Posts by Jaypeeto

162

Goodbye everyone

by holly in

jw
friends

its time to leave.

i have had all the answers i need to make a firm decision.

thank you so much everyone for your replies, for talking to me over the last few weeks and for some of the humour.. i believe the jws are right and that they have the truth.

Holly had also been posting on the Tower Watch ministries forums, and she was posting pro-JW comments over there too. I'm not surprised she has decided to join the JWs (if she isn't actually one already!). But she can't say she wasn't warned !! Before the throne of God on Judgement Day she cannot plead genuine ignorance. I hope everything eventually works out for her. Best, Jaypeeto

35

What Is The Unpardonable Sin?

by JH in

jw
friends

.

in your words, what would be the unpardonable sin?

give examples.... .

Jaypeeto

The unpardonable sin is blasphemy "against the Holy Spirit." It seems clear from the contexts of the scriptures where mention of this sin occurs, that it refers to a person who deliberately, persistently, and maliciously rejects and opposes the work of the Holy Spirit in his or her life, with full knowledge that he/she is doing so. It is the function of the Holy Spirit to call us to repentance. To finally reject that call is a form of the unpardonable sin. Those who are afraid they have committed it should relax, they haven't. Love, Jaypeeto

4

Is there evidence showing that Gentiles who held government jobs resigned?

by truthseeker in

jw
friends

the bible does not say whether cornelius, the first gentile, resigned his position as army officer.. did the judge who heard paul speak in the areopagus stand down?

i'm sure being a judge back then would have involved some act of worship to caesar.. what about nicodemus?

while he was a secret believer, he still was a member of the sanhedrin.. if these ones found favour with god, why does the wts make big issues of running for office?.

Jaypeeto

Erastus, the city treasurer of Corinth, was a member of the Church, and he apparently didn't resign from his government job. There is no scriptural support for the WT's position. Best, Jaypeeto

25

Do you let JW's make you feel insignificant?

by Dragonlady76 in

i have read so many posts and topics about how people are treated after leaving the org.

so i would like to share with you my take on this.. i cannot help but notice that most people seem to feel that they are looked down upon by the jw's.

whether it be from shunning: a mean look,comments, avoiding someone etc... i can honestly say that i have never felt this way, and i have run into several jw's since i left.

Jaypeeto

I don't let 'em bother me. A month ago, a young lady I knew back in '81 and '82 when I was an active dub, came up to me at a coffeeshop and recognized me and started chatting, even though I had a pack of Marlboro 100's sticking out of my shirt pocket. Either she forgot that I was df'd or she simply didn't care (her husband is currently an "elder"), but we had a nice little chat. I feel bad for her, cuz she's really a pretty nice person, and I hate to think she's mentally stuck in that organization. Best, Jaypeeto

10

UFO sightings and close encounters

by seesthesky in

have you seen a ufo or had a close encounter with an (apparent) extraterrestrial?

Jaypeeto

I have had no contact with the supposed "extraterrestrials," ( I would run like a bat out of hell if I did ), but I have seen a UFO, only once. I was 17 and playing with my little dog at the time. I happened to look to the north-northwest, towards the Orange Bowl, and saw what looked like a bright helicopter headlight just hovering in the sky. Thinking nothing of it, I continued to play with my dog for awhile, and about 15 minutes later looked, and that light was still there, and still no sound. I thought that the helicopter must be hovering at quite a distance away. Then suddenly, the light began to burn more brightly and intensely and rose straight up into the air. It began to move southeast in my direction, and when it got to my northeast, it stopped completely. It then turned red, then blue, then white, then red, blue, green, and white again. Then it began to expel little smaller round lights that came out of it one by one and lined up in a straight line. All of the sudden, the smaller lights took off in all directions, zig-zagging in the sky, making sharp, no-curve turns, etc., and the big light began to move and at the same time put out more little lights. I screamed like hell and got my father, mother, sister, grandmother, and neighbors outside to watch the "show". It went on for an hour and a half. To this day my father says it is the weirdest thing he ever saw. I called the military base in Coconut Grove, Florida and they told me that I was "seeing flares that were being dropped over Key Biscayne." Now I thought, give me a break, Key Biscayne is to my south-southeast, and this light originated in the Northwest and I have never heard of flares acting like that. Anyway, I have no idea what it actually was, but it certainly was not "flares from Key Biscayne", that's for sure. And I have no desire to have a weird experience like that again. It was fascinating, but it gave me goose-bumps.

Love, Jaypeeto

54

The tyranny of religious experience

by Narkissos in

in the discussion of religious or mystical subjects on this board, the "experiential vs. intellectual" issue often comes up.

while mostly those on the "experiential side" of the debate are content to share their experience without imposing it on others, sometimes the appeal to "experience" sounds like a subtle way of disqualifying the comments of "intellectuals" who cannot know what they are speaking about as long as they haven't got the "right experience".. i remember once discussing that with a welsh evangelical lady: she complained that pentecostals and charismatics in her neighbourhood dismissed her views because she was not "baptised in the spirit" according to their definition of the term.

i pointed to her that her fellow churchgoers were doing exactly the same thing when they dismissed the views of "unbelievers," or traditional believers who didn't claim to be "born again" in the evangelical style.. here the issue of qualitative or quantitative appraisal of religious/spiritual experience steps in.

Jaypeeto

I'll share one. When I was 20, I had a powerful religious experience. I was not practicing JWism at the time, in fact I was a hypocrite and practicing sin. Then one evening, something happened and my entire life changed. Sinful desires (lust, etc.), vanished into thin air and I felt myself called to a heavenly hope. Of course, associating this with my JW upbringing, I immediately became active with the JWs. Which led to the destruction of my religious experience. The heavenly hope was an integral part of that experience, and when I let it be known that I had the heavenly hope, every Witness I knew told me that no way was that hope coming from God, since I was born WAAAAAAAAY after 1935, the cut-off date according to them. That instantly pulled the rug out from under me, and I had a terrible nervous breakdown and depression for YEARS after. I ended up DF'd just a year and a half after I was baptized. Nonetheless, because of that experience, even while DFd I had a strong interest in spiritual things. I read CRISIS OF CONSCIENCE which shattered my faith in the doctrinal authority of the WTS, and from that point I began to move on. Got involved with Mormonism (because I still didn't believe in "Christendom" or the "Trinity"), but left that after just a few short months. I then began reading the New Testament by itself and found to my surprise scriptural support for "Christendom's" doctrines. I became a Christian in 1990 (Presbyterian), and after a lot of historial research into the early, early Church as well as continued Bible study, I was eventually received into the Catholic church in 1999. I am glad for the religious experience I had when I was 21. It was the catalyst that led me into the contented position I am in today. Just my thoughts. Love, Jaypeeto

9

Church from Bible, Bible from Church?

by Big Dog in

after leaving the borg and through research convincing myself that the wbts did not have the "truth" i began to read a wide variety of religous materials and tried to delve into as many faiths as possible.

i was curious what others believed and after growing up in such an insular faith i found it fascinating to learn about all the different philosophies and beliefs.

one particular issue i found especially interesting, and that was the issue of sola scriptura, " simply stated, the protestant doctrine of sola scriptura ("scripture alone") teaches that every teaching in christian theology (everything pertaining to "faith and practice") must be able to be derived from scripture alone.

Jaypeeto

Actually, the scripture about Oral teaching is , I believe, 2nd Thessalonians 2:15. Sorry for any confusion. Best, Jaypeeto

9

Church from Bible, Bible from Church?

by Big Dog in

after leaving the borg and through research convincing myself that the wbts did not have the "truth" i began to read a wide variety of religous materials and tried to delve into as many faiths as possible.

i was curious what others believed and after growing up in such an insular faith i found it fascinating to learn about all the different philosophies and beliefs.

one particular issue i found especially interesting, and that was the issue of sola scriptura, " simply stated, the protestant doctrine of sola scriptura ("scripture alone") teaches that every teaching in christian theology (everything pertaining to "faith and practice") must be able to be derived from scripture alone.

Jaypeeto

Good answers, folks! Yes, the church decided upon the canon of the New Testament. By the way, and I don't have a bible with me, but the NT bears witness to the Oral tradition of the Church too, not everything true was "written down" in scripture. Paul tells (Timothy I think) to pay attention to whatever you received from us, whether orally or in writing...I wish I knew what verse that was. Love, Jaypeeto

21

The GB: evil manipulators or misguided fools

by New Worldly Translation in

i've been pondering this question for a while now and i haven't come to a conclusion yet.

on the one hand there is evidence of psychological manipulation in their publications.

they discourage questioning of their authority or even their fallability and try to whitewash past mistakes.

Jaypeeto

I agree with Neo, I think they are a bit of BOTH.

They really believe they are right, and yet they have no qualms about misquoting sources, misrepresenting their "opponents", libelling in print 99% of the human race, yada yada yada.

Jaypeeto

68

who is who on here??

by holly in

i know there are mostly ex jw's on here.

i just wondered how many of you are ex jws, left or df'd, how many are still in but have lost heart?.

are there any jws on here who still believe its all the truth, go to meetings and trust the organisation?.

Jaypeeto

Was raised on JW doctrines, got baptized at 21, DF'd at 23, became a Christian at 30 in 1990, and was received into the Catholic Church in 1999 where I am very happy. No, I would never go back to the JWs. Love, Jaypeeto