is this a feeling unique to christians?.
because i felt tremendously at peace when i came to terms with the facts about (what i feel is) the lack of authenticity of the bible and it's status as an inspired book - almost as if the universe was telling me, "just let go.
things are out of your control.
Being a healthy secularist, to me, means accepting the fact that you will never have all the answers. If you don't believe in God or an afterlife, then there's no glorious place with answers you expect to go to. It also means you have to try to do the best you can at figuring stuff out anyway.
Amen, to that!
j
at age 18, i was a regular pioneer.
at 20, a ministerial servant.
at 24 an elder.
Never made MS, (could not play by the minimum hour requirement rules), but held several MS responsibilites, such as WT reader, Territory servant, etc.
Also did quick builds for several years, (telephony and PA systems).
PBX, (telecom) "key man", (what the hell is a key man?), at DCs.
j
<!-- .style4 { font-family: arial; font-size: 18px; color: #990000; } .style6 { font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; } .style7 {font-family: arial; font-size: 16px; color: #990000; } .style8 {font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; } .style10 {color: 000000000} --> justifying gods organization against all the factsregardless of how many facts a person has standing against .
the watchtower society it is still gods organization.
eyes that cannot see, ears that cannot hearmy friend knows of the watchtowers involvement with .
Not nearly so easy at it sounds. But also true.On the "member of the UN" thing -- The Watchtower was inappropriately a member of an organization controlled by Satan (according to them, of course). So they allegedly realized this and quit. Problem solved, right? Except, what if Joe Publisher became a member of the YMCA? Could HE simply quit, and all would be forgiven? No, he would be subjected to a judicial committee. They would not disfellowship him IF he was repentant. How would he demonstrate that repentance? He'd have to admit it, say he was sorry, agree that it was wrong and not to do it again. THEN they would accept him, almost surely with "restrictions". If he held any position in the congregation -- elder, pioneer, etc -- those would be taken away from him.
Where is the Watchtower's evidence of repentance? Did they meet with the JC, and take their licks like Joe? Hardly! They've never even publicly admitted they were ever a member, let alone apologized for it.
By their own standards, the Watchtower is an unrepentant wrongdoer.
Well said, AA.
j
<!-- .style4 { font-family: arial; font-size: 18px; color: #990000; } .style6 { font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; } .style7 {font-family: arial; font-size: 16px; color: #990000; } .style8 {font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; } .style10 {color: 000000000} --> justifying gods organization against all the factsregardless of how many facts a person has standing against .
the watchtower society it is still gods organization.
eyes that cannot see, ears that cannot hearmy friend knows of the watchtowers involvement with .
Something PERSONAL has to happen to a JW for the fog to clear. Once it clears, even justa little, then the alarm can go off: DANGER WILL ROBINSON!!!! DANGER!!!!!
Sadly, it almost always needs to happen this way. Otherwise, using facts and common sense alone, usually only meets with frustrating the jw you are trying to reason with.
j
in the wake of richard dawkins bestseller 'the god delusion' (which i and many others here have read) there has been a good deal of rebuttal from the 'faith' community.
now a new book is out published by alister mcgrath, professor of theology at oxford university.
it is entitled 'the dawkins delusion'.. has anyone read it or ordered it yet?
No, but it seems an interesting take on the subject. Although an atheist in the true sense myself, I agree that Dawkins is about as dogmatic about religion in "The God Delusion", as the worst religionists. Although there was some very sound reasoning in his book, the underlying dogmatism did indeed take away from his argument.
j
just want to take a poll.
no need for explinations, just for or against.. me- against..
For the most part, against. Keep in mind, I never knew anyone who was home schooled before the jws, so I'm somewhat biased in my opinon against it. That said, there are some public school systems that are just plain dangerous, and many of the families in those areas can't neccesarily afford private school. In that case, it's a good thing.
j
what one thing would i see that would tell me the most about you?.
the center of my home is my computer and my books.
standing at the door that is the first thing you will see.
Lots of pictures of the wife's, (not mine, wonder why?), family throughout the house. Upstairs, in the office, lots of books, mostly of either an IT or history nature. The office also shares space with my other passion, music. About 1000 LPs on the shelves there, along with my "old school" McIntosh stereo.
j
page 28, paragraph 11 says in part:.
"it seems that resurrected ones of the 24-elders group may be involved in the communicating of divine truths today.
" (the 24 elders = "anointed christians in their heavenly positions".).
It never ceases to amaze me how I never really picked up on this verbiage while I was in.
j
i guess that's how it will always be for me,,i've moved on,,all my family is "out' thankfully,,but i spent too many years there, and i won't ever become a member of a religion,,in jest, you are my "church" i guess.
:)
It's part of my history, whether I like it, or not. When I participate on JWD, or do some research of sorts on the organization, I am an ex-jw. In my married life, I'm my wife's husband, a non-jw, in fact, my former jw life rarely comes up in discussions with her. At work, a systems engineer. Again, my former jw life is a non issue there, either. But, in a limited sense, I will always be an ex-jw.
j
i ran into a jw lady i have known most of my life a couple of weeks ago.. she told me that she had left her non jw abusive husband and that she was still very upset about all that had happened.. the elders had been 'visiting' her.
infact visiting is probably the wrong word and should be replaced with harrassing.. they kept telling her that 'jehovah hates a divorcing!
' she said that they wanted her to go back to her abusive husband as she should not have married a non jw in the first place.
Yep...shows very nicely where the influence comes from that prompted my oldest son to tell me, "Nothing short of dad being a SERIAL KILLER could justify you divorcing him."
Way to go, Watchtower...woo hoo! You've got the next generation of abusive JW husbands locked in already....
Yep, and it applies to JW wives also. Although in my case it was mental abuse, not physical.
j
