Posts by Cold Steel

34

The org tightens the noose on J.W.'s thinking.

by The Fall Guy in

the manipulative use of language by the org in the upcoming circuit assembly talks is as good - or better - than any advertising conglomerate could devise.

the mind-shaping wording is clearly used in order to deter critical thinking by the sheep.. face bad reports as jesus did (9 min.

note to the speaker: explain why spiritually mature people do not become ashamed of the good news or dismayed when faced with negative propaganda.

Cold Steel

Clyde had looked forward to his summer vacation for months. But now as he lay in his hospital bed, staring intently at the slowly rotating fan overhead, he reflected on the shark attack that had landed him there. Clyde now felt remorse at having disregarded counsel. After all, Elder Duit had urged him to remain in Pittsburgh that summer and carry on pioneering work as one of Jehovah's Christian ministers. And if he'd only taken that counsel, Clyde knew he wouldn't be faced with his present dilemma: to anger Jehovah by receiving a soul destroying blood transfusion or making Jehovah happy by refusing it.

It weighed heavily on Clyde's mind. Inwardly he knew that obeying Jehovah was the right thing to do. He knew that while the blood transfusion would most likely save his life, selfishly availing himself of it would be wrong. Sure, his wife Clara would be burdened with raising Clyde Jr. Isabel and the twins, and caring for his mother, now suffering from dementia, but he knew that if anyone could do it, she could. He also knew she could fit another part time job into her schedule. She could even rent out part of their house if need be. After all, the federal prison on the outskirts of town had a steady stream of people leaving it, and these ex-prisoners needed places to stay.

DISCUSSION: What decision do you think Clyde made in receiving blood? What role did Clyde's not receiving counsel play in the shark attack? After reading how God disciplined Jonah, do you think Clyde's shark attack was a coincidence? What are you doing this summer? Do you plan to go in the water?

45

Just A Thought Regarding The Bunker Video

by pale.emperor in

as ridiculous as the bunker video was, a few things popped into my consciousness as i was riding the train today.

firstly, why did they go to all the expense and effort to not only create a bunker, but to furnish it like a living room complete with coffee table, armchair, shelves etc?

i mean, a bunker should be a bunker... boxes of tinned food, tools, medical supplies, emergency gear etc.

Cold Steel

The reason the guy has a Bible is because the government has stopped production of the Watchtower and confiscated remaining copies. The Governing Body is in hiding and some are in prison or have been executed. All the Jehovah's Witnesses are being hunted down and either imprisoned or shot.

I'm not certain why they're after JWs, but they're also after Seventh Day Adventists because they're in violation of the New World Order's stiff blue laws. Meanwhile, factions of JWs are bitterly engaged in combat with SDAs over who's version of Armageddon is correct and casualties are mounting on each side.

At the bunker, Brother Smith has learned that he's been betrayed into the hands of the NWO by the one the Secret Police know only as "the Babe" -- an attractive Hispanic woman working undercover and who had avoided suspicion despite maintaining a perfecf perm on the run.

20

Joel Osteen's Church is a Cult too ??

by ShirleyW in

jw
friends

it's being said all over social media that joel osteen hasn't opened his mega church for refuge during the storm, pictures are showing this area is not flooded.

i made a few comments myself saying that the jws only help their own in time of need but this god fearing man isn't helping anyone.. just what religion is he and his followers, i guess it's one of those non-denomination churches that collect a shitload of bucks to him and wife so he can afford the glamorous life, nothing new of course, i thought he was just a bit different than the others, fooled me..

Cold Steel

The Osteen church is all about making money and helping no one. In his defense, such that it is, he really stops short in making any claims. He never says he hears from God or that he heals anyone. He never makes prophecies or really even preaches Christ. He'll toss Jesus' name in once in awhile, but he's very careful not to include himself in the "body of Christ" or make any claims that might get him in trouble should he have to answer for it later. I'm not sure he even has to ask for money; people seem to just give it to him. He has his own jet and then there are the books. I'm sure if public pressure persists, they'll open the sanctuary.

17

1 John 5:13-20 Jesus is the true God?

by NikL in

one of the main things i am trying to wrap my head around after waking up to the nonsense of jw.org is the deity of christ.. jws go out of their way to ignore him, it seems to me.

they make him out to be an angel or something.

yet, if one simply reads the scriptures, you get an entirely different picture.. doing some bible reading this morning i accidentally (long story) read the latter part of 1 john 5 and it's good stuff.. after reading it in the niv i read it in nwt and it is still pretty amazing even in that abomination of a translation.. it says.... 13 i write you these things so that you may know that you have life everlasting, you who put your faith in the name of the son of god.

Cold Steel

Can one still get a cheap copy of the NWT from the Pioneers that canvas the neighborhood? What's the price? Do they all have copies? I know it's online; but if like to pick one up. And why did they do away with the green ones they were using back in the 70s?

14

New book on early Christianity

by careful in

i'm not quite sure that this post fits under jws/wts since they do not keep up with real biblical scholarship, but i don't know where else to post it.. thomas a. robinson (university of lethbridge) has just published a book through oxford university press on the earliest christians, entitled who were the first christians?

: dismantling the urban thesis.

for some years the idea has dominated scholarship that christianity grew strongly at first in ancient cities like rome, alexandria, and corinth; the notion has been largely influenced by wayne meeks' (of yale) thinking in his book the first urban christians (1986).. i once saw a member here cite meeks' idea of how many christians existed in the roman empire.

Cold Steel

Ouch! Seventy bucks!

I'll have to wait for the Reader's Digest version. Looks interesting.

Does he get into early Christian doctrines at all. Eschatology? Canon? I'd like to see a work that separates Gnostic Christians from conventional ones. Did his figure of 6 million include Gnostic/Coptic members? How about Constantine? Does he go into the reforms?

I'd expect the urban areas would include the more orthodox Christians, especially since the earlier persecutions would have driven them away from the cities. Do you have a copy of the book?

35

After all these years, I finally made it to Brooklyn Bethel!

by dubstepped in

jw
friends

.

Cold Steel

I've read Brock Talon's books about working there. They're very entertaining though I wondered why he stayed so long.

When you go on the tours, where do they take you? To where they publish the books and magazines?

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

So why are you here? On an ex-JW site. Are you trying to recruit vulnerable people who have just esaped the JW cult?

Oh, yeah, that would work! I first came here years ago for more information because of family members who joined the JWs and then cut off all contact. They went from being very friendly to being aloof. Then they began sending magazines to my mother on what happens when one dies. She thought being food for the worms was terrifying, so that's why I came here. I found the topics here were interesting, so I stayed. If you do a search for the topics I've started, I've never dragged my religion into it. I only reply to people who bring it up. So far, Cofty's my best recruit.

He'd probably make a good Mormon once we taught him some manners and how to read.

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

Actually I was speaking a bit tongue-in-cheek. My wife told me about the report and though the media reported on the shooting, the part about the guy pointing his gun at the shooter and the gunman then taking his own life was reported by a National Rifle Association spokesman.

But here's a site with similar stories.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/10-potential-mass-shootings-that-were-stopped-by-someone-wit?utm_term=.wmGGWXN7Ar#.jvABNelxYX

The existence of guns in our society isn't what causes gun deaths -- it's recidivism and the inability of the justice system to deal with criminal violence. The U.S. is also still largely wilderness. You go into national parks where you can go for miles without passing another person, plus we have large, nasty predators.

With so much land and so little law enforcement, we need guns. And many of our violent offenders are already living in metropolitan areas with heavy gun control. And in the vast majority of cases, when by gun control is loosened, crime goes down and where it is tightened it tends to go up!

I'm glad we have our guns here, though in countries where there are plenty of cops and a better criminal justice system, you probably don't need them as much.

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.