Posts by DeusMauzzim

10

How do jws explain this verse?

by badboy in

jw
friends

there a verse that says`wherever one ot two are gathered in my name,shall i also be there.. what is jw ake on that verse?.

DeusMauzzim

That verse was inserted there by apostates.

Haven't you read the Sep KM?

Soon they will all be destroyed by our loving heavenly father!

Amen!

- Deus Mauzzim

27

need some help with letter.... this is what i got so far....help

by thebiggestlie in

jw
friends

dear mom and dad,

so you want to here from me and to know how i really feel on certain issues which is understandable.

i mentioned before that i always felt like the black sheep, like something was wrong with me.

DeusMauzzim

Corrected your grammar and spelling.

Write a short end paragraph and leave it as it is: perfect, from the heart, like cog said.

And hey, whatever happens, things will get better eventually. One day you will go to the park or some other place to be alone. You will look at the 'wordly' people in the distance and realize you are just one of them, just human. There will be no Jehovah, no armageddon, no guilt-tripping, no emotional blackmail, just life.. And life will be victorious.

Trust me, I've been there.

(((thebiggestlie)))

-Deus Mauzzim

PS: I PM'd you the letter because it wouldn't post here.

49

I'm seriously considering going back...

by nvrgnbk in

jw
friends

.

DeusMauzzim

That is great, Nvr!

And you didn't fool me hehe

Keep us updated!

- Deus Mauzzim

20

atheism vs anti-theism + God as height vs God as depth

by DeusMauzzim in

sharing some thoughts and questions while reading gott ist anders (honest to god) by john a.t robinson:.

disclaimer: if you are a biblical litteralist you might think: what is all the fuss about?

thesis: the mythological speech of the bible, taken litterally, is simply meaningless to modern scientific man.. examples: god walking in the garden, punishing adam and his children (justice?!

DeusMauzzim

Sharing some thoughts and questions while reading Gott ist anders (Honest to God) by John A.T Robinson:

Disclaimer: If you are a biblical litteralist you might think: what is all the fuss about?

Thesis: The mythological speech of the Bible, taken litterally, is simply meaningless to modern scientific man.
Examples: God walking in the garden, punishing Adam and his children (justice?!), airbombing sodom and gomorra, sacrificing his Son (or Himself, whatever :) to appease Himself, the resurrection etc.

These are all examples of God acting 'from another place' into 'our history': The world of the Old testament is viewed as a three-story-building (Sheol, Earth, Heaven) with God in heaven. God is litterally above (über) us.

Already in the New Testament, we see the beginnings of another interpretation: God is not litterally above us or living on some star as the wt would have it, but he is totally outside space and time. He is still 'out there' somewhere. Mythological distance has now become metaphyisical distance. God is beyond (jenseits) us.

In both versions, God is a personal being who is somewhere where we are not. He is the anthropomorphic super-man 'out there' answering prayers, watching the Holocaust happen etc. This is the God most people today believe in.

It is this God with whom ex-jw / ex-religious secularists, like myself, have a serious problem. In the secular world, there is simply no superman tinkering with nature, causing virgin births etc. Why must we believe there was in the past?

Question: Are we atheists then?
An atheist is someone who does not see enough evidence for the existence of gods (weak), or asserts there are no such things as gods (strong). But it is a very specific sort of god we are talking about when we use the word: It is the Jehovah-type superman God who acts in our history from his 'out there somewhere', the God who is beyond (jenseits) us. Atheism sees problems with this kind of God.

It might be more specific to say we are anti-theists or anti-Jehovists: we are (intellectually, morally etc) against the Jehovah-type 'somewhere out there' God - all assertions about him like "He makes it rain" are simply meaningless to us who live with a secular, scientific world-view.

I would not call myself an atheist without qualifying it. I have a sense for the 'godly', 'numinous', 'the mystery of life', call it whatever you will. It's just that I can not, in any way, believe in the superman concept of God anymore. I am only an atheist in this sense. That is, I'm an anti-theist.

If only we could modify the concept of God from the superman to something else, not 'out there', not personal, not a personal tribal deity demanding sacrifices or field service, not so.. human! Then we would be anti-theists and atheists with regard to the Jehovah-type God, but not atheistic regarding this 'new' concept of god/godliness.

So, after these thoughts, two questions:

- Would you agree on the anti-theist / atheist distinction?
- What do you think of this new concept of God: 'God is the deepest ground of our being' ? (replacing the height metaphor with the depth metaphor, not a personal God 'out there' but the Godly 'in us')

Kind Regards,

Deus Mauzzim

24

Dinosaurs! How were they explained (away)?

by DeusMauzzim in

jw
friends

dinosaurs are a bit of an embarrassment for the watchtower.

what did you hear about them?.

- were they a 'creative' experiment by god?.

DeusMauzzim

They did in the early 80s. Anyone got a copy of the old My Book of Bible Stories book and can scan the page showing the Flood?

@Leolaia:

I remember! The brontosaurus holding fast to a tree raft while stretching his long neck or something like that!

Thanks for bringing back a very old memory

- Deus Mauzzim

24

Dinosaurs! How were they explained (away)?

by DeusMauzzim in

jw
friends

dinosaurs are a bit of an embarrassment for the watchtower.

what did you hear about them?.

- were they a 'creative' experiment by god?.

DeusMauzzim

Dinosaurs are a bit of an embarrassment for the Watchtower. What did you hear about them?

- Were they a 'creative' experiment by God?

- Were they used to flatten the land with their big reptilian feet? (I swear I heard this being put forward seriously!)

- Did their manure help to fertilize the earth? (idem! )

- Did they perish during the Flood?

Kind Regards,

Deus Mauzzim

21

Islamic Sharia law, Gods law or just barbaric law

by barry in

jw
friends

i beleive with muslims voicing their opinions so openly its time for the average joe out there to be informed about sharia law.

the law they beleive has come from allah and is the most superiour law on the face of the earth today.this issue.

s. the link is http://www.americanthinker.com/2005/08/top_ten_reasons_why_sharia_is.html.

DeusMauzzim

Attention please: "The" Sharia Law does not exist!

Sharia is an ideal concept of the "Law of God". It's concrete manifestation in history is called Fiqh ('Law') and differs greatly from society to society and time to time, just as the concept of 'Law' in the West.

Fiqh is a combination of various factors (the usul al-fiqh or 'roots of the law'), such as:

Qur'an (the revelation of Allah)
Sunna (the 'example' of the Prophet)
Ijma (community or scholary consensus, depending on who and when you ask)
Qiyas (analogy, casuistics)

In Shia Islam, Qiyas is replaced with 'Aql (reason, whatever that means)

Furthermore, there is a 1000+ year old discussion about concepts as Ijtihad (struggle of interpretation, from the same root as jihad) and Taqlid (imitation)

This is just to say the issue is somewhat more complex than some earlier posts might suggest.

For those interested, the wikipedia article on Sharia might be a good start (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharia)

Kind Regards,

Deus Mauzzim

(of the nuance-is-my-religion-class ^^)

14