next door I knocked on could be a schoolmate's.
Thanks for the reminder of how much nicer it is to be out, Elsewhere.....
Brad
sadly i feel like my son is moving toward another paranoid cult like group.
after extracting him, his mom and myself from the jw's 12 years ago my son is now exposed to and possibly buying into another bazzare belief system.
after our divorce, his mother remarried to a guy who believes all sorts of conspiracy theories such as : .
RR,
How do you know that for sure RR?
Brad
