Posts by learntoswim

43

BIG LIE IN THE BIBLE!

by Gill in

god makes the sun shine and the rain fall on the righteous and the unrighteous!.

that's what it says in the bible, (paraphrased to more or less).

matthew 5 :45. so, that being the case, why does he not make it rain in drought stricken areas?.

learntoswim

Jesus on the other hand should be held to a different standard. His speech should reflect that he understood scientific matters as he is held to either have set the rules and been the implement of creation, or at the very least been present for the creation of the universe.

My view is it wasn't meant as a scientific statement. It was a statement about imaprtiality, as others haev been saying. It was a simple analogy to explain the prinicple that God did not discriminate between those he felt were good and those he felt were bad when it came to providing the natural provisions he set in motion at the begining of creation. He wouldn't stop sun or rain upon someone because they were unrightous. This is really clear when reading the surrounding verses. Its seems that the writer is talking about impartiality.

34

When you were a witness, did you ever wonder where the GOOD witnesses were?

by BizzyBee in

jw
friends

i grew up in the borg and can remember feeling a disconnect with the portrayal of witness behavior in the literature and what i actually experienced.

the stories from the yearbook about people wanting to study with witnesses "thirsty for knowledge of the truth" were so different from the responses i got in the fs, where people just seemed annoyed.

the pictures of happy folk and families of all colors looking toward some ray of light, united in the love for jehoober and each other, did not square with what was going on in my congo.

learntoswim

My family does that all the time, almost every evening.

wow cool, do they have inane grins on their faces and have little models of noahs ark too??

34

When you were a witness, did you ever wonder where the GOOD witnesses were?

by BizzyBee in

jw
friends

i grew up in the borg and can remember feeling a disconnect with the portrayal of witness behavior in the literature and what i actually experienced.

the stories from the yearbook about people wanting to study with witnesses "thirsty for knowledge of the truth" were so different from the responses i got in the fs, where people just seemed annoyed.

the pictures of happy folk and families of all colors looking toward some ray of light, united in the love for jehoober and each other, did not square with what was going on in my congo.

learntoswim

well i do sometimes look at the pictures of the family studies where they're sitting there all smiley and playing kingdom songs on the flute, and think, thank god no-one really does that.

43

BIG LIE IN THE BIBLE!

by Gill in

god makes the sun shine and the rain fall on the righteous and the unrighteous!.

that's what it says in the bible, (paraphrased to more or less).

matthew 5 :45. so, that being the case, why does he not make it rain in drought stricken areas?.

learntoswim

One's brain would tell one that the water cycle, together w drought and forestation all run randomly, affected by various forces such as the sun, ocean currents, the levels of various gases and particulates in the air, etc. Nowhere is there any evidence of your god affecting the weather

either way, as oroborus said, it is simply a metaphorical reference to God's righteousness, thats the point being made by the verse, not that god actually actively switches on the rain and sun

43

BIG LIE IN THE BIBLE!

by Gill in

god makes the sun shine and the rain fall on the righteous and the unrighteous!.

that's what it says in the bible, (paraphrased to more or less).

matthew 5 :45. so, that being the case, why does he not make it rain in drought stricken areas?.

learntoswim

its saying to love your enemies like god does since he gives rain and sun to both equally

22

Do current JW members frequent this room?

by Rooster in

jw
friends

.

i thought they taught that the internet is bad... a product from the devil.. association with worldlies.. maybe even so called apostates.

learntoswim

I'm a current jw and my belief about the truthfullness of the WTC teachings swings like a giant pendulum from thinking "no, it can't be, it just can't be the truth" to thinking, "what am i on about, course its the truth, it has to be". This despite reading jonsons 1914 book and the franz CoC book. and knowing all about the UN thing.

Its like on some level it makes so much sense to me, the idea of a creator stepping in, puting everything right, the existence of a devil etc., and that this is what the bible seems to be saying, but on the other hand...... what about rutherford? what about the UN scandal? i can explain these things away in my mind, they don't seem to really affect the bigger picture of Jehovah using this org to take us through this system and into the next as part of his divine plan. It just makes sense! Or does it?

As you can see the pendulum is somewhere in the middle today, swinging slightly off to the right....

14

I've committed my first real df'ing offense

by LeftBehind in

jw
friends

well with the exception of posting on this board hanging with you cool apostates.

i registered to vote and went gambling.

never ever would i have done this a few months ago.

learntoswim

isn't voting a conscience matter now??

*** w99 11/1 p. 28 Questions From Readers ***

What, though, of voting in political elections? Of course, in some democratic lands, as many as 50 percent of the population do not turn out to vote on election day. As for Jehovah’s Witnesses, they do not interfere with the right of others to vote; neither do they in any way campaign against political elections. They respect and cooperate with the authorities who are duly elected in such elections. (Romans 13:1-7) As to whether they will personally vote for someone running in an election, each one of Jehovah’s Witnesses makes a decision based on his Bible-trained conscience and an understanding of his responsibility to God and to the State. (Matthew 22:21; 1 Peter 3:16)

21

Giving a Talk on JW's

by aniron in

i have been asked to give a talk on the jw's, about 30-45 mins long.. but there is so much i would like to say that it could end up being either very long or boring or both.

if you had to give a talk about jw's to a group of people who really had no idea about jw beliefs and culture.

what would you included ?.

learntoswim

you could always go right against the societys guidelines and present both sides of the story.

you could present all the good aspects of being in the truth (2 mins)

and then talk about the reason why you would never want to join (so many mins)

22

Synchronicity? Yes! Holy Spirit? No!

by metatron in

recently, while i attended some technical meetings, i ate in a crowded restaurant.

as few seats were available, a complete stranger.

asked if the seat next to me was taken.

learntoswim

my feeling is that far from being just a statistical probability, there is a universal intelligence, that people put much more meaning to than is actually there. what i mean is,people of all different faiths pray to their particular deity, and get their prayers answered. this to them is proof that the god they prayed to is real, and they build a "relationship" with them thru this. it would seem that as long as you believe that the person you are praying to is listening, and have faith that they will repond, thats when things will happen. my point is that "faiths" put a name or idea onto this universal intelligence, which is possibly the biggest mistake anyone could make! as it cements the idea in their own mind that their way is right!

thats what i've concluded based on my observations anyway. i might be wrong!

22

Synchronicity? Yes! Holy Spirit? No!

by metatron in

recently, while i attended some technical meetings, i ate in a crowded restaurant.

as few seats were available, a complete stranger.

asked if the seat next to me was taken.

learntoswim

This is synchronicity at work. Is it the psychic ability of two minds reaching out - or just a trick of the mind?
Either way, it's a real phenomena - and Witnesses get deceived by it into thinking that they have the 'true religion'
simply because they occasionally run into someone 'interested in the truth' by accident! What they are calling holy spirit
is simply the observation of synchronicity - something that impressed the famous psychologist Carl Jung, who coined the termThis is synchronicity at work. Is it the psychic ability of two minds reaching out - or just a trick of the mind?

i agree totally. its almost like a lot of brothers and sisters actually think that this must be the "truth" because of these types of things! a non jw friend of mine said recently that the old "i prayed for days to find the true religion and guess who came a-knockin" routine was used by a mormon friend of his who said just that, thats how he knows the mormon faith is the true religion cos he prayed and god answered. funny how many times that exact line has been used by the jws to prove its the truth also.

I'm new here by the way. hello everyone!