in the may 1, 1988 watchtower, on page 22, a witness, matsue ishii, recalls her first encounter with the bible students in 1928: at the back of our house in tojo-cho, osaka, there was a house with a sign: "osaka branch of the international bible students association.
" assuming it to be a christian group, i visited the house.
"do you believe in the second advent of the lord?
Do you think the writing deptartment makes up these experiences ???
I doubt they make them up entirely. I think they likely take artistic license and that they pick the most positive ones. (I wonder how many bad stories they have to shuffle through to find one good one?)
now for all the scientists out there this is not a question of proof or anything along those lines.
for my part i choose to believe in a god because i honestly believe there is one (though i did start doubting for a little while) i've always felt that there was more to our existance on earth - and that doesn't stem from me wanting to live forever or as a spirit, as i don't even know if that will happen.
i also believe in him because many many times when i could not carry on, on my own strength, i managed to pulled through.
Pole said:
Another way to phrase it is: "Everything I've studied about gods suggests that they are a pure anthropomorphism". Would you agree?
mmmm... almost. They are, but as symbols in the collective unconscious, they do seem to take on a life of their own.
now for all the scientists out there this is not a question of proof or anything along those lines.
for my part i choose to believe in a god because i honestly believe there is one (though i did start doubting for a little while) i've always felt that there was more to our existance on earth - and that doesn't stem from me wanting to live forever or as a spirit, as i don't even know if that will happen.
i also believe in him because many many times when i could not carry on, on my own strength, i managed to pulled through.
- and you know this by fiat of what knowledge again?
- and it shows that god exists, how again?
However, in order to argue a point, you must speak in their terms.
i must say, i never thought that i would see the day when i would find a site about disillusioned (mostly) jehovah's witnesses, but low and behold...one truly exists.
first let me start off by saying thank you to the creators of this site, and i'll have you know that i've been lurking for several days now and i am just finding the time to finally log on.
i've been a member of the borg for over 20 years now, been baptised for about 14 of those years and now i find myself in the most unusual of places.
'lo! *wave*
Welcome to the board. Your experience, while unique, is not unusual with the Organization. You're among friends here.
now for all the scientists out there this is not a question of proof or anything along those lines.
for my part i choose to believe in a god because i honestly believe there is one (though i did start doubting for a little while) i've always felt that there was more to our existance on earth - and that doesn't stem from me wanting to live forever or as a spirit, as i don't even know if that will happen.
i also believe in him because many many times when i could not carry on, on my own strength, i managed to pulled through.
It never ceases to amaze me how many people just assume that God must be "good". They use that as the reason they don't believe in the bible, because so many horrible happenings were attributed to God. God, and all gods, are amoral. They do not "live" by our standards, but by their own.
one of my jw relatives was relating to me another one of their superstitious nonsense stories designed to demonize every damn thing that doesn't fall into an approved wt list.
she was telling me about a her friend, who upon cleaning a relatives house, found a voodoo doll with a prayer to demons written on paper that it took an hour to burn.
she also related to me how in the hour it took to burn the demon paper prayer, everyone around them getting sick and falling into convulsions.. i guess she was a little perturbed that i was .
Whenever I slept over my cousin's house we used to tell each other 'demon' stories we had heard from various brothers and sisters like other normal kids would do with ghost stories.
Heh... yeah, like normal kids... I remember those stories as well.
one of my jw relatives was relating to me another one of their superstitious nonsense stories designed to demonize every damn thing that doesn't fall into an approved wt list.
she was telling me about a her friend, who upon cleaning a relatives house, found a voodoo doll with a prayer to demons written on paper that it took an hour to burn.
she also related to me how in the hour it took to burn the demon paper prayer, everyone around them getting sick and falling into convulsions.. i guess she was a little perturbed that i was .
I have to say that I can't really blame the JWs though. The only real reason this sort of thing propogated so well is the close association JWs tend to have with each other, spending so much time together at meetings, etc.
People in general tend to spread urban legends like this just as frequently.
one of my jw relatives was relating to me another one of their superstitious nonsense stories designed to demonize every damn thing that doesn't fall into an approved wt list.
she was telling me about a her friend, who upon cleaning a relatives house, found a voodoo doll with a prayer to demons written on paper that it took an hour to burn.
she also related to me how in the hour it took to burn the demon paper prayer, everyone around them getting sick and falling into convulsions.. i guess she was a little perturbed that i was .
GBL,
Holy crap!! As soon as you said it, I remembered that one too!
over the course of my travels, i have been thinking, why do people these days cover up their boobs and genitals?
because the religious leaders told us that God told us that our sexual organs are inherently bad.
i am curious, what explanations are there for the scriptures that affirm the existance of only one true deity, in light of christ's affirmed deity (jn 1:1, is 9:6)?
other than the conclusion that the deity spoken of could be inclusive of christ?
(perhaps in the sense of john 10:30--"i and the father are one").
Seems like those dang atheists has hijacked another thread.
I don't know if you're referring to me, but I consider myself less an atheist than I am a Gnostic. I just also don't happen to have found any substantial evidence that the bible is the "word of God", although I once believe that with my entire being.
