Posts by lovelylil

Boil until just soft then add, rinse with cold water and drain. Crumble bacon into little bits and add to potatos. Then mix with chives, mayo, mustard, salt and pepper. Coat well. Has a really good Gourmet taste but is easy to make. Tastes better after chilled a few hours

20

Knock, Knock!!

by LaCatolica in

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what was your worst or scariest "field service" experience?

lovelylil

Mulan,

your experience reminded me of another thing that happened once. I went up to the door with my daughter who was around 10 at the time and my daughter knocked a few times but no one came to the door. We heard the t.v. on, and since my daughter knocked very softly, I thought maybe they hadn't heard. Anyway, the front door was a glass paneled door. I heard something that sounded like "Son of a b****! too late........My daughter and I looked thru the panel at the same time and there was a man who apparently was sleeping before we arrived on his living room couch BUTT NAKED!

I yelled OMG, and covered my daughters eyes, we both laughted all the way to the car.

14

Witness Unity - Bible Unity

by TheListener in

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i need to be prepared to discuss this topic.. the witnesses use several nt verses about being 'fitly united' and 'of one mind' , etc etc.

to show that christians must think the same on spiritual subjects.. using the bible as your guide how would you explain to a witness that being united in mind doesn't mean uniformity?

lovelylil

Listener,

I hope I can help. The scripture you are referring to that the WT uses is found in 1Corinthians 1:10. Here in the NIV Paul says "I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought".

Now, this text does not mean like the WT tries to say that you must AGREE on everything. Paul wrote this for a SPECIFIC reason only and if you continue reading the rest of this text starting in verse 11, you will see what I mean:

"My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that their are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul', another, I follow Appollos, another, "I follow Cephas', still another, "I follow Christ'. Is Christ divided? Was Paul Crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, so no one can say that you were baptized into my name......

The point in the above verses when read in their context is that the Divisions are who they are following. That is all. nothing else should be implied here because Paul is not saying you must agree on everything. But certainly you had to agree you were following Christ if you were to call yourself a Christian. That is ALL that Paul is saying here. Be United in whom you are following, which is Christ Jesus. Now, is there any proof that early Christians could decide on some matters themselves. Yes, Romans 14:1-8 - shows Christians could make up their own minds about foods to eat and days to celebrate. Something the WT today does not allow. No where in scripture do we find that the early Christians were totally conformed to everything the others believed. Like Pauls points out in Romans, some things are a conscience matter this applies to today also. Hope I helped.

41

Question about the Anointed

by Zico in

jw
friends

i have just joined this site after having been visiting as a guest for a few months.

i am searching for answers so please be patient with me.

a friend of mine in the congregation has directed me to this site as he has been having doubts about the organization, though he said he never posts on it.

lovelylil

Hi there,

I hope I can help you. I also became what you call "anointed" while I was in the organization. Now I am out and I still feel the same way. Some people call this being "spirit begotten" I have come to realize that it simply does not matter what organization you belong to for this to happen. I have met people who have the heavenly hope in all denominations. And, I have no reason at all to doubt their sincerity. I can tell you this though, I am a little suspect about some of those in the WT organization who claim to be "anointed", only because it is usally based on a false belief about the whole process. The organization makes it sound very mystical when they say "you will just know" you are one of them. And that you know you are getting a crown as ruler. Let me say this, from personal experience, the ONLY thing you know is that you have a very strong desire to be with Jehovah God and Christ Jesus and to serve them. I have found this to be true with all I have met who have this hope. You will want to please your heavenly father and Jesus before anyone else. The reason I am skeptical too in the Watchtower is they do not serve Jesus at all. Once I became what you call "anointed", I could not even stand to sit there anylonger and listen to the twisting of scripture nor the thanking of the faithful slave nonsense. But this is just my experince and may not be the norm. I know many who became anointed by spirit and left the Org. like I did.

Once you have this experience, you are given a measure of Holy Spirit and you would know you have been chosen because your life will change and you will be led by the spirit. Paul explains it wonderfully in Romans Chapter 8, you should read the whole thing. You will also see those ones showing that they have the proper fruitages of the spirit. see Galatians chapter 5 for those. But you do not know if you are getting a crown for the bible says that Many are CALLED but few are CHOSEN. Recieving the Holy Spirit is evidence of our CALLING but not our getting the crown as a final reward. There will be many at the marriage feast (see the parable of the wedding banquet in Matthew) that have the proper wedding garments (meaning they were called) but were not part of the bride. Only the bride will recieve the crown. Not everyone who is called. This is where the WT has it very wrong. They believe only 144,000 go to heaven at all. I think the 144,000 may represent the Bride but there are millions that will be found faithful and be at the marriage feast. They all have Holy Spirit, the 144,000 and the Great Crowd, are both in heaven. There is NO such thing as two classes of Christians. Even if they do not all get a crown, they are still in the same race for the crown. But those who do not get it are still approved and in heaven. This is a whole other thing though. But no one can judge who is anointed with spirit or not. I always took offense at the elders questioning people who claimed this hope because what can they ask them to prove it? NOTHING! Only that person and Jehovah would know anyway.

Another thing is this: the WT has closed the heavenly door but only Christ can do that. He is the door and he promised who ever knocks it will be open to them. They have no right to say it is shut. They are trying to keep those who are called from partaking and coming into the relationship they were called for. And the fact that many more are claiming to be anointed these days does not surprise me. Remember the Parable of the late coming workers into the vineyard? This is a prophecy that before the end, in the latter days, more workers (anointed servants) will come to work. Raymond Franz mentions this in his books and I agree. Then the earlier ones are jealous remember? It is because they were working longer but to Christ and God it does not matter. No matter when you were called, either at Pentecost or sometime in our day, you still are in the race for the same prize. Those who are waking up now are just late coming workers. I myself included.

So just to sum it up. Recieving Holy Spirit is evidence of your calling to serve God and be in heaven but not that you will definately know you are getting a crown. Those who truly have the spirit will be led by it. If you have other questions please email me [email protected]

148

Have you ever had a prayer answered?

by nicolaou in

prayer topics seem to be the bandwagon of the moment so i'm jumping on!

seriously, has anyone here asked for something specific in prayer and actually gotten what they asked for?

what convinces you that you wouldn't have got it in any case?

lovelylil

mdb,

I take some offense to your comments posted about prayer. Now, I agree not all prayers are answered by God and only HE knows the reason. And I agree you have to have full faith he will answer for it to work, because otherwise, what is the point? But what I did not like, and I am sorry to say it is your underlining of certain words.

Because I am in no way saying or even implying that my prayers were answered because I am more upright nor more righteous than anyone else on this forum. We are ALL sinners, my friend. Not one of us is better in any way. I believe it is just a matter of faith thats all.

My best advice to those who have yet to have prayers answered, is to try to build a closer relationship with God, if you do believe he exists, by praying daily. This will build your faith in him that he can and will answer your prayers. And be specific in your prayers. I always do this and then I know it was a prayer answered. And, also just remember sometimes the answer is no.

Wishing you all love and hope all your future prayers will be answered. Lilly

20

Knock, Knock!!

by LaCatolica in

.

what was your worst or scariest "field service" experience?

lovelylil

Someone tried to perform an exorcism on me, believing that I was under Satan's influence. She tried to touch my head and begin chanting and told me Jesus was standing right next to me. She wanted to "free" me from the yoke I was under. I was with my daughter at the time and we just started walking backwards, slowly until we got out the door.

Thinking back on it, I wonder if I stayed if I would have left the WT earlier? Hmmmmm?

I should have known I may have a problem when she invited me in. She had in her livingroom, thousands of crosses hanging on every space of the walls. Now, I am not against crosses but have your heard of the term, overkill?

86

The Earliest Trinity Statements

by Amazing1914 in

jw
friends

[note: i am not promoting a religion, a church system, nor a set of beliefs.

i am merely reporting history as i find it.

the early, ante-nicene church fathers spent much time fighting heresies.

lovelylil

Jeff,

although I am not a true trinitarian, I have found overwelming evidence in the Bible itself that the early Christians, as well as the Pharisees believed exactly what you said which is that "Christ was God manifest in the flesh".

And No, I do not think believing in the Trinity is essential for our salvation. What is essential is belief in Christ and the resurrection. For Christians that is. No, I am not saying for those who don't believe this that God will destroy them or anything like that. Becuase I believe the bible was only written for Christ's believers and their hope is believing this at the present time. And that everyone else on earth will have a chance, at a future date to decide if they want to live under Christ's reign. But this is another story for another time.

Also, I believe that "trinity" itself is a man made term used to try to explain the nature of God. But growing up in the Catholic faith, (prior to becoming JW), I always had trouble with this term. I still do and I have read a lot on the subject. No one has ever been able to convince me that the Holy Spirit is a person. I have expereinced Holy Spirit first hand so I know exactly what it is. But the question of Christ's divinity is a seperate issue. This is not saying he is the same person as Jehovah but the same in nature. Christ was the word, the logos, God's one and ONLY Son. It is very hard to really understand the closeness of Jehovah and Jesus relationship. No one trully understands the full nature of God, except the Son.

I have been putting together the scriptures that show what the Apostles felt about who Jesus was and should have them all together soon. Than, maybe I will post them here if anyone is interested.

Another heresy that started early, even when the Apostles were alive was that there was no resurrection. But we can leave this too for another day.

35

The NWT....

by Sunspot in

is it really a scholarly translation?.

(excerps taken from) .

http://www.xmark.com/focus/pages/jehovahs.html.

lovelylil

Sunspot,

Amen to your last post! Lilly

20

What was your Favourite/Worse time and day to go in the Field Service?

by JH in

jw
friends

i never went out in the field service on the week-ends.

i did't want to meet too many people afterall !!!.

so, i went out in the field service only during the week, and only in the morning, knowing that not many would answer, because people were either at school, or at work.

lovelylil

I did not like the door to door work at all because we hardly ever found anyone home. I loved to informally witness and that is how I started many bible studies. I hardly ever used magazines though, I only used the bible and the peaceful new world tracts. Thats about it. I always felt the purpose of my ministry was to help people have a positive outlook for the future and I always felt the coming of Christ's kingdom was to benefit ALL mankind. Now I know even more that this is true. I never "preached" the come into the organization now to be saved nonsense!