My excuse is that I was indoctrinated into it as a child.
But, like you, I find it very difficult now to trust anything.
I find I don't always bother to check out the pros and cons of an argument since this can get confusing - both sides can give very good arguments.
So I usually go on instinct, and my instinct says - no God.
Posts by dmouse
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37If you were wrong about the truth, what else?
by ballistic inwhat effect has having a whole section of your life proved to be a falsehood had on you?.
anybody that has been a witness will understand the time, effort, comitment and money that it took to be a member.
the way it dominated our lives, affected every decision we made and shaped our future.. some have left and turned to other faiths and some (like myself) have lost all religious faith (and i make no appology for that).
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dmouse
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5
E.T. is Jesus?
by bboyneko inet: he comes down from heaven, performs a few miracles, dies for our sins and goes back into heaven with only a few faithful watching.
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whats up with that from a jewish diretor?
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dmouse
You naughty people! Do you not know that ET is a false god!
For it is written, in Awake July 8th 1983, page 27, that:
*** g83 7/8 27 Christ or E.T.? ***
I’m not making this stuff up, honest! Check it out for yourself!
Interestingly, many have noted parallels in the story to that of the life of Jesus Christ. Said Professor Albert E. Millar, Jr.: “I think the thing that struck me most was the idea of the capacity to heal, and then when E.T. died and was resurrected.” We have in E.T., then, an enchanting Messiahlike figure that gives momentary emotional release to our need for a true friend with powers greater than ours. Therein lies the movie’s great appeal.
Despite its seemingly Christian message, however, the movie subtly condones youthful misbehavior. In an early scene we find youths playing “Dungeons and Dragons” in a smoke-filled room with a lighted cigarette on the table. Later on, when E.T. gets drunk sampling beer, and Elliott in telepathic sympathy feels the effects, it is all portrayed as something cute. Further, some of the language used by these children is gross profanity. This, along with the supernatural aspects of the movie, has bothered many Christians.
Whether parents or their children see this movie is, of course, a matter of personal choice. But because of the movie’s great popularity, let us not forget that it becomes an effective vehicle for sugarcoating youthful conduct that is definitely wrong.
E.T. may be a skillfully constructed and highly entertaining movie. But it provides no substitute for our True Friend, Jesus Christ, who saves us from this dying, wicked world. After all, E.T. is make-believe. Christ is reality. -
89
What does everyone here DO anyway?
by In_between_days inhi everyone,.
i am a new poster who is putting off their own personal story of finding this site for a while..... i find alot of people here utterly fascinating, and would like to know..... exactly what is everyones professional field of work?.
i would like to be a full time poster on this forum, but alas, the $$$$ are quite light in that field of work.. apologies if this has been asked before.. just curious.
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dmouse
I'm a full time(mature)student, so I don't do anything.
I start work as a primary school teacher in August.
Seriously though, I'm working on University assignments at the minute so you won't see much of me for the next 3 or 4 weeks.
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12
What will future generations do?
by sleepy ini was looking forward to the future, before it was drasticly cut short by my realisation that i will probably die in about 50 years.. but what kind of advances will we see in that time and on into the future.. just whatching a film from 5 or 10 years ago it seams like a different world.. i was watching a film last night and looking at the size of the mobile phones ,they looked like telephone boxes, and of course no internet, computers in cars to tell where you are or dvd players etc.. go back a little further and we have no videos ,no computers at all.. back a hundred years or so and we loose cars, plane , tv and most things we take for granted.. so what does the future hold?.
i find it quite exciting to think of what advances could be made.. cures for diseases , improvments to the human body?more information on the universe,improved transport lots of things.. going massivly into the future how about this, ressurection of dead people?
(even people who lived thousands of years before like us).
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dmouse
If the Human race survives long enough, we will eventually become as gods.
We will become immortal, and we will have total control of all physical matter.
But I expect it'll take another few thousand years yet.
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36
How much longer?
by JeffT ini had this thought while reading the co visit thread, and decided to make it a separate topic.. how much longer can they keep beating the slaves before there is a rebellion?
it is obvious that the trickle of people that are leaving is growing, and growing enough to make them worried.
at some point it may become a flood.
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dmouse
Yes, the legacy of 1914 and ‘all that’ is one of the trickiest issues that the WBTS has to face.
And face it they must. Dates are immovable, and if you set one it comes back sooner or later to bite your arse.
Eventually 1914 will seem as far in the past as 1799 does today, and will have absolutely no credibility, even among the Witnesses.
We can be certain that this issue HAS been discussed at the highest levels. Since the leadership know that they are not the real truth, they are free to cynically manipulate ‘light’ so that truth changes depending upon the weather. But they must do it slowly, otherwise the R&F might be startled.
Do we have any clues about how they intend to handle this problem?
Yes, we do.
It appears that the main strategy will be a shift from ‘chronology’ to ‘events’
The Watchtower of September the 15th, 1998, in the article ‘Times and Seasons in Jehovah’s Hands’ on page 14 this statement is made: (italics mine)
Events – Not Time Calculations
So, it seems that the plan is to downgrade the importance of 1914 in general until it is no longer important enough to matter…then it will be quietly discarded, forgotten about amongst the dusty remains of previous failed doctrines.
18 Although chronology apparently helped the Jewish people to have a general idea of when the Messiah was due to appear, subsequent events show that that it did not help to convince most of them of Jesus’ Messiahship. Less than a year before his death, Jesus asked his disciples: “Who are the crowds saying that I am?” They replied: “John the Baptist; but others, Elijah, and still others, that one of the ancient prophets has arisen.” (Luke 9:18,19) We have no record that Jesus ever quoted the prophecy of the symbolic weeks to prove that he was the Messiah. But on one occasion, he said: “I have the witness greater than that of John, for the very works that my Father assigned me to accomplish, the works themselves that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father dispatched me.” (John 5:36) Rather than any revealed chronology , Jesus’ preaching, his miracles, and the events surrounding his death (the miraculous darkness, the rending of the temple curtain and the earthquake) testified that he was the Messiah sent by God.19 Similarly, after the death of Jesus, the early Christians were given no means to calculate the coming end of the Jewish system of things….Christians were beyond the chronological milestones of Daniel chapter 9. For them, events, not chronology, would indicate that the Jewish system must shortly end.
20 Like Noah, Moses, and first century Christians in Judea, we today can confidently leave the times and seasons in Jehovah’s hands. Our conviction that we are living in the time of the end and that our deliverence is drawing near depends, not merely on chronological computation, but on real-life events in fulfilment of Bible prophecies.
Page 16,
Paragraph 2:
True, a prophecy put Christains in a state of expectation before Christ was invested with Kingdom power in 1914. But the “sign” that Christ gave of his presence and of the conclusion of the system of things featured events. Such events – wars, food shortages, earthquakes, pestilences, increased lawlessness, persecution of Christians, and the worldwide preaching of the good news of the Kingdom – serve as the major proof that we are now living during Christ’s presence in Kingly power.Dean.
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88
Will silentlambs Be DF???
by silentlambs inwell now we have it, what appears to be the pre-emptive strike from wt.. as of this friday three families who appeared on the dateline program have been informed judicial committees have been setup with a one week notice and it is alleged that they have been causing "divisions" within the organization.
i got my letter today, barbara anderson got hers yesterday and the other family earlier this week.. if you were a pr firm would you think it to be a good idea or a bad idea to df everyone a couple of weeks before the dateline program airs?
what do you think the american public will think of such a move?.
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dmouse
The PR machine doesn't care about the general public, the JW elite know they are despised or merely tolerated by them anyway.
Silentlambs will be disfellowshipped to stop existing JWs from talking to or about him.
It's called damage limitation.
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36
How much longer?
by JeffT ini had this thought while reading the co visit thread, and decided to make it a separate topic.. how much longer can they keep beating the slaves before there is a rebellion?
it is obvious that the trickle of people that are leaving is growing, and growing enough to make them worried.
at some point it may become a flood.
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dmouse
Greetings to ShaleenT, welcome to the board
I'm afraid I have to agree with Fred and SYN on this one.
Thinking the WBTS is about to collapse en masse is just wishful thinking. They'll be around for decades yet at least, but maybe not in the current form.
I think the disillusionment we see is the normal rate of leavers slightly increased due to the Internet, those already in are mostly beyond hope. The real gains as far as we are concerned is the number of new people NOT going in.
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Important: The Nocebo Effect
by metatron incan a person make themselves sick by their beliefs?.
this is called the "nocebo" effect and it's getting some critical.
attention by researchers.. www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/a2709-2002apr29.html.
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dmouse
Well I don't know about them, but their beliefs certainly make me wanna puke!
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15
Place to put pictures online?
by betweenworlds indoes anyone know a good place to store pics online that can be linked to for use on sites such as this one?
i see webphotos can't be used like this any longer.. thanks!.
betweenworlds
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dmouse
Hmm, that strike9 looks complicated Simon...let's have a go:
Yeeeaaa! It works!
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36
First Post
by Decimus inhi everyone.while i have lurked on this board for some time this is my very first post.
the main reason for my reluctance to post has been the fact that my job keeps me pretty busy - however i have enjoyed the board so much i felt i would love to be a more tangible presence and have decided to take the plunge.
i will give more details of my background later.
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dmouse
..oh blast late again...curse this mortal mind and body...
WELCOME to Decimus and Salud.
I'm from the UK, Leicester, never been to Florida though