dear friends: .
however, it appears to have been effective, as i have not heard a peep from anyone at bethel or the local elders either.
from our point of view, we are now free of the entrapments of the watchtower cult, and i feel that it is important to share this with those of you who may need an alternative to the two "official" methods of leaving: disfellowshipping or disassociation.
I could say I was never legally baptized.
You do this by claiming you were taken advantage of, coerced, manipulated, deceived. That makes you a victim too, doesn't it?
With the baptism null and void they have no official hold.
They don't need an official hold to shun you.
But, if writing a letter like this made you feel better, I sincerely believe that is all that matters.
Dedalus
may you all have peace!
i find it funny... as in peculiar... that from adam until today... "we"... get our kicks blaming god.
starting with adam, who said, "the woman... that you gave me... she... made me... eat," we have this penchant to look everywhere but in the mirror.
What an ... interesting overuse ... of ellipses ... Shelby. Perhaps God has ... fallen ... into the wide empty ... spaces between ... your ... words, unable ... to scrape His ... way out, His hands ... tightly bound in the ... maddening cat's cradle .. He's made of the ... universe, so entangling even ... He cannot ... escape. Or ... maybe your stupid ... pontification ... on this matter is ... a ... facade for your own ... self-righteous ... hubris ... that I personally ... find despicable.
Ded ... alus
dear friends: .
however, it appears to have been effective, as i have not heard a peep from anyone at bethel or the local elders either.
from our point of view, we are now free of the entrapments of the watchtower cult, and i feel that it is important to share this with those of you who may need an alternative to the two "official" methods of leaving: disfellowshipping or disassociation.
Well, I know you're not going to like this (and I won't hammer away at it, because I've said it all before), but I'm not a big fan of baptism nullification -- at best, it is effectually no different than disassociation, and at worst, it evades personal responsibility and evokes a whiny sort of victimhood.
Hey, you invited comments!
Dedalus
what are some of the worst ypa articles the wt could print in the awake?
(ie young people ask: how do you use a tampon?
)
Young People Ask: Masturbation -- How Can I Fight The Urge?
Sadly, that's a real one.
Dedalus
pioneer, ms, elder publisher???
?
Yes.
Next question?
Dedalus
there was a young blonde lady who was passing out the wt & awake magazines at the bus stop where i was waiting for the bus to go downtown..... i started having a conversation with her by starting out about charles taze russell.
i told her that of all of my readings of the works of c.t.
russell, not one time did he ever teach that jesus was michael the archangel..... so i told her about this quote....zions watchtower and herald of christs presence, their official magazine of doctrine, 1879, page 48, which is teaching on jesus christ: "...his position is contrasted with that of men and angels, as he is lord of both, having all power in heaven and earth.
I started having a conversation with her by starting out about Charles Taze Russell.
You could have discussed anything with her, and you decided to pick on Charles Taze Russell, with a bunch of quotes over a hundred years old?
Dedalus
this quote got me thinking:if you pray sincerely and admit you are a sinner and accept christ as your savior you can have the holy spirit come into your life.. .
i used to do this everyday.
when i was being abused, i used to pray incessantly for god to help me.
Anyway, how do you know certain prophecies haven't been fulfilled? Many of them are not spelled out. Does anybody honestly understand Revelation? Maybe it hasn't happened yet. Or maybe its symbolic meaning is going on today, and we just don't know it yet.
Are you kidding? First you claim that Bible prophecy has been fulfilled. Then, as an example, you say that we can't understand the prophecies and that they might be in the process of being fulfilled this very moment, only we don't know it. I don't think I need to waste time pointing out how ridiculous that is.
But if propheces haven't been fulfilled, the only thing I can come up with is when text is translated from one language to the next, it's impossible to achieve 100% accuracy. Besides, for a long time, the Catholics dominated the Bible, wouldn't let the common person have a copy, and twisted it to serve their own needs. For all we know, the versions today could be screwed because of what they did. Speaking of which, there are no less than about umpteen jillion versions and translations of the Bible. Which one is right? How can anyone possibly know?
This is an argument against the prophetic legitimacy of the Bible, not for it.
Then there are superstitions like not writing God's name. And it's not just a JW thing; I heard about this when I took Modern English Grammar. Besides, if I remember right, a reference to God's name was made in Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade. I don't think George Lucas is a JW.
What does this have to do with anything? You said that the Bible's prophecies have always come true, that its claims are reliable, and that it is the oldest book. You have failed to defend (and in some cases, even address) any of these claims.
Dedalus
i'm going to be offline for quite a while.
i'm moving this weekend and the computer i use belongs to my sister.
since i will no longer be living with her i won't have daily access to a computer.
that you'll be gone.
that positive changes are occurring in your life.
for using too many cheesy emoticons in my message.
Dedalus
this quote got me thinking:if you pray sincerely and admit you are a sinner and accept christ as your savior you can have the holy spirit come into your life.. .
i used to do this everyday.
when i was being abused, i used to pray incessantly for god to help me.
Oxnard won't respond to this -- I wonder why?
He wrote:
Oh, I understand why you don't believe in God. I just don't like the negative tone directed at those of us who do believe. It's not like Christians aren't educated about various topics. In our eyes, the Bible is the oldest book and it's never been proven wrong. Every prophecy in it has come true.
1) The Bible isn't the oldest book.
2) Biblical claims have been proven wrong.
3) Prophecies in it have failed.
I don't think people who believe in God are foolish -- see my earlier post on this thread. I just think that, when you try to argue for the factual authenticity of an historical text as a sort of empirical proof for your belief, you're coming at things from the wrong direction.
Dedalus, ignored ...
this quote got me thinking:if you pray sincerely and admit you are a sinner and accept christ as your savior you can have the holy spirit come into your life.. .
i used to do this everyday.
when i was being abused, i used to pray incessantly for god to help me.
Teejay,
Sounds about right to me, now that I understand that the "Witness" advantages to which you're referring are indistinguishable from the advantages of any structured belief system.
Dedalus
