Posts by Fisherman

55

Trinity Statements in the Dead Sea Scrolls

by Sea Breeze in

dr. ken johnson has identified several statements in the dead sea scrolls that predict that god would visit the earth as a man... as the messiah.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljrfvytjhve&ab_channel=kenjohnson%28biblefacts%29 .

Mental health treatment

by kidchameleon43 in

i'm actually not a jw, but i've always been curious about the religion since it always had an esoteric vibe to it.

i was raised catholic, but more than half my life i've struggled with my faith, and therefore, i've defaulted to the agnostic position.. i'm sorry, let me get to my question.

i've struggled with mental illness for most of my life.

Fisherman

I just thought JWs were against mental health treatment and psychiatric care. I thought they fell into the category of Christian Science when it came to mental health.

In the past, JW discouraged going to a shrink. And for good reasons. If you ever have a legal problem, they ask you about your mental history and use it against you and treat you like a metal case in Court. Sadly. WT was also against psychiatric advice that violated the Bible. Maybe they could do better to help a person with the literature, elders, meeting and spiritual program? Spirituality is about the mind.

Nowadays, JW doesn’t discourage seeing a shrink like before but you will still have to deal with a mental health history if you ever see a shrink or take meds for mental illness, when dealing with a legal issue.

However, sometimes a person needs meds or professional help the elders aren’t qualified to provide and it is not wrong or a sin for person to get help and the human thing to do is to have compassion for a person that suffers. I hate to call it mental illness but depression or another disorder. And medication and compassionate counsel from a doctor can make a suffering person feel better.

32

Do you play the LOTTERY?

by Fisherman in

jw view gambling as a sin and sadly people get addicted to gambling causing them financial and health problems.

but is playing a couple of bucks a week on some lottery tickets actually gambling?

what do you have to lose?

Fisherman

It has to do with greed,

Nah, it looks bad. Imagine Bethelites and Elders and millions of JW waiting on line to play the lottery and talking about what they would do with the $.

32

Do you play the LOTTERY?

by Fisherman in

jw view gambling as a sin and sadly people get addicted to gambling causing them financial and health problems.

but is playing a couple of bucks a week on some lottery tickets actually gambling?

what do you have to lose?

Fisherman

I’ve heard that in other countries not USA, they give you all your money on the spot and no tax. But in the US, they play games when it is time pay. First they tax and deduct as much as they can. If you want all your money you have to settle for what they call a “lump sum” settlement.

I don’t trust the way the pick the numbers either. You don’t even know for sure if you have zero chances to win when you play. I’m sure the games are legit but how would you know if you are not wasting your time and money. Hopefully not —that is for those who play.

32

Do you play the LOTTERY?

by Fisherman in

jw view gambling as a sin and sadly people get addicted to gambling causing them financial and health problems.

but is playing a couple of bucks a week on some lottery tickets actually gambling?

what do you have to lose?

Fisherman

JW view gambling as a sin and sadly people get addicted to gambling causing them financial and health problems. But is playing a couple of bucks a week on some lottery tickets actually gambling? What do you have to lose? It’s only a couple of hundred dollars a year for a chance to make a lot of money which can solve many financial problems. But only if it is not a sinful thing to do. But like drinking in moderation, is buying a couple of lottery tickets once in a while or even weekly, wrong, a sin?

JW are not supposed to gamble. A couple of times I’ve been given lottery tickets which I didn’t solicit and felt very surprised about it and I have won every time! Amazing but only very little money won.

Some decades ago I was invited to a relative’s wedding and another guest goes into a convenience store with his nonJW friend on the way to wedding and nonJW friend bought him some tickets and just gave it to him and he won big money.

Many years ago before I was born, in a small village in Europe, the son of my great grandparent was trying to make money selling lottery tickets but nobody wanted them. He went home at the end of the day disappointed and sadly told his mother. And feeling sorry for her son my great grandma bought all his tickets with the very little money she had in those days and she was going to throw them out but she won the lottery, a great sum of money. However, a lot people go over board gambling or buying tickets and all they do is lose their money. Some people buy tickets and anxiously pray to win. Other people are willing to lose 300 dollars or so a YEAR without getting excited and are willing to lose for a chance to win a lot of money.

125

Mandated Shunning is a Crime

by Lee Marsh in

mandated shunning is on the rise around the world with devastating effects on millions of people.

shunning that is mandated by organized groups to its members is a form of both physical and psychological violence against those people being shunned and cut off from their family and life-long relationships.

mandated shunning means that the shunning is ordered from the top down.

Fisherman

Shunning is a Crime

People are put in jail all the time and horrible things happen to them throughout the world. It separates families, causes stress and both physiological and physical harm to the prisoner and sometimes even death. Sometimes they also execute prisoners. All because they broke some laws.

81

Acts 15:29 - "keep abstaining from blood"

by aqwsed12345 in

for a christian, only the moral commandments of the old testament are binding (as they cannot change), but the various liturgical, social, and other so-called casuistic laws no longer apply to them.

this includes dietary habits, such as the prohibition of pork or fat, as well as the prohibition of blood.. take a look at the following verses: mt 15:11, mk 7:15-19, acts 11:7-9, 1 tim 4:3-5.. the jehovah's witnesses say that, yes, but in the acts of the apostles (15) the consumption of blood, idol meat, and strangled animals is also prohibited, meaning the new testament still forbids it.

for catholics, the council of florence settled this issue, stating that this apostolic regulation was only a temporary measure to facilitate agreement between jews and gentiles in the early church.

Fisherman

TD,

Thank you for your informative post. I respectfully do not intend to argue dishonestly to win an argument or to be an apologist here.

What is blood?

The gb defines (fractionated) blood at this time as its major components. But whole blood is blood, major, minor and solutes—seems to me.

Transfused blood contains nutrients: dissolved vitamins, minerals, fats, proteins from the donor which can nourish the recipient’s body. And while the intended purpose of a bt might not be to provide food, it might actually be doing that with the dissolved nutrients immediately and later on gradually as the body absorbs the blood too, —in addition to the intended purpose of the transfusion which was not to feed the recipient.

—My heart goes out to the lone grave in PA.—

It could be argued that the dissolved nutrients in blood are not blood and therefore the recipient’s organism is technically not eating the transfused blood itself but the nutrients previously dissolved in it. However, also technically, even if some part of the actual donor blood nourishes the body, the recipient may be eating blood in violation of Acts. Also, since blood always contains nutrients they could also be considered part of the blood.

Regarding the gb wrong understanding and teachings throughout the years of how the body absorbs or uses donor blood, the resultant teaching -not to transfuse blood because it violate Acts appears correct even though gb may be wrong on why in their explanations throughout the years.

As you’ve painstakingly explained in other threads, transfused blood is not immediately consumed by the body but mixed with the recipient’s to perform a bodily function compared to actually eating blood orally. There is a difference. However, the body does eventually eat, consume, metabolize, absorb the transfused 1/2 gallon or so actual blood -seems to me. And that could violate Acts according to your understanding of keep abstaining from eating blood.

Acts does specifically forbid eating unbled animals. Also, drinking human blood by Jews was unthinkable (“this speech is shocking, who can listen to it”)

However, your point is reasonable doubt: It is not clear a person eats transfused blood. Therefore, how could a person stand firm in a life and death situation on something that is not solid when there is room for doubt.

Another point you have made is: Does God want a person to choose the likelihood of death when there are medical blood options to save a person’s life. Also, in a life and death survival situation could a person eat an unbled animal which is tantamount to actually eating blood? Or is God firm on abstaining from blood in survival situations? What is more sacred to God blood or the life it represents?

What seems to to mitigate the Acts decree as not being solid is that Christians were allowed to eat blood instead of making inquiries about it.

Everything considered, a JW believes the bt teaching comes from God.

60

Sign of the Last Days

by Fisherman in

in the sermon on the mount, jesus foretold that earthquakes “in one place after another” would be part of the sign of the last days clímaxing in the great tribulation.. what could jesus possibly have meant?

using a phone app nowadays, there are earthquakes detected in one place after another but is this what jesus meant and did they have so many earthquakes throughout the centuries affter his prophecy or are these modern day detected earthquakes unique to this epoch?

how can we be sure unequivocally that modern day earthquakes are part of the sign fulfilling bible prophecy?.

Fisherman

Today, I stopped counting at 35 earthquakes “one after another” same every day but prior to this time period we had no way of confirming.

60

Sign of the Last Days

by Fisherman in

in the sermon on the mount, jesus foretold that earthquakes “in one place after another” would be part of the sign of the last days clímaxing in the great tribulation.. what could jesus possibly have meant?

using a phone app nowadays, there are earthquakes detected in one place after another but is this what jesus meant and did they have so many earthquakes throughout the centuries affter his prophecy or are these modern day detected earthquakes unique to this epoch?

how can we be sure unequivocally that modern day earthquakes are part of the sign fulfilling bible prophecy?.

Fisherman

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus foretold that earthquakes “in one place after another” would be part of the sign of the last days clímaxing in the great tribulation.

What could Jesus possibly have meant? Using a phone app nowadays, there are earthquakes detected in one place after another but is this what Jesus meant and did they have so many earthquakes throughout the centuries affter his prophecy or are these modern day detected earthquakes unique to this epoch? How can we be sure unequivocally that modern day earthquakes are part of the sign fulfilling Bible prophecy?

55

If JW is not the truth, then what is the true religion?

by TxNVSue2023 in

even though i'm disfellowshiped ( & i belive wrongfully so).

i still belive this is the truth.

i have been d'f for about 8 months now and working on reinstatement.

Fisherman

Hello vid!

You can trust that the Bible is true because the Bible says it’s true.

There is a difference between being a witness and a juror. A juror though, can form an opinion, believe or be convinced one way or another. Or can personally conclude he is not sure.