Thanks for posting that article logansrun. I was a Christian Universalist for a while after I stopped believing in the doctrines of the WTS. I have since moved on, but during that time it played a significant role in my healing. Although they seem to be almost non-existant under the much more outspoken born-again/fundamentalist majority, they are growing in number. More scholars are starting to defend the universalist viewpoint as well. It is my hope that mainstream Christianity in general will gravitate towards universalism more as time goes on, and thus become more loving and tolerant.
Enishi
JoinedPosts by Enishi
-
7
William Barclay...scholar
by logansrun ini was at the book store today and spent about two hours reading scholar william barclay's "introduction to the bible" as well as some of his commentaries on nt books.
now, let me lay aside the fact that i am an agnostic and in no way a christian...but this fellow is impressive.
i don't think i've ever read a modern christian writer whose thinking was as clear and thoughtful as his.
-
-
-
-
-
Enishi
Absolute truth cannot be put into words, only experienced. An understanding or concept of truth that can be described is finite and thus subject to change. What is the heresy of today may be the truth of tomorrow.
-
26
dinosaurs(sp?)
by datsdethspicable inwhat is the belief of jdubs about dinosaurs now?
my daughter came home the other night from her grandma(jw) saying that she wouldn't let her watch a show about dinosaurs on discovery channel because what they were showing is not true.
dinosaurs were not meat eaters.
-
-
Enishi
I used to know a dub who believed dinosaurs were a farce as well. I've heard there's been quite a few who thought this way.
-
28
The evolution of YHWH
by Faraon ini found this interesting article about the evolution of yaweh in the site www.pantheon.org .
http://www.pantheon.org/articles/y/yahweh.html.
the more i read, the more i am convinced that i must learn more and not fall trapped again by religious organizations..
-
-
Enishi
Hi...and good mornin girl,
Uh, I'm a guy. So is the character in my avatar.
agree that even with these findings........we may still never know how it all started.
One thing I do hope however that I hope is not true, .....and that is finding out Evolution is how we humans came to be, and that there is no spiritual side to us other than in our mind. That would suck in my book.
Exactly my thought as well. Although the fact of evolution is evident and cannot be refuted, I don't agree with the scientists theories on it. There's just to many holes. In fact, I don't trust the creationists or the evolutionists. Both seem incredibly dogmatic to me, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.
I know how you feel about there being no spiritual side to our minds, the idea that our entire existence was just some cosmic accident, and that all of our emotions and experiences are accidental survival methods created to preserve our genes (which will be destroyed anyway when the sun goes nova), disgusts me to the very core of my being.
The article someone posted awhile back on torture methods used by the Catholic church got me thinking. There have been countless people who were born into this world and were horribly wronged without justice ever being done. In medieval europe, there were those whos lives ended in tradedy, being tortured to death by insane Christians. There were many children who meet their end this way. The thought that they are rotting in their graves, never having had a chance to experience happiness or retribution, with their murderers never having been brought to justice and getting the same fate as them, is so completely unjust that it drives me crazy with anger.
I don't care if its true that we are nothing more than highly evolved pond scum and that there's no afterlife, I refuse to ever stop searching, for me that would be the same as giving up on life itself.
My personal intuition on our origins, is that biological evolution does not explain the evolution of consciousness. The natural forces which shaped us and spiritual forces are in fact inseparable.
Actually, there are many scientists who are considering other explanations for our origins and are researching consciousness. The thing is, their research is very unpopular among the academic community and materialists try to marginalize it or label it all as baloney.
-
13
My parents at the International Convention
by Odrade inso my parents go to the international convention in an exotic foreign country.
they take 300 digital pictures in the exotic foreign country.
when they get home, they send me three pictures.
-
-
Enishi
During a convention, the really loyal dubs would always go on about how "fun" it was. How in the hell can anyone find a convention fun?
-
28
The evolution of YHWH
by Faraon ini found this interesting article about the evolution of yaweh in the site www.pantheon.org .
http://www.pantheon.org/articles/y/yahweh.html.
the more i read, the more i am convinced that i must learn more and not fall trapped again by religious organizations..
-
-
Enishi
Learning just how flawed the Bible is left me feeling heartbroken for quite some time. I knew the truth for years, but didn't want to admit it. I would be left feeling disgusted whenever I read the old testament, but always tried to explain it away (God didn't have a choice, society was different back then and God had to deal with people differently, things like that). For a while I'd hoped that at least Jesus was the real thing, but it seems even that was just a mirage as well. Even if there was an Essene teacher whom the story of Jesus was partly based on, searching for spiritual revelation through 2000 year old writings simply isnt going to work.
I still feel that there's some deep truths in the Bible and in the teachings of Jesus, but you really need to read inbetween the lines to notice them at times. However, although the learning that the Bible isn't God's word did destroy my sense of assurance, it has also freed me to continue my search. I no longer expect to find any ancient source of information that will reveal the truth to me. The only way to find is to look within, to learn through direct experience.
-
20
Witnesses Catch the "Soviet Disease"
by metatron inmany of you who come to this site, no doubt, are deeply concerned about the future of the organization.
in addition,.
not a few who post here would like to see the watchtower society fade away into history.
-
-
Enishi
Excellent post Metatron.
Back when I was still a loyal dub, I noticed that people seemed to be thinking less and less for themselves. Spiritual discussions usually revolved around yapping about how wonderful a talk/new piece of literature was, and anyone who had an original thought was quickly put down. When I used to post on an old dub forum, any time a matter of consciense was raised people would immediately run to their WT CDs and cut and paste an aswer, without any sort of critical thinking.
I was hoping that the witnesses might eventually wake up to the truth and take charge of their spirituality, but it sees that simply won't happen. When the organization goes down, it will leave millions of people totally helpless, like lost children. I'm actually quite worried about there being mass suicides among the witnesses if this comes to pass...
-
34
Was Your Growth Stunted Because You Were A Jehovah's Witness?
by minimus inif you were not ever a jw, how would your life have been different-----socially, materially, educationally, sexually, emotionally, mentally....etc.??
?
-
-
Enishi
I would say yes, my social skills and progress in college has been stunted due to the WTS. However, I'm gradually rectifying the problem.
-
28
How much of the bible do JW's really use?
by blindfool ini've noticed over the last several weeks how often the same scriptures are used in meetings at the kingdom hall.. anytime galatians is mentioned you can just about be sure you are going to look up chapter 5 ver.
19.. 2 timothy is going to be 3: 16. i can't remember considering any addional text to get the context of the verse, just reading the same verses over and over.
i'm sure most of you can name lots more scriptures used by jw's.. i think i'm going to start taking notes at meetings and listing which verses are used, then i can look from week to week and see how often the same old verses are considered.
-
-
Enishi
When I actually took the time to sit down and read the NT in depth, it didn't take long to notice the major conflicts with the Watchtower's guilt mongering doctrines.
-
75
How many of you have a job?
by Joker10 inthis is a serious question.
how many of you have jobs?
from the number of posts and the times people complain on here, it looks that many of you don't.
-
-
Enishi
I occasionally post here when I'm on break at work or school. Usually though I have a hard time keeping up with this board.