Posts by jwfacts

83

Christadelphian

by Billy1000 in

my name is stephen and i am new to the forum.

i am a christadelphian and through my discussions with fellow members of my ecclesia it has inspired me to reach out to other religions to find out exactly what others believe to enhance my own faith and further bring me closer to our heavenly father.

in no way do i mean disrespect if it has been caused.

jwfacts

Billy, it is great that you are looking at other points of view. It may even strengthen your belief in the system that you were raised in. But you will always now have in the back of your mind the questions that have been raised.

It took me over a decade to face the questions I had. Two decades in fact to unbiasedly research some of the questions I had thrown at me whilst preaching as a teenager. As a JW it is hard to face the truth when you are threatened with shunning and destruction for doing so.

Eventually you will want to know who chose which of the many writings were chosen to be in the particular Bible that you chose to accept. Or why the aggressive God of the Old Testament was pacified somewhat in the New Teatament. Or why Hindus and Muslims can be so sure that their holy writings are the ones to lay down their lives for, beyond the simplistic idea that they are controlled by Satan. (Sorry Christadelphins don't believe in Satan but you will have some similar reasoning for that.)

83

Christadelphian

by Billy1000 in

my name is stephen and i am new to the forum.

i am a christadelphian and through my discussions with fellow members of my ecclesia it has inspired me to reach out to other religions to find out exactly what others believe to enhance my own faith and further bring me closer to our heavenly father.

in no way do i mean disrespect if it has been caused.

jwfacts

The Bible states that God is love, Christ teaches to love your neighbour and in fact loving God, and loving your neighbour are the first two fundamental teachings of the new testament.

You are cherry picking the parts you like. As I suggested, read the Bible cover to cover.

83

Christadelphian

by Billy1000 in

my name is stephen and i am new to the forum.

i am a christadelphian and through my discussions with fellow members of my ecclesia it has inspired me to reach out to other religions to find out exactly what others believe to enhance my own faith and further bring me closer to our heavenly father.

in no way do i mean disrespect if it has been caused.

jwfacts

I am shunned by all JW family and friends. Fortunately some have also left so I do have some contact with my past.

It is actually quite saddening how so many can be hurt by teachings which are supposed to be used for good.

What makes you think that. The New Testament is political, bringing the out of date Old Testament in line with more enlightened Greek philosophy. Jesus spoke of bringing enmity between family. Paul speaks of the destructive judgement of God on unbelievers. Modern day interpretation tries to downplay the evil of the Bible, but if you go back and read it cover to cover for what it really says you will find it very different to what you have been raised to believe it says, through the concentration of a few favourite verses.

83

Christadelphian

by Billy1000 in

my name is stephen and i am new to the forum.

i am a christadelphian and through my discussions with fellow members of my ecclesia it has inspired me to reach out to other religions to find out exactly what others believe to enhance my own faith and further bring me closer to our heavenly father.

in no way do i mean disrespect if it has been caused.

jwfacts

Here is a link to short shunning experiences of Jehovah's Witnesses. It is heartbreaking to read how people are abandoned for decades by their family for not wanting to be part of the religion. They never truly get over the pain. Jehovah's Witnesses say it is loving, because unless the child returns to following Watchtower doctrine, they will not survive Armageddon. Yet they have been saying that for over 100 years, and generations of families have died shunning family without the arrival of Armageddon. Whilst JWs say this is loving, they will say it is heartless for Mormons, Amish and Christadelphians for doing the same, since each of those religions are false and part of Satan's system.

Notice how each of these religions have a similar message, yet their children are indoctrinated to believe it that they are somehow uniquely acceptable to God. This is why I think the concept of a single true religion is dangerous.

34

What do you think is the source of your consciousness? Can it be copied or transferred?

by EndofMysteries in

this seems to be a question that even scientifically is still in the air.

right now your consciousness, is it the physical part of the brain?

the electrical signals in the brain?

jwfacts

If you died, but your brain was preserved and many years later implanted or reactivated, would it be you?

That is the JW concept of resurrection. As a JW did you feel it would be the same person?

I believe consciousness will be able to be transferred in the future. Consciousness is a combination of our thoughts and feelings, an interaction of chemical and electrical processes. Computers are getting to the point where they can think in a similar way to humans, and once this is combined with a reward system then a robot will be conscious in a similar way that humans are.

83

Christadelphian

by Billy1000 in

my name is stephen and i am new to the forum.

i am a christadelphian and through my discussions with fellow members of my ecclesia it has inspired me to reach out to other religions to find out exactly what others believe to enhance my own faith and further bring me closer to our heavenly father.

in no way do i mean disrespect if it has been caused.

jwfacts

So why all the hate, most people in here have made up their mind to leave and i am guessing everyone has different reasons, but why come back to a forum to discuss?

This forum consists largely of people looking for answers about the JW religion, and those that have moved past that stage and are willing to assist. High control religious groups do a huge amount of emotional damage to their followers. We have been through that, and it is satisfying to help others get through the process in the best manner possible.

ExChristadelphians are of the same mind. The Christadelphian practices of separateness from the world, and disfellowshipping are methods of undue influence that are very similar to how Watchtower controls their members, and cause huge issues for members that do not believe the doctrine and wish to leave. Forums such as this and exChristadelphian websites save thousands of lives, as it is not uncommon for people that leave high control religious sects to go through periods of depression and to become suicidal.

35

Best pills meds or other to take before meeting?

by Crazyguy in

thought it would be good to share what ones take to deal with the meetings.

jwfacts

Weed.

83

Christadelphian

by Billy1000 in

my name is stephen and i am new to the forum.

i am a christadelphian and through my discussions with fellow members of my ecclesia it has inspired me to reach out to other religions to find out exactly what others believe to enhance my own faith and further bring me closer to our heavenly father.

in no way do i mean disrespect if it has been caused.

jwfacts

Yes i would agree with you that many people and many religions believe that unless you are part of their religion you have no hope
However i believe and i know that many others believe now that that is not true
... three things to get eternal life.
..
Repent and be baptised

This is a contradiction, since you believe eternal life is based on being a Christian. Yet half the world know nothing of Christianity and have no opportunity to ever be baptised. Such a belief is an relic from a past time when people had no idea of how large the world was or the varied belief systems of the different continents.

23

Un-****ing-Believable

by OneFingerSalute in

just a few observations from this morning.

.. this morning as i was trying to choke back the bile that kept wanting to come up during the wt study one comment in particular screamed cult.. towards the very end as comments were being made about "counseling" others with "gracious" words one of the uber-dub minstral-serpents made this comment, "we see in the last image that the brother is holding a bible as he counsels the other brother.

we look closely at the picture and we can know exactly what he is counseling the brother about.

jwfacts

1 Corinthians 8: 9 which says, "But keep watching that your right to choose does not somehow become a stumbling block to those who are weak."

I always found this a paradox. It would be impossible to comply to every whim of every weak persons conscience. I would have replied:

"I am stumbled that people are imposing their conscience on me about not having a beard, when it is not spoken against in the Bible, in fact the opposite, beards are very much part of Bible fashion. Please tell these people to stop going beyond the word of God."

83

Christadelphian

by Billy1000 in

my name is stephen and i am new to the forum.

i am a christadelphian and through my discussions with fellow members of my ecclesia it has inspired me to reach out to other religions to find out exactly what others believe to enhance my own faith and further bring me closer to our heavenly father.

in no way do i mean disrespect if it has been caused.

jwfacts

Welcome.

JWs and Christadelphians are very similar. Were you raised a Christadelphian? I was raised a JW, and one thing I could not come to terms with is that through an accident of birth I was to be saved, but everyone else, (including you), were to die at Armageddon.

I now find organised religion to be highly offensive. Most religious groups believe that you need to belong to their sect, or the tenet their sect is part of, in order to be acceptable to God. Yet a person has even less say over what they believe about God than what language they speak, it is predominantly due to where they are born.

Before looking into doctrine, you should research the history of the Bible canon. There is no consensus on which books even belong, since the canon was formed after hundreds of years of disagreement, and varies between Christian groups.