ithinkisee

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Posts by ithinkisee

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  7

  JW defends blood in press release - You got to see this!

  by ezekiel3 in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  source: http://www.pressbox.co.uk/detailed/30439.html.

  jehovah's witnesses slandered unjustly yet again.

  added : ( may 2005 ) .

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  ithinkisee

  1. That is obviously not a WTBTS-sanctioned reply.
  2. As to his argument - notice there is not one Christian example listed as a principle.

  -ithinkisee
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  56

  Will the WTS Org change or Die Out?

  by doinmypart in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the wts org has:.

  a formidable enemy (ex/former members),.

  an enemy with an excellent communication tool unavailable in the past (the internet),.

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  ithinkisee

  It is a religion made up of congregations of damaged, desperate people who want to have ALL the answers, even if they are not right.

  Those kinds of people make up a good part of humankind - so I don't see them leaving anytime soon.

  The scriptures say there are those that will desire to be "under Law".

  Many of these will be Jehovah's Witnesses and similar cults.

  -ithinkisee
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  8

  Did Gentile Christians celebrate holidays and stuff? Evidence?

  by ithinkisee in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  does anyone have some good references i can look up on some specific differences between gentile and jewish christians in the first century?.

  the reason i ask is because i get the impression from the scriptures that the gentile christians probably even celebrated worldly holidays and attended pagan festivals still - while the jewish christians did not.

  perhaps they even looked and dressed differently.

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  ithinkisee

  Does anyone have some good references I can look up on some specific differences between Gentile and Jewish Christians in the first century?

  The reason I ask is because I get the impression from the scriptures that the Gentile Christians probably even celebrated worldly holidays and attended pagan festivals still - while the Jewish Christians did not. Perhaps they even looked and dressed differently. So in the Book of Acts where it says they hope to add "no further burden" but this (fornication, blood et al) that was pretty much it. There was no rigid lifestyle put in place.

  Are there some books or websites with references that can point me in the right direction?

  Thanks in advance for your help ...

  -ithinkisee
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  16

  Trinity doctrine vs. 4th Century Trinity Doctrine ....

  by ithinkisee in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i have read in some places that the trinity doctrine as presented by the wt publications for dissection is not really the trinity doctrine but actually is an apostate doctrine from the original trinity doctrine.

  is this true?

  are there some good references for this?

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  ithinkisee

  Right. According to a Walter Martin MP3 I listened to recently the original definition is one God with three natures - i.e. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

  I just wanted some more input on the change from that to the three god thing ...

  any thoughts?

  -ithinkisee
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  16

  Trinity doctrine vs. 4th Century Trinity Doctrine ....

  by ithinkisee in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i have read in some places that the trinity doctrine as presented by the wt publications for dissection is not really the trinity doctrine but actually is an apostate doctrine from the original trinity doctrine.

  is this true?

  are there some good references for this?

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  ithinkisee

  I have read in some places that the Trinity doctrine as presented by the WT publications for dissection is not really the Trinity doctrine but actually is an apostate doctrine from the original Trinity doctrine.

  Is this true? Are there some good references for this? Most of the ones I have Googled have been very confusing.

  Thanks in advance,

  -ithinkisee
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  62

  My last District Convention (I hope) ... observations

  by ithinkisee in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so last weekend was my last district convention.

  i plan on breaking the news to my wife real soon.

  nowadays even at the meetings my blood pressure raises and my back gets all tense as i sit and listen to some of the stuff we are supposed to believe.

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  ithinkisee

  Why no college?

  Because any student that goes to college will learn that Jerusalem most definitely was NOT destroyed in 607BCE. (The Watchtower Society claim to authority)

  Any student that takes religious history classes will learn to identify cults. (The Watchtower Society)

  Any student that takes a logic or debate class will learn to identify and call out fallacies. (The Watchtower Society literature)

  Any student that takes psych classes will learn to identify emotionally abusive language. (The Watchtower Society literature)

  -ithinkisee
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  62

  My last District Convention (I hope) ... observations

  by ithinkisee in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so last weekend was my last district convention.

  i plan on breaking the news to my wife real soon.

  nowadays even at the meetings my blood pressure raises and my back gets all tense as i sit and listen to some of the stuff we are supposed to believe.

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  ithinkisee

  Ezekial3 said: Ithink: What did you think about the talk that focused in the inactive. I heard it was very "loving and inviting".

  Thanks for reminding me. I almost forgot about that! It was very harsh! I don't have my notes with me right now but basically they called all the inactive ones a bunch of names - and then followed up not 60 seconds after that with the question "What is holding you back from attending?" My thought was ... "Maybe because of all those names you just called them!"

  I'll write down some exact quotes when I get home ...

  Also did you notice that the drama was almost complete fiction about Timothy's life (not scriptural).

  I didn't notice that. I figured I was just not familiar with Timothy's life. Care to elaborate?

  -ithinkisee
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  62

  My last District Convention (I hope) ... observations

  by ithinkisee in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so last weekend was my last district convention.

  i plan on breaking the news to my wife real soon.

  nowadays even at the meetings my blood pressure raises and my back gets all tense as i sit and listen to some of the stuff we are supposed to believe.

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  ithinkisee

  
  So last weekend was my last District Convention. I plan on breaking the news to my wife real soon. Nowadays even at the meetings my blood pressure raises and my back gets all tense as I sit and listen to some of the stuff we are supposed to believe.

  I knew I would probably keel over from an aneurism or something at the District Convention if I employed the same methods of listening that I did at the KH. So I took an opposite stance and actually took semi-copious notes. Figured I would share them with all.

  If you are working on your family members for getting out of the JWs - a heads up on some of these talks may help you to make off-handed comments to your loved ones during the course of the convention. There are a few opportunities:

  Some general patterns of the talks that I noticed:

  Most on the convention's theme of "Godly Obedience" started with how worthless we are as imperfect flesh. Then they would being up Jehovah's saving ability, and our "obeying" will make us feel less worthless - maybe even valuable in Jehovah's eyes. There was a lot of "if you love Jehovah you will want to obey". To me this sounds more like an abusive relationship.

  There was a catch phrase used through almost every interview with publishers, etc. - "No regrets" - in their decision to avoid lucrative secular employment, scholarship opportunities, etc. This was uttered countless times - almost every life experience (several dozen) from youths on up had that phrase. And if they didn't use it particularly - the speaker would ask it - "Any regrets?"

  This was highlighted with the drama that everyone marveled over... how Timothy had "no regrets" of choosing the full-time ministry over college and a lucrative business career with his friend and how he was blessed.

  More generalizations that shouldn't surprise me anymore, but still do, is the frequent insinuations that all educated people are snobby elitists, doctors are the same way. They imply that educated ones don't take to the "Truth" because they are too full of themselves. One speaker (which I will detail later) quoted from another religious magazine that said, "The higher the education level of a person, the harder it is to lead them." What gall they have. My wife was particularly impressed with that quote - to which I responded - "But you have to be careful with a statement like that - does this mean the Society wants only uneducated people as followers? If so, that sounds very cultish."

  Another pattern I noticed - on Friday and Saturday they really let the hammer fall as far as obedience goes. Especially Friday. I surmise this has something to do with the fact that Fridays you won't have many general public or newly interested ones (This is only my opinion though) . Saturday was pretty harsh too. Then Sunday all of a sudden everything was about Jesus and "true Christianity". Sunday is when the bible studies and general public supposedly attend. Stepping back and looking at it from my perspective now it seems so obvious - or else I am just a conspiracy theory type of guy (I did LOVE X-Files ... heheh).

  There was a talk on the resurrection (notice a recurring theme on the resurrection ... interesting). The speaker said, "Some people have even gone so far as to make comments like, 'You'll never have to grow up in this system, Armageddon will be here by then.' Never would we want to be that presumptuous." I was like, WHAT? The only reason people say stuff like that is because the Society has printed that in their literature since the early 1900's! Geez.

  Another talk on meeting attendance opened with this sentence - "There is evidence that Jesus likely instituted specific times for gathering his followers together for worship." Of course, they backed this up with no scripture. A couple minutes later they were speaking as if this were fact - that Jesus instituted specific meeting times. Oye. I asked my wife, "Did he say Jesus LIKELY instituted specific meeting times?" She said, "I don't know, I didn't hear that part."

  Of course not ...

  -ithinkisee

  -ithinkisee
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  12

  Were you an elitist?

  by DevonMcBride in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  how many of you felt superior as jw's because you had an elite level of knowledge that only the society could give you?

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  ithinkisee

  Definitely. All my Witness friends are also elitist. Very very very much so.

  -ithinkisee
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  11

  The REAL origins of JW's (look it up at your local library)

  by ithinkisee in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  don't just go back to the 1800's to research jw's.

  go back even further - to the first century.

  in the first century, even during the time of the apostles, destructive sects were attempting to divide the congregations.

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  ithinkisee

  Thanks for all the feedback.

  My original post at the top was actually a slightly modified version of something I sent to a friend of mine who had been asking questions. I did oversimplify a bit - but mainly for new lurkers and stuff that come to this site. I just hope it helps them to look into some of those first century happenings and compare them with what they have learned all their lives at the KH.

  The Gnostic stuff is very confusing, and it is even hard to pin down specific Gnostic teachings. I spoke in generalities to help my friend understand the points ... the fact that the JWs are not just misguided but are in fact apostate in their teachings of Christianity is something that is becoming more and more real to me everyday.

  -ithinkisee