Posts by FirstInLine

60

The Truth About Christianity - Give your views

by Sirona in

ex- jehovahs witnesses often reject christianity based on what they were taught by the wts.

when i left jws it was difficult for me to see what christianity was all about - the non-jw version.

every time i picked up a bible, i could see the watchtower interpretation jumping out at me.

FirstInLine

Sirona,

I appreciate your questions.

I am of two minds;

Do you believe that God will destroy non-christians in a battle of armageddon? If not, what is armageddon according to the bible?

No, this idea is unbiblical.

the 14th Chapter of Zechariah is one of the best areas of the Bible to find such information. Armageddon is a battle in which Jesus divinely intervenes to prevent the destruction of Israel from surrounding armies that would surely annihilate her. Your religion has nothing to do with what happens to you in this battle. A Christian attacking Israel would be just as much and enemy as a Muslim or Buddhist. Its a limited engagement in the middle East.

Do you believe that we continue after death?

Christian mind: Yes, soul sleep is not explicitly stated in the bible. The idea of being completely destroyed and being rebuilt is illogical when one considers the logistics of cloning. Many passages in the bible say humans live on in an altered state beyond the death of the body.

Scientific mind: Probably. I believe logically that there is a God and divine interevention created life as well as the diversity of life. It is only logical for me to assume he would have something to say, if not now then after we die.

If so, where do we "go"?

Christian mind: If you are atoned of sin then you go to heaven, beneath the "alter" and await the ressurection of the body.

Scientific mind: I cannot logically answer that. Dimensional coordinates are an intrinsic property to OUR universe.

and do our actions in life determine where we go?

Christian mind: I seriously doubt it but I can hope. We are certainly judged by our actions though.

Do we have salvation by faith or by works? Or both? Or none?

Christian mind: Faith alone by grace alone.

Is God separate from us? Or within us? Both?

Christian mind: God is greatly separate and separated from us.

Scientific mind: Unknown, could be any of the three, for now.

I'm personally very accepting of other religions / beleifs. I accept the right of anyone to decide that they are Christian. The only trouble I've ever had with Christians is that they don't always accept me and my beliefs. I am pagan, and they think that I have to be Christian (the exact reason I'm not sure. "to be saved" whatever that actually means). I'm not bashing anyone - honestly that is the only problem I've had with some Christians.

People that refuse to think rationally are really annoying to me, but it is also understandable. Its so hard to believe in the unbelievable to begin with that people dont want to complicate it by having an open mind.

34

Remember Dateline??

by Joyzabel in

i'm trying to get some comments that active jehovah's witnesses may have heard after dateline aired back on may 28, 2002.

do you remember any comments made about the dateline program either made from the platform at the kingdom hall, or in private conversations with other jw's?

how were the people who where on dateline viewed in your area, especially at the kingdom hall or by other jws?

FirstInLine

Dein Anglisch ist ausgezeischnet, GermanJW

26

Standing your ground feellllllls GREAT

by SheilaM in

as most of you know i am a student.

well, thunder and i decided some extra income would be great so i decided to go back to my old (90's) temp agency.

thunder swung by the office to pick up an application for me.

FirstInLine

SwordOfJah,

typical JW response to reasonable objections. "OH WE ARE SO PERSECUTED FOR WHAT WE BELIEVE." First of all in anything happens to them its not over what they believe but WHAT THEY WERE DOING!!!!!!! How is it you cant see the difference.

She had literature all over her desk.

Almost sounds like the LITERATURE COUNTER at the KINGDOM HALL doesnt it?

60

The Truth About Christianity - Give your views

by Sirona in

ex- jehovahs witnesses often reject christianity based on what they were taught by the wts.

when i left jws it was difficult for me to see what christianity was all about - the non-jw version.

every time i picked up a bible, i could see the watchtower interpretation jumping out at me.

FirstInLine

metatron,

I have to disagree somewhat with your assessment. Nearly every civilization on Earth has made great contributions to human progress. Ironically, some of the greatest contributors were also some of the greatest hinderers. For instance, the Arabs made major accomplisments in Mathematics and other sciences, they however destroyed the bulk of the humanity's information when muslim radicals burned the Great Library at Alexandria.

Judeo-Christian culture has also been a great hinderer to human progress. Following the collapse of the Roman empire great strides had been made. While the Muslims were buring the Alexandian Library the catholic church of burning people at the stake for scientific thinking. The period between 700 ad and 1400 ad was known as the DARK AGES for a reason. Never before in history did theocracy so dominate the landscape and virtually no progress was resumed until the Renaissance. The origins of such progress were not found in Judeo-Christianity but CLASSICAL GRECO-ROMAN philosophy and thinking.

60

The Truth About Christianity - Give your views

by Sirona in

ex- jehovahs witnesses often reject christianity based on what they were taught by the wts.

when i left jws it was difficult for me to see what christianity was all about - the non-jw version.

every time i picked up a bible, i could see the watchtower interpretation jumping out at me.

FirstInLine

Loves_Truth,

I feel the need to remind you that it is faith in Christ that saves not faith that the selected pages of catholic theologians are inspired by God. I defer to my previous post for more details concerning the true Doctrines of Christianity.

60

The Truth About Christianity - Give your views

by Sirona in

ex- jehovahs witnesses often reject christianity based on what they were taught by the wts.

when i left jws it was difficult for me to see what christianity was all about - the non-jw version.

every time i picked up a bible, i could see the watchtower interpretation jumping out at me.

FirstInLine

My view of the Christianity of the Bible is that the Bible holds the historic Orthodox Christianity. Such main Doctrines include :Deity of Christ, implicit Trinity, One Salvation (not two like the Watchtower), One Judgement for all in a Universal Ressurrection, Physical Ressurrection of the Christ, Christ dying for the sins of the whole world on a Cross, and eternal concious damnation for Satan and his Demons.

I am of two minds. I am very rational and scientific and reject "faith out of fear" type thinking. The Jesus of the Bible means alot to me and I cannot deny him. I believe that the Bible says the Universe and Earth are about 6000 yrs old when taken literally. I trust the lastest scientific models for the age of the universe, roughly 15-18 billion yrs at the least.

At the same time I find stories such as the Flood to be irrational when taken literally. I do not believe the entire globe was covered by water. The fossil record does not support such a claim and there are too many reasons to list that it is irrational to believe. I do believe that Hell is a literal place however it was created for the Devil and his angels. I trust in the mercy and righteouss Judgements of the Christ. The bible is unclear IMO on human damnation.

As far as I am concerned about Christianity, the Doctrines are contained in the bible and even though the bible may not be a perfect record of history, it should be the ultimate source of Doctrine for the Christian religion and I believe it has been fairly well preserved. The JWs, Mormons and other such cults are drastically heretical from Christianity in all there deviations. They have not posed a single objection that has served to actually open anyone's eyes. Their objections are convoluted, deceptive and usually posed with loaded questions that most elders IMO know the real answers to.

My completely scientific mind has come up with these beliefs through observation:

There is a creator to the universe.

People object: If there is a god why does he let bad things happen to people?

A-- there is no reason to insist that God necessarily knows about the human condition or that he can communicate with humans.

B-- there is no reason to insist God can intervene in this Universe once it was set into motion.

People object: If there is a god why is there no proof?

A-- the proof is all around, people are asking for supernatural proof - see answers to previous objection

Strictly speaking logically.

EITHER **** There is a God. He/They exist in a "higher" universe that we are not able to understand and created our universe for reasons we cannot understand. He/They cannot contact us and probably are not aware of our existence. There will probably be no afterlife.

OR**** There is a God. He/They are the ultimate Gamers. He/They created life on the Earth inlcuding Humans. He/They are aware of the Human condition but for his/their own reasons do not intervene to prevent human suffering. He/They do not intervene to make themselves or their intentions known readily. Its possible he/they have not started or helped any religions and enjoy seeing speculation of him/them swirl. In this scenario an afterlife is waiting and we will find out what it all meant.

I am more inclined to believe the latter scenario scientifically speaking. This is because the first scenario does not allow for the creation of life. I do not believe life can develop apart from divine intervention and thus humans have a logical hope for an afterlife.

5

Sick letter written to big brother who disagrees with the WTS

by FirstInLine in

http://www.watchtowerinformationservice.org/mysister.html

and also the young man's story.

http://www.watchtowerinformationservice.org/mystory.html.

FirstInLine

Have you been picking Jehovah's cherries at all Satan?

8

What's your verdict?

by ozziepost in

notice the points emphasised by me in red.

is the wts telling the truth about their beliefs and practices?

when his turn came, brother margaryan testified that minor children who attend meetings of jehovah's witnesses do so with their parents' permission.

FirstInLine

I think he is certainly guilty of forcing young people to avoid military service. He is also guilty of purjery. He states that the bible shows military service to be a matter of concience (which it is) diverting the attention from the fact that his teachings are not such. He is staunchly opposed to anyone living by what he has just claimed in court.

Of course if the prosecutor was more than a half/wit he could have gotten the charge to stick.

5