Posts by yaddayadda

2

We know

by Norm in

part 9 starts with the question:.

20-21 how we know we are in the last days ***.

the bible is the word of god!

e-watchman mass banning

by spiceant in

recently e-watchman started deleting/suspending (theres a difference?

) accounts of people on the e-jehovahs-witnesses.com forum left and right which he and the moderating team deemed to be discussing apostate things as in apostate in brother kings own vision, further detailed in some posts (basicly barring out discussions of jw doctrine).. i suppose my own offenses was my "staying in the org.

" thread and one that explained that one should not depend on kh's to be able of worshipping.

yaddayadda

Apparently e-watchman still holds to all of the Society's core teachings, but selectively trashes other teachings like 1914, etc. I think recently a lot of persons on his site have been challenging some of the JW core doctrines, eg, that there is a heavenly hope, that the JW's are the only true religion, etc, so E-W has come down hard. If he wants to suppress discussion on things like that then that is his perogative, but it seems he has not given people much warning and has treated otherwise loyal people very harshly by banning them without any further ado. No doubt he is convinced in his own mind that he is doing everyone a favour by ousting these 'apostates' on his site.

Moderator-1 on his website is Timothy Kline, who administers King's forum software. Kline is an internet whiz and has his own JW-related website - 'Pathways' or something. King will never admit that Kline is moderator-1 as Kline prefers to use weighty, scathing words anonymously (remind you of any group?). Kline is a ruthless moderator on e-w's forum, but on his own website he tolerates discussion on just about anything, and in fact Kline has posted an article questioning whether there is a heavenly resurrection at all, something that e-w doesn't like discussed on his site! Kline has also admitted he doesn't believe the JW's are the one true religion, something anathema to e-w. If that's not hypocritical I don't know what is.

23

e-watchman mass banning

by spiceant in

recently e-watchman started deleting/suspending (theres a difference?

) accounts of people on the e-jehovahs-witnesses.com forum left and right which he and the moderating team deemed to be discussing apostate things as in apostate in brother kings own vision, further detailed in some posts (basicly barring out discussions of jw doctrine).. i suppose my own offenses was my "staying in the org.

" thread and one that explained that one should not depend on kh's to be able of worshipping.

yaddayadda

deleted - accidental post.

48

"Jehovah God"

by Jeffro in

the expression "jehovah god" has always seemed strange to me.

even when i was a jw, i found the term awkward, and never used it myself.

both words are nouns intended to be synonyms of each other, unless the name "jehovah" is being used as an adjective, which is also weird.

yaddayadda

It always bugged me too. It almost seems childish, like saying 'moo cow', 'pussy cat' or 'car car'.

36

I got the phone call. WARNING, DEPRESSING!

by Schism in

jw
friends

well,my dad called last night, crying.

he says armageddon's about to start and he doesn't want to lose me.

he said i either need to become a good jw and go to the meetings, or he will have to distance himself from me so that he won't be so attached to me when the big a hits.

yaddayadda

Did you ask him why he believes Armageddon is about to start? Did he attempt to offer any real proof?

This just shows that what is motivating everyone in the organisation is a morbid FEAR of death at Armageddon, not love. It's no different than the fear of being tortured in a burning hell. Your parent's emotional upset is entirely because of their twisted fear that Jehovah will soon slaughter you for leaving the org.

It's sick.

12

Martial Arts ultimate self-help system

by zagor in

jw
friends

after leaving j-dubs one of the first things i did was to enroll in kung fu martial arts school (and recently even started doing ninjutsu).

it was one of the best decisions ive ever made, until recent times at least.. what ive quickly learned was that beauty of martial arts transcends physical skill and techniques.

it is by no means only whole body workout; it is body and mind workout in its fullest sense.. to master advanced level of martial arts one cannot skip over underlying philosophy.

yaddayadda

I did Brazilian Jiu-jitsu for a while and can understand what you are getting at. It focuses your thoughts like nothing else and I found it a good way to get my mind of JW stuff. BJJ is pretty hard-core and not for the faint-hearted and if you end up in a dojo that tolerates bullys and ego-maniacs it can be deflating to your self-esteem, especially in the early stages.

I have a cousin who is a 5th dan Zendokai karate black-belt and he says that if he were to take up any martial art now it would be Aikido.

I might try Aikido soon but I'm a bit put off by all the tradition and crazy pants Gi's.

21

Hello..need help...I'm on the brink of :(

by crazito in

jw
friends

short story:.

never had a real religious formation until i met the witness in my teenage years.. not everything has been bad but most of my friends there and exwife have been cheaters, liars and hypocrites.... i called it quits this year as i could no longer swallow their truth.

i remarried a supposedly "christian" 23 yr old woman that has shown me how bad things are 'out here'.... regarding her i have a question... those of you that continue to uphold bible's principles and love for our dear creator please advise on the following situation:.

yaddayadda

ps - next time don't rush into marrying someone you have only courted online. It's lunacy to marry someone after only meeting them in the flesh the day before.

16

Is there such thing as a true belief?

by The Dragon in

or does the belief turn into truth once proven and verified?

yaddayadda

With all due respect Narkissos, Wittgensteinsian linguistic philosophy is so passe.

A belief is subjective. I 'believe' that this is true/not true. Truth rests on facts. Facts may be either verifiable and demonstrable, or undiscovered and unknown. The trueness or otherwise of a particular belief therefore rests on whether it is based on facts (whether the believer realises it or not). Once a belief is undeniably proven to be 'true' it is no longer a belief, but a fact.

20

Your answer to a JW's question "What is an alternative?"

by ukescott in

a jw that i engaged in a series of debate finally posed this question.

i can see that he is running out of his "canned" answers and he wants to defend his organization desperately or he doesn't want to admit that he is dead wrong.

so he uses this faulty logic to depend his belief system.

yaddayadda

The fact is that there has always been groups of Christians gathered together in congregation like structures from the first century down to today. Christians are encouraged and expected to associate with other Christians, for obvious reasons. Going it alone is not really an option for a Christian if he really is interested in conforming to the scriptural counsel and Christian historical precedent in this matter.

There is nothing intrinsically unscriptural with the notion of a religious 'organisation' as such; it is really just a collection of congregations conforming to an accepted body of beliefs/interpretations. The only difference between them is the degree of authority exerted by those leading each congregational grouping, whether it be a single, 'independent' congregation or a global, highly structured supercluster. A sincere Christian is deluding themself if they think Christianity and 'congregation' can be divorced from each other. They have always gone hand in hand.

When a troubled JW asks 'what is an alternative' (to JW's) they are instinctively and correctly asking 'what other congregational group can I associate with?' This is the dilemma for JW's who wonder about 'alternatives' to being in the organisation. They recognise the need to associate together with other Christians in meaningful worship (Heb 10: 24, 25, etc) but they see the idea of swapping JW's for some other denomination as going from the pan to the fire, because of the doctrinal chasm. So in their mind they rationalise their situation and decide to stick with the devil they know, as it were. I think it's a very human, understandable rationalisation and I would never offer some flip solution such as "you don't need any 'organisation', just read your bible and pray at home alone", or similar. That's not the answer.

When one gets away from the paradigm that there is a 'true Christian religion' that they must stick to and realises that there are only good and bad people everywhere, ie, that it is all about Christian individuals, not organisations, the answer becomes apparent. The solution boils down to where one feels comfortable and can find wholesome association, warm friendship, and mutual encouragement to continue to walk the Christian path, assuming that is what the asker of the question is still wanting to do. My advice to those who have determined to abandon the JW organisation but who still want to be Christians is to reach out and form new Christian relationships with those in other churches. It really is all about relationships in a congregation, not membership in a religion. You will likely be pleasantly surprised, despite the doctrinal differences you encounter.

16

JW's - How many Masters are you serving?

by Honesty in

do jw's agree with romans 6:16 that if one obeys someone they are slaves of the one they are obeying?.

romans 6:16 says, "do you not know that if you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of that one you obey either of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness?

the watchtower society's daily text for monday december 18, 2006 says, "similarly, we will be blessed if we recognize and obey the prophet greater than moses, jesus, as well as "the faithful and discreet slave" appointed by him.".

yaddayadda

Confession, no one is doubting that the WTS has distorted and abused the FDS concept. You miss the point though. Honesty is taking Jesus' words about hating the one and loving the other out of its natural context. Jesus was talking about loving things like money and material things more than loving him. Those things are in direct opposition to love of spiritual things. He wasn't suggesting Christians hate their religious leaders, who attempt to lead people to God and Christ, not detract from them. He never told any of his listeners to hate the Pharisees or Saducees. In fact he said to do what they said, despite their teaching leavenous (false) things and having proud, wicked hearts. I don't see it as reasonable to use Jesus words here to portray the extreme viewpoint that JW's somehow hate Jesus simply because they accept the FDS interpretation put forward by the Society. JW's are mislead by the Society and have given their thinking faculties over to it, but that hardly means they are in a position of hating Jesus because of that. It is more the case that the Watchtower Society has put itself in the seat of Moses, as it were, and that Jesus is being denied some of the proper honour and focus that he should be getting because of the Watchtower's obession with itself.