Posts by Mysterious

23

Religion after the WBTS

by Mysterious in

jw
friends

.

just curious who went on to associated themselves with another religion after leaving the watchtower and whether you still follow the bible or not.

i haven't really decided what i believe but i'll consider almost anything not witness related.

Mysterious

Belief, is a state of mind in which our trust, or confidence, is placed in something or someone. And religion, well, religion seems to be synonymous with beliefs.

One might also call that "faith". Faith by it's very nature is something that you believe in and yet cannot be proved. I wouldn't say that all beliefs are shallow. I believe it's wrong to hurt others, I certainly wouldn't consider that a shallow belief. It's deep enough you could base your life around it's guiding principle. The JW's have taught me the shallowness of legality and conformity, not of faith and belief. I don't profess to be after some magical organized religious bullet, I'm after what feels right to me. Ultimately I'm the only person that can decide that. And when I've found something that is right for me that will be the Truth whether anyone else can prove it or not, whether anyone else believes it or not, and whether there is some organized group that supports my conclusions or not.

15

Out of the mouths of babes

by stillajwexelder in

jw
friends

i have just imd my 11 year old daughter - -because of family commitments they are not going to meeting tonight.

i asked "are you pleased you do not have to go to meeting tonight?

" she replied --- "dad" all indignantly --- i then replied "what" and she said " dad , nobody likes going to meetings it is just something we have to do" so it appears waht has been said on this forum is truth.

Mysterious

My mom just told me on my IM that if I had wanted to stay home from meetings that they would have not forced me. I went only to please them.

I always love how nice that attitude sounds in pratice, but let's face it dub parents are great at instilling guilt over such a decision. You can put pressure on someone without forcing them directly, works better in fact I guess that's why they call it mind control.

8

Symbolic Burning of WBTS items

by Mysterious in

jw
friends

anyone else feel a bit of pyro in them and want to burn wbts stuff when they got out?

i have a small stash of a few things somewhere that i want to torch, no books or anything but i have some assembly badge cards, several old identity cards (the kind kids always had to carry just in case!

), and the full version card mom got last year in anticipation of me wanting one when i get baptised next summer.

Mysterious

Nathan, couldn't there be legal implications if I was caught selling the card though? In theory only dubs are supposed to be able to get them because they identify them as such, would leave them open to impersonations and such I would think. I'm not really in a position to sell stuff anyway though, certainly wouldn't sell the stuff with my name on it.

I imagine my good dub mother will re-absorb my literature. I'm keeping my CD to pull quotes from though.

6

How Many 1st Century Christians?

by 24k in

just wondering if anyone has done any research regarding the estimated number of christians around during the 1st and 2nd centuries.

it seems that there would have been well over 144,000. if so, there certainly would not have been any remaining spots to fill during the 20th century.

of course, the bible doesn't seem to set a number limit on those going to heaven.

Mysterious

Jan 15, 1952 Watchtower Questions from Readers

According to the article "Hated for His Name" in the September 1, 1951, Watchtower, hundreds of thousands of Christians died in the "ten persecutions" starting in Nero?s time, 144,000 dying in Egypt alone during one of the persecutions. How can this be harmonized with the Scriptural limitation of 144,000 placed on the number being in Christ?s body, and which position was the only one open to Christians during those centuries??J.A., Dominican Republic.
The article did not class with any finality the individuals that died during these persecutions, but spoke of the results in a general way. Note that a key qualification was made in the case referred to in the question: "In the province of Egypt alone, 144,000 such professed Christians died by violence in the course of this persecution, in addition to another 700,000 who died as a result of fatigues encountered in banishment or under enforced public works." The victims are identified as "professed Christians", not Christians in fact. Many of those persons might have been caught in the wave of persecution, but may never have actually preached the truth or followed in Jesus? footsteps, being only professed Christians. They knew the world they lived in was rotten and they were listening to the message of the Christians and willing to die for it even though not in line for the high calling in Christ Jesus. Many professed Christians today might be willing to die for their faith, but still not be Jesus? footstep followers and meeting the Scriptural requirements for such.

26

Japan Has Lost 639 Congregations

by metatron in

jw
friends

1999 yearbook 3,802 congregations in japan.

newly reported figure 3,163 congregations.

france had 1685 congregations (1998 yearbook).

Mysterious

Perhaps they are trying to artificially inflate the 'need' to go preaching and making new recruits..

8

Symbolic Burning of WBTS items

by Mysterious in

jw
friends

anyone else feel a bit of pyro in them and want to burn wbts stuff when they got out?

i have a small stash of a few things somewhere that i want to torch, no books or anything but i have some assembly badge cards, several old identity cards (the kind kids always had to carry just in case!

), and the full version card mom got last year in anticipation of me wanting one when i get baptised next summer.

Mysterious

Anyone else feel a bit of pyro in them and want to burn WBTS stuff when they got out?

I have a small stash of a few things somewhere that I want to torch, no books or anything but I have some assembly badge cards, several old identity cards (the kind kids always had to carry just in case!), and the full version card mom got last year in anticipation of me wanting one when I get baptised next summer. Yeah right mom dont plan on it, I'm getting out.

I know of a few people that had book burnings and such. They say fire is purifying, I just say there's a bit of pyro in us all.

23

Religion after the WBTS

by Mysterious in

jw
friends

.

just curious who went on to associated themselves with another religion after leaving the watchtower and whether you still follow the bible or not.

i haven't really decided what i believe but i'll consider almost anything not witness related.

Mysterious

they did such a good job of explaining why every other religion is false, I now have no faith in any organized religion

Yeah that happened to me too. A friend of mine really hit the nail on the head though. He told me my mistake was I was comparing all the religions I looked into to Christianity and the bible. Since then I've tried to keep an open mind about things. But I honestly dont think that religion is for everyone. If people concentrated less on what they had to do and more on following their heart and being a good person the world would certainly be a better place. Doing something because you have to just makes you bitter!

15

Out of the mouths of babes

by stillajwexelder in

jw
friends

i have just imd my 11 year old daughter - -because of family commitments they are not going to meeting tonight.

i asked "are you pleased you do not have to go to meeting tonight?

" she replied --- "dad" all indignantly --- i then replied "what" and she said " dad , nobody likes going to meetings it is just something we have to do" so it appears waht has been said on this forum is truth.

Mysterious

I always day dreamed and then felt bad for not listening..and then tried to listen. And then started to day dream during the prayer and then felt guilty about it. Family study was the biggie for me. All that talk about family studies should be something to look forward to. I would try and put it off and hate it as time taken out of my day. I'd rather be doing anything else, even chores! I always figured everyone else wanted to to go the meetings and I was the odd one out who didn't. And then I figured I only had doubts because I didn't try hard enough and if I tried really hard I could "make the truth my own". Who remembers that line.

I've been sick for a week so no meetings, I'm getting shafted into going tonight though. It gets better, next week I have a talk! LAST ONE. I will NEVER give a talk again in my entire life, this I promise! I'm going to get myself removed from the school to "better concentrate on my education". I'll tell him I'll talk to him again after I grad but I plan to be out by then!

13

Question about Satan being thrown down to earth

by gold_morning in

i read something and thought some of you might know.

remember revelation 12:7. there was war in heaven and micheal and his angels battled the dragon and his angels.

then satan was thrown down to earth and was like a roaring lion.. didn't the jw's say that this happened in 1914?

Mysterious

Jesus alluded to the future ouster of Satan from heaven as a certainty, saying: "I began to behold Satan already fallen like lightning from heaven."?Lu 10:1, 17, 18.

Insight book under lightning. Apparently according to them it wasn't that he saw it happen it was one of those prophetic devices where you talk as if something has already occured to underline how sure it is to happen.

Doesn't look like they address it any more clearly than that in any of the publications.

23

Religion after the WBTS

by Mysterious in

jw
friends

.

just curious who went on to associated themselves with another religion after leaving the watchtower and whether you still follow the bible or not.

i haven't really decided what i believe but i'll consider almost anything not witness related.

Mysterious

I have several very religious friends at school, one is Catholic and the other is Evangelical. I get into some good debates with the Evangelical, they don't turn nasty but the more I talk to her the more convinced I am that Christianity is not for me. If it makes her happy fine, so long as she doesn't try to force me into it. I'm not sure if I believe in the Bible or not anymore, I believe in God that's about it. Or be even more politically correct and say I believe in a Higher Power.

I think once burned twice shy holds a lot of power in this situation. Who really wants to go from one extreme to another? But I did start to find less judgemental belief systems that I'm looking into, Unitarian Universalist looks like a great place to explore sometime.