nelim

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Posts by nelim

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  146

  Why I remain one of Jehovah's Witnesses

  by Brother Jeramy in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  allow me to begin with a clarification: when i say i am one of jehovah's witnesses, i don't mean that i am an advocate of the watchtower society or a devotee of some of its more controversial false teachings.

  i mean that i am a christian, a disciple of jesus christ dedicated to jehovah god, and who remains in union with my brothers and sisters who make up the family of faith that globally refers to itself as jehovah's witnesses.

  some totally understand the distinction between the family of brothers and sisters and the corporate organization known as the watchtower society (wts).

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  nelim

  1) Do you consider it ethical to preach to people that they have to join a religious group that will force them to (a) lose their life due to blood issue (b) be terribly traumatized in case of sex victims and how elders typically hush this up (c) split up families over disagreements about faith?

  If the governing body had a "take it or leave it" approach; like "this is our opinion, if you agree, nice, if not, also fine!" then I might agree with you. But they do not, and anyone who disagrees openly is put under enormous pressure.
  

  2) You say you are not an advocate for the WT Society, but if you preach, then your goal is to get people baptised, which will put them under WT society control. Or do you preach to people warning them not to get baptised or otherwise they might face dire consequences listed under point 1)? I figure then the elders will want to speak to you if they hear about that. That would brand you an apostate.
  

  3) "It is not all wrong". Well, I heard a couple of times at the meetings that 'we' should use the following illustration at the door when preaching to others: would you drink a glass of orange juice if it had only a tiny drop of deadly poison in it? The idea was to compare their religion with that; although it could have "mostly good things", but it was not acceptable to God because of the tiny drop of poison (false teachings). And now you're defending that things are not all wrong?

  Such a statement is hard to refute, but I think 99% of all typical JW teachings are unscriptural or when unrelated to the Bible, just straight-out nonsense. Problem is that the Bible is inconsistent, so it depends on where you put emphasis, that defines whatever for you "truth" is. Truth is, it's inconsistent and therefore cannot be the "Word of God".
  
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  Explanation Of New Bible Translation

  by Sofia Lose in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have been a little troubled with the explanation on the new world translation given during sunday's meeting.

  the mag read that with less words the understanding would be more clear, and offered examples where certain texts had 27 words and now only have 19 words and the meaning is clearer.

  i am not okay with said explanation.

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  nelim

  If less words are used and translation is simplified, then Jehovah is praised for a "better to understand" Bible.

  If more words are used then Jehovah is praised for receiving a "consistently accurate" translation. Same original meaning consistently translated using the same phrases in the target language.

  Whatever. Every day its own bullshit. The NWT is better called a "consistently inaccurate" translation, e.g. about worshipping Jesus (consistently "do obeisance to"). Googling "do obeisance to" gives dictionary and anti-WT sites as first 10 hits even, lol. That should say enough.
  
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  21

  Paint Nite - fun evening and a new hobby

  by Simon in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  we (and by 'we', i mean my wife) decided that we should try something new and she, erm, i mean 'we', liked the idea of painting.

  so i enthusiastically (i.e.

  begrudgingly) went along for the night to the "pain nite" event she'd booked us for a couple of weeks ago.. the premise is pretty simple: it's held in a pub or restaurant, all the art supplies are provided, the instructor then walks you through how to reproduce a painting they have chosen for the night and you have a glass of wine or beer, do some painting, have something to eat, have some more wine, more painting, more wine, realize you are drinking the dirty paint water and so on.. here's the site: https://www.paintnite.com/.

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  nelim

  "Pain Nite" lol! I'm sure it felt like that the first time? It would for me! Very nicely done, it's inspiring :-)
  
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  12

  2015 April 28, BOE!--Orchestral Accompaniment!

  by Atlantis in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  2015 april 28, boe!..

  re: orchestral accompaniment for singing at congregation meetings.. .. click the green download button.. http://wwwb.fileflyer.com/view/mh6kxar.

  .. .. petra!.

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  nelim

  Haha! Oooooh dear! At least the plinky-plonk piano indicated the rhythm clearly, and still everyone was singing 'all over the place', out of tune and out of beat. At least in my former congregation :-) With those violins etc it's probably going to be even worse!
  
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  6

  How do you feel about the Red Letters?

  by zophar in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  curious as to how you feel about the actual words ascribed to jesus in a red letter edition translation bible like niv on biblegateway.com?.

  do you feel these teachings are inspired and or beneficial to a productive life?

  it seems to me that the actual words of jesus contain real wisdom and show how to live a fulfilling life.

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  nelim

  Relating adherence to "Truth" is already deep into dangerous territory. Elaborating: truth is all things which are true. Personally, you may adhere to whatever you like, but if you preach that to others it tends to get into an organization pretty quickly with all the dogmatism associated with that. That's because sayings of Jesus are not consistent, so it depends on which parts you put more emphasis, what your religion/adherence/whatever is going to look like in practice. Calling this "Truth" means you're denying inconsistencies. Which means critical thinking has been turned off, which opens the door for mind control.
  
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  113

  Are you religious or are you spiritual? Wake up to what?

  by Deltawave in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  there is a huge difference between been religious and been spiritual.

  been religious is about been superior to others in the sight of god.

  however, been spiritual is about self awareness, inner peace and unity with the natural world.

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  nelim

  What does "being spiritual" mean? The dictionary definition says, amongst others, "
  

  of, relating to, or consisting of spirit; incorporeal." ... but if it has to do with the supernatural, where exactly is the boundary with religion? If one writes rules/guidelines how to "be spiritual", isn't one starting a new religion then, effectively?
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  16

  Do you think the 'Rama Singh misquote' situation is uncalled for?

  by neat blue dog in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  let's be honest with ourselves, even if you have an ax to grind with the wts.

  i mean, the quote in question was merely a statement of what he believed to be a fact, or else he wouldn't have said it.

  there was nothing in the quote (and everyone has the right to make accurate quotes under the fair use doctrine), that even remotely suggested that he was pro-creationism or anything like that.

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  nelim

  It is a misquote. If they were just interested in repeating his opinion, why did they put his title "professor of Biology" there? And why did they not include the full sentence, at the very least? "... including biologists, non-biologists, and the lay public."? Mr. Singh is talking about educated people in all kinds of professions, not just biology. Which reduces the value for WT quoting him. And why didn't they (honestly) put something like: "Rama Singh, supporter of evolution and professor of ...., makes the following observation: ..."? That would have been honest towards Mr. Singh.
  
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  16

  I need ideas for my hubby

  by monis in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have been out of the org for several years.

  i faded.

  my husband became inactive but still believes that the jws have the truth.

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  nelim

  Allow me to refer you to Paul Grundy's excellent website, especially his "Helping Someone Leave" article: http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/helping-someone-leave.php

  Quote: "Generally, arguing doctrine is not a good tactic, particularly at first. All that happens is that you will end up in a doctrinal tennis match, lobbing different Scriptures at each other."

  And: "To get through to a Witness you need to use the Socratic method of asking questions. If you directly attack the organization or its teachings a Jehovah’s Witness will get very defensive."

  It is hard, be careful, but it's not impossible. I hope this helps you.
  
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  23

  Are the writers in the writing department purposely misquoting people?

  by paulmolark in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  after reading that great post about the june 1 article on science i got to thinking.

  although it is great to believe there is this huge group of guys in the jw writing department that are constantly looking to mislead us by twisting the words of scientist etc... i really think it is more likely they are google researchers that do not have the ability to grasp the thoughts that are being expressed in the scientific article they quote mine from.. i honestly believe the reason that this happens is because of the individuals they use to write these magazines.

  these are not college educated men.

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  nelim

  Although there is Google now indeed, Google doesn't have a search button "look for support for this statement"... you'll have to enter an exact phrase (more or less). As Island Man said, thinking about the fact this quote mining is already going on for a long time (Trinity and Creator books, anyone?).... it boggles my mind how much effort they put in to find all these! Imagine.... the number of people required reading all these books, scientific articles, encyclopedias, .... to find a "suitable" quote. Because they do reference a variety of sources. Wow!
  
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  18

  May 2015 JW Broadcast, "The Watchtower Has The Most Multilingual Speakers in the World? True or False?

  by RoyalFlushPhil in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  stephen lett about 33 minutes in to may's "liar liar" episode of the monthly worship broadcast said "jehovah's witnesses have the most multilingual speakers of any organization in the world!".

  the catholic church has the most people i thought, do you think he's telling the truth and where is he getting these facts?

  i finally broke down and decided to watch this in order to work on my reverse witnessing skills, lots of ammunition for anyone needing fuel to extinguish their dirty flames of lies!.

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  nelim

  Haha well spotted, Phil! Another common WT rhetoric. Note that he starts that sentence with "It may well be that ....". It may well be that my foot is attached to my head...! But then again, it may also not be. (It is not, for the record, lol!) Almost anything can follow after "It may well be".
  

  Perhaps all those Catholics only speak one language and are therefore not multilingual. Highly unlikely though, as many countries have a native language (English, French, etc) and a local one. Yet another stirring-up of the "we are so special"! *puke*