Posts by pennycandy

22

AWAKE - April 22nd

by stillajwexelder in

is jesus god?

front page of april 222nd awake magazine.

i will post more when i have read all the magazine - but should be good for all you lovely trinitarians out there - and i hate trinitarian threads although i always post to them - and now i am starting one - god help me!

pennycandy

Why is it acceptable for us to believe in some ethereal being who we can't see, who lives in some invisible realm, who can affect the entire globe with a single command, and who knows the thoughts and hearts of every human who ever existed, but can't grasp the idea of that being having three aspects of the one?

The trinity was always repulsive to me until I took off the org glasses and really looked at it objectively. The witnesses arguement against the alpha and omega not referring to both Jehovah and Jesus falls apart. As does the arguement that Jesus wasn't worshipped by his disciples(worship vs obeisance), turns out he was! And looking at the actual Greek word used when identifying God or Jesus throughout the New Testament shows that the NWT picks and chooses who it wants to apply the term LORD to.

As of right now, I'm leaning toward the belief that God is composed of the three, but I don't think it's that important. He knows our heart and our intentions and that we doing the best we can with the puzzle of the nature of God.

14

Help with Israelite Example

by TheListener in

i've searched and searched and can find nothing that specifically addresses this issue.

i've checked coc and isocf.

please help me or at least point me in the right direction.. this is the subject that i'm not good at discussing or refuting:.

pennycandy

If the Bible gave commands to us about smoking or blood transfusions, then of course, we should obey. But we know it doesn't address these things, which leaves it up to interpretation. Anything concerning these issues is just opinion.

If you believe the F&DS are speaking for Jehovah, then you would believe He deplores smoking and blood transfusions. If you believe they are just imperfect men who aren't prophets but do the best they can to make rules for their 6 million followers, then most thinking people would need to understand the reasons behind the rules before accepting them as life-or-death issues.

11

Did any members of GB visit your congregation?

by badboy in

jw
friends

?

pennycandy

We had them speak at our assemblies and conventions quite often. I can't remember an instance of them coming to a congregation, though.

I heard Fred Franz in Beaumont, TX in the mid-80's. He was already blind as a bat and very feeble, but he did command attention. I also thought the fact that he could give a complete sermon with scriptures with no notes was amazing.

23

Which did you think was worse, df'd or da'd people?

by pennycandy in

jw
friends

as a jw, when i'd find out someone got disfellowshipped, i'd shake my head and think, "what a selfish person.

choosing immorality (it had to be immorality) over jehovah.

i hope i never make such bad choices.

pennycandy

I have another question. What would happen if someone is called on the carpet for being naughty (you know, like celebrating your child's birth or reading spiritually pornographic material such as this or going to church or other terrible things), and you decide to just hand in your disassociation letter in lieu of attending the jc meeting. Would they then just drop the disfellowshipping charges and let the disassociation stand?

2

I told them I was going to church, but in reality I...

by poppers in

jw
friends

when i was still living at home as a young adult i managed to attend mass every sunday, mostly out of guilt, for the catholic church was good at making you believe that not attending mass without a valid reason was a mortal sin - an offense that would send you to hell for certain.

i usually went to the church in the next town over since it had the latest scheduled mass in the area.

one particular weekend my sister and her husband were visiting and on sunday they drove to that neighboring city to go to mass, so they declared.

pennycandy

To the kingdom hall. Always the kingdom hall. Every . . . single . . . boring . . . time.

To think of all the blueberry pancakes I've missed!

23

Which did you think was worse, df'd or da'd people?

by pennycandy in

jw
friends

as a jw, when i'd find out someone got disfellowshipped, i'd shake my head and think, "what a selfish person.

choosing immorality (it had to be immorality) over jehovah.

i hope i never make such bad choices.

pennycandy

Just want to add that my heart goes out to all you guys who got attitude from people like me. Even though I can't remember ever actually shunning anyone, I'm sorry for the warped view I had of good people.

23

Which did you think was worse, df'd or da'd people?

by pennycandy in

jw
friends

as a jw, when i'd find out someone got disfellowshipped, i'd shake my head and think, "what a selfish person.

choosing immorality (it had to be immorality) over jehovah.

i hope i never make such bad choices.

pennycandy

As a JW, when I'd find out someone got disfellowshipped, I'd shake my head and think, "What a selfish person. Choosing immorality (it had to be immorality) over Jehovah. I hope I never make such bad choices." I felt sorry for their self-imposed position.

But da'd people were different. They deliberately turned their back on the gift Jehovah had given them. I figured anyone who da'd themselves had basically given the finger to the elders who I'm sure tried so hard and lovingly to keep them in the flock. They had to be insane!

To me disassociated people were practically inhuman to me. I couldn't imagine that many people just wanted to be left alone, and were forced into disassociation. I couldn't imagine that people could actually NOT believe it was "the truth".

23

Which did you think was worse, df'd or da'd people?

by pennycandy in

jw
friends

as a jw, when i'd find out someone got disfellowshipped, i'd shake my head and think, "what a selfish person.

choosing immorality (it had to be immorality) over jehovah.

i hope i never make such bad choices.

pennycandy

I think about this because I may some day have to choose between the two. Be df'd for apostacy in abstensia, or choose to write "the letter". I don't think it really matters to me, but I think of how my extensive family will view me. I know policy-wise, it's all the same. But it would have made a difference to me in how I thought of someone or treated them.

35

Can anyone help with info to refute only 144,000 going to heaven?

by The Leological One in

jw
friends

i've recently shown my wife this forum (she's a df'd jw who does still hold fast to jw views).

she's been really depressed and feels down on herself constantly because she wasn't a better witness and seems to feel she has no hope of a personal relationship with god now that she's df'd.

i was a little upset a moment ago trying to get her out of her depression by pushing my point of view that the wt is full of $hit regarding a great many number of things, the least of which that only 144,000 people are going to heaven/effectively can be saved.

pennycandy

http://www.xjw.com/where.html

Where is the Great Crowd Serving God? Very helpful article.

31

Are you afraid to watch The Exorcist?

by Pwned in

for the longest time i was afraid to see it, and when i did i have to admit i felt 'weird', anyone else feel this way.

pennycandy

I'm with Elsewhere on this one. For the first time I'm willing and able to watch scary movies without fear of "letting the demons in". After watching some of the classics I missed, I wonder what all the fuss was about.