disbelief is the default position, no one is born having a belief.
beliefs are.
acquired through culture and education, we all know that.
"Pygmy tribes found in Africa have no identifiable cults or rites."
Yes they do. The Bwiti tribe has initiation rites where they use psychedelic herbs to receive messages from their dead ancestors (spirits). This was before they started adopting Christian beliefs.
it has been a good 8 years away from my area, a good 10 years + since i was regularly at meetings.
a good 12 years since i was hesitantly active.. it is a slow process but it does happen.
i now feel no connection to the belief system beyond memories.
how can there possibly be a reason for this?
smh.
i can't imagine how this is excusable..
Vidqun: "Secondly, if Christianity opposed the slave trade during the Roman period, they would have been wiped out."
Christianity did not have to confront Rome to abolish slavery within its ranks. All Christians had to do was to require all potential converts who held slaves to liberate them as a precondition to becoming a Christian.
"We live in a different epoch. Firstly, Jesus was not a social reformer, but a religious reformer..."
Jesus' attitude concerning slavery can be seen in many of his parables where he often uses the metaphor of slavery in an approving manner.
sending a messenger nearly 2000 years in advance to preach the coming of gods kingdom, and leaving the message to be carried out by his followers who would practice just the opposite of his message [eg.
catholics cannot accept a pope if he is from a black community or if sex is female, just like jws could not tolerate a black/woman wt president, which is in sharp contrast to what jesus himself practicedhe showed no partiality with regard to sex or communityhe elevated a samaritan woman sharing with her great truth, even before he did it with his own male-disciplesjohn chapter 4].
claiming something as his own, and then allowing it to decay do not befit gods superlative style!.
Simon: "Have we had a Chinese or Eskimo pope yet either?"
In all fairness to the Catholic Church there aren't too many Chinese or Eskimo Catholics.
how can there possibly be a reason for this?
smh.
i can't imagine how this is excusable..
A list of scriptures on the subject:
How the former slaves of Israel treated their own slaves:
Non-Israelites could be taken as slaves for life and their children be passed of as inheritance: Leviticus 25:44-46 compare to Leviticus 19:33-34 where it says the exact opposite.
A Hebrew slave was obligated for only six years of slavery but had to leave behind the wife his master gave him along with his children: Exodus 21:2-6.
A master was allowed to savagely beat his slave so long as he or she did not die within a day or two: Exodus 21:20-21 compare to Exodus 2:11-12.
If a slave had an eye blinded by his master he was to be set free but his master was not blinded in punishment according to the rule of an ‘eye for an eye’ that applied to other people guilty of the same crime: Exodus 21:26-27 compare to Leviticus 24:19-21.
Christian view on slavery: 1
Peter 2:18-20.
i'm not really sure as to what category that i should put this into, so i'll just try, and put it here.
this is based upon a posting that i saw and read on facebook recently.
and, the question is: what if life---as you know it---was just one big dream?
Since when do dreams last a lifetime? And a coherent one? Also, at what age do you wake up?
That aside I wish it were true because I would have learned more than enough to change my life to the better.
the current jws do not cease to amaze.
here's their latest video on youtube and straight from bethel.. there is a lot of work involved in this.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwou6e5vwbo .
jesus was thirty was he was baptized.
today, you hear of young children getting baptized as young as 10 years old.
the parents, family and congregation think it's a wonderful idea that someone dedicates their life to jehovah at such a young age.
insidetheKH: "Anyway the main reason is,... WHY NOT baptise Teens?"
Ten year olds, and I've heard of 8, are not teens.
A question to ask is how low an age does the Watchtower consider to be the age of reason?
i made it myself, although i am not very good at computerizin'.. i thought would try to encapsulate many subjects at once, after all, " a picture is worth a thousand words.
if anyone knows of a good meme site that will let me make it better, please let me know.
none of the sites i visited would let me rotate the words properly.
Correct me if I'm wrong; I get the message since I watched the movie 2001 a Space Odyssey. It looks like the scene where the primitive hominids, or 'apes' were curious about the Monolith that an extraterrestrial species had sent to Earth.
If you're trying to imply that the Watchtower is like that Monolith then I disagree. I could understand why you would think that the Organization (surrounded by 'apes') is like a monolith but the example you gave should not be used as an analogy because the monolith from 2001 actually served a good purpose to the evolution of humanity whereas the Watchtower does not.
Also, your pic resolution on your avatar makes it hard to see let alone discern the symbolism.
so it has been quite a while since i've last been on this site.
the jist of my story is that about 5 years ago, i started a research journey that took me 2 1/2 years to complete.
against the advice of this board, i decided to show my wife because i mistakenly thought she valued truth.
"...I'll ask her why JWs have baby showers. I will flat out ask "at a baby shower.....what are you celebrating?" So Jehovah likes the births of children.....just not the anniversaries of those births? Etc."
That's a most excellent and intelligent comeback! Congratulations on your victory.
