Posts by isaacaustin

407

Is it the JW's or the God of the bible you no longer believe?

by reniaa in

i have a question for the ex-jw's on this forum after months of reading the forum..... many say how good it is to be free of the oppressiveness of the jw's that they can now enjoy the freedom to... have sex, celebrate christmas, gamble, embrace politics etc.

there are still biblical scriptures and principles in place that if you still followed the bible would mean you avoid these things and yet these are now embraced as one of the perks of no longer being a jw so in my confusion i ask.... if these are what you want, isn't it more correct to say you no longer follow the bible as apposed to just the jw's?.

isaacaustin

Reniaa...I have not been online all weekend and am not going to reply to anything past that was written by others here...I will jump in right here...

you said

hi deputy dog your scriptures are ones I agree with certainly that no amount of good works on our part could save us before jesus is a given but does that mean we assumed as saved people we a no longer have to avoid sinning?

My answer....I do believe in once saved always saved. Let me explain. When one is truly saved they WILL NOT intentionally sin. Yes, they may slip up and fall back into sin...but they will not cherish sin. They will look at sin differently. They will try to avoid sinning. Not that I am judge...but in a scenario where one claims to be saved yet constantly goes back into sin INTENTIONALLY AND CHERISHES IT...I would then question whether they are truly saved.

Salvation itself is a free gift...not earned or brought about in any way, shape or form by works. Works do not earn us favor before Jehovah with the hopes that at judgment day he will feel we did enough so can make it in. It is faith.

26

Off to the one day special assembly day - what can I look forward to?

by eyeslice in

i never attend any of the congregation meetings but to support my wife, i attend the assemblies and the memorial.

tomorrow is the one day special assembly day.

should i be getting excited?

isaacaustin

you will hear alot of praising of the org and bashing of what is outside the org

407

Is it the JW's or the God of the bible you no longer believe?

by reniaa in

i have a question for the ex-jw's on this forum after months of reading the forum..... many say how good it is to be free of the oppressiveness of the jw's that they can now enjoy the freedom to... have sex, celebrate christmas, gamble, embrace politics etc.

there are still biblical scriptures and principles in place that if you still followed the bible would mean you avoid these things and yet these are now embraced as one of the perks of no longer being a jw so in my confusion i ask.... if these are what you want, isn't it more correct to say you no longer follow the bible as apposed to just the jw's?.

isaacaustin

i'm sorry isaacaustin I guess I wasn't really clear on the point I was trying to make which was that the rituals of these forgotten pagan festivals have a great a hold on us. And that people couldn't conceive of not doing them or changing the date they observe jesus's birthday on, people find change hard.

I don't want to keep banging on about christmas it's taken what I really wanted to discuss right off topic and considering the replies i've had it's an old well discussed topic.

I appologise to those that feel I have not answered or addressed their questions enough but I really want to keep this thread more on topic now and only address people staying within the topic of "If it's Just the Jw's they've left and not the God of the bible?" although i think we may have pretty muched covered it .

Which is it? Were you trying to point out "the rituals of these forgotten pagan festivals have a great a hold on us. And that people couldn't conceive of not doing them or changing the date they observe jesus's birthday on, people find change hard." OR were you addressing ""If it's Just the Jw's they've left and not the God of the bible?"

They are two different issues entirely. I personally just left the JW's. The God of the Bible is so different, almost opposite from the god of the WT.

407

Is it the JW's or the God of the bible you no longer believe?

by reniaa in

i have a question for the ex-jw's on this forum after months of reading the forum..... many say how good it is to be free of the oppressiveness of the jw's that they can now enjoy the freedom to... have sex, celebrate christmas, gamble, embrace politics etc.

there are still biblical scriptures and principles in place that if you still followed the bible would mean you avoid these things and yet these are now embraced as one of the perks of no longer being a jw so in my confusion i ask.... if these are what you want, isn't it more correct to say you no longer follow the bible as apposed to just the jw's?.

isaacaustin

I am sure that our 'persecution' of Reniaa is further proof that she has the 'truth'

407

Is it the JW's or the God of the bible you no longer believe?

by reniaa in

i have a question for the ex-jw's on this forum after months of reading the forum..... many say how good it is to be free of the oppressiveness of the jw's that they can now enjoy the freedom to... have sex, celebrate christmas, gamble, embrace politics etc.

there are still biblical scriptures and principles in place that if you still followed the bible would mean you avoid these things and yet these are now embraced as one of the perks of no longer being a jw so in my confusion i ask.... if these are what you want, isn't it more correct to say you no longer follow the bible as apposed to just the jw's?.

isaacaustin

can you really then say critical thinking means you can justify saying it's ok to justify worshiping jesus on a day that has no connection with him other than been picked out of a hat? why is my logic faulty and yours right in this? Ok why don't we just pick a day in september and change jesus's birthday to it? keep Yuletide in december 25th as just another holiday with it's pagan rituals but have jesus's birthday on another day nearer to his birth? it was men that changed it before we can change it again now, why not? OR alternatively could any of you imagine doing christmas as a holiday but not doing any of the rituals normally associated with it? could people do that? really make a conscious decision to not to buy a tree or put up lights, holly etc how would it feel would you enjoy it less?

Again Reniaa, what did Paul say regarding a day one chooses to use to bring honor to the Lord? Pls review Romans ch 14. I feel like myself and many others have repeated this over and over. And yes one can observe Christmas how they like- with or without trees but again, that is not the issue here. But let's say a JW decided to celebrate Jesus birth on 9/25? They would be dfed just as quickly as a 12/25 worshipper.

407

Is it the JW's or the God of the bible you no longer believe?

by reniaa in

i have a question for the ex-jw's on this forum after months of reading the forum..... many say how good it is to be free of the oppressiveness of the jw's that they can now enjoy the freedom to... have sex, celebrate christmas, gamble, embrace politics etc.

there are still biblical scriptures and principles in place that if you still followed the bible would mean you avoid these things and yet these are now embraced as one of the perks of no longer being a jw so in my confusion i ask.... if these are what you want, isn't it more correct to say you no longer follow the bible as apposed to just the jw's?.

isaacaustin

Isaacaustin you say this but can you really then say critical thinking means you can justify saying it's ok to justify worshiping jesus on a day that has no connection with him other than been picked out of a hat? why is my logic faulty and yours right in this?

Ok why don't we just pick a day in september and change jesus's birthday to it? keep Yuletide in december 25th as just another holiday with it's pagan rituals but have jesus's birthday on another day nearer to his birth? it was men that changed it before we can change it again now, why not?

This is another red herring you are throwing to mask the issue. Why not pick Sept has no bearing on whether Christmas is wrong. You have not adressed the issues I raised that directly answered the question of whether Chrismas is ok for Christians. And how are you so sure Sept is closer to correct? No one can know this. You will say it could not have been Dec because it was too cold to have the sheep outside with the shepherds. the truth is that the sheep always had to be outside to be ready for sacrifice.

The 'we give gifts all yr around" also holds no water...and again is unrelated to the question Most parents do. So the children are deprived on the holidays because they receive nothing on that day while those outside the org receive on that day in addition to all year round....all because of organizational mandates.

407

Is it the JW's or the God of the bible you no longer believe?

by reniaa in

i have a question for the ex-jw's on this forum after months of reading the forum..... many say how good it is to be free of the oppressiveness of the jw's that they can now enjoy the freedom to... have sex, celebrate christmas, gamble, embrace politics etc.

there are still biblical scriptures and principles in place that if you still followed the bible would mean you avoid these things and yet these are now embraced as one of the perks of no longer being a jw so in my confusion i ask.... if these are what you want, isn't it more correct to say you no longer follow the bible as apposed to just the jw's?.

isaacaustin

Yes Mary,

I think if nothing else...many of us have learned to critically think to to deconstruct assertions built on faulty logic.

407

Is it the JW's or the God of the bible you no longer believe?

by reniaa in

i have a question for the ex-jw's on this forum after months of reading the forum..... many say how good it is to be free of the oppressiveness of the jw's that they can now enjoy the freedom to... have sex, celebrate christmas, gamble, embrace politics etc.

there are still biblical scriptures and principles in place that if you still followed the bible would mean you avoid these things and yet these are now embraced as one of the perks of no longer being a jw so in my confusion i ask.... if these are what you want, isn't it more correct to say you no longer follow the bible as apposed to just the jw's?.

isaacaustin

I am going to sum up all of this...at least on the holiday part...

The fact of the matter is that Paul in the NT has said plainly on multiple occasions not to judge one on their observance or lack thereof of a day. He states that one's actions toward a day are toward the Lord. He speaks extensively of the use of one's conscience. This would plainly rule out disfellowshipping or even viewing as weak or unChristian an individual based on their obsevance or nonobservance of a day.

The WT uses the claim of pagan roots/origins as a basis to disallow many things. At the same time they allow other things that similarly have pagan roots. They basically claim some things as gnats while others as camels. By what right do they do this? By what right can they claim birthdays worng due to their pagan roots yet allow anniversaries and wedding rings which have similarly pagan roots. The fact of the matter is that a majority of things in our everyday life have their routs in paganism...days/months/wedding rings and we could go much further. However nearly all of these things have lost their original meaning and mean something entirely different. The only reason we are all so aware of the pagan origin of thisngs forbidden by the WT is because the WT very aggressively makes its members aware- they are the one with the problem. The WT can not have it both ways- they either have to blanketly and consistently apply this pagan roots logic to all or nothing. The excuse "what are we supposed to do, rename the days and months...this is a minor thing.." doesn't hold any water. If it is wrong, it is wrong. The WT has enforced overbearing methods on a host of other things it doesn't want its members to do.

I will finally say that there is no direct scripture or clear principle in the Bible that forbids the observance of Christams or other holidays. Simply not there. Reniaa's argument of that doesn't mean it is right has no substance. She has simply used red herrings and circular reasoning here. And I don't think i need to comment on blood transfusions...save that for another day.

25

Would You Ever Date A "Hot" JW???

by minimus in

jw
friends

suppose you met a hot jw.

would you ever consider dating the obvious "weak" witness and enjoy a possible fling or serious relationship?

isaacaustin

no way in hell. I have already made that mistake.

407

Is it the JW's or the God of the bible you no longer believe?

by reniaa in

i have a question for the ex-jw's on this forum after months of reading the forum..... many say how good it is to be free of the oppressiveness of the jw's that they can now enjoy the freedom to... have sex, celebrate christmas, gamble, embrace politics etc.

there are still biblical scriptures and principles in place that if you still followed the bible would mean you avoid these things and yet these are now embraced as one of the perks of no longer being a jw so in my confusion i ask.... if these are what you want, isn't it more correct to say you no longer follow the bible as apposed to just the jw's?.

isaacaustin

very well put Slappy...thank you.

1 Co 10 underscores Romans 14 very well.