A few more replies to those that have posted since my last post.
Posted By THE GLADIATOR
it is inevitable that some members are unable to feel love for people who are not part of their organization.Wow. That is absurd. I have never met a witness who is unable to feel love for non JWs because of their faith.
Posted by Ucantnome
I think my life would have been different if I had pursued what I am good at.
Why didn't you? You must take full responsibility for that decision. You cannot blame your parents, friends or your cousin for the decision that you ultimately made. I think it is naive to say that an organization was responsible for the way your life turned out.
Posted by Phizzy
The Misogynistic, Homophobic, pro-Slavery "morality" of the Bible is not good enough for the 21st Century.
Yes, that may be true if you do not have faith in the bible. But for those that profess their trust in God and the bible, they must take it all as it is. You can't call yourself a Christian and then at the same time condone the practice of homosexuality. The two are not compatible.
Posted By Vidqun
A good example is the nation of Israel. What happened to them when they made alliances with the nations? The prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah had a lot to say about it.
JWs did not make an alliance with the UN. They registered with a certain department to obtain information. Yes, in hindsight, it was a mistake. But it is the exception to the rule. JWs rank and file and the Org continue to remain neutral.
Posted by THE GLADIATOR
We make decisions on information that we receive from what we believe to be a reliable source. In this case an organization that claims to be appointed by God. If it turns out that the 'reliable source' is just a bunch of liars, any scorn should be directed at them and not their victims. That is how the law works in any civilized country.
What made you believe it was a reliable source? The 'lies' have been there before you joined but you didn't realize at the time. Maybe you were just easily deceived. Isn't it really your own fault? And which country has an actual law that allows you to scorn anyone who deceived you? Caveat emptor!
Posted by EdenOne
Very few ex-JWs argue that is wrongful that the congregation is entitled to terminate fellowship with those who refuse to comply with the rules, moral or doctrinal. However, shunning is another matter.
Do you think it would be better to expel them from the congregation but still allow them to socialize with the members of the congregation? How would that work? What effect would the expulsion have if they are still allowed to keep in contact with everyone? It would be pointless.
If someone violated the rules of this forum, what do you think Simon would do? As has happened in the past, he would disable their account to stop them from contaminating the board.
Posted by EndofMysteris
I believe in God or a God because when I see all life, plants, the cycles on the Earth, etc, I see intelligent design.
If matter is eternal, can't be created or destroyed but changed in one form or another, how is that easier to believe then God having always been (neither created or destroyed).
Your two statements above are a contradiction. If the earth and everything in it is evidence of intelligent design, then wouldn't you expect that an intelligent creator would be even more evidence that it must have been created by an intelligent designer of its own?
The bible says after Jesus leaves it would be the spirit that would guide people, not a physical temple, from what I've read it seems the bible teaches truth can't be found with people but they can encourage when you meet and associate with like minded.
The bible says a lot and it is left up to people to interpret its meaning. Since everyone has their own opinion, they cant all be right. Not all these 'good people' who have love among themselves are right. They cant all have the truth.
Posted By goingthruthemotions
Spoke like a true JWombie....the B.I.T.E model is in full effect. hope one day you see the light.
If you look into the so called BITE model, during different periods of history it can be applied to most religions and still for many religions today. Especially, one very large one.
And never say never. Why is your mind so closed? Seems like your are just like any other regular JW. Don't let your emotions control you.
Posted by OnTheWayOut
As far as your opinion that everyone would get to choose from two (or three) possible belief systems, who are you to decide. People can do/believe all kinds of things.
That is just my opinion. I get to decide because it is my opinion but it doesn't mean I am correct. I never said I was right, that is why I said it was my opinion. You say "people can believe all kinds of things", then why do JWs get a verbal bashing for what they beleive in. If it is OK for 99.9% of the population to beleive in their particular lies, why cant the other 1% continue to beleive in their lie?
Posted by Vidqun
Judge for yourself whether these are applied correctly.
Who am I to decide if these are applied correctly? The bible is open to interpretation. You cannot be right on the meaning of these scriptures any more than a member of the GB is right.
Because most cases are handled internally, they are never sorted out and the victims do not get the necessary counselling or treatment - thus no closure.
I agree that there have been many mistakes made in the handling of the cases involving pedophilia. I don't understand why the parents would not take this matter to the police themselves. This responsibility rests with the parents and they should be going directly to the police. Anyone that tries to stop them should be put in their place.
Posted by jhine
The Great Commision of taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth is taken very seriously by all Christian groups . There are MANY interdenomiational faith groups in every far flung place on the globe preaching the Gospel message . I cannot give figures at the moment but the idea that Christendom does not do worldwide preaching work is totally a JW lie .
Sorry, but I will need some evidence to believe this. Which religion and how many countries are they in? How many languages do they preach in? How many bibles have they translated? Worldwide means across the entire earth not just a select group of countries.
Your statement that if the Watchtower has it wrong then there is no God is only Watchtower propagander designed to stop people from joining any other faith group , an example of their control policy . It does seem to work judging by the amount who leave and become atheists , a sort of "if we can't have you no one will " policy
I don't remember the 'Watchtower' ever writing this anywhere or relaying it from the platform. The reason I mentioned this in my previous post is because every other main stream religion in this world is not teaching their followers to live in harmony with the bible. Their beliefs are not in harmony with what the bible teaches. If the JWs can be proved wrong (which they have), the others don't stand a chance either. If you believe that there are other religions that are right, then you are just as deluded as the JWs who you attack on this website.