Posts by Cold Steel

10

Anyone with a Mormon background? Wedding with a non-believer.

by jam in

ok here's the deal.

i posted previous about my son and his mormon girlfriend.

well they are now planning to get married.. can a mormon elder ( not sure what they are called) perform the marriage or will he.

Cold Steel

I'm a Mormon and will attempt to answer your questions.

Normally, in a civil LDS wedding, the local Bishop will perform the wedding; however, anyone holding the higher priesthood should be able to perform the service as long as they are recognized by the state.

You shouldn't have any problems mixing LDS and other religions, and I think you'll find they're great people. Only don't get them drunk! (just kidding) All should go smoothly. If you have any further questions, send me a PM and I'll attempt to answer them.

Good luck and congratulations.

12

Know your place..

by The Quiet One in

this weeks watchtower study contains an image that depicts the hierarchy of the org, with the picture showing god and the angels, followed by the governing body directly underneath heaven.. and the rest descending further away from it.. (check the following link, my description isn't the best.

) "the earthly part of jehovahs organization includes: 1.the governing body 2.branch committees 3.travelling overseers 4.bodies of elders 5.congregations 6.individual publishers very subtle.. http://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/w20130415/do-not-tire-out/.

Cold Steel

Where's Jesus, the head of the congregation?
What...you can't see him? Try squinting and turning off the lights. The church is built on a foundation of apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone. As you can see, Jesus has no glory, while the Father radiates it. If you look closely, you can see His beard.

And here's the entire picture:

Who are the white angels with white beards. And does the Society think angels have wings? Since Jesus is only an angel, does He have wings?? And if God still has angels, why doesn't He send them to the Governing Body? Before Christ there were prophets and angels, and after Him there were apostles and angels. John had his vision around 96 A.D. If He's restored that church to the earth, why doesn't He send His angels to them? I mean, they're in the picture. And isn't that what they're supposed to do, deliver messages?
I find thee picture quite presumptuous. I can't see publishing this and then going out in a thunderstorm, if I were a GB member. I'm afraid of being hit by lightning. Whew!!!

27

Another bash at education - wt13 9/15

by Splash in

page 20:.

the unwary may adopt the same view of theocratic arrangements.

they may be unwilling to go along with congregation procedures and may even complain about anything not to their liking.

Cold Steel

When I gave a new school overseer a first year college textbook on English Grammar he handed it back.

Wow...really? What did you say when you gave it to him? Any chance he misinterpreted your handing it to him as something he was supposed to look at and then hand back? What did HE say? Was there any disapproval on his part?

If you send your children to college, will anyone say anthing about it to you? What if you're a new convert? During your studies you explain that you're planning on sending your kids to reputable colleges. Will they ever say anything about it or do they bite their lips?

Do they want you to stop with high school? College? Advanced degrees? And how strongly do they feel about it? Enough to mention it to longtime members?

Any penalties?

8

If you still have some belief in a God - what are your thoughts on these articles, and the similarities?

by Fernando in

george barna of the barna group (51% of "christians" more like pharisees than like jesus, in attitudes and in actions)morgan guyton of the huffington post ("two christianities" - a concept with 2,810 hits on google)what are your views on the concept of two distinct "christianities" and/or these articles?.

(law versus grace, or legalism versus the gospel, coc versus isocf).

Cold Steel

Unless the articles are written by religious scholars, I pay absolutely no attention to them. Journalists tend to study a certain topic for days or weeks, then publish. Then they move on. They know a lot about everything, but they're not experts on anything, and quite frequently when writing on historical, social or theological issues, they miss a lot, use discredited sources, misinterpret existing source materials, and draw jaw dropping conclusions that defy logic. (Especially on the Huffington Post, where every article has an agenda.)

31

Nice tid bit for those JW's that say Catholics are NOT Christian

by sinis in

in fact, it would seem that christianity was from the very beginning catholic... hmmmmm, how they fail when it comes to history.... .

"the earliest evidence of the use of the term catholic church is the letter to the smyrnaeans that ignatius of antioch wrote in about 107 to christians in smyrna.

exhorting christians to remain closely united with their bishop, he wrote: "wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude [of the people] also be; even as, wherever jesus christ is, there is the catholic church.

Cold Steel

Mp: How many christian churches read or discuss what the dead sea scrolls contain? The anser is none, because they dont want the rank and dumb to know the truth about their origins.

Can't speak for other churches, but the LDS (Mormon) church is certainly an exception. Not only do we study the scrolls, we publish scores of scholarly papers and articles on them. We also publish extensively on the Qur'an and the Nag Hammadi library found about the same time the Dead Sea Scrolls were found (circa 1947). In fact, the Book of Mormon prophesies that such records would come forth:

And after it had come forth unto them I beheld other books, which came forth by the power of the Lamb, from the Gentiles unto them, unto the convincing of the Gentiles and the remnant of the seed of my brethren, and also the Jews who were scattered upon all the face of the earth, that the records of the prophets and of the twelve apostles of the Lamb are true. (1 Nephi 13:39)

You seem to feel these writings discredit Christianity; however, our own scholars have found just the opposite. I also know that the Catholic Church also has considerable interest in these writings; however, whether their papers are as readily available to its members I don't know. I do know that Father George McRae came to BYU years ago to speak on the Nag Hammadi writings and the place was packed. Unfortunately, most of their papers are published in expensive journals and aren't available for download.

See:

The Messiah and the Manuscripts: What Do Recently Discovered Documents Tell Us about Jesus?

51

If ARMAGEDDON Came, Would YOU Repent?

by Cold Steel in

the day finally comes.

you get up one day with the nagging feeling that it's going to be different.

you get dressed, get in the car, then notice how dark the weather's getting.

Cold Steel

If I survived armegeddon and realized my fate was an eternity with JW's...

I'd murder myself.

Ah, but what if, at the very moment God was to strike you down, someone said, "Please...spare him!"

So...you're off the hook. Now you've really had it. You're alive forever in a world of Jehovah's Witnesses and you can't kill yourself. But in the trillions of years that lie ahead, you should get to know every single one of them.

Man, what couldn't you do with that much time.

I hear the first trillion years are the hardest. After that, time just seems to fly!

51

If ARMAGEDDON Came, Would YOU Repent?

by Cold Steel in

the day finally comes.

you get up one day with the nagging feeling that it's going to be different.

you get dressed, get in the car, then notice how dark the weather's getting.

Cold Steel

A lot of you missed my point entirely.

The thread was aimed at ascertaining what, given a chain of natural disasters that give way to world war (and isn't that what the Society is expecting?), the effect would have on you. Visualize anything the Society could think of about what Aramageddon would be like and ask yourself whether you would chalk it up to natural events and bum luck or whether you would go running back to the nearest Kingdom Hall to ensure you're on the right side?

The Society is actually WRONG about the Armageddon events. It's really about a battle for the survival of the Jews in Israel, but the Society believes it will be a worldwide catastrophic event, somewhat like the Norse Ragnorak, only in their worldview Jehovah wins the day.

My old economics professor used to say that if you predict disaster often enough, eventually you'll be right. The Society has been predicting disaster for how long? So if they finally hit the proverbial jackpot, what do YOU chalk it up to? Global warming? Sh-- happens? Or, could it actually be, at last, the long awaited, and dreaded, Armageddon?

[Add dramatic music here]

31

Nice tid bit for those JW's that say Catholics are NOT Christian

by sinis in

in fact, it would seem that christianity was from the very beginning catholic... hmmmmm, how they fail when it comes to history.... .

"the earliest evidence of the use of the term catholic church is the letter to the smyrnaeans that ignatius of antioch wrote in about 107 to christians in smyrna.

exhorting christians to remain closely united with their bishop, he wrote: "wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude [of the people] also be; even as, wherever jesus christ is, there is the catholic church.

Cold Steel

The term "catholic" means "universal." In the so-called Apostles' Creed, it's used in verse 9 to represent the universal Christian faith, and the creed is used in Baptist and Methodist churches. My grandmother, a Southern Baptist, would recite the creed up to that point and then go silent rather than utter those hated words. Even though it's in lower case, she just couldn't bring herself to say it; it sounded too much like the upper case term!

The Apostles' Creed is as follows:

1. I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:

2. And in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord:

3. Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary:

4. Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead and buried: He descended into hell:

5. The third day he rose again from the dead:

6. He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty:

7. From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead:

8. I believe in the Holy Ghost:

9. I believe in the holy catholic church : the communion of saints:

10. The forgiveness of sins:

11. The resurrection of the body:

12. And the life everlasting. Amen.

4

In todays paper the Mormons have even admitted DTD is not the most effective way to reach people.

by life is to short in

there was an short article in my local paper today that started out with "mormons expand use of technology".

i am horrible at scanning so i will quote some of the article, it said "the common images of mormon missionaries has long been two young men wearing white shirts and ties walking through neighborhoods, knocking door-to-door.

but in a few years, that image may be replaced by one of young mormons sitting with an ipad, typing messages on facebook.

Cold Steel

I just talked to a couple of missionaries a few weeks ago and they said the same thing about door-to-door (DTD) not being very productive. Will the church arm its missionaries with iPads? I can't see that working well, either. According to our own scriptures, the Lord states: "And it shall come to pass, because of the wickedness of the world, that I will take vengeance upon the wicked, for they will not repent; for the cup of mine indignation is full; for behold, my blood shall not cleanse them if they hear me not."

So according to our prophecies, that one given in 1830, we're expecting our missionary efforts to taper off and for world conditions to significantly worsen.

People just aren't into religion anymore. In Europe, they're closing down churches all over the place and converting them to business offices or storage facilities. Now it's happening here. Not only are we adopting European socialism with its assorted problems of deficit spending and unemployment, we're seeing an unprecedented drop in the beliefs of the people in religion. One problem is that religion is no longer held by the parents, and if not them, why would their children? There are still people who are looking, but in the case of the Jehovah's Witnesses, they really have nothing to offer. I've learned a lot about the Society and have noticed that those who leave the faith either turn to atheism or, in some cases, try to rationalize that the Society is still God's organization, but is in some state of apostasy.

Those who leave Mormonism also tend to embrace atheism or, strangely, evangelical Christianity. And many of the people who are coming into the church are doing so because of its emphasis on the Family, not necessarily because they believe it's doctrine, or see the need for apostles and prophets.

20

Falling asleep whilst praying..

by punkofnice in

when i believed in jehovah(tm), i'd pray to him at night.

i'd doze off.. i remember admonition from the podium that it was disrespectful to doze off during our personal prayers to imaginary sky god jehovah(tm).. i'd wake up.

say sorry to jehovah(tm) then either carry on grovelling or just end it.. one thing's for sure, asleep or awake, pray or not it makes no difference........no one's listening!.

Cold Steel

I thought this thread would be discussing falling asleep while praying, not a Jehovah bash. Many of you have some real anger management issues, which I find unfortunate, but understandable.

As for prayer, it helps if you have a certain place like a dressing room or large closet where you can kneel and go to in time of need. If you'r4e married, you might also want to pray vocally with your wife, followed by private prayers. Also, I wouldn't pray to Jehovah. Yahweh is not the Father, but Christ, and we shouldn't pray to Christ, but rather, the Father. Jesus addressed him as "Father," so why should we do any different? Even if Jehovah was the Father, addressing him by his name would be like calling your father by his first name. In fact, there is no place in scripture where anyone prays directly to God calling him by a personal name.

Years ago there was a book entitled, How to Pray and Stay Awake. If you pray while you're lying in bed, you're much more likely to fall asleep. It's like snacking. Put some Cracker Jacks boxes by the sofa facing the television and *POOF!" -- they're gone! It's not a great way to diet. My dressing room is the ideal place for me to pray. Oh, and don't pray in the basement as sometimes the prayers begin to rise and bounce off of the main floor. It'll eventually get to God, but it may float around the ceiling for awhile until it finds a crack or the stairs.