Posts by yaddayadda

25

Which WT doctrines or belief is correct???

by vitty in

jw
friends

considering that most if not all of the wt beliefs are bs......................do you think any of them are right?.

i myself dont believe in hell fire, but foreverything else, the trinity imortality of the soul, the great apostacy or armageddon im still not 100 % sure.

so which ones do you think the wt are spot on with ?.

yaddayadda

No trinity
No inherent immortal soul
No hellfire
Majority on earth, minority in heaven

27

Paris Hilton sent back to jail

by free2beme in

jw
friends

they sent paris hilton back to jail.

as i have expressed on here many time, paris hilton is my least favorite of the hollywood people.

so, seeing her escorted from the court to the police car like a common criminal, while she yelled for her mother, ...... .

yaddayadda

Wow awesome news, hehe. Serves her damn well right the spoilt rich tart. Maybe Justice isn't such an ass at times after all.

40

Stop college or keep plugging on?...opinions please.

by FreedomFrog in

jw
friends

here's my situation...i'm doing college online because i can't very well do college the traditional way with a 2 year old.

anyway, my computer has been acting really funny and it's not reliable anymore.

my ex worked on it for almost 4 hours and the darn thing still crashes saying my "virtual" memory is too low.

yaddayadda

Just buy a new computer and carry on! Carrying on will probably do more to help you heal after your divorce than stopping.

117

NEW policy! NO LIT for EX-JWs!

by MinisterAmos in

it's official; they read the letter tonight that puts forth the new procedure.

if you find an expelled person in the field or are studying with one, you are no longer permitted to give them lit.

presumably the elders make a decision if an expelled one is regularly attending meetings, but only they can give them lit.

Translation of this announcement:

"Expelled JW's are to be hated as enemies. Shun them totally and don't dare give them any spiritual food. Ex-JW's are pure filth and don't deserve to live let alone read our stuff."

29

Some posters spend a sh*tload of time on here every day!

by yaddayadda in

jw
friends

yaddayadda

Top 10 posters in the last 7 days:

nvrgnbk 395 posts
blondie 204
juni 126
needproof 108
minimus 103
greendawn 100
free2think 100
Sad emo 91
R.F. 87
dawg 81

Holy crapola, that must equate to how many hours a day on this site? Get a life you guys, seriously! LOL!

38

Disfellowshipping smokers is an outrage!

by yaddayadda in

how does the society scripturally justify taking the ultra-harsh measure of disfellowshipping and shunning persons who merely enjoy smoking a few cigarettes a day?

in what way is mild smoking a gross sin that is deserving of such a harsh punishment?

how on earth does the society make the connection between the scriptural exhortation to 'cleanse ourselves of every defilement of flesh and spirit' (2 cor 7:1 & 2) to taking the extremely harsh measure of denying a smoker the right to any contact with their fellow congregation members, friends, and jw family?

yaddayadda

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLONDIE! Have a super special day.

38

Disfellowshipping smokers is an outrage!

by yaddayadda in

how does the society scripturally justify taking the ultra-harsh measure of disfellowshipping and shunning persons who merely enjoy smoking a few cigarettes a day?

in what way is mild smoking a gross sin that is deserving of such a harsh punishment?

how on earth does the society make the connection between the scriptural exhortation to 'cleanse ourselves of every defilement of flesh and spirit' (2 cor 7:1 & 2) to taking the extremely harsh measure of denying a smoker the right to any contact with their fellow congregation members, friends, and jw family?

yaddayadda

How does the Society scripturally justify taking the ultra-harsh measure of disfellowshipping and shunning persons who merely enjoy smoking a few cigarettes a day?

In what way is mild smoking a gross sin that is deserving of such a harsh punishment?

How on earth does the Society make the connection between the scriptural exhortation to 'cleanse ourselves of every defilement of flesh and spirit' (2 Cor 7:1 & 2) to taking the extremely harsh measure of denying a smoker the right to any contact with their fellow congregation members, friends, and JW family? 2 Cor 7: 1 & 2 is hardly forceful enough to justify disfellowshipping.

In all the passages of scripture that enumerate the kinds of immoral, sinful activities that Christians must avoid there is not the slightest hint of disfellowshipping someone merely for smoking habitually.

For example, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 says "What! Do you not know that unrighteous persons will not inherit God's kingdom? Do not be misled. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men kept for unnatural purposes, nor men who lie with men, nor thieves, nor greedy persons, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit God's kingdom."

1 Cor 5: 11 "But now I am writing you to quit mixing in company with anyone called a brother that is a fornicator or a greedy person or an idolater or an extortioner, not even eating with such a man."

Galatians 5: 19, 20 "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, and they are fornication, uncleanness, loose conduct, idolatry, practice of spiritism, enmities, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, contentions, divisions, sects, envies, drunken bouts, revelries, and things like these. As to these things I am forewarning you, the same way as I did forewarn you, that those who practice such things will not inherit God's kingdom."

Revelation 21: 8 "But as for the cowards and those without faith and those who are disgusting in their filth and murderers and fornicators and idolaters and all the liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur. This means the second death."

Where do they get from these scriptures that merely smoking a few cigarettes regularly is a sin gross enough in God's eyes to merit disfellowshiping?

If a JW only smokes in moderation (ie, avoids chronic chain-smoking) and takes every reasonable effort to avoid fouling up the air of those around him, how can it be justifiable to disfellowship and shun him? Besides the obvious health connotations, how is it worse than say, a JW who is chronically addicted to caffeine, drinking, say, a dozen cups a day? Chronic caffeine consumptions is arguably just as much a 'defilement of flesh and spirit' and a display of 'greediness' as a smoker who smokes, say, 6 cigarretes a day.

Surely the very most they can do to smokers is apply the 'marking' policy found at 2 Thessalonians 3: 14 & 15. And even that would be harsh and essentially unscriptural.

I think disfellowshipping smokers is a bloody outrage.

59

Kansas City DC summary

by stillajwexelder in

ok just got back from the dc in kansas city.

i know there has been a thread on the dc already but i will post "highlights" or lowlights depending on one's opinion, of the dc in kc on this thread.. 1) bethel speakers so far 1 from patterson bethel, 1 from brooklyn bethel and 1 from walkill bethel + governing body speaker anthony morris 111. friday major talk on christ on last talk by morris.

illustarted earthquake in armenia few yaers ago.

yaddayadda

Can you elaborate on the Saturday 'false teachers' talks. What exactly did they say about the internet?

It is unbelievable how much they are banging on about higher education lately. Makes me sick. Nothing but sheer propaganda and mental manipulation but that is what the GB is all about. Why don't they wake up and sniff the roses. Even in the org hardly anyone is taking this nonsense seriously anymore. JW's flout it regularly and with impunity. Why don't they just face the fact and focus on encouraging JW's attending university to stick together and to view university as a 'field white for the harvesting', much like they encourage high school students to do. What the feck are they so scared of. Morons.

Thanks for posting this.

10

What do you think would happen to the organization if.......

by R.F. in

...they dropped the disassociation/shunning policy?

yaddayadda

If your questions is asking what would happen if they completely abandoned the disfellowshipping policy (which of course they never would) then, yes, many would stop attending almost overnight if they felt relatively certain that they could still enjoy some social contact with their JW friends and family. But if they tweaked the policy a bit to make it more reasonable and balanced then I agree with JWfacts that it would actually help them maintain their numbers.

If they merely 'marked' persons disfellowshipped under 1 Cor 5, which is in fact what the apostle Paul was counselling Christians to do at 2 Thessalonians 3: 14, 15 ('not even eating' with such persons mentioned at 1 Cor 5 means avoiding close, social contact, not total shunning. The Watchtower Society mistakenly believes the Greek word 'sunanamignumi' which the NWT translates as 'quit mixing in company' at 1 Cor 5: 9-13 and 'stop associating' at 1 Thess 3: 14, 15, means total shunning, however, 'sunanamignumi' only means intimate, close association, not general association), then the disfellowshipped person would be encouraged to hang in there and return. They would be able to receive encouraging exhortation to repent and enjoy full association again, which their very attendance at the meetings implies they are interested in doing. Coupled with that, the Society should make the following changes: reduce the length of time that someone is 'disfellowshipped', ie, instead of making them wait 6-9 months for reinstatement, make it about 3 months, tops. Also, give the person basic 'privileges' back (and why is answering up at the meetings a 'privilege' when the Watchtower Society says it is an 'expression of our faith') straight away upon reinstatement instead of making them suffer the humiliation of being unable to do these things for months and months.

But that approach is too much like common Christian decency and love for the Watchtower Society. They prefer to use disfellowshipping as a punitive, harsh measure. Disfellowshipping is a major FEAR WEAPON to keep JW's scared shitless of ever leaving. To any normal person the fear of being totally shunned by all your friends and family is a very natural, understandable fear and the GB knows this. So they are happy to maintain their ultra-harsh, legalistic and unscriptural policy on treating 'unrepentant sinners'. But what the GB don't realise is that their harsh treatment of disfellowshipped persons actually prevents many persons from returning to the organisation. They cannot endure the shame and humiliation of sitting at meetings for months on end with everyone completely ignoring them. It is one of the most emotionally insufferable experiences a human can endure...I know, because I did it.

22

Misquoting Jesus-a must read

by dawg in

i've read comments from those of you that still cling to the bible stating that there's no merit in the di vinci code's claim concerning the conference in nicea in 325. we all know that book is fiction but like all great fiction, there's some truth behind the story.

some of you have made statements that the nt was actually written by the apostles, which i refuted, and after asking for and not reciveing information from you believers any bible scholars anywhere that would go on record saying they believed the nt was in fact written by the apostles; i decided to researcht he subject on my own.

i could find no scholars that believed the apostles wrote the nt; as a matter of fact, they all said the apostles couldn't have written them.

yaddayadda

Dawg, what scholarship have you been reading besides Ehrman? Have you read any refutations of "Misquoting Jesus"?

The trick is to get a balanced view, which I doubt you have.

British NT scholar Richard Bauckham gives an excellent treatment of the authorship of the gospels in his recent book "Jesus and the Eyewitnesses - the Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony". I'd also highly recommend "Jesus remembered" by scholar James D G Dunn.

There are many good reasons why we can believe that the authors ascribed to the gospels, ie, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are the actual authors (Mark and Luke obviously weren't apostles, and there is some debate on whether the 'John' of the fourth gospel was the apostle John or some other John). Just because some of the books of the NT weren't written by original apostles is hardly enough to mean they are not trustworthy. Often writers in those days would use an emanuensis to do the actual writing for them, as Paul clearly does, telling them what to write but often allowing them some latitude in the phraseology. They would then check that they approved of what was written. We can compare this to some extent with how a good personal secretary might be used today.

Contrary to Gumby's comment, the apostle Paul was indeed an apostle and was recognised by the Jerusalem based apostles as such, but he wasn't an eyewitness of Jesus life and ministry (hence why he hardly comments on Jesus life and ministry).

If you do some searching on the internet I'm sure you will find lots of arguments for and against on the subject.