i have found this a good line of reasoning to use with jw's to really get them thinking, are there any differences between the governing body and the pope?
i can think of a lot of similarities, and the wtbts officially condemns the practice of having a 'pope' like figure in charge.
http://www.popechart.com/faq.htm
Yes, they are exactly the same....but with different names or tags on it..so the JW don't recognize it and so they can feel they are so 'different' . But actually the Catholics are better than the JW's as there is alot more freedom of choice and beliefs. They can be involved in politics.. and believe in birthcontrol.
And many other things..they have freedom to be different than the church. But with JW's, one false move and you are either marked as bad association or reproved or DF'ed.
the jws feel like a judaic religion thinly disguised as christianity, they are the organisation of jehovah and not the church of christ, everything is jehovah centred while christ the head of the church is relegated to the margins, virtually all jws refuse to participate in the christian new covenent, their mindset is very works and not grace oriented, they really too heavily on the old testament and as if all that is not bad enough they claim to be the only true christian religion and viciously denigrate christian religions as apostate christendom and babylon.
i can see there a strong jewish influence and not surprisingly since russelll and rutherford, at least early in his presidency, were closely allied with the jews and supported by them.
any comments?
Greendawn....your point is reallly excellent. The WT is exactly like a Christian, OT religion...and the GB as being Moses. But what they fail to realize is that Jesus set us free from that structure and organization. And he is our only mediator. We've been set FREE and we're not enslaved anymore by alot of laws and men over us..
ok, i really love ghost hunters.
one of my favorite shows.
i think for me the possibility of whether or not there is something after this life is largely dependent on the prescence of god/dess or some other greater being in the universe.
Black S. : I don't know about the dead...talking to people.. But I don't believe the soul dies at death anymore. As the WT teaches. But I do believe Jesus as saying they are 'sleeping'. So maybe the soul is in a sleeplike state... Could the angels or ET's be pretending?
what would humanity do without some belief in an almighty, in a divine in something?.
how has it shaped the way modern man thinks?.
would we better off or worse, without a belief in that which is divine?.
Hey there...I know I already mentioned this to you..but my family; every cousin, parent, grandparent, aunt and uncle are all atheists and agnostics....no church of any kind. I don't think they are very happy and I know I didn't like living that way..especially when people died. I think I'm a throwback..heard my great, great ancestors were very religious.
i'm morbidly curious.
how many of us really want to wake up tomorrow and read a headline, see a "breaking story" on cnn, that we know, without equivocation, means that the "end of this system of things" has started?
JH...I don't believe that JW bunk... Lookie here at this scripture:
Is. 11: 3b..."And he will not judge by any mere appearance of his eyes, nor reprove simply according to the thing heard by his ears. And with righteousness he must judge the lowly ones, and with uprightness he must give reproof in behalf of the meek ones of the earth. And he must strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the spirit of his lips he will put the wicked one to death. And righteousness must prove to be the belt of his hips, and faithfulness the belt of his loins."
Remember JH, His sword protrudes from his mouth. So it's going to be a war with words when he comes. And they will probably hang themselves somehow. I don't believe he, himself will kill anyone. After all, he's the 'prince of peace'. Some scriptures, I know talk about the dead..but it could be symbolic of being spiritually dead... And people have a thousand years to change..maybe most will be given a chance to change... JW's have it all wrong to me...
if that hyperlink doesn't work just cut and paste the following in your url:.
http://s57.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1sdunm97otjc52clkdeqya1wbn.
terry.
Hi Terry..waiting 10 for it to download and still didn't get it...
i'm morbidly curious.
how many of us really want to wake up tomorrow and read a headline, see a "breaking story" on cnn, that we know, without equivocation, means that the "end of this system of things" has started?
Hey there, I think the 'end' or the time of end has already started. Yes, I am very excited for the day when the world recognizes that the Christ has arrived and is taking over rulership. It will be the time when all our sorrow and pain will end.
ok, i really love ghost hunters.
one of my favorite shows.
i think for me the possibility of whether or not there is something after this life is largely dependent on the prescence of god/dess or some other greater being in the universe.
Hello, I'm newly left Wt person, as you know.. Don't believe in dead people visiting us at this point. So to me, it would be either, angels, demons or ET's. But definately believe in the spirit world..
one of the key things i have noticed since leaving the witnesses and interacting with other faiths, is that they often mention the word "miracle!
" in that they will claim that their god had performed some sort of miracle in their life that brought about something amazing.
it is not always christians who say this either, as many of my "pagan" friends and myself have had spirit driven moments that were something that could not be displaced as "chance.
Hello, You are soooooo right.. I think the reason is because they want all the power to be our MEDIATOR between God and man. 1st because they are 'anointed' and second because they are the 'governing body' and 3rd because any contact from the spirit world is demons. I've had spiritual experiences...a close friend leaked it to the elders and the one interagated me for an hour. Then the other elders decided to let me be. Probably cast me off as a bit crazy.. I know the scriptures they use and they don't really say that all spiritual experiences would be demons.
this question crossed my mind last night.
i wonder, people in the "dark ages", who were many times under tremendous oppression religiously, politically, monetarily, etc., did they believe they were in the the time of the end?
it was mentioned in a post above that people today, especially in the west, live much better lives than in times past.
Hello there, I study prophesy from the bible and I do believe we are in the 'time of the end', great tribulation. I think it started around the fall of the twin towers. Also think it will all wrap up within a 'generation'. Meaning a period of time, from a person's birth to the age of childbirth. 15 or 20 years. Even though the JW's have a reallly strange idea of a generation, now. JW's haven't killed my faith in the bible...I still read it and believe it, just not the same as they teach anymore.
