OldSoul

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Posts by OldSoul

• 
  61

  defd, three sincere questions

  by OldSoul in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  defd,.

  on page 146 of what does the bible really teach?, the opening sentence of paragraph 6 purports to represent one of the six criteria for determining the true religion.

  it reads: "god's servants base their teachings on the bible.".

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  OldSoul

  jgnat,

  Honestly, if defd doesn't post I will be pleased as punch. I hope he has read and considered them carefully, at least. I am not in any way put off if he doesn't respond. I would be surprised if he does. He still wants them to be right so very badly. I highly value loyalty and I think he is very loyal. But, I also value honesty and integrity very highly. I believe defd does, too. I think right now, his sense of loyalty is battling his honesty and integrity. I am not sure which will win out, but I know which I'm rooting for.

  It is my hope that my sincere questions will eventually become his sincere questions. He is not stupid and he is honorable. My intention is to put these sincere questions before him. I believe I have done that.

  Whatever other fun people want to have with this thread is up to them.

  Respectfully,
  OldSoul
• 
  29

  The reason I arrived, and why I'm still here...

  by OldSoul in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  thanks to lilycurly, i don't think i will be able to even nominally remain a witness for much longer.

  the whole "fading" thing goes against the grain anyway.. i arrived here, as my first venture into ex-jw land, as a lurker.

  within a few hours, i spotted two people i knew whoto my surprisehad not yet become ex-ex-jws but were still posting here.

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  OldSoul

  Wheaties, Bebu. Wheaties.

  It has been difficult. I have done it for family and friends, trying to wake them up for years now. I did not want to follow impulses to leave until I had a rock solid reason to leave, that is, until I could support that decision by their own dogma. A recent Association has provided such a reason.

  That also was for family and friends. If I can leave while clearly choosing on right grounds (in their estimation) it will unsettle them more each time they think of me. Maybe they will start thinking before they die 20-60 years from now in this system, still clinging to false hope under the guidance of the "Nethinim."

  Least I could do is try. My love is genuine and unconditional whether their's is or not.

  Respectfully,
  OldSoul
• 
  61

  defd, three sincere questions

  by OldSoul in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  defd,.

  on page 146 of what does the bible really teach?, the opening sentence of paragraph 6 purports to represent one of the six criteria for determining the true religion.

  it reads: "god's servants base their teachings on the bible.".

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  2. 
  3. 
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  OldSoul

  I didn't ask for much of, confusedJW, I asked whether "the teachings" are Scriptural. I had already established the context of the question with question #2.

  Any Witness that agrees with the Faithful and Discreet Slave agrees that the presence of teachings that cannot be based on Scripture make a religion false. That is the only basis on which a Witness will label Christendom as "false" religion.

  I didn't get specific because there should be no need. If it is all true, it should all be based on Scripture. Getting specific I have done in many other threads.

  These three questions put in a nutshell the source of JW cognitive dissonance. If you can answer "yes' to #1, and "yes" to #2, you should be able to honestly answer "yes" to #3. However, as many Witnesses know, there are no Scriptures to support many major doctrines.

  There are no Scriptures to support doctrines that are so adamantly believed that you risk expulsion for speaking a word against it or even for insisting on Scriptural proof. This is a source of cognitive dissonance for Witnesses, because they want so badly to have THE TRUTH™ that they rationalize the false away.

  Respectfully,
  OldSoul
• 
  18

  Opinion - looking for some insight

  by free2beme in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was wondering something and wanted to see what others thought .... my sister, an active witness, recently became a foster parent to a baby.

  in history, the baby is the child of my uncles underage girlfriend, that he is now serving time for raping (under age, always seen as a rape).

  the young woman was doing meth (clean for almost a year now), and was living with her own mother who was an alcoholic.

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  OldSoul

  Someone should tell the social worker handling the case, soon!

  Someone might consider telling the DA.

  Respectfully,
  OldSoul
• 
  29

  The reason I arrived, and why I'm still here...

  by OldSoul in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  thanks to lilycurly, i don't think i will be able to even nominally remain a witness for much longer.

  the whole "fading" thing goes against the grain anyway.. i arrived here, as my first venture into ex-jw land, as a lurker.

  within a few hours, i spotted two people i knew whoto my surprisehad not yet become ex-ex-jws but were still posting here.

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  OldSoul

  AK-Jeff,

  The absence of love and compassion has been well established in my estimation. There are exceptions, but these exceptions grieve over the absence in their fellow slaves. There is a presence of nearly universally feigned love and compassion.

  Many have made comments in the meetings to the effect that they want to react one way, but they remember this or that Scripture and then act another. Everyone smiles and nods. They don't realize they are describing, and endorsing, a policy of hypocrisy. They have not changed, they have only made an outward show of the expected emotions.

  The organizational hypocrisy has also been well established, from revising history and calling it truth to a 10-year association with an organization supposedly in direct opposition to God, there is no question in my mind that the organizational hypocrisy is closely guarded, systemic, and terrible.

  Doctrine based on Scripture I am still allowing a possibility of, but a lack of that would be the "nail in the coffin" so to speak. I have been eager to see whether anyone would follow the counsel in Jude to try and snatch me out of the fire, but most JWs expect to be combatting false doctrine and seem to be taken off guard when someone honestly doubts that they are teaching true doctrine. Shadow seems to be the only lurker who is going to try and prove their doctrines.

  Oddly, the Scripture in Jude deals specifically with those who have "doubts," not those who are certain of error, and not those who are teaching a different doctrine.

  Respectfully,
  OldSoul
• 
  28

  Do you blame BUSH?

  by free2beme in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i know bush is not a popular president.

  i am a registered independent, used to be a republican, and i am not a huge fan of bush.

  in many ways i wish i had another choice in the last election, other then kerry.

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  OldSoul

  I hold Bush accountable for the portion he could have mitigated, within the bounds of law, where he chose to take a course of inaction. And there were some legal options available to the President that were not acted on.

  I further hold Bush accountable for the actions of Michael Brown, because Bush appointed a man to that position who had no qualifications for the job and who was fired from his previous job due to inadequate management skills. Michael Brown did as well as could be expected, given his incredibly poor suitability to the post.

  I consider the State and Local officials entirely to blame, because they could have mitigated all loss of life and much loss of property but failed to do so due to inaction.

  The shared blame here is not 100% blame divided by percentage. It is 100% potential capacity to mitigate harm, less exercised potential to mitigate harm. By this standard, several individuals are 100% to blame. I do not think Bush is one of them.

  Respectfully,
  OldSoul
• 
  369

  Why naturalism is irrational

  by Shining One in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  irrational naturalism (#201) .

  by henry morris, ph.d. .

  abstract .

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  OldSoul

  Okay, Cygnus. I agree with you, but that view ultimately reduces physical reality to an agreed upon perception. Which was my point to begin with.

  Respectfully,
  OldSoul
• 
  30

  name the bunny

  by fairchild in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  yes, i am stuck in this game again.

  i can't go on until i find the name of this character.

  http://www.simplecodeworks.com/mazito-2/lobster/index.html

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  OldSoul

  One theory on the series of numbers takes you to 650, a dead end. I will try to think out a different theory to explain the series.

  How far down the path of "julia" did you get? AGGHHHHH!!

  OldSoul
• 
  369

  Why naturalism is irrational

  by Shining One in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  irrational naturalism (#201) .

  by henry morris, ph.d. .

  abstract .

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  OldSoul

  tdogg,

  Joining the fun? Wow! I am honored to have so many of a scientific bent join me. BTW, I also am of a scientific bent.

  So, tdogg, what is gravity? I wonder if you can answer that instead of describing how it behaves? I sincerely doubt it, but I wonder. Is gravity a physical reality?

  Respectfully,
  OldSoul
• 
  29

  The reason I arrived, and why I'm still here...

  by OldSoul in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  thanks to lilycurly, i don't think i will be able to even nominally remain a witness for much longer.

  the whole "fading" thing goes against the grain anyway.. i arrived here, as my first venture into ex-jw land, as a lurker.

  within a few hours, i spotted two people i knew whoto my surprisehad not yet become ex-ex-jws but were still posting here.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  OldSoul

  SamTheMan,

  No, that is my 1914 counter.

  OldSoul