Posts by CalebInFloroda

14

I joined this site 13 years ago...

by Funchback in

hello, everyone.. as noted in the topic, i joined here 13 years ago.

i last posted here over 5 years ago.

i just now learned that this site still exists!

CalebInFloroda

Nice to meet you, Brian. Glad you are here!

13

Comparing JWs to Jews

by CalebInFloroda in

some have asked how my views and convictions have changed over the past 15 years or so after leaving the watchtower behind to return to my familys roots and embrace judaism.

the best way to explain things is to allow both the religion of the watchtower and my life as a jew today to stand side-by-side for comparison.

while i cant guarantee this will help prove to others that the jehovahs witnesses are truly a crazy religious group, i am sure it will prove to most that jews probably are, and are quite aware of it.

Some have asked how my views and convictions have changed over the past 15 years or so after leaving the Watchtower behind to return to my family’s roots and embrace Judaism. The best way to explain things is to allow both the religion of the Watchtower and my life as a Jew today to stand side-by-side for comparison.

While I can’t guarantee this will help prove to others that the Jehovah’s Witnesses are truly a crazy religious group, I am sure it will prove to most that Jews probably are, and are quite aware of it.

JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES:
Take their religion seriously.

JEWS:
Love to make fun of their religion.

JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES:
Jehovah is the true G-d, there is no Trinity, and no worship of idols.

JEWS:
Jehovah is the true G-d, there is no Trinity, and no worship of idols…unless it’s a celebrity, and the celebrity is Jewish and cute like Adam Levine.

JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES:
Will not be voting in the next U.S. presidential election due to beliefs regarding neutrality.

JEWS:
Will not be voting for Jeb Bush in the next U.S. presidential election because last time we Jews took directions from a bush we ended up wandering in the wilderness for 40 years.

JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES:
Will not celebrate any holidays because they are of pagan origin.

JEWS:
Will celebrate any holiday generally because they are of pagan origin because Jewish holidays are just a way of saying: “Yea, ____ tried to kill us!”…and that kinda takes the fun out of it if you think too hard.

JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES:
Gay weddings are a sin.

JEWS:
Gay weddings are not a sin. It’s the wedding night where you can bet there will be a lot of sinning going on! (Wink, wink.)

JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES:
Will be happy to share with you what they believe free of charge.

JEWS:
Will be happy to share with you what they believe, but only in Hebrew. And then they will charge you $300 for Hebrew lessons.

JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES:
Will never solicit or beg for money. (Except on JW Broadcasting, where it’s not soliciting, it’s just a “timely reminder.”)

JEWS:
Will never solicit or beg for money. They don’t have to. They were smart enough to charge you $300 for Hebrew lessons (unlike the JWs).

JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES:
Think they know everything.

JEWS:
Don’t really care what Jehovah’s Witnesses think.

JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES:
Come to your door with a message from the Governing Body.

JEWS:
Drink Manichewitz.

JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES:
Don’t believe in Hell.

JEWS:
Experience Hell each time the JWs come to their door.

JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES:
Think they know more than the Jews about the Hebrew Scriptures.

JEWS:
Again don’t really care what Jehovah’s Witnesses think.

43

Evidence of God.

by Jaewook kim in

sugar water will show blue light over the sun.. salt water will show red light over the sun.. our body components, salt sugar water.. blue blood vein and red blood... definition of our body in his form.. this is the evidence, of our god..

CalebInFloroda

We Jews recently held a worldwide multilingual international assembly to discuss evidence for the existence of G-d and settle the issue once and for all.

After two hours of discussion between heads of all the major branches of Judaism, the discussion eventually became a heated debate between two very old and very long-bearded rabbis. They debated and argued deep into the night.

By the next day they had come to a marvelous agreement not only between themselves but one that all Jews could live with, that namely there was nothing in either the Torah, the Writings, the Prophets, the Talmud, the Mishnah nor anything else that could be called evidence for the existence of G-d. It was thus settled: G-d doesn't exist.

The following Friday night Jews around the world swamped their local synagogues for Sabbath services. A network news reporter from ABC asked a rabbi what was happening, inquiring: "I thought you Jews just decided that G-d doesn't exist."

"Yes we did," answered the rabbi.

"But if G-d doesn't exist," asked the reporter, "then why are Jews still going to Temple?"

To which the rabbi replied: "Like that has anything to do with it?"

42

Let's Play a Game Using Instagram... JWS or LDS?

by freemindfade in

jw or lds??

?.

CalebInFloroda

Thanks all for the kind words!

Freemindfade--The expression "suitcase packing MS's and Elders" made me laugh because (of course) it made me think of something nasty.

Thank goodness I'm not a Christian anymore. I'd have to go find a corner to pray for forgiveness while kneeling on a bunch of No. 2 pencils for that thought!

16

Who was Jesus?

by Coded Logic in

who/what do you think jesus was?

and how did you arrive at that conclusion?

CalebInFloroda

The proper theological term for seeing Christ in one's toast bread is "Cheezus."

It comes from the Latin, "cheejse," which means to smile when one looks into a camera, and the Hebrew "jus," which was a type of Semitic sandwhich that consisted of two pieces of matzos in which select cheddar cheese was placed in between and the entire item toasted over medium heat until the image of the coming messiah or other celebrity appeared.

42

Let's Play a Game Using Instagram... JWS or LDS?

by freemindfade in

jw or lds??

?.

CalebInFloroda

Oh Faye, you can't hide gay! (Ooo, that rhymes!) You can only dish what you see!

Never apologize for speaking your truth, especially when when the totally apparent bitch-slaps you in the face and a purse falls out of a man's mouth. There were so many times in the Kingdom Hall I would see elders walk up to the platform to give a talk and my insides were just screaming to call out: "Mary! Has your wife seen how you walk?"

42

Let's Play a Game Using Instagram... JWS or LDS?

by freemindfade in

jw or lds??

?.

CalebInFloroda

As an openly gay man I would normally find offense at some stereotypical comment about how "gay" someone looks in a photograph...

But after seeing that grin and that grooming--girlfriends, can we talk?

Wait, let me turn off that alarm so we don't have to scream over the sound of my gaydar going off.

18

Do JW's use the bible to preach anymore?

by lostinthought in

jw
friends

so...i totally stopped going to meetings two years ago.

since then, i have gotten married and moved into my husband's home.

his father and mother also live there.

CalebInFloroda

Do JWs use the Bible to preach anymore?

Now really...Did they ever?

16

Who was Jesus?

by Coded Logic in

who/what do you think jesus was?

and how did you arrive at that conclusion?

CalebInFloroda

While some believe there is no historical reason for believing that Jesus of Nazareth exists, I believe that his historicity is irrelevant to my rejecting him as the promised Messiah that my people, the Jews, have been waiting for.

A good man? Likely? A rabbi who gained a following and someone who might have even performed miracles. Even if he resurrected as Christians believe, the fact that Jesus didn't operate in the open like Moses did, did not want his miracles to be widely known in contrast to the way Moses performed his wonders so that all could see, and that Jesus did not lead his people into the Promised Messianic Age as Moses led his people to the Promised Land are just some of the reasons I don't believe he is the Messiah.

The fact that Biblical scholars from Catholic and Protestant circles are now in agreement that an anti-Jewish polemic tainted much of the New Testament writings with the intent to compete with traditional Judaism for recognition by Rome and legitimacy in the eyes of potential converts is another reason that I keep my stand. This polemic in Christian Scripture has traditionally been interpreted as historical over the past 2000 years to the detriment of the Jews and much of the rest of the world that did not agree with the movement.

Christians now offer apologies for their actions and inactions during the Spanish Inquisition, the Crusades, the pogroms, and the part they played in the Holocaust revealing a legacy of repeatedly being on the wrong side of history again and again. Today there are many of them that currently persecute and oppose the LGBT community, some demonize women who side with pro-choice political movements, others insult law-abiding Muslims by holding events to draw cartoons of Muhammad, and many go about viewing Jews as blind, lost and in need of proselytizing to the teachings of Jesus lest they end up in Hell for remaining Jews.

I see another 2000 years of apologizing for being on the wrong side of history by Christians the way they are going. Such does not make a Messianic Age nor composes anything hoped by the Jews from antiquity. We did not hope for 2000 years of violent persecution, hatred, bigotry, and genocide but that is what the world got with Jesus.

So again, let Jesus be as real as you me. It matters not what the final truth is on that. Do I believe he was the Messiah? No.

27

My proposal for Mankind to end all doubts...

by James Mixon in

just watch the movie "contact" and it gave me an idea.. our population on earth today 8-9 billion, a day where all of mankind pray, beseech,.

plead for god to show us a sign that he is still up there.

one day all around the world.

CalebInFloroda

Never a JW,

While many of your questions might seem to imply something in the Christian paradigm of Western Society...why G-d wants people to know him, why not end all doubts, debates, etc., why play Hide and Seek, etc...they aren't specific to the Jewish concept of life, duty to humanity and the world, and don't take into account that some Jews don't believe that God exists.

Unlike Christianity and especially the JWs, Jews don't claim to have all the answers or even see having definite replies for everyone to accept as a good thing. After all if everything were spoon-fed to you, could you ever really learn to grow and understand things for yourself? We all have to learn to read, write, do math problems for ourselves. We are born in a world where we have to find or even make the answers we constantly have to seek.

And why does G-d have to exist anyway? Can't you be a good person without there being a G-d?

Want the debates to stop, then stop engaging in them. You may not stop others from doing so, but who are you to tell others what they can or cannot debate about.

And who said G-d was hiding? Is the concept of the G-d of Abraham limited to reality? If the stories are just myths, do they not have any moral value or point to them? Many people are suffering, many searching for hope and direction, etc. If you notice such needs then why are you not doing something about it? Does a deity need to exist for these people to have hope and direction? If people in our world are lost, is it not our responsibility as members of a community to let them know we are here for them?

Instead of worrying about whether G-d is real, Judaism says you should fix what you see needs fixing in the world. If there is a G-d, then you have done good, but if it not you have still fixed things. Stop acting like a bitching and moaning Christian and do something on you own initiative. Like G-d asked Job, "So you think you know so much that you think you should have answers? Then you supply them to me!"

Not all facets of Christianity are anti-Semitic, and not all individuals within a given Christian sect can be charged with being anti-Semitic. And yes, I've read the New Testament and Christian writings...in Greek. I'm a philologist. Bible translators and teachers of all denominations call on me for help in their work. It's not all anti-Semitic.

And the history...yeah, I know it well. I'm Jewish, remember? There's this thing called the Diaspora, the Spanish Inquisition, and the Holocaust, and they happened in Europe. They were anti-Semitic, but a lot of history was not too.

And lastly, I added that part you mentioned because what I write might sound like a challenge to some atheists, because some here have told me so themselves. That was where my brain was at, to counter that before someone brought it up and misread my comments as a challenge to an ideology I have no problems with.

Good questions, though, even if you didn't mean them to be literal.