Posts by coldfish

290

The Global Flood

by coldfish in

i've just read an intersting article on the flood to do with dates and whether is was truly global or a regional flood.. http://www.commentarypress.com/essay-flood.html.

my father used to be an elder for many years and the flood was one of the things that made him walk away not just from the jw but also belief in the bible.

he was hung up on issues like the flood taking place about 3500 bc and how that fit in with the pyramids.. i don't know much about egyptian history or the ages of the big pyramids, but his reasoning was if the flood wiped out every human on earth except noah etc then at 3500 bc there were only 8 people on earth.

coldfish

Wow there certainly is a lot of info on the net when you look. I've looked at the links you've all suggested.

I now have proved to myself that the flood wasn't global or that it happened as a lot of religions say. I still believe that it happened, in a much smaller sense that still greatly affected people living in Noah's part of the earth. Well I want to believe it happened, because deep down I still want to believe in God and Jesus etc. I feel that if we don't read too much into the bible or take it too literally that it still has a lot to offer us.

290

The Global Flood

by coldfish in

i've just read an intersting article on the flood to do with dates and whether is was truly global or a regional flood.. http://www.commentarypress.com/essay-flood.html.

my father used to be an elder for many years and the flood was one of the things that made him walk away not just from the jw but also belief in the bible.

he was hung up on issues like the flood taking place about 3500 bc and how that fit in with the pyramids.. i don't know much about egyptian history or the ages of the big pyramids, but his reasoning was if the flood wiped out every human on earth except noah etc then at 3500 bc there were only 8 people on earth.

coldfish

Thanks for your responses, I'll have to do a lot more research on the matter, thanks for the suggestions of the books and websites. All it has done is raise lots more questions

Questions like:

What else is the bible wrong about? How long have people been on earth? (obviously longer than 6 thousand years like the JW say) What happened to those ancienct civilisations?

I've always tried to explain the flood by saying well it was probably just a large regional flood that was described as global and probably just a few sheep and camels etc were taken on it. But if the flood was just regional then what wiped out those much older civilisations that had advanced technology? hmmm

34

fell away.......wanna come back...please help.

by Tiggerchick1012 in

jw
friends

ok, so here's the situation.

i am 24 yrs old.

married and have 1 child.

coldfish

It is natural for you to have spiritual needs and to want instill spiritual values in your child. Being a Christian isn't synonomous with being a JW. You can raise your child in a 'normal' environment that won't stunt him socially and at the same time instill in him Christian values and the basic gospel message - that being of Christ dying for our sins. Christ's death is the only way to eternal life, membership in a church or organisation doesn't give that life, only faith and acceptance of Christ is what saves us.

There are great childrens bible stories books around, I know you will probably first think of the yellow My Book of Bible Stories. Don't limit it to that book. There are many many good children's books for teaching overal bible knowledge, visit a Christian bookstore and you'll be amazed.

All the best

39

Education - How encouraging low self esteem creates better witnesses.

by BigG in

funny title you might think but consider this point and apologies if i am covering old ground here...its not intentional.. i was raised by my mother who was and is a devout jw and as such until i was 20 (10 years ago) i was the same...trying my best to fit into the social environment i clearly was not made for but benefiting from good wholesome association with fellow brothers and sisters (note the sarcastic tone...make what you will of it).. althought at the time i didnt realise it but i was what others consider intelligent and quite academically able; i had a mind like a sponge and would spend hours in the jw library at the kh (which surprisingly enough contained non jw literature)...it was this that i read and would digest endlessly where i could.. one of those books (why it was there i dont know), was what i later undertood to be criminal law reports concerning cases that had gone before the courts.

my childish thirst for knowledge was intrigued...(i was then about 12).

the legal arguments i hadnt a clue what they meant but the facts surrounding these crimes were good reading.. i then knew i wanted to be a lawyer and that was what i said when an elder asked me what i wanted to do when i grew up; i mentioned trusting this man that i had read a book in the kh library and found it interesting...and that i wanted to be lawyer...i remember him smiling and saying that it was better to pioneer rather than seek a highly paid job...personally i didnt know what he meant properly but i felt a bit sad...and demotivated...i later in the week went back into the library and found the book had gone...!!.

coldfish

If only the JW would realise that if some were educated that would mean more money to accomplish the preaching work and more contact with people in 'flasher' professions, like lawyers and doctors.

I was watching a Chinese pastor on TV the other day giving a sermon on the world mission. He mentioned about how God can use businessmen and those with money etc and said that if you do well in your business you could go to China, open up a big factory and employ 500 people, and subtly introduce Christian thoughts and example to them. I thought 'wow, what a great point'.

There are so many varied techniques to spread the gospel but JW tend to view the door to door and pioneering as the only worth doing. (I know they promote informal witnessing, but emphasis is put more on door knocking, and going by dwindling numbers in western countries they should realise that technique is no longer best)

290

The Global Flood

by coldfish in

i've just read an intersting article on the flood to do with dates and whether is was truly global or a regional flood.. http://www.commentarypress.com/essay-flood.html.

my father used to be an elder for many years and the flood was one of the things that made him walk away not just from the jw but also belief in the bible.

he was hung up on issues like the flood taking place about 3500 bc and how that fit in with the pyramids.. i don't know much about egyptian history or the ages of the big pyramids, but his reasoning was if the flood wiped out every human on earth except noah etc then at 3500 bc there were only 8 people on earth.

coldfish

I've just read an intersting article on the flood to do with dates and whether is was truly global or a regional flood.

http://www.commentarypress.com/essay-flood.html

My father used to be an elder for many years and the flood was one of the things that made him walk away not just from the JW but also belief in the bible. He was hung up on issues like the flood taking place about 3500 BC and how that fit in with the pyramids.

I don't know much about Egyptian history or the ages of the big pyramids, but his reasoning was if the flood wiped out every human on earth except Noah etc then at 3500 BC there were only 8 people on earth. His question was how fast can human population growth etc happen that huge empires with a large population could exist and build the pyramids by the time history said the pyramids were built. Did they breed like rabbits, is history off with the pyramids dates, is the bible wrong, etc?

Any thoughts or knowledge on the subject is welcome.

Debbie

16

The need for "Fellowship"

by maybesbabies in

it seems to me that a recurring theme for exiting witnesses is not their questions of faith (most have researched mightily before coming here, or had their own crisis of conscience), but the lack of fellowship that will happen if they leave.

it feels good to be part of a group, to feel wanted and needed.

the problem arises when that fellowship is not based on you as a person, but by what image you present, or how much you "produce".

coldfish

I've felt the need for more contact with people lately. I don't have many friends and I work in an office and don't get to see many people. So lately I've started going to church. It was hard to make the first move to go to church because for so long we've been programmed that any non JW church is part of Babylon the Great and demonic.

I don't agree with everything at the church and I'm only going to attend, I have no plans to officially sign up with them or whatever happens. But I feel that its good to have association with wholesome people and most church goers seem to be wholesome.

Its a laid back charismatic penticostal church so no one condemns you or makes you feel guilty like at the JW. Rather than look down on you for missing church they are thrilled when people do attend. I was really impressed by the love there, on my very first visit and they didn't know who on earth I was, I mentioned that I was about to go in to hospital for some major surgery. The first thing the pastor's wife did was ask me if the church could bring cooked meals around for me. That really impressed me, cause JW claim that they're the only ones that show Christian love.

So I like the company I find at church and I hope I'll be able to make some new friends there.

78

Do you know of any "baptized" JW's that committed suicide or attempted?

by booker-t in

i remember one of my childhood friends was found dead and the police said he committed suicide.

i just could not believe it because my friend was a "devout" jw almost franatical about it.

now years later since i have seen both sides of the coin i am beginning to wonder if my friend did indeed kill himself.

coldfish

My husband's best friend was a JW when we were JW's. 3 years ago he hanged himself. It was his 10th suicide attempt and at last he succeeded. A year prior his stepson hanged himself too.

He had been getting professional help etc and even spent some time at a psychiatric hospital under suicide watch and he was medicated etc. Some people do issues that are hard to get over. With ***** he had been raped some years earlier by a group of men, and those men (Not JWs!) were now happy married businessmen in our town of 50,000 (he had never laid charges or told the police at the time because of shame).

So I feel he had valid reasons to have mental issues and depression etc. I saw him hanging from the tree and instead of feeling sad it was a comforting sight, for the first time he looked relaxed and at peace.

He wasn't allowed a funeral at the kingdom hall of course, so it was held at the funeral home. It was the worst funeral I'd ever been to The P.O elder took it and instead of saying nice things like how nice etc ***** had been he made awful comments about suicide and how we don't know if God forgives. It was a shocking thing for family and friends to hear, especially as a lot were 'worldly'. No compassion whatsoever. Still hacks me off to think of it to this day.

20

DID ANY ELDER DO anything questionable?

by badboy in

jw
friends

.

i have read ozziepost's post on those tasmanian elders who raided a sda church.. does anyone know of similiar behaviour by elders?

coldfish

When I was a teenager I used to have teenage female JW friend. Both our fathers were elders. It came out that her father was sexually abusing her and her sister while he was an elder.

My father has since left the JW due to doctinal issues, and after the abuse came public knowledge her mother took all the kids away and moved city and the father skipped off to Australia (and stopped being a JW of course)

20

What are good versions/translations of the Bible?

by coldfish in

hi i'm new to this site.

i was raised a jw, i'm now 28, and left about a year ago.

the only bible i've ever looked at is the new world translation.. objectively.. how good do you think the nwt is?.

coldfish

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions.. much appreciated

Debbie

20

What are good versions/translations of the Bible?

by coldfish in

hi i'm new to this site.

i was raised a jw, i'm now 28, and left about a year ago.

the only bible i've ever looked at is the new world translation.. objectively.. how good do you think the nwt is?.

coldfish

Hi I'm new to this site. I was raised a JW, I'm now 28, and left about a year ago. The only bible I've ever looked at is the New World Translation.

Objectively.. how good do you think the NWT is?

What are other well renound accurate translations? Are there any that use the name Jehovah at all?

Thanks

Debbie