Posts by Cold Steel

39

Where Does It Say JWs Can't Read Pubs By Other Churches?

by Cold Steel in

can jws read publications by other churches?

or by atheists?

i've always heard these are apostate materials.

Cold Steel

I could understand it if someone in the leadership had said he was inspired or that he'd had a dream or a vision -- something -- but the WTBTS has all of the hallmarks of being a manmade organization all the time it's billing itself as a divinely chosen and established institution. Further, it sees itself as being the Kingdom of God as foretold in Daniel 2. But that kingdom was said to roll forth “without hands” and would “not be left to other men.” Yet everything about the JWs points to being just the opposite.

The general membership calls it “the truth” and though others say they're “arrogant,” it's a bit more than that. It's more “smug.” They see themselves as having the inside track and they're told not to waste their time on on those who aren't interested in conversion. In fact, if you show resistance, they be downright disagreeable. Many of the Witnesses I've met are nice enough, but the more zealous ones are those that tend to be difficult. And those, I suppose, also are deemed the most righteous. And because they assume they're going to fare better in the afterlife, they also believe they know things not known by members of other faiths. And it's this, I think, that makes them smug. 😏

39

Where Does It Say JWs Can't Read Pubs By Other Churches?

by Cold Steel in

can jws read publications by other churches?

or by atheists?

i've always heard these are apostate materials.

Cold Steel

When I was a JW, Mormons came to my door. After a brief exchange, I offered them one of the tracts. ... Some time later when I was pruning the bushes along the path leading out of my property I came across a scrunched up copy of the tract, now exposed after the bush was pruned back. I will credit the Mormon with having the social nicety of taking the tract but give him a "Social Fail" for not even waiting until he was outside my property before disposing of it.

As a Mormon, myself, I have been offered literature by others in exchange for that which I left them. But in every case I have read their pamphlets cover to cover at least once. If someone going to take the time and expense to write their views and their arguments, the least I can do is read it. The only time I was completely unable to do it is when some guy at an airport in robes handed me a Hari Krishna book for a "donation." All I had on me was three bucks, so after some persistence, I took the book, handed him the money and went to catch my flight.

He wasn't happy, as the book clearly was intended to bring in at least a $20 clip. It was bound, in color, people with many arms and purple skin. It was like the red book on Revelation the WTB&TS but on better paper and not so large.

On the last leg of my flight I tried to get into it, but that was impossible. I could understand each word individually, but together I had no idea. Still, being in publishing myself, I couldn't bring myself to toss it. I tried to read it as mythology, but even that didn't work.

Speaking of the red book, I love the pictures. I noticed that all the angels have wings, there are no females and they all look alike. Not one black angel in the bunch!

I even watch flat earth videos on YouTube, not that I give them any credence, but they fascinate me.

But what fascinates me about the Jehovah's Witnesses is that their faith is so great and their evidence is so sparse. The two great questions I ask is, if Jesus appeared invisibly to the earth in 1914, how would anyone know? And if God came in 1918-9 to investigate the world's religions, how would anyone know unless God put out a press release?

Yet JWs constantly attack members of other religions of "Christendom" as being "manmade." And that alone intrigues me. To me the fallacy is so self evident, but the entire organization glosses over these questions as though they were non-existent. Having been so wrong on dates in the past, to base your entire legitimacy on them is madness.

39

Where Does It Say JWs Can't Read Pubs By Other Churches?

by Cold Steel in

can jws read publications by other churches?

or by atheists?

i've always heard these are apostate materials.

Cold Steel

Can JWs read publications by other churches? Or by atheists? I've always heard these are apostate materials.

Or...can JWs read anything they want?

Can they get in trouble by reading educational books like, say, a biography of Ellen G. White? Or books like The Great Controversy, which is a promotional book? Where does the Society draw the line? Can someone be disfellowshiped for reading such?

Also, how do they break this news to a new convert? Say a new member decides he wants to read about another religion? Someone notices he's reading up on it. Do they just come out with it or do they say, "Well, you know, Brother Brown, now that you have the truth, you really don't need to waste your time reading about other religions."

Or is it okay to read and study other religions and their beliefs? You need to understand other religions so you can discuss them intelligently?

Is there a general rule or does each KH make it's own policy?

10

The Santa Claus Class! 🎅

by Cold Steel in

what we need is clarification.

when caleb approached his mother and wants to know whether, in the resurrection, he will enjoy the heavenly hope or be a part of the "great crowd.

as he looks at her with his piercing black eyes, she reminds him that jehovah can't lie.

Cold Steel

I wonder if any JW children believe that Caleb is real?

Pete Zahut » Caleb is a computer generated cartoon so he's resurrected electronically every time someone watches his antics on their screen.

But at least it's the same Caleb. If you are made alive, reconstituted as it were, you're just a copy. God can make a thousand copies of you, each one of them swearing he's the real deal.

Shoot one...rub one out of existence...and there's 999 copies. And if they were unaware of each other, each would think he's the original "Pete Zahut." But what of the one we just snuffed? He's out of here, every bit the guy he was before Jehovah created him. And we have 999 left who are no wiser.

Alas, all we need is one resurrection, not 999; so we snap our celestial fingers and snuff another 998. Now we've got one left and he thinks he's the original (we're not telling him about the others).

I'm not the only one to think of this problem with the soul sleeping doctrine. Those who believe in soul sleeping don't seem to be bothered by it.

In an early episode of Stargate SG1, the group travels to a new address where they're knocked unconscious. They come to, but they're dressed in other clothing than what they were wearing when they got there. They return home with their strange story, but discover they aren't themselves. They're stronger, faster and their batteries run down.

Batteries? That's right. They discover they're cyborgs. And they want their bodies back! They return to the planet, demand to be placed back in their original bodies and then discover to their horror that they haven't been switched to new bodies. They're sophisticated clones with every memory, feeling, hope and foible of the originals.

It was a great episode. And it shows the problem with soul sleeping. Despite the best of intentions, every cake, even if the recipe is identical, will be different.

Caleb is simply a computer character. Nonintelligent. A cipher. Boot him up and he's the same. But intelligence is another matter. If it can be created it can be replicated.

And that makes Jehovah very sad 😢.

10

The Santa Claus Class! 🎅

by Cold Steel in

what we need is clarification.

when caleb approached his mother and wants to know whether, in the resurrection, he will enjoy the heavenly hope or be a part of the "great crowd.

as he looks at her with his piercing black eyes, she reminds him that jehovah can't lie.

Cold Steel

Hint:

Caleb DOESN'T Exist.

10

The Santa Claus Class! 🎅

by Cold Steel in

what we need is clarification.

when caleb approached his mother and wants to know whether, in the resurrection, he will enjoy the heavenly hope or be a part of the "great crowd.

as he looks at her with his piercing black eyes, she reminds him that jehovah can't lie.

Cold Steel

What we need is clarification.

When Caleb approached his mother and wants to know whether, in the resurrection, he will enjoy the heavenly hope or be a part of the "great crowd."

As he looks at her with his piercing black eyes, she reminds him that Jehovah can't lie. When people die they "sleep" until the resurrection, she says. Then Jehovah reconstitutes them and they become part of one group or the other.

"Cool," says Caleb. "What group will I be part of?"

His mother smiles and replies, "You'll be part of the Santa Claus class."

"But mom," he says. "I thought Santa Claus was bad!"

"Santa Claus doesn't exist, Caleb. I thought we discussed that," his mother said.

"Yeah. We did, mom" Caleb says. "But how can I be resurrected to the same class as Santa Claus? He doesn't exist!"

×××××××××××

Okay, you're Caleb's mom. What are YOU going to tell him?

46

If You Could Ask the GB Or One Of Its Members...

by Cold Steel in

...one question about anything and get a straight answer, what would it be?

historical, philosophical, theological, eschatological, anything.

.

Cold Steel

They should have a video where Caleb discovers that Santa Claus isn't real. Then followed by a video where Caleb and Santa Claus discover that Caleb isn't real!

Wow.

46

If You Could Ask the GB Or One Of Its Members...

by Cold Steel in

...one question about anything and get a straight answer, what would it be?

historical, philosophical, theological, eschatological, anything.

.

Cold Steel

There are some people out in cyberspace who try to provide answers to those with questions, but they're just members (JWAdvisors.com) with databases.

You state that Jesus is ruling invisibly, OK, I get that, but how do you explain that he is also mute?

I asked them that very thing. If the leaders do not receive revelation as the ancient leaders did, how would they know that Jesus returned invisibly? Especially when scripture clearly states that every eye shall see him.

Unfortunately, as soon as they ascertain that you're not red meat, they toss you aside, saying they don't have time to fool with you.

The two questions I put to them was the 1) 1914 invisible return one and 2) how they knew they were selected in 1918-9 as Jehovah's horse in the race?

Both are legitimate questions, of course. If you were to ask them:

What is the definition of 'soon'?

What could they say? Any day now? I was amazed that they referred me to their database for these questions.

How do they know about the selection of the Society in 1918-9? Here's a dump on all the articles that have been written in their magazines!

Circular reasoning. Very bizarre. The fellow defending the faith was very nice, but clearly out of his element. He wrote:

"I need to tend to my ministry, which does not include the command to preach to those who do not need a physician."

Yet, ostensibly, the purpose of his site was to answer questions outsiders had about the faith. He was very clear that he wouldn't answer questions by former JWs. I suppose the shunning policy applied. Serious inquiries and questions would be considered, but only if you were unhappy or had doubts about your present beliefs. But those stipulations are not anywhere on his website.

8

Michael Cremo and the book Fobbiden archaeology

by Crazyguy in

jw
friends

it my understanding that he's claiming that humans have lived on earth for millions of years.

it looks as though he's even showing different archaeological findings to support his claim.

he seams to be claiming that other inferior humanoids could not created some of the things found and i guess modern scientists would agree on that single piont.. its also if interest to find out that his religious beliefs maybe behind his ideas.

Cold Steel

One way might be to find the oldest writing samples. If a civilization is said to have existed 250,000 years ago, but the earliest writing is only 5,000 years old, then I would have to doubt the first number.

As far as I know, no significant culture in Mexico pre-dates the Olmec culture, and that dates back to about 2500 B.C. And it came to a rather quick end in 400 B.C., most likely due because of war.

So if this super-ancient civilization has writings, that would go a long way in telling us more about them. Who were their kings? What were their modes of warfare? What was their size, physical characteristics and what happened to them? Were they destroyed or assimilated? How did they claim to get here?

If someone says a culture was here hundreds of thousands of years before other cultures, then I'm going to want more evidence than carbon dating. Civilizations cannot build cities and yet remain silent in the written word.

46

If You Could Ask the GB Or One Of Its Members...

by Cold Steel in

...one question about anything and get a straight answer, what would it be?

historical, philosophical, theological, eschatological, anything.

.

Cold Steel

One question I'd ask is: If Jesus Christ came in 1914 BUT IT WAS INVISIBLE, and if He's ruling today AND IS DOING SO INVISIBLY, how would the Governing Body know unless its members can SEE invisible things?

And: If Jesus Christ came in 1918 and "chose" an earthly organization, which was the Bible Students, doesn't this mean the information was somehow conveyed to them them? If they don't receive any new information by way of revelation, and if they are not infallible, how can they make such claims with any degree of credibility?

I don't personally know what is in their own minds. Are they sincere? Do they believe it because they think it's true, or have they talked themselves into believing it? If I were a member of the GB, I'd be worried about which hand of the Lord I'd be standing on in the day of judgment. Anciently Jesus chose his apostles and said, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you." But today they say, "Ye have not chosen us, but we have chosen you and ordained ourselves."

How in the heck did that work out?? And Jesus signed off on that?

In the first case, Jesus was the proactive force. In the second He's the passive force. The GB is the proactive force. They appoint themselves, then assure everyone that God subsequently ratified it. But if it's true, it's a first with God because God has NEVER, EVER, operated that way in the past. He always went to His appointed LEADERS and chose them. Not once, EVER, did they go to Him and demand that they be called and chosen; it was ALWAYS the other way around.

So where, I would ask, can they find in the scriptures one instance where prophets or apostles chose themselves, then went to God and said, "Well, how about it? Are we acceptable to thee?"