Posts by 9thWonder

37

Hello

by Amionne in

i just joined here so i'm not completely familiar with the forum code.

well, i'm going to be baptized in less than a month and i was wondering if i can find any friends among my peers or anyone around my age.

you see, my congregation was split up almost three years ago.

If you come back to this site, be sure to take a look at this link (http://www.carm.org/jw/history.htm) and do some research on the people and facts mentioned there. You should at least be informed of the background and history of the religion. In fact, I think that it should not be something that you need to research...ask someone in your congregation about who started the religion and how and what the beliefs were when it started vs. the beliefs today. Ask. Ask. Ask.

Let your decision be one made with you mind along with your heart. Wish you the best!

81

Do you think of yourself as an apostate

by barbar in

many of the people on this site say that they are apostates.

but that is not the way i feel about myself.. i am not angry with the "witnesses" or the organisation, i don't feel that i wasted my life.

i just think that i was stupid to believe it for 30 years (well sort of believe it, i did have severe doubts on and off).

9thWonder

Can you really say what is more right if it is an interpretation? I was always taught that the bible should not be interpreted...but how do you avoid interpreting the book of Revelations and other prophetic bible books? One definition of interpretation: v 1: make sense of; assign a meaning to; "What message do you see in this letter?"; "How do you interpret his behavior?" [syn: construe, see] 2: give an interpretation or explanation to 3: give an interpretation or rendition of; "The pianist rendered the Beethoven sonata beautifully" [syn: render] 4: create an image or likeness of; "The painter represented his wife as a young girl" [syn: represent] 5: restate (words) from one language into another language; "I have to translate when my in-laws from Austria visit the U.S."; "Can you interpret the speech of the visiting dignitaries?"; "She rendered the French poem into English"; "He translates for the U.N." [syn: translate, render] 6: make sense of a language; "She understands French"; "Can you read Greek?" [syn: understand, read, translate]

If all religions interpret (makes sense of; assign a meaning to) various things in the bible to suit them, then is there any truth in any religion? One can be no more true than another if they are all rendering interpretations. True?

There is NO truth in interpretation. What is darkness? The absence of light. What is a lie? The absence of truth.

81

Do you think of yourself as an apostate

by barbar in

many of the people on this site say that they are apostates.

but that is not the way i feel about myself.. i am not angry with the "witnesses" or the organisation, i don't feel that i wasted my life.

i just think that i was stupid to believe it for 30 years (well sort of believe it, i did have severe doubts on and off).

9thWonder

Kind of like "if a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear it, does it make a sound?" I like the point of freezing a group of witlesses for 50 years (or less). You make a great point. Who really is the betrayer? The people who changed or the organization that changed (and continues to change)? Faith is not blind it is "the assured expectation of things hoped for." If the premise of the things you hoped for changes how do you maintain your hope...unless you blindly follow...shouldn't one expect it to waver and be shaken?

31

Trinity?!?!

by Lynne Y in

hello, it's lynne again... how's everyone doing?

um..i have a quick question.. haha.. .

one of the most distinguishable doctrine(?

9thWonder

I'm no expert. In fact, I'm search for info to support or refute the doctrine. Here are some interesting sites on the subject: http://www.carm.org/jw/bibletrinity.htm http://www.carm.org/doctrine/trinity.htm http://www.apostates.net/should_you_believe_in_the_trinity.htm The trinity doctrine, as explained to me once, is not "three gods IN one" it's three gods unified under one godhead...meaning that all three are one or in unision. The Father IS greater than the son and the holy spirit. The Father uses the son and the holy spirit and neither the son nor the holy spirit act independently of god. They are each gods in that each are a diety. One can always argue whether the holy spirit is a person or an "active force", but I think that's it in a nutshell. Check out the links and do further research into the origin of the doctrine.

15

Venus Does Yoga

by rocketman in

i was watching the new williams sisters "reality" show (abc family, 10 pm) and in it venus was in a session with the sister's personal trainer.

venus was instructed to do yoga while she and the trainer got tips from a video.

in the video, the instructor was doing various chants and uttering various phrases, and venus is shown saying "some of it is ungodly and against my christian beliefs, but i have to do it anyway".

9thWonder

Check out the intro/promo for their show (http://abcfamily.go.com/venusandserena/index.html) Oh and this message board on the ABC Family site is hillarious (http://forums.go.com/forums/abcfamily/thread?threadID=286867). There are comments about them being Jehovah's Witnesses. I'm sure they knew to expect this type of criticism.

16

O.K. Tell the truth...

by 9thWonder in

have you ever fudged your field service hours???

?

9thWonder

Have you ever fudged your field service hours???? I did...too often to remember. Just wondering how many of you threw off the monthly hours reports in the KM or the annual hours (etc.) report in the WT.

49

Ok we've left the Org - Now what?

by Nellie in

i am no longer a witness.

i've told all my worldly friends and my immediate family - my kids have told their friends.

i haven't been to a meeting in over a year (and have no desire to go to one) - but i'm not dad or dfd.

9thWonder

SNG,

I am in the same boat...you know..."out of the frying pan and into the fire" You gave me some peace of mind with that advice. That was great. Thanks!

34

Watchtower and UN?

by rambaldi in

is this issue of the watchtower being part of the un department of public information of any significance?

at the district conventions of jehovahs witnesses there are flags of the united states and other sovereign government such as states or other countries hanging from the buildings.

the governing body and the watchtower society rent buildings which become the equivalent of kingdom halls for the weekend.

9thWonder

Then why did they withdraw their membership? There's nothing wrong with it, correct? Why not explain that and keep the membership? Do they no longer have a need for the information? Hmmmm.

17

Speaking from his jail cell, Jehovah's Witness leader Ted Jaracz...

by sf in

i am in the usenet forum on google and 'stumbled' upon this item i will paste below.

what i would like confirmed by those in the know is if it is, in fact true:.

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/alt.religion.watchtower.reform/browse_thread/thread/15917b063a0fae8f/35c81946ada928d9?tvc=2&q=ted+jaracz&hl=en#35c81946ada928d9.

9thWonder

There is information relating to Jehovah's Witnesses on the Justice Department website. Unfortunately, you won't find this one. www.usdoj.gov

43

They were just here !!

by Apostanator in

jw
friends

my wife and i just got home from the gym and there were 2 jw's at our door.

i couldn't help myself....i felt rage building up inside but i tried to play it cool.

just coming off the ne apostafest and hearing everyones story just pissed me off when i saw those two dubs standing there.

9thWonder

Almost every morning on my way to work there are about 2-3 female JWs sitting (literally) on a wall with the Watchtower and Awake! in their hands passing them to people as they walk by. I usually either walk on the opposite side of the street or tell them that I have the recent mags or "no thanks." Now, I feel like I want to prepare a little speech: "Why are you all just sitting on the wall chatting with one another and handing out magazines? Is quantity more important than quality? Wouldn't it be more beneficial to try to have a conversation with someone than it is to hand out literature? Or is it more important to report a large number of magazines distributed or double and triple digit hours? Don't you know that 90% of your literature ends up in the garbage can? Use a little more discretion. You're not reaching people this way! You're loitering! These people are on their way to work, they don't have time to talk to you. If they don't have time to talk to you what makes you think they'll take time to read your literature and they are not even informed of your message. You are not handing out flyers advertising a local pizza joint, you're supposed to be 'announcing Jehovah's Kingdom'. Are you doing that?"

Not that I care whether they hand out magazines, I just want to embarass them off the wall! It's so annoying!