Nate Merit

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Posts by Nate Merit

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  14

  Local KH gets shafted

  by sinis in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  a while back three local halls (same building) donated their saved up money to a new hall being built in a nearby town.

  appearently the new hall could not get a loan for the work.

  well the other halls got together about 50k and gave it to the the new hall with the promise that they would be payed back as the donating hall needed to use the money within the next few months for repairs.

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  Nate Merit

  This makes me SO glad I'm not part of ANY religious organization anymore!
  
  Nate
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  26

  MY CHALLENGE TO FUNDAMENTALISTS/LITERALISTS

  by Nate Merit in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  for the fundamentalist christians reading this post who do not like my hermeneutics (principles of biblical interpretation), i challenge you to look up all the passages of the old testament that are quoted in the new testament.

  read the surrounding context of each quotation as it appears in the old testament.

  you will be shocked to discover that the context of the verses in the old testament almost never correspond to the way the verses are actually used in the new testament.

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  Nate Merit

  For the fundamentalist Christians reading this post who do not like my hermeneutics (principles of Biblical interpretation), I challenge you to look up all the passages of the Old Testament that are quoted in the New Testament. Read the surrounding context of each quotation as it appears in the Old Testament. You will be shocked to discover that the context of the verses in the Old Testament almost never correspond to the way the verses are actually used in the New Testament. The New Testament writers mainly yank verses wildly out of context and use them willy-nilly as they please! None of them use the "historical-grammatical method" considered to be The One True Method by protestants, evangelicals, and fundamentalists. The historical-grammatical (literal) method is the root of the "death of God" in modern theology. It turned theology from a mysterious spiritual pursuit into a science, and theology became a lifeless husk, because "the letter kills but the Spirit gives Life." (2 Corinthians 3:6) This happened because the historical-grammatical method of Biblical interpretation restricts biblical understanding to the banal, obvious, superficial interpretation, and closes the door to the far richer and more powerful allegorical meanings hidden within. The hidden, allegorical meanings give us spiritual "meat" but the historical- grammatical method gives us mere "milk." The historical-grammatical method gives us flat dull bovine understandings that lead to disunity. If it did not, there would not be over 30,000 Christian sects in the USA alone.
  
  If you bother to read Galatians 4:21-25, you will see that the apostle Paul was anything but a literalist when he declared that the stories about Mount Sinai, Mount Horeb, and about Sarah and Hagar, in the Old Testament are not literal history but are ALLEGORIES ("allegoreo" in Greek, see Strong’s #238) about the old and new covenants. Paul even tells us that Jerusalem is an allegory for our Heavenly Mother! The New Testament writers fail miserably as fundamentalists. So much for the "historical-grammatical" method! Therefore I do not debate my hermeneutics with anyone, least of all with literalistic fundamentalists. "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from or where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit." (John 3:8) Fundamentalists are sorely amiss in not acknowledging, as the Apostle Paul does, the deeper hidden allegorical meanings in the Bible. Fundamentalists and others insist the historical-grammatical method is the only "true" method, yet the Apostle Paul and the other New Testament writers abundantly prove that to be gravely erroneous thinking. Thus endeth the lesson.
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  17

  MY CHALLENGE TO FUNDAMENTALISTS/BIBLICAL LITERALISTS

  by Nate Merit in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  for the fundamentalist christians reading this post who do not like my hermeneutics (principles of biblical interpretation), i challenge you to look up all the passages of the old testament that are quoted in the new testament.

  read the surrounding context of each quotation as it appears in the old testament.

  you will be shocked to discover that the context of the verses in the old testament almost never correspond to the way the verses are actually used in the new testament.

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  2. 
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• 

  Nate Merit

  For the fundamentalist Christians reading this post who do not like my hermeneutics (principles of Biblical interpretation), I challenge you to look up all the passages of the Old Testament that are quoted in the New Testament. Read the surrounding context of each quotation as it appears in the Old Testament. You will be shocked to discover that the context of the verses in the Old Testament almost never correspond to the way the verses are actually used in the New Testament. The New Testament writers mainly yank verses wildly out of context and use them willy-nilly as they please! None of them use the "historical-grammatical method" considered to be The One True Method by protestants, evangelicals, and fundamentalists. The historical-grammatical (literal) method is the root of the "death of God" in modern theology. It turned theology from a mysterious spiritual pursuit into a science, and theology became a lifeless husk, because "the letter kills but the Spirit gives Life." (2 Corinthians 3:6) This happened because the historical-grammatical method of Biblical interpretation restricts biblical understanding to the banal, obvious, superficial interpretation, and closes the door to the far richer and more powerful allegorical meanings hidden within. The hidden, allegorical meanings give us spiritual "meat" but the historical- grammatical method gives us mere "milk." The historical-grammatical method gives us flat dull bovine understandings that lead to disunity. If it did not, there would not be over 30,000 Christian sects in the USA alone.
  
  If you bother to read Galatians 4:21-25, you will see that the apostle Paul was anything but a literalist when he declared that the stories about Mount Sinai, Mount Horeb, and about Sarah and Hagar, in the Old Testament are not literal history but are ALLEGORIES ("allegoreo" in Greek, see Strong’s #238) about the old and new covenants. Paul even tells us that Jerusalem is an allegory for our Heavenly Mother! The New Testament writers fail miserably as fundamentalists. So much for the "historical-grammatical" method! Therefore I do not debate my hermeneutics with anyone, least of all with literalistic fundamentalists. "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from or where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit." (John 3:8) Fundamentalists are sorely amiss in not acknowledging, as the Apostle Paul does, the deeper hidden allegorical meanings in the Bible. Fundamentalists and others insist the historical-grammatical method is the only "true" method, yet the Apostle Paul and the other New Testament writers abundantly prove that to be gravely erroneous thinking. Thus endeth the lesson.
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  49

  17 reasons why Christianity is a reasonable faith

  by Shining One in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  hi gang, .

  here is part of an article i came across that defends the resurrection as historical.... .

  from james patrick holding .

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  Nate Merit

  Jesus is just one of a long line of mythological gods that die a horrible death and is later resurrected. Christianity borrowed from older mythology.
  
  INDEED! Bravo sir. Yet, those ubiquitous and perennial Myths (Myths in the Joseph Campbell sense, not the pointless and idiotic sense of "fable") of the dying and rising Godman are still powerful and transformative for the human psyche when stripped of literalism. When the Bible is recognized for what it is, a book of Mythology, and is interpreted accordingly (allegorically), voila! Something worthwhile. For me, that is. Everyone has to find their own path, even if it is no-path. Psst...I am working undercover.
  
  Nate
• 
  49

  17 reasons why Christianity is a reasonable faith

  by Shining One in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  hi gang, .

  here is part of an article i came across that defends the resurrection as historical.... .

  from james patrick holding .

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  Nate Merit

  Hi. "Nate" here. Hmmmm. Nate's life did change 32 years ago when he was born again, and even more so a few weeks later when he was baptized in the Holy Spirit. Christ and the Father and the Holy Spirit continue to guide my life, thank you very much. Perhaps it's your turn now to repent and believe the Good News?
  
  Nate
• 
  49

  17 reasons why Christianity is a reasonable faith

  by Shining One in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  hi gang, .

  here is part of an article i came across that defends the resurrection as historical.... .

  from james patrick holding .

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  Nate Merit

  Let's see if you can back yo your loud mouth assertiosn with your own fact, Nate Boy:
  
  (LOL what a child you are! Lose the temper Jumior, m'k? )
  
  >The best response to this sort of fundamentalist/literalist drabble is some probing, critical questioning, followed up by some sold facts, rather than repeated tired worn out cliches.
  
  Why that's a good idea, Nate but what were you doing in the paragraph below?
  
  >I see little difference between mainstream fundies and Watchtower fundies, both types are frightened of science
  
  (This is my personal experience with many dozens of fundiots, from many fundiot churches. I was myself a fundiot for 15 years. It was simple ignorance. Ignorance can be fixed, but syupidity last for a lifetime Junior, m'k?)
  
  How are fundamentalists (your label, not that I accept it as I would be proud to be a 'fundy' but I am really a moderate) 'frightened of scientists'? Typically, creationists use the same evidence as evolutionists and are honest enough to admit that they begin their reasoning with presuppositions. This is what the evolutionists do but rarely admit.
  
  (Sounds to me like you need to read some evolutionists rebuttals of creationism. Remember Junior (you started this by calling me Nate Boy, junior, m'k?) I was a fundiot myself, and had almost evry anti-evolution pro-creation book cranked out by the ENGINEERS (not scientists) in the Scientific Creationism movement)
  
  > of logical deeply probing questions,
  
  Where does logic and rational thinking come from in the first place, Nate? What has given us the ability to think above the level of animal instinct? How has 'evolutionary pressure' done this on its own?
  
  (Well, junior, this ability [on a physical level] comes from the Yahweh Elohim, on a spiritual level it comes from the Heavenly Father of Jesus the Christ, who is NOT the Yahweh Elohim.)
  
  >and the use of our adult critical thinking faculties when it comes to religion.
  
  Define this as the presupposition that no miracles have happened because we do not admit they can happen. You can see the views of the infamous, wacked out 'Jesus Seminar' scholars for more detail on that statement.
  
  (Miracles happen junior, just as horrible genetic mutations, such as yourself, occur, m'k junior?)
  
  > Thye put their religion in a special compartment to keep it safe from examination, then lash out at others who don't dribble their drabble.
  
  Actually, we hold skeptics accountable to a truly unbiased view of religion and deny them the right to set the limits of any debate. A liberal believer typically 'caves in' to skeptics demands and presuppositions, giving away the battle before it begins.
  
  (LOL I am no typical liberal, m'k junior? No one is truly unbiased, m'k junior? Neither you nor I nor anyone else)
  
  > Sound familiar? WTBTS! So many Witnesses leave the WTBTS only to become enslaved to a fundy version of the same mental and spiritual bondage in another package.
  
  >I have yet to meet a fundamentalist who wanted to be anything else but a fundy, but I will make some recommendations anyway.
  
  Don't bother, we have already seen the blasphemous and ridiculous parodies of god that skeptics pass off as 'good to read'.
  
  (As I said, fundiots such as yourself enjoy being fundiots, right junior? M'k? Now junior, I didn't read the entire post because it was long and BORING and I have already been a fundiot for FIFTEEN of my 52 years, even becoming a Baptist minister after Bible College, and continued my ministry through cemetary...er, seminary. Just as I do NOT need to read John 3:16-17, I do not need to read fundiot drabble, m'k junior? Fundiotism is predictable and BORING. Just remember junior, m'k, that you won't ever grow beyond being a fundiot unless you take a step away from it and read other materials, m'k?)
  
  Okay Rex, now that we're finished with the testosterone crap and all the nonsense, why did you take my response personally? That post is NOT YOUR WORDS and I did not realize you agreed with it! I was tired tired tired when I was reading your post and made the mistake of thinking you disagreed with it, so I responded to you as I would to someone who disagreed with the article. I'm sorry. My mistake. I'm no one's boy Rex, just as you are no one's junior. Continued blessings to you sir!
  
  Nathan
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  71

  "Jehovah Unmasked!"

  by sf in

  1. social
  2. current

  http://people.lulu.com/users/index.php?fhomepage=225208

  http://www.lulu.com/content/167431

  the author, nathaniel j. merritt, has been hitchhiking his way to enlightenment since he was a teen.

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  Nate Merit

  I'de like to know Nate if youv'e read anything on the idea that the Sumerian god Enki later known as Ea was also the later know Yah/Yaw/YHWH that we know as Jehovah, I've been reading about this and it seems very interesting, I also want to get your book it peaked my interest. I've also read that YHWH was at one time know as a storm god that lived on a mountain, and that he had a consort, there is an ancient tablet found in the Far East that says something like "Thanks to Yaweh's Asherah (which means consort), needles to say I was very shocked at the time.

  There is so much information available now at one's fingertips, this will hopefully help people open their eyes and see Religion for the farce that it is.

  IC
  
  Hello Ice!
  
  Yes, I am familiar with this, except for the view of Yahweh as a storm god dwelling atop a mountain. Though I would be surprised if this weren't so. The closer one examines the gods of the fertile crescent, the easier it is to see their common root, something you have already discovered. I was still a Baptist minister when I first encountered the various female consorts of Yahweh, such as Asherah and Shekinah, and I too was scandalized.
  
  There is indeed a lot of information available, the problem is that it is almost impossible to get a fundamentalist to read anything that doesn't merely repeat and reinforce what they already believe and think.
  
  You'll enjoy my book. It'll give you plenty of 'ammo' to use in discussion with fundamentalists. I wrote it for maximum shock effect upon the beliefs of conservative evangelicals and fundamentalists, using the Bible to question and radically undermine their most cherished dogmas and assumptions. This induces a state of confusion and uncertainty that is usually conducive to deprogramming, if someone is available to do the deprogramming. So, if you ever need help with someone you have lent the book to, always feel free to email me for any assistance in helping someone to transition out of fundamentalism. Feel free to email me with any questions, comments, objections, and suggestions. I may very well include such information in the second edition. Thanks!
  
  Nate
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  75

  I'm not buying it! That people left the Witnesses and became Christians.

  by free2beme in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i tried it, could not swallow all the lies and misinformation they had.

  i am sorry, but even if you deny the whole witness faith, there is still parts to christianity that they pointed out that you can not just ignore and act like it is okay to join another faith that is christian.

  are you going to become catholic when your know their history?

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  Nate Merit

  Hi. My information is probably way out of date since it was given to me thirty two years ago by the psychologist I was seeing to help me recover from my dreadful experiences with the WTBTS and Jehovah's Witnesses. Such information could possible be found on Google. Perhaps the religion of choice for former Witnesses is now Scientology, though I doubt it.
  
  Nate
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  71

  "Jehovah Unmasked!"

  by sf in

  1. social
  2. current

  http://people.lulu.com/users/index.php?fhomepage=225208

  http://www.lulu.com/content/167431

  the author, nathaniel j. merritt, has been hitchhiking his way to enlightenment since he was a teen.

  1. 
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  Nate Merit

  What on earth has given you any idea that I wish to control you? What in my wiritngs has led you to such a monstrous calumny? Have you read Jehovah Unmasked? If you had, you would know my stated convictions on so-called spiritual leaders! My book is not an appeal for people to swim in my wake, but to stand on their own two feet. Having taken more than a little psychology, I could hazard several guess about you, but I will abstain. I abstain because I really do not know you. At all. Hint.
  
  The internet seems to bring out the viciousness in people.
  
  http://jcnot4me.com/Items/theology/JEHOVAH_UNMASKED/jehovah_unmasked.htm
  
  Nathaniel J. Merritt Met. D.
• 
  71

  "Jehovah Unmasked!"

  by sf in

  1. social
  2. current

  http://people.lulu.com/users/index.php?fhomepage=225208

  http://www.lulu.com/content/167431

  the author, nathaniel j. merritt, has been hitchhiking his way to enlightenment since he was a teen.

  1. 
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  Nate Merit

  The last thing I want is another flock to lead! If you knew me in real life, you would laugh that anyone would even suggest that to me. My aim in life now is to enable people to stand on their own two feet spiritually, not having to rely on anyone, not even me!
  
  Rather than lead you and tell you what to think, I simply lay the facts out, draw my conclusions, and invite the reader to draw their own. If their conclusions match mine, my book supplies a reading list for further study.
  
  Not anyone's pastor or leader,
  Nathaniel J. Merritt Met. D.