Posts by humbled

56

GB (Splane) says JW parent should "force" their children

by Gayle in

to go in "service," "baptism," etc.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsqmosgj710

humbled

ADCMS-- The parallel between baptism and marriage is right on!

When I(a "cradle Catholic, baptised as an infant) wanted to end my ex-communication from the Catholic Church after a 10-breach, I found out the criteria for marriage annulments. Because, incredibly, for all shennanigans I had pulled , they nailed me for marrying a non-catholic who had been through a RC Church marriage ceremony with his Catholic ex-wife.

So I got the Church's Marriage Tribunal paperwork for my husband to consider.

One of the chief reasons they supply for an annulment is precisely what you mention in you post: that the parties who married lacked the necessary maturity or intelligence to reasonably understand the seriousness of their vows.

My husband would not fill out that paperwork nor give it to his ex-wife saying "We knew as much as anyone does when we married--" And so I would remain outside RC communion.

But I it made me think....

I returned the blank paperwork to the priest and asked him if it were not true that the Church would annul a marriage that had been contracted between two children, they being unable to grasp the seriousness of the vows.Yes, of course, he said. So I asked that the Church annul my baptism on that same basis because I was held culpable for breaking a commitment to Christ that no baby could have reasonably made. And now I UNDERSTOOD and WANTED to follow Jesus, the Church barred me from it.

Church rules. And the JWs think they are so different.

Maeve

16

Indoctrinated Christians...

by new hope and happiness in

i was thinking that most indoctrinated christians i know seem never to ever question their faith.

no matter how sound the reasoning for another belief.in fact the stronger the argument destroying the christians beliefs the more proof positive the indoctrinated christian becomes of its evil origins.

satan, alert and the built in defence system against reason or logic takes effect.. the above is just my personal observation .

humbled

newhah, You are touching on a difficult topic. At least it is for me.

As a cradle Catholic I learned the Apostles Creed along with all the other indoctrination of catechism. Even though I got into a lot of loose living in my early twenties never doubted the teachings I was raised with.

By the time I was thirty I had had a genuine revelation of a Supernatural Goodness. (I called it God then and I must also say that my reference point was Jesus.) At the time I lived so remotely and without any phone or electicity that my experience took place without church or the influence of other people. There were no religious "agencies" to lay claim to my soul.

But I went to church as soon as I was able--certain that God expected me to sign up again.

Now--thirty years later and 22 of them spent as a JW, I doubt that Jesus ever wanted me to squander my simple and clean experience of contact with the Good in Organized religion of any sort.

Which leaves us wondering--who WAS Jesus, really. How free are we really to seek that answer outside of the formulas we have absorbed as through osmosis in the world that surrounds these matters? And don't we find ourselves afraid that other Christians--even UNorthodox ones-- will find our questions toooo extreme?

There are threads that ask for historical reference for Jesus' existence. So there is that. I know he lived.

Why though must I trust the theology that followed after him? I truly love his core teachings. I truly despise the quibbling about the theology. Jesus, as I understood him, rescued me. And it took me a long time to climb out of the indoctrination and become desperate enough if not brave enough to trust that he will lead me without believing the creeds of anyone else.

Maeve

54

Memorial Day.... still struggling with the idea of war and support

by Butterflyleia85 in

jw
friends

so i do respect and am very greatful for the sacrifies those who dedicated their family, lives, etc.

to defend our freedom, lives, and land, but if we lived in a world where we lived as monks or jehovah's witnesses (basicly just the practise of no war).... would that be wrong?.

what's a good lesson or level of reasoning when supporting the idea of war?.

humbled

bumped

12

Started a New Job and guess what?

by whathehadas in

i recently got hired finally, by a small pest control company.

well on my first day i rode along with a guy to train and he strikes up a convo about him and his wife being christians.

he asked me if i go to church and i tell him about my background as a former witness.

humbled

I'm glad things are going well-- I bet you DID sweat when you didn't know if he was a solid JW!

Take care and keep us posted.

Maeve

15

west Virginia outcasts

by infernosdante in

iwas given my leper status(df)12/1/2011,i was in princeton wv,was curious if anyone i knew from west virginia was on here.

humbled

Amazing. Df'd for notoriety?

I didn't know that happened. I hear that child molesters don't df'd that quickly.

54

Memorial Day.... still struggling with the idea of war and support

by Butterflyleia85 in

jw
friends

so i do respect and am very greatful for the sacrifies those who dedicated their family, lives, etc.

to defend our freedom, lives, and land, but if we lived in a world where we lived as monks or jehovah's witnesses (basicly just the practise of no war).... would that be wrong?.

what's a good lesson or level of reasoning when supporting the idea of war?.

humbled

All are free to choose not to fight in a war anyplace on earth. If I believe it is wrong to fight in uniform I can pay the price myself. Many have--with their own blood. Or with imprisonment. Fear of dying isn't the main motive for conscientious objectors to avoid war. It is fear of killing. And the futility of war.

I might refuse to join the Army because I am merely the finger on a trigger while the "head" making policy and giving the orders my be absolutely nuts or out of touch with what is really happening. On the other hand if I personally saw a man or woman viciously attacking another I would do all in my power to stop it.

Discussions like this are good to have but they get tangled up. War is a confusion of politics. A personal attack is not confusing at all. I might refuse to participate in one and wade in with whatever I had on hand in another.

My father was a soldier in three wars. WWII, Korea(I was only 3 months old when he left), and finally at age 41 sent to Vietnam. I have been around soldiers young and old. I love them. I hear their stories.

Who cares what I say?

Go to Youtube. Look for Kevin Benderman:"An M-16 in the Garden of Eden" He is a veteran jailed for refusing a second deployment to Iraq. Then look up the report The Consequences of War by Aaron Glantz

This is a good thread. I hope it stays up and stays on track.

Maeve

15

west Virginia outcasts

by infernosdante in

iwas given my leper status(df)12/1/2011,i was in princeton wv,was curious if anyone i knew from west virginia was on here.

humbled

Welcome!

I'm not from west Virginia--but I'm from hill country like you. The Ozark Mountains.

Can you give us alittle of your story, inferno?

Maeve

86

Since Great Crowd has no mediator

by sosoconfused in

i am thinking that maybe i missed this discussion or something.

now for years in the org i never ever paid attention to the article that says jesus is the mediator for the 144000 alone.

yesterday talking to my 70+ year old dad he got violently angry with me and threw his cane at me because he said i was a liar.. .

humbled

You raise a good point, designs.

We who have been indoctrinated end up debating a matters that should be stripped down WAY further than we do.

Actually, it seems that the word "mediator" doesn't show up in the NT until long after Jesus was killed. And now we know that word carries a sort of legal/technical sense in discussions.

The gospel of Mary conveys a more ordinary sense of Jesus as a conductor to God. He showed the Way.

Talking to others who didn't know the way he said "no one comes to the Father except through me". Does that mean I must infer he is claiming "I am THE MEDIATOR".

Jesus may have come from "the Good" as the Mary Gospel says it. But the tricky doctrines and theologies we argue about may never ever have been in Jesus' heart, mind or teachings.

86

Since Great Crowd has no mediator

by sosoconfused in

i am thinking that maybe i missed this discussion or something.

now for years in the org i never ever paid attention to the article that says jesus is the mediator for the 144000 alone.

yesterday talking to my 70+ year old dad he got violently angry with me and threw his cane at me because he said i was a liar.. .

humbled

I am so happy for you and your father! He has a love of truth and a love for Jesus, a sense of Jesus that the WTS violates again and again--The truth should make us FREE!

I hope, I pray for your father's liberation! The WTS hangs itself with the twists of its own rope.

Maeve

34

Jehovah's Witnesses: Who's Your Mediator?

by Darth Rutherford in

is jesus your mediator?

were these men anointed christians?

... jesus christ, is not the mediator between jehovah god and all mankind.

humbled

And thus the hierarchy is entrenched!

Next the GB relegated the other 144,000 to subordinate roles by declaring that no matter what the Spirit whispered in their ears about policy and doctrine, if you were not on the Body at Brooklyn, ignore it and follow the direction coming from the GB.

How the anointed on the outside deals with Revelation 14:4 is beyond me: "They follow the Lamb where ever He goes."

If they follow men and not the Lamb, well, then they are not the anointed are they?

Maeve