Posts by Cold Steel

25

" It is the True Religion ! "

by Phizzy in

speaking to two jw's, separately and days apart, they both weaved in to the conversation the phrase " it is the true religion " .. now in neither case was it possible for me to do my usual thing, piling in with both guns blazing and pointing out that it is impossible for there to be any such thing as "the true religion", unless by "truth" you mean that which is true in your opinion and not supported by facts or reality etc etc.

my question is : is this mere coincidence, or has there been an article or something telling them to say this ?

if there is, could someone point me to it ?

Cold Steel

As a Mormon, I can say there's only ONE true religion!

105

Another School Shooting: The Gun Violence/Mental Illness Debate Continues

by jp1692 in

in the aftermath of the valentine's day school shooting in florida, i have read quite a number of articles, blogs and posts about the event.

it is disturbing--and i think inexcusable--that many people take the opportunity to use horrible tragedies such as this to push their own particular agenda.. in particularly insensitive and tone-deaf tweet, conservative political commentator tomi lahren wrote: "can the left let the families grieve for even 24 hours before they push their anti-gun and anti-gunowner agenda?

my goodness.

Cold Steel

Never_A_JW » You're overstating what gun advocates say. The Second Amendment doesn't directly have anything to do with personal self defense. (Neither does it have anything to do with hunting.) The Second Amendment is all about having the American people armed in the event of an oppressive government. This is one reason that Hillary Clinton and the Deep State want so desperately to disarm the American people. They cannot put into place their agenda if the People are armed.

Advocates of gun control want to outlaw AR-15s because they've been used in high profile crimes (but not crimes in general). Only in high profile shootings. But if we banned AR-15s, the shooters will get Ruger Mini-14s, and so it goes. In all of these shootings, the people who should have protected us at some point dropped the ball.

We know Hillary put a great emphasis on disarming the American people. The question is, WHY? Hillary has never put her concern for others high on her agenda. Her agenda is always self-centered. So why did she place disarmament so high on that agenda? It had to do with her own interests, and make no mistake, she was dead serious about it, even going so far as to planning on how to implement it once she was in office.

The Second Amendment was put into place to protect the people from would be tyrants like Hillary. And I've heard people say, "What could a bunch of people with AR-15s and other semi-automatics do against the military if there ever was martial law? Actually, quite a bit, especially with the number of veterans in the U.S. today.

Whatever the reason, the Second Amendment is law. The states can implement their own gun laws, but the Constitution specifically prohibits the federal government from regulating or "infringing" in any way "arms." And the very term has nothing to do with hunting. The founders put a very high emphasis on both national defense and self defense.

In the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II, a small number of handguns wreaked havoc with the German sentries. The Ghetto was later subdued, but at great cost to the Germans. Handguns were easily concealed and the Jews were able to pop off a number of the sentries assigned to the Ghetto.

10

Inconsistency involving Lot and Abraham

by Ireneus in

when god informed of his intention of destroying the wicked inhabitants of sodom and gomorrah abraham made extensive questioning, cross-questioning and bargaining with god till he gets satisfied.

(genesis 18:16-33) however, when god informed of his intention of murdering abraham’s own only-begotten, innocent son, he simply obeys without any questionings [which he should naturally have done more intensely than he did in the case of unrelated wicked people].. god too acted strangely!

no introduction of the subject with sufficient reasons.

Cold Steel

Critics tend to read into the Bible what they want, irrespective of both tradition and scholarship. And this is a subject that has been brought up repeatedly with the same typical conclusions: God is a horrible entity that clearly is bloodthirsty, unreasonable with a propensity to murder the innocent.

Little will come of it here except to get it out of your system. You ignore everything (ancient and modern) that’s been written on it and your mind is made up.

Sacrifice is (and was during the time of Abraham) a tradition that pointed the way to Christ’s atoning sacrifice. The sacrifice of an animal would have no meaning to an all-powerful deity unless it was a teaching device to benefit the children of men. The animals sacrificed had to be perfect, without blemish, to represent the perfect nature of the Son of God. And God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his only begotten son as a way of pointing to the time when Christ would be offered up as a sacrifice for sin.

“God too acted strangely!” you conclude. “No introduction of the subject with sufficient reasons.” But how do you know this? We only have what was passed down. In other accounts, Abraham reasons that God would either prevent him from sacrificing his son or that He would resurrect Isaac in the event he had to go through with it. Abraham knew that human sacrifice had been condemned by God, so he had good reason to conclude this. Either way, the agony suffered by Abraham was what Abraham had to wrestle with, and it teaches us that the Atonement of Christ also was a huge matter with the Father, and one in which the Father suffered greatly.

In one ancient document, we have this exchange between the Father and the Messiah:

And He (the Father) heaved sighs over him, saying, ‘If I put breath into this [man], he must suffer many pains.’ And I said unto My Father, ‘Put breath into him; I will be an advocate for him.’ And My Father said unto Me, ‘If I put breath into him, My beloved Son, Thou wilt be obliged to go down into the world, and to suffer many pains for him before Thou shalt have redeemed him, and made him to come back to his primal state.’ And I said unto My Father, ‘Put breath into him; I will be his advocate, and I will go down into the world, and will fulfil Thy command.’”
There are souls that have been put away with thee under My throne, and it is their sins which will bend thee down under a yoke of iron and make thee like a calf whose eyes grow dim with suffering, and will choke thy spirit as with a yoke; because of the sins of these souls thy tongue will cleave to the roof of my mouth. Art thou willing to endure such things? … The Messiah will say: Master of the universe, with joy in my soul and gladness in my heart I take this suffering upon myself…. Such are the things I desire, and for these I am ready to take upon myself [whatever Thou decreest]. (Discourse on the Abbaton)

The question of why Jesus had to die is another question altogether. When Jesus asked the Father to remove the “bitter cup,” the Father inexplicably declined. Islam asks, if God is truly all powerful, why could He not wave the requirement of blood for sin? This is a more profound question than why he commanded the sacrifice of Isaac. We only know that God’s power is predicated on laws and concepts of justice and mercy that we don’t yet presently comprehend.

16

Let's compare the sayings of Jesus and the modern day Governing Body

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

imagine yourself still sitting at a kingdom hall meeting and turn to the book of mark 7: 21-23. the sayings of jesus are really profound.

the scripture makes you think, reflect, enters your heart and produces results.. today, you have your modern day governing body ( who supposedly are the mouthpiece for jesus and jehovah and provide spiritual food for the 8 million followers).

if jehovah really sends his holy spirit upon these seven men, is this silly and petty message they can come up with?

Cold Steel

When religions take root, they're generally intended to guide people in the words of Jesus or other prophets such as Moses and Muhammad. Some of the writings such as the Talmud, the hadiths of Muhammad and the commentaries are designed to lead people to a better understanding of their religion.

But when uninspired and largely uneducated men tend to go beyond the scriptures and add their own witless, inane and mindless thoughts to them simply because people have given them authority to do so, you get drivel. And if the men have enough authority, calling it drivel can get one in serious trouble because it constitutes rebellion.

If you were to sit down with an elder and say, "Look, those fellas in Brooklyn put out a lot of booklets and pamphlets, but where, really, did they get their authority from Jehovah? And why should we pay the same type of respect for what they have to say as the ancient church did the apostles? I mean, Peter I know, and Paul I know, but who are they? Who ordained them?

There are always those who are willing to step up to the plate, but these guys seemed to have chosen themselves.

2

The JW Study Bible and The Audio RNWT

by HowTheBibleWasCreated in

i am guessing but based on what i have noted over 2 years of low to inactivity.. everytime a new book is started on the clam a new video pops up giving info on the book (my area btw so i can say all of them are wrong).

a new audio version is put out of that book at the same time.

(this is ok. the newer audio version can't hold a candle to the other 4 readers for the 1984 version, but at least it's semi-dramatized).

Cold Steel

-= ANNOUNCEMENT =-

Apple announced today that it has developed a breast
implant that can store and play music. The revolutionary
new iTit will retail from $499 to $699, depending on cup
and speaker size. This is considered a major social
breakthrough, because women are frequently
complaining about men staring at their breasts...
and not listening to them.

14

no...No...NOOO...JW's are not a cult!

by FedUpJW in

just read this over on jw talk:.

will we be willing to leave unbelieving mates and unresponsive kids behind when given direction on what to do???

what about grandkids who fall under their parents who are not witnesses???

Cold Steel

Just how is this instruction going to come?

How will the Governing Body be advised what to say to the masses? Will an angel appear to them? Will they hear a voice? They say that they are not inspired the way the original apostles were; that they don't receive revelation, but how, then, will they know how to direct the people?

9

Dumbstruck!

by Lost in the fog in

i am absolutely dumbstruck and lost for words.

one of the elders who criticised me over my use of social media rang me up to ask how i was doing.

after the usual blah-blah-blah i asked him if he had attended the recent elders one day school.

Cold Steel

Lost In the Fog » After the usual blah-blah-blah I asked him if he had attended the recent elders one day school. He said that he had, and how marvelous it had been. Then he said..."Elders these days are so warm and inviting. We are not spiritual policemen looking into everything the publishers are doing."

I wish you had said, "Why do you say that? ... I mean, I'm not questioning what you're saying. I'm just wondering if there was something that happened at the Elder's School that made you say that?" I would'a loved to have heard the answer. It must have been something that happened at the school that caused him to say that.

VW.org » If they could, some elders would be in your bedroom to see if you are doing it in the missionary position.

In the JW.org it's called the "Publisher" position.

32

Is Trump the President of Jerusalem too?

by tor1500 in

jw
friends

your thoughts...how is it that trump can dictate what goes on in other countries?

can anyone from another country come here and tell us what to do...trump is now the president of the world now, uh?.

i'm not really savvy regarding politics but i'm no dummy either...what the heck is going on in the world.... again, any thoughts ?

Cold Steel

NEWSFLASH...It didn't start with Trump. Every U.S. President has pretty much thought of themselves as world leaders. By moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, we're recognizing the legitimacy of the Jewish state. In my view, this is something we should have done years ago.

23

Why "Most high"?

by Doug Mason in

if there were only one god, why do we encounter the expression, "most high god"?.

is this not indicative of polytheism, and of levels (or degrees) of god-ness?.

doug .

Cold Steel

The first references to God in the Bible are polytheistic. The word for God is elohim, the plural form of God. Thus, the plural references in Genesis. "Man has become as one of us," and it even suggests there's a female element to God in that the Gods created man in their image, "male and female."

But how is God one? How can he say he knows of no other? (See Isaiah 44)

When Jesus prayed to the Father concerning the Twelve, he said, ...that THEY may be ONE, even as WE are ONE." This is how the Gods are one. They're one in purpose. But how many GODS are there? We know there's the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, but is that it? Is there a MOTHER in Heaven? And are their others?

We have the singular word FAMILY, but there may be five or more members. Astrophysicists tell us that our universe contains 100-200 billion galaxies. And there may be that many (or more) universes. To say that God is one of a kind and that he has no peers doesn't sound reasonable. And to say God created Earth in seven days also shows that the creation process had to take time. Seven "days" (or eras) is stated, and if there's a single God that can do anything, why didn't He utter a word and create it with the merest thought? The answer is, He can't. Although he's God, He builds using matter, and it takes him time. Otherwise, it wouldn't have taken time to create the Earth.

7

Position on blood idolatrous?

by Jehovah lol in

i just had this thought in my other thread.. jehovah witnesses refuse blood transfusions because they believe blood to be the sacred symbol of life.

that's the primary reason, the medical justifications are simply ad hoc excuses.

couldn't it be said that their willingness to give their lives for the sanctity of the symbol of life is idolatrous?

Cold Steel

The argument they put forth is that receiving blood in a medical procedure is the same as drinking it. Blood is the life, and receiving life is immaterial in how it's done. I don't know what the position of the WTBTS is on receiving one's own blood. I know that President Trump gives his own blood so that it can be preserved in the event he needs it in an emergency. (This was started after Reagan was shot.) My guess is that the GB would say that the prohibition on drinking blood would include drinking one's own blood. Thus, no deal.

Does anyone know if the GB allows medical procedures if one has preserved their own blood in advance? Also, if someone in a moment of weakness okays the use of blood to save a beloved family member, is there forgiveness, or are they DF'ed?