i am a 4th generation witness (on both sides of the family) and indeed my entire family (save for the few who "fall away" in every family) are jehovah's witnesses.
my dad is an elder, my mom a regular pioneer and my two elder sisters the same.
my younger sister is 17 and still unbaptized, so therefore she is sort of a "black sheep" in our family and "spiritually weak" for not having already "taken the dip in the pool" (however, due to her overall open-minded nature, i am perhaps closest to her).
Thanks for all the comments so far, they're very encouraging. How do you people still in the org. cope? I just try to go to enough meetings to keep my parents off my back.
Go therefore and baptize the people in the name of the father and of the son... what the hell, we just need to bring up the yearbook numbers!
here's some ideas:.
i lost my religion at jw.com!.
jw.com- cult busters!.
Bboy,
I remember when that magazine came out. I was so impressed by the courage and conviction of those children. I thought that if I were ever in a situation like that, I could always look to those kids as an inspiration. I think I may have even cried a little. Today, of course, I know better and I wonder how many would still be alive today if it wasn't for that stupid policy.
How about this: My child was an honor student in the Theocratic Ministry School.
How many JW's does it take to screw in a light bulb? However many the GB says.
Go therefore and baptize the people in the name of the father and of the son... what the hell, we just need to bring up the yearbook numbers!
i remember that when i was a witness, seeing certain phrases would trigger the response: "aha, this must be from an apostate!".
those words and phrases included:.
"the watchtower society"--because the brothers would usually just call it "the society" and because this was, of course, merely a legal instrument the brothers used to advance the preaching work.. "the governing body"--because despite the power they may wield, the governing body does stay in the background personality-wise most of the time and has done so pretty much since the days of knorr; therefore, i regarded any attempts to point to them as personally important as suspicious (and can recall being charmed in an odd way a few years ago when a brother giving a public talk was unable to recall the name of the society's current president).. "the rank and file"--obviously this was insulting because jehovah's witnesses have no clergy-laity division!
Saying: "I think the society may be wrong on this point." They'll automatically assume you came to that conclusion by seeing apostate information instead of... REACHING IT YOURSELF!!!
I remember once being scolded for suggesting one of the "simplified" arrangements the society was putting in place would not make things simpler for the average publisher.
Go therefore and baptize the people in the name of the father and of the son... what the hell, we just need to bring up the yearbook numbers!
when god created adam and eve did he foreknow that they would sin?.
this is taken from the reasoning book:.
when god created adam, did he know that adam would sin?.
God knew Jesus wouldn't sin, remember, God knows everything. Having free will means being able to choose, therefore, being able to sin. The amazing thing is that God KNEW we would sin, but still choose to love us.
Wouldn't it be truly loving of God to simply supply a simple and unconfusing path to Him? There are so many ifs and buts and "that's not what the scriptures meant" you wonder if God isn't a God of confusion. Why would he choose to speak to some humans but not all? Would Noah had believed a flood would destroy the entire world if God did not tell him? Would Abraham have attempted to sacrifice his son if he had not directly heard the voice of God? Why did God alleiviate Thomas' doubts but not others? God created us with critical minds. If we aren't critical about the things we see, learning usually gets stagnated. Wouldn't it be truly loving if God simply made it known once and for all (and not to individual obscure people) to all people who he is? Why does he expect us to take his existence and Godhood for granted despite the fact his so called holy book contains factual errors? Why can't He be less difficult to comprehend if our salvation is truly his motive?
Go therefore and baptize the people in the name of the father and of the son... what the hell, we just need to bring up the yearbook numbers!
i just thought i'd drop a note.
i have been reading these boards for over 2 maybe 3 weeks, and a couple days ago registered.
even though i have never posted i feel like i know a lot of you already.
Welcome to the board both of you. I was a bit of a lurker myself before I decided to start posting a month or so ago. This is a very interesting place. It can be very informative, funny and even sometimes irritating (but not very much so). Continue to post and thanks for finally joining us.
Go therefore and baptize the people in the name of the father and of the son... what the hell, we just need to bring up the yearbook numbers!
and in that dream.... setting is the supreme court of the united states.
present are representatives of the watchtower society and of stratton, ohio.. watchtower: "and in conclusion, the watchtower socity wishes to respectfully assert this honored body of men and women that we have always been first and foremost in the protection and promulgation of full protection of free speech, religion and right to associate for all american citizens.".
stratton oh: <whips out a copy of the january 1, 1997 watchtower, which he obtained somehow from somewhere .
With 3 Catholics on the Supreme Court, they better hope they don't read the magazines.
Go therefore and baptize the people in the name of the father and of the son... what the hell, we just need to bring up the yearbook numbers!
And we call these people backward? I'm yet to see the US invent a flying carpet.
over the history of its existence, the bible has had its critics and detracters.
going into a bookstore, i was able to find a flood of information that is critical of the bible.
however, the same was not true of the koran.
Over the history of its existence, the bible has had its critics and detracters. Going into a bookstore, I was able to find a flood of information that is critical of the bible. However, the same was not true of the Koran. My question is: Is there any questionable scholarship, errors, or curious links with local myths surronding the Koran? I know such critism is no doubt banned in fundamentalist Islamic countries (which is where many Muslims live) and such study is of little interest in non- Islamic countries such as this. I know the author of The Satanic Verses, a book that was only mildly critical of Islam, was lambasted by fundamentalist, and he has had his life threatened. However, my guess is there probably are some good polemical works. I'm not trying to "find fault" with Islam, however, I do wonder if dissent is merely repressed and there actually are problems at the very core of the religion (sort of reminds me of a certain religion) or if Islam was a better put together religion when it comes to harmonizing with established facts. Any comments?
yes, i know, the title is a pun.
it was deliberate.. i can recall in the 1970s seeing very few overweight jws.
in fact, i used to think (in my arrogant jw manner) that this was a sign of how jws were better at self-control than worldly people.
Ahhh.. don't remind me of those cheese danishes. Just about everyone ignored the advice to not eat during the sessions. But of course, that's all "simplified" now.
my login session .
--------------------- let there be light!
:let there be light!.
Hey God,
Did you really create us in your own image? And if not your image then whose? Are you a shy person? You always seem to only talk to one obscure person at a time (or one internet forum) and not to great crowds. I'm sure if you ask CNN for a couple of minutes you can set man straight on a ton of things. How you feel about that Bin Laden guy?
