Posts by MerryMagdalene

73

So, why didn't Jesus write anything down?

by poppers in

terry's thread on who is right - jesus or paul, got me to wondering; why didn't jesus write anything down?

surely he would know that the things he said would be written down at some point, and that this would be the beginning of misunderstanding what he was saying.

secondhand accounts of spoken words have a way of changing dramatically from the original words.

MerryMagdalene

So...how do you translate the fish then?

ICHTHUS = Iesous Christos Theou Uios Soter ?
1.73203 ? 265 X 153 ?
The womb and the cross? Union of heaven and earth, birth and death?

~Merry

38

Would u let your child date a baptist?

by Belief in

would u let your daughter/son date a baptist boy/girl?

if no, why not?

MerryMagdalene

According to the Awake magazine 5/22/94:

Since dating is not mere recreation but a prelude to marriage, it would displease God for one of his servants to get romantically involved with someone who has not dedicated his or her life to Jehovah.

JWs believe that only Jehovah's Witnesses have dedicated their lives to Jehovah--that is, God. They believe that to marry in the Lord they must marry another JW because the "one faith" talked about in the Bible applies only to them, not to Christians in general.

~Merry

9

What's happening

by Belief in

jw
friends

i'm here studying religion for school and personal reasons.

to be honest i'm not a jw, i'm a baptist christian.

i have a few friends who are jw and one of them greatly influenced my thoughts about jehovah.

MerryMagdalene

CHOOSING A MARRIAGE MATE
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In some places a young man is allowed to be with a young girl only when at least one of the parents, or some other older person, is present. In many Western lands, however, such young persons may often be together without a chaperon. The question is, then, where such wider area of freedom is permitted, what can a young person do to assure that courtship will lead to a truly happy and successful marriage?
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Freedom always brings with it responsibility. So, if this question is one that you now face, you do well to keep in mind the fine principle set out in the Bible at Galatians 5:13. Here the apostle Paul was, of course, speaking of the spiritual freedom that Christianity brought to those embracing it. But the principle applies to any kind of freedom, especially if we want our exercise of it to bring fine results and God’s favor. The apostle writes: "You were, of course, called for freedom, brothers; only do not use this freedom as an inducement for the flesh, but through love slave for one another." Genuine love—for God and for our neighbor, including the person we may be courting—will help us to avoid using any freedom we have in a selfish, harmful way.
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Properly, courting should be carried on with marriage as its goal. So, it should not begin before the person is ready to take on marriage responsibilities. Of course, you cannot know right at the start whether you want to marry a person or not. So it makes sense not to be too quick in settling your attention on any one individual. But this is no reason for carrying on "courtships" that amount to no more than a mere flirtation or a series of flirtations.
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Even if you are "interested" in someone, you would be wise, for a while, to try to keep your association with such one as merely part of a group, in group activities. Why? Because, in those circumstances, you can often get a better idea of what a person is really like. This is because we all incline to be more "ourselves" when we are not under the pressure of feeling that someone is paying us special attention. But when a couple separates from the group, the natural tendency from then on is to be what the other person wants you to be, even to mirror his or her likes and dislikes. And sometimes this can camouflage one’s real personality. When paired off, a couple can also quickly become emotionally involved so that they begin to see each other through "rose-colored glasses." If a couple get married under the flush of such emotion, they often face a rude awakening.
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Generally, it is the man who initiates courtship, by expressing interest in the woman. If he is honest and serious about it, she has the right to believe that he is at least contemplating marriage. Then what? Well, she then has a responsibility to ask herself whether she believes she could consider marriage with him. If she is quite certain that she would not consider him as a prospective husband, then it would be cruel for her to allow him to develop a deep interest in her. Some girls have been willing to let someone court them just to enhance their appearance of popularity or eligibility, hoping that other young men would now notice them. Some young men have done similarly, thinking they can "play the field," have a good time and then depart before things get too serious. But such selfish use of one’s freedom can cause real hurt, severe wounds that may take months, even years, to heal.
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Only if used unselfishly can the freedom to court bring benefits. It can afford an opportunity to become better acquainted with the person with whom you are considering spending the rest of your life. Depending on how honest each one is toward the other, you can get to learn each other’s likes and dislikes, standards, habits and outlooks, yes, and each other’s temper and disposition and reaction to problems or difficulties. You rightly want to know such things as: Is he or she kind, generous and considerate of others? What about respect for parents and older persons? Is there good evidence of modesty and humility, or is the person boastful, stubborn? Do I see self-control and balance or, instead, weakness and childishness, perhaps sulking or even tantrums? Since a large part of life is work, what about signs of laziness, irresponsibility or a wasteful attitude toward money? What about plans for the future? Is a family desired or is there interest in some special vocation? In an article entitled "Danger Signals in Courtship," one writer states: "Our study of engaged and happily and unhappily married people found the unhappily married were in little agreement on life goals and values."
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Above all, you should want to know how much God’s purposes figure in the other’s interests and plans. Yes, when the whole picture is filled out, how well suited are you for each other? If serious differences exist, do not fool yourself into thinking that marriage will automatically solve them. It may only make the friction that they cause be felt more keenly.
HONORABLE
CONDUCT IN COURTSHIP
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In lands where unchaperoned association is allowed by parents, couples who are courting often engage in expressions of affection such as holding hands, kissing, even embracing. Parents, of course, have the obligation to instruct their sons and daughters as to the standards by which they want them to conduct themselves. Elders in the Christian congregation can direct young people’s attention to the sound guiding principles found in God’s Word, and anyone who honestly wants to take a wise course in life will willingly and gladly give heed to such counsel.
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Not only does the Bible definitely rule out fornication, which is sexual intercourse by unmarried persons, including engaged couples, it also warns against immorality and "uncleanness," which can take place during courtship. (Galatians 5:19-21) Any couple that heed these warnings will save themselves much grief and will not run the risk of having the memories of some misconduct come back to trouble them. But what is unclean conduct according to the Bible’s standards? What can it include?
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Holding hands can be a clean expression of affection between persons contemplating marriage. True, it does have a stimulating effect, but this is natural and not necessarily bad. Why, just the sight of the person one is considering marrying may also stimulate, ‘making the heart beat faster.’ (Song of Solomon 4:9) Nevertheless, we need to remember that, human nature being what it is, physical contact does increase the "pull" of sexual attraction. So, because of realizing the possible consequences to which it might lead, some persons may prefer to limit themselves very strictly as to physical contact during courtship. And no one should disparage or make light of their conscientious position.
26
Kissing may also be a clean expression of affection between persons contemplating marriage—or it may not be. Really, the question is, To what extent does passion enter the picture? Kissing can be done in a way that stirs passion to the point that a couple are deeply aroused sexually. Sexual arousal prepares the couple for intercourse, but this privilege, according to God’s law, is reserved only for married persons. If a couple knowingly flaunt God’s law by deliberately and brazenly engaging in passion-arousing conduct, whether by caressing each other’s sexual organs or otherwise, they are guilty of "uncleanness" and "loose conduct."
27
We ought to be honest with ourselves. If we know we do not have strong self-control in these things, then we should not jeopardize our future or that of the other person by taking chances. Would you drive a car down a steep winding road if you knew its brakes were in poor shape? The time to make up your mind and settle your heart on these matters is before you begin, not after. Once the physical desires begin to stir, it is generally very difficult to stop their buildup. Those who let passion build up in them to the point of desiring sexual relations—when they are not entitled to these through marriage—subject themselves to tension and frustration. It is like reading an exciting book—only to find that the last chapter has been torn out.
28
Those who keep their relationship in courtship on a high level will get off to a far better start in marriage than those giving in to intimacy that steadily increases in frequency and intensity. How much respect can a girl feel for someone that she has to ‘keep fighting off’? But a young man who shows respectful restraint and strength of willpower earns respect. The same is true of a girl. And she particularly needs to realize that, whereas her feelings may require time to be stirred, this is seldom true of a male. He can easily and quickly become sexually aroused.
29
Giving in to frequent and increasingly passionate expressions can lead to a premature marriage. The book Adolescence and Youth says: "The early stages of courtship are often impossibly romantic. Marriage at that time might lead a person to expect more of the marriage than any marriage could realize. Lengthened courtship usually brings about a more reasonable understanding of the other person so that an understanding marriage may result." For such longer courtship, restraint must be exercised—otherwise the power of sexual drive may build up so early as to become a real danger.
30
Serious doubts and suspicions may also crop up after marriage if passion is allowed to color the picture strongly during the courtship period. The couple may begin to wonder, Did we really marry for love? Or were we just caught up in passion? Was it a wise choice? The girl may also incline to doubt the genuineness of her husband’s love, wondering if he did not marry her just for her body and not for what she is as a person.
31
So, to protect yourself and your future happiness, avoid situations that lend themselves to passion. Lonely places and darkness are not going to help you to keep courtship honorable. Nor will situations where time hangs heavily and there seems to be nothing else to do except engage in such expressions of affection. But much clean enjoyment can be had in such activities as skating, playing tennis or similar sports, having a meal together at a restaurant or visiting some museum or local place of interest and beauty. While enjoying some feeling of privacy because of not being around personal acquaintances, you will have the safeguard of not being completely isolated from other people.
32
Too, instead of thinking just about what you are "missing" by showing restraint, think about what you are preparing for in the future. Then, in all the years to come, you will be able to look back on your courtship, not with distaste or regret, but with pleasure and satisfaction.

--from the JW Youth book

Welcome to the forum.

~Merry

73

So, why didn't Jesus write anything down?

by poppers in

terry's thread on who is right - jesus or paul, got me to wondering; why didn't jesus write anything down?

surely he would know that the things he said would be written down at some point, and that this would be the beginning of misunderstanding what he was saying.

secondhand accounts of spoken words have a way of changing dramatically from the original words.

MerryMagdalene

Perhaps the significant lesson is not in the message itself, but rather in it's fallibility.

Perhaps the significant lesson is that the message cannot be written down.Bebu

And when I think about what is being communicated through these questions--

did your experience help you to clearly see that which is infinitely vast and without beginning and end, and so then ultimately includes everyone and everything? or has your experience presented the Divine as a much smaller and limited thing separate and available only to a chosen few?

a concept or experience which I feel is important, I still can't help but think of this:

The man who invented the Total Perspective Vortex did so basically in order to annoy his wife. Trin Tragula--for that was his name--was a dreamer, a thinker, a speculative philosopher or, as his wife would have it, an idiot.

And she would nag him incessantly about the utterly inordinate amount of time he spent staring out into space, or mulling over the mechanics of safety pins, or doing spectrographic analyses of pieces of fairy cake.

'Have some sense of proportion!' she would say, sometimes as often as thirty-eight times in a single day.

And so he built the Total Perspective Vortex--just to show her.

And into one end he plugged the whole of reality as extrapolated from a piece of fairy cake, and into the other end he plugged his wife: so that when he turned it on she saw in one instant the whole infinity of creation and herself in relation to it.

To Trin Tragula's horror, the shock completely annihilated her brain; but to his satisfaction he realized that he had proved conclusively that if life is going to exist in a Universe of this size, then the one thing it cannot afford to have is a sense of proportion. --Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

~Merry

11

Apostate WT Study

by IronClaw in

so did anyone go to the apostate wt study today?

if so, how did your conductor handle it?

any good comments made from the r/f?

MerryMagdalene

Who? Us?

~Merry

20

Victims

by rimbaudbunuel in

jw
friends

i heard that word used to describe being raised a jehovah's witness recently.

it made me think and put things in i think there proper perspective.

anyone who was born/raised a witness or even those who came later who were lured by their words are truly victims.

MerryMagdalene

Glad I could make you smile. Stick around...you'll find that happening a lot here...along with tears, outrage, and laughing so hard you spit what you're drinking on the screen.

~Merry

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