Posts by Cold Steel

19

What Is the JW Belief Regarding the Millennium?

by Cold Steel in

most christian religions believe it will be a thousand-year period of peace.

jws, however, seem to believe in the resurrection and then life on paradise earth.

but do they believe in the millennium the way other christians do -- where the lion will lay down with the lamb [bzzzt...mandela effect correction] wolf will lay down with the lamb?

Cold Steel

Yes, Coftey, and how would you know it's been thoroughly debunked? I've been LDS for 45 years and have friends who are highly active in the ex-Mormon community. Unlike you, I've studied both sides extensively and have yet to see the proverbial nail in the coffin. To the contrary I've seen considerable evidence supporting it.

When you have a book like the Qur'an, you can judge it only by the standard of one man (610 A.D.) telling one story with no witnesses other than himself. We can't even judge it that way because the Qur'an was not compiled until substantial time after the fact. If it was changed, we don't know. If it was added to we don't know. We can't even compare it to other writings of its time and determine anything because it would tell us nothing.

But we do have numerous writings from 600 B.C. we can use as comparative texts. And we have a far better understanding of historical context than we had even a hundred years ago.

The Jehovah's Witnesses, on the other hand, have a clear history. No one wonders what they were thinking and teaching because we know.

As historical documents go, it should be child's play to take a purported document from 600 B.C. and prove without doubt that it's a hoax or forgery, especially with books from the Dead Sea Scrolls and other discoveries.

You can, of course, make whatever conclusions you wish, and if you wish to make those conclusions based on gross ignorance, then you should really give the critics of evolution a break rather than criticize them. (At least until it's been conclusively proven.)

19

What Is the JW Belief Regarding the Millennium?

by Cold Steel in

most christian religions believe it will be a thousand-year period of peace.

jws, however, seem to believe in the resurrection and then life on paradise earth.

but do they believe in the millennium the way other christians do -- where the lion will lay down with the lamb [bzzzt...mandela effect correction] wolf will lay down with the lamb?

Cold Steel

Simon, who said I'm promoting cults?

I don't mind people attacking cults like Mormonism and first century Christianity, but should people be allowed to mindlessly attack other people's religions and the person not be permitted to respond? If someone wanted to defend being a Jehovah's Witness, are you saying he would be deleted? If so, this would be a new policy because I've been here many years and read the terms of service. I've never seen a JW called out for defending one's beliefs. Or does the policy apply only to those who can intellectually defend their beliefs?

We live in a new era where it's now okay to tear down statues of those we paint with a broad brush and muzzle those who challenge our ways of thinking. People like Cofty respond with puerile retorts of name calling, form never substance. You do a diservice to honest dialog by encouraging a policy that permits personal attacks but stifles intellectual responses.

Perhaps your terms of service should reflect this new policy.

11

Finland Knife attack: 2 dead, one of them a Jehovah's Witness

by ILoveTTATT2 in

jw
friends

two people dead and 7 injured in what is apparently a terrorist attack in finland.

one of the deceased was a jehovah´s witness woman who was preaching in the square.. where was jehovah protecting her?

especially considering she was preaching?https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/finnish-police-stabbing-investigated-as-possible-terrorism/2017/08/19/187a034e-84b8-11e7-9e7a-20fa8d7a0db6_story.html?utm_term=.f596f9250d70.

Cold Steel

Any chance the woman passing out religious material in any way spurred this?

What Finland needs is a gun culture like the U.S. Recently there was a shooting here of two people, one the gunman himself. He was apparently getting started when a college student with a concealed weapons permit drew his own gun. When the gunman saw the other guy was armed, he turned the gun on himself...a fact that the media didn't include.

As for the JW woman, you can't really use the fact that Jehovah didn't protect her. All but two of the original apostles were put to death.

19

What Is the JW Belief Regarding the Millennium?

by Cold Steel in

most christian religions believe it will be a thousand-year period of peace.

jws, however, seem to believe in the resurrection and then life on paradise earth.

but do they believe in the millennium the way other christians do -- where the lion will lay down with the lamb [bzzzt...mandela effect correction] wolf will lay down with the lamb?

Cold Steel

Everyone believes bullshit, Cofty. Some believe a little more or a little less than everyone else. Your most prized textbooks now won't be worth spit a decade from now. History books remain in vogue longer, but science books go out of date faster than most. Scientific journals are actually the best investment.

The Book of Mormon has weathered time and science better than you have any idea. But you don't know enough to debate the issue because you've never taken the time to research it. Going to an anti-Mormon site to learn about Mormonism is like going to a young-Earth evangelical sites to learn about Darwinian evolution.

In truth, you despise all religion because you were suckered by the JWs. But you refuse to use the scientific method on anything not shaped like a monkey jaw.

Unlike the JWs, we've got anthropologists, Egyptologists, world renowned professors of ancient scripture, historians, archaeologists and geologists -- all investigating the Book of Mormon and the Book of Abraham, as well as works like the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Nag Hammadi and other apocryphal works. We've maintained a comprehensive list of the "problems" of our books and, as we learn more about Mesoamera and ancient Egypt, the more those problems turn into evidences. If they were the concoctions of Joseph Smith's fervent imagination, one would expect just the opposite -- that the problems would increase. But there are things we know now that no one in Joseph Smith's day could have known. And in all the ex-Mormon sites I've run across, I've seen no responses to them.

But as to the Millennium and the JWs, wrong again. I began by going to the JW.org website and searching for the Millennium, but nothing popped up. There's no segue from that topic to Mormonism. Your intent in this discussion is only to use a legitimate interrogatory to take a cheap shot at Mormonism. Which really only means you're a bit of a jerk.

But many of us know that already.

21

Making Every Thought Captive To Christ(Washing the Brain Of Good Reasoning)

by Brokeback Watchtower in

not a very good idea to say the least.

when i read paul's words the more i see how delusional the guy was.

he was a genuine religious fanatic who contradicts jesus words on the sermon on the mount.. 2 corinthians 10:5 5we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of god, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to christ.. delusional and in need of some serious psychological help.

Cold Steel

Of course. But explaining the mystical experiences with all the Hebrew prophets is one of the more fascinating aspects of the religion. Together, they're quite different from the experience of Muhammad in the cave, in which the angel immediately resorted to strangling the prophet when he failed to respond, or Joan of Arc, who just heard voices.

Paul's vision on the road to Damascus wasn't a solitary experience. It had various actors like Ananias and those who traveled with him. He was led to Ananias and Ananias was also directed by revelation to Paul. Then Paul had further revelatory experiences that led to his calling as an apostle. These are quite different than, say, literary encounters between Athena and Odysseus or Hermes and Priam which tended to be more self-serving in their outcome.

19

What Is the JW Belief Regarding the Millennium?

by Cold Steel in

most christian religions believe it will be a thousand-year period of peace.

jws, however, seem to believe in the resurrection and then life on paradise earth.

but do they believe in the millennium the way other christians do -- where the lion will lay down with the lamb [bzzzt...mandela effect correction] wolf will lay down with the lamb?

Cold Steel

How about technology? Do they believe humans will continue to progress technologically? True, the vast majority of those who could design cars, homes, refrigeration units, aircraft and even extra-terrestrial communications and craft would be killed in the Big-A, over a thousand years or so they could develop schools of higher learning and figure out all that NASA stuff left in all those empty buildings.

Since some JWs are planning to move into the homes of the "toasties" (those who will be killed by Jehovah), it doesn't sound like they're going to live under trees or in caves. So when the fireworks are over, will mankind progress or will vegetation overrun the cities? In all the pictures, everyone's wearing clothing and playing musical instruments and gathering figs and other organically grown foods.

If I were going to live in a perfect environment, in bliss, I always figured there would be a way for me to have a food replicator that would, at my command, generate an old Hot Shoppes (circa 1968) menu, including a Mighty Mo, chicken noodle soup and French-fried onion rings. But that would take technology. I also never see people using computers in those WT pictures.

The question is whether JWs see life on Paradise Earth as a rejection of all technology or as an opportunity to achieve all those things they were denied leading up to life everlasting. Oh, and that reminds me. Do they conceive of anyone else being out there in the trillions of stars -- perhaps other creations of Jehovah -- or are they pretty much the sum of humanity?

19

What Is the JW Belief Regarding the Millennium?

by Cold Steel in

most christian religions believe it will be a thousand-year period of peace.

jws, however, seem to believe in the resurrection and then life on paradise earth.

but do they believe in the millennium the way other christians do -- where the lion will lay down with the lamb [bzzzt...mandela effect correction] wolf will lay down with the lamb?

Cold Steel

Most Christian religions believe it will be a thousand-year period of peace. JWs, however, seem to believe in the resurrection and then life on Paradise Earth. But do they believe in the Millennium the way other Christians do -- where the ~~lion will lay down with the lamb~~ [bzzzt...Mandela Effect Correction] wolf will lay down with the lamb?

If so, how will life in the Millennium be any different than life after the Millennium?

21

Making Every Thought Captive To Christ(Washing the Brain Of Good Reasoning)

by Brokeback Watchtower in

not a very good idea to say the least.

when i read paul's words the more i see how delusional the guy was.

he was a genuine religious fanatic who contradicts jesus words on the sermon on the mount.. 2 corinthians 10:5 5we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of god, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to christ.. delusional and in need of some serious psychological help.

Cold Steel

There's not enough known about Paul to diagnose any brain abnormalities, nor does his blindness after his vision fall into any of the supposed categories. There are also the other happenstances:

And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink. And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth, and hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem: And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name. But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel.

In this case you have the initial vision, then the vision he received while still suffering blindness -- the one leading him to Ananias and the vision of Ananias informing him to seek Paul. Had Paul had an illness-inspired dream, it likely would have fueled his hatred of Christians rather than converted him to Christianity.

Based on Paul's writings, he was a visionary man given to revelations. That he was an apostle is clear from his writings and was a witness of the resurrection of Christ. Some assume this vision and his initial vision on the road to Damascus were the same, but if he is the man he spoke of "that was taken to the third heaven where he saw and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak," he may have seen or encountered Jesus there.

I'm not certain what Paul said in this case (2 Corinthians 10:5) that was so objectionable or which contradicts Jesus' words in the Sermon on the Mount. In the context of his times, how can we judge how delusional he is when compared to the other Christian leaders of his time? We're not only crossing a language barrier, but a cultural barrier as well. Based on what we don't know about Paul (which greatly outweighs what we do know), that may be unfair.

7

The skull of Mary Magdalene..Scary and freaky.....

by James Mixon in

www.cultofweird.com/death/skull-of-mary-magdalene.what happen to jesus skull, did it travel to heaven???

search skull of mary magdalene/ cult of weird....also a piece of mary's skin is also on display, a piece of her skin was still attach to her skull and this is where jesus touched mary (nearly 2000 years ago)....

Cold Steel

The Catholics say that Mary was "assumed" into Heaven and did not suffer death. Well, assumed is the correct word. Because Jesus gave Peter the keys of the kingdom, the power to bind in Heaven and Earth, all the Pope (Peter's successor) had to do was simply declare it to be so and it was so. And it's binding on the RC church to this day. The idea that the blessed vessel of Jesus' birth would be mortal is too much for them to deal with. It's sacrilegious.

BTW, I have John the Baptist's autograph and would be willing to sell it to the right kind of person. Make $$$ offer. Oh, and a splinter from the Roman torture stake that Peter was crucified upside down on.

PayPal accepted.

32

For Christians: What do you think about an Armagedon and the Afterlife

by John Davis in

i don't mean for anyone to get into argument over this, i just want to hear what people believe.i hope that no one will mock or argue with someone else about their beliefs, i know that i won't in this topic.. i still believe in a christian god, not what jws believe, but believe that there has to be something after this life.

i am not sure about how armageddon would go, would it be like how evangelicals believe with a rapture or timing or anything, though i still believe in a form of armageddon.

i do think that all good people will go to heaven but i don't believe in a hell.

Cold Steel

MoreConfuzed » Since no one can prove beyond a doubt that what they believe is true, I have decided to take a "what will be, will be" view.

Well, one can do that. When I asked JWs to show me one prophecy in the scriptures that came to pass and didn't mean what it said on its face, they've not been able to produce even one.

There are prophecies embedded in apicalyptic writings like Revelation and Daniel, where there are beasts, heads, horns and crowns and such, but there are prophecies from Ezekiel, Zechariah, Isaiah and others that aren't apocalyptic and they're literal. Even in Revelation, when John writes of a wicked city, then adds the literal reference, we know the first is spiritual ("spiritually called Sodom and Egypt") and the second literal ("where our Lord was crucified").

The literal prophecies also are coming to pass whereas the symbolic ones aren't. The reason is that when the literal prophecies began to be fulfilled, the WTS had already formed. It tended to find fulfillment in the things that it had already thought had come to pass.

True, it was disingenuous, but what else is new?