Posts by lovelylil

108

Does the Rainbow Covenant Disprove the Flood?

by Severus in

the story goes that god provided the rainbow as a symbol of his promise to never again destroy the world by flood.. noah and his family saw the rainbow after they left the ark.

after the waters had receeded.

after it had stopped raining for months.... yet a rainbow is simply sunlight spread out into its spectrum of colors and diverted to the eye of the observer by water droplets.

lovelylil

Schizm,

Thanks for adding your thoughts, I never looked at it that way about why the flood and not a vius, but that seems like a very logical explanation to me. Have a good day!

108

Does the Rainbow Covenant Disprove the Flood?

by Severus in

the story goes that god provided the rainbow as a symbol of his promise to never again destroy the world by flood.. noah and his family saw the rainbow after they left the ark.

after the waters had receeded.

after it had stopped raining for months.... yet a rainbow is simply sunlight spread out into its spectrum of colors and diverted to the eye of the observer by water droplets.

you will like it here. You will find even those who you do not agree with all the time can help you use your thinking ability and make it much sharper. We have to prove things to ourselves only and I think it is o.k. to not agree with someone else. We have that freedom now to do so since leaving the WT and it is wonderful. I have made some good friends here too and I have been on only a few months now. Its really nice to have you here too. Lilly

19

Awake only published once a month but still pitifully poor!

by eyeslice in

jw
friends

looking through the latest copy of the awake that i got from my wife who has just got back from the meeting.

what strikes me is that although the awake is now only published monthly it is still the same old tired format.

'watching the world' still has the same pathetic cartoons, and the style and tone of the articles are just the same.

lovelylil

slimboy,

LOL!

6

Went to a church sale yesterday - no demon problems yet

by lovelylil in

jw
friends

i went to a thrift shop at a local baptist church yesterday.

it was a pretty nice set up.

i had not been to one of these since i was a young child.

lovelylil

I went to a thrift shop at a local Baptist church yesterday. It was a pretty nice set up. I had not been to one of these since I was a young child. They had lots of clothes, toys, books, cards and household items. I bought some coffee mugs for .25 each. These always get broken in my home so I can never have enough. Also a blouse and some postcards at .10 each.

There were three elderly sisters talking about upcoming church activities and eating lunch together. They talked about worship services, interfaith fellowship activities, pot-luck dinner. One thing I noticed was there was no demon talk at all and I made it home with my wares without being possessed. Hugh, how interesting!

No but seriously, my hubby and I were talking about all the nonesense we learned from the WT. I still cannot believe we took it serious in any way. Both of us had fond memories of going to thrift shops and other church sales to look for "treasures" when we were kids. We both grew up in poor homes and although my family is pretty well off - I never pay full price when I can buy something used that works just as well. Anyway, we were saying how we knew there were no demons lurking like some Witnesses thought, we should have made this very clear to them. I remember though that the WT taught we would be supporting false religion. Since I now believe the WT is a false religion, and I am finding I believe a lot of what is taught in main stream churches today, I don't feel the same way about it now. Again, what the heck was I thinking in the first place?

All in all, I got some good deals, met some nice elderly ladies who live in my community, had good thoughts about my childhood, and had a good laugh at myself thinking about my past beliefs. So I highly recomend you all to go to your local churches next sale, Lilly

38

One Watchtower/Catholic comparison...

by Confession in

don't know how many of you have read m. james penton's "apocalypse delayed: the story of jehovah's witnesses.

" honestly it's not what i'd call an "easy read," but it does contain very well researched information.

i enjoyed his recognition of a similarity between the wts and catholicism.

lovelylil

Jeffro,

I should have said those who came out of other religions not those who grew up as witnesses. This has been documented in studies before.

Also from my personal experience almost 90% of those I knew who came from other churches, were Catholic prior to becoming a witness. I believe the WT realizes this as many of their books and mags are set up to go against Catholic teachings. And they consistantly bash the Catholic church more than any other church.

8

Prozac park???

by seek2find in

i once heard there was a congregation in the northen us with this nickname because so many in the congregation were on anti-depressants.

any body know about it??

?

lovelylil

I was in two congregations that were just like that. It was mostly the sisters who had depression but some men too. I took a count in one hall and out of the 45 sisters, 25 of them I knew were on medications for depression or anxiety. I could not believe it at the time. I told my hubby something is so wrong here. The society constantly makes claims we are the "happiest people on earth" but why are there so many on depression meds then?

Of the worldy people I knew and worked with, almost none were on these types of meds.

By the way, my hubby responded to me by saying "of course the Witnesses will be depressed more, we are Satan's main target". I am sure you will get the same response, they will never blame Big Momma for causing them all the stress they are under by their impossible requirements.

38

One Watchtower/Catholic comparison...

by Confession in

don't know how many of you have read m. james penton's "apocalypse delayed: the story of jehovah's witnesses.

" honestly it's not what i'd call an "easy read," but it does contain very well researched information.

i enjoyed his recognition of a similarity between the wts and catholicism.

lovelylil

Jeff,

With all due respect I am not a "seperated Catholic" and you are proving our point that the Catholic Chruch is just like the WT, feel that they alone are the only true church recognized by God. From what you are saying, then the Catholic church can claim all other christians as part of their faith but somehow in error in their beliefs - what haughtiness!

You have a right to believe what you want to but it is this kind of thinking that contributed to the hundreds of thousands of people killed by the Catholic church for refusing to bow to its authority. If you read the NT you can clearly see that Christians are called to be free in Jesus Christ. And Jesus started a faith - not a religious establishment. Unless you can show me that Christ, not the early church fathers who came later, established one church only, I will not believe it. The new Testament teaches the truth about the church which is that it is the body of believers themselves tied together through out the world by holy spirit. This is why I say the Catholics are my brothers in the faith. But for them to turn around and say I am a lost brother or sister, I have to strongly disagree with that.

Some of the early church fathers were very good people who thought they were doing the right thing by organizing some rules and regulations for the church, but where the overstepped the simple rules set out by the Apostles (the Didache), and started adding all kinds of doctrines, creeds, traditions etc. they then overstepped their boundaries, and became no better than all the other authoritarian religions of today. You can read about all these things they did in any biography of Martin Luther. Luther was a long time Catholic Monk, therefore he is a great authority on how the church developed into what it is today. And he shows how and when all the unbiblical practices were adopted - way after Jesus and the Apostles time.

The Apostle Paul consistantly tells Christians in the NT not to become slaves of men because we are free. We become slaves if and when we submit to an organization claiming sole authority over us instead of remaining free in our one Lord and Master, Jesus Christ.

Jesus told the Samaritan women that the time was coming when people would worship not on the holy mountain of her ancestors, nor in Jerusalem, but in spirit and truth. He was thereby telling her that the place of worship does not matter at all. As long as you worship in truth. Christians recognize Jesus is the truth therefore they base their worship on him alone.

Paul says: "God does not dwell in man made temples"

Christ says: "Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there".

You see how simple the arrangement is? What does this have to do with the Catholic church? Nothing!

Again, I do not fault you because you are not to blame for setting up the system but I STRONGLY disagree with the Catholic Churches assertion that I am their seperated member. They can make whatever claim they want but I assure you they have no authority or claim over me and my faith and they never will. Just like the WT no longer has any authority over me nor any other religion. I am free to attend any church service I wish but do not have to submit to them as my master.

Since I have tasted freedom in Christ, I will never go back to the elementary things of being dominated by a man made system. I know they call themselves the "universal church" but will never achieve this goal of uniting everyone into their faith. The time is coming when Christ will return and destroy all the religious establishments and social and political structures (Bablylon the Great) that continually try to dominate over us. Not the people who are misled by these establishemnts but the establishments themselves. When that time comes - the Pope and the Catholic Church has a lot of explaining to do, as they slaughtered more of Christ's followers than any other modern church today.

You seem like a really nice guy Jeff and you answered many in this thread in a respectful way, telling us why you believe what you do and I respect you for that. But we will always have to disagree on your Church's claims of authority over all Christians. It is nothing personal against you as a person and a Christian. I wish you well.

38

Overheard in a public library

by under_believer in

jw
friends

when i was a kid, my parents (strong in the truth: father elder, mother regular pioneer) encouraged me to read.

in reality, they could hardly have held me back; i come from a long line of bookworms, including my father.

books were like water.

lovelylil

That was creepy, I hope I can go to sleep now.

13

Supernatural experiences

by catbert in

many ex-jw's experience a new found freedom to investigate and question all the things they once felt were true, and may ultimately come to the conclusion that the bible is just a book of stories and take science as their new "religion".

it happened to me...) but a question i have is this: are all supernatural experiences hallucinations?

science would say probably yes.

lovelylil

I believe there are many things we cannot explain - I guess I can accept the term supernatural.

I have personally had these experiences:

I have had dreams where one dead relative tells me they are waiting for another living relative to go to be with them - and then the living one dies unexpectantly

I had a feeling my son was in trouble one day and jumped off my couch running outside to find him. My daughter followed not knowing what was wrong. We found him in a wooded area where a group of bully kids jumped him, knocked him down and choked him. My son has asthma and was having an attack due to the stress of the situation. I had just enough time to get him home and give him his meds.

I got up to leave a friends house when I felt as if some force pushed me back down. My friend commented about it because it looked so odd. I told her I can't leave right now but could not give an explanation as to why. Within a few minutes, literally the time it would take me to get to the front door, we heard a large crash and breaking glass. A truck with a drunk driver at that moment jumped the curb and ran straight into the front door - where I would have been going out if I had not sat back down.

One day I was so depressed I was going to commit suicide. I prayed and cried to God that I could not stand living any longer. My hubby was going to leave me because I wanted to leave the org. And he said he would take the kids too. Anyway, I was very distraught knowing he could use my past history of depression against me, and I could not live without my kids. While I was praying I felt like someone hugged me. I had a sense of calm and warmth come over my whole body and it wrapped itself around me and I knew at once, everything would be o.k. I calmed down instantly and later could not believe I was even thinking of suicide. A short time later, my hubby changed his mind. Now he is also out of the org.

I think all these experiences could be classifed as supernatural because I have no rational explanation for any of them.

34

When you receive an ...shepherding visit, why not express appreciation ..?

by jgnat in

"when you receive an encouraging shepherding visit, why not express appreciation for it?

" wt may 1, 2006, p. 21 pp.

sorry for stealing your thunder blondie, but this suggestion really struck home.

lovelylil

The only shepherding call I ever got in 12 years was the one as I was trying to fade quietly away from the congregation.

This esculated into harrasement and the elders coming by all hours of day and night to try to intimidate me into explaining why I was not at the meetings. I Kept telling them it was a personal matter and I need time to figure it out. What I really needed was time to write my DA letter.

I finally gave them my 9 page DA letter a few weeks later, which contained lots of questions about the WT interpretation of scripture and the scriptures from the NWT to back up my beliefs on the issues. I told them I would gladly welcome them back IF they came with answers to my questions and could show me biblically where I was wrong. That was 2 years ago and I am still waiting.(not really)