Posts by glenster

11

God caused homosexuality to exist...it was his will?

by oompa in

i remembered this after reading the thread in adult about homosexual sex.

my brother is gay and we are close, but only since i woke up, and it has been really nice making up for the lost 25 years.

so i told my elder/day a few months ago.......while talking about my new friendship with my brother.......that god is the one who "made" homosexuals....of course he said "no, it was the result of adams sin"......

glenster

1995 "True, some individuals may very well be prone to homosexuality...a
Christian cannot excuse immoral behavior by saying he was 'born that way.'
Child molesters invoke the same pathetic excuse when they say their craving for
children is 'innate.' But can anyone deny that their sexual appetite is per-
verted? So is the desire for someone of the same sex." ("Awake!" Feb.8, 1995)

The Watchtower stance is that homosexuality is a sin like child molestation.
http://www.watchtower.org/e/20020601a/article_01.htm
http://www.watchtower.org/e/20050408a/article_01.htm

Some defenses of interpretations of scriptures to not ban homosexuality:
http://escapefromwatchtower.com/homo.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bible_and_homosexuality

Wikipedia articles about homosexuality and pedophilia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedophilia

45

another Michael Jackson joke... add yours (no accounting for good taste :P

by SnakesInTheTower in

so you heard that with all the surgeries michael jackson had over the years that he was probably 99% plastic?

after the autopsy is done, the body is to be shipped to the lego factory.

...yeah, they are going to melt him down into legos........ .

glenster

Watchtower auction:

Bring the kids to see Michael Jackson's junk and live forever in paradise on Earth

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8i4YvO9QXKQ

124

How many here have worked in social work, etc. & DON'T think MJ was a molester?

by avishai in

i mean, c'mon, people.

seriously, i admire those who want to think the best.

but the guy had just about every red flag/indicator you can have.

glenster

Normally, it can be a nice sweet thing if someone wants to nurture a childlike
side. You can also have kids, become a school teacher, write children's books
or songs, etc. But you don't pay the parents a lot of money and have the kids
sleep over in your bedroom, even in your bed--anyone knows you'd be triple damn
daring others to wonder if you were abnormal. If a school teacher was found
to be paying some parents a lot of money to have their kids regularly sleep in
his bed, the parents would get a different teacher. At the best, if he wasn't
guilty, it was pretty damn dumb--look at what happened.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_child_sexual_abuse_accusations_against_Michael_Jackson

75

Ok have you ever been asked this question in regards to Isaiah 43:10 ?

by StoneWall in

how could god have always existed since it plainly says near the end of that verse before me there was no god formed?.

here is the quote from the nwt and i also looked it up on numerous other translations and they all used the word before.. .

isaiah 43:10. you are my witnesses, is the utterance of jehovah, even my servant whom i have chosen, in order that you may.

glenster

I think it's just an expression that means there was no before or after Him because to take the reasoning of the question about "before" to the word "after" would mean He stopped existing for there to be an after. So I think it's implying there's neither (also that He's God with no valid other "god").

3

Django Reinhardt--guitar Stephane Grappelli--violin

by glenster in

just some tunes:.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6jwvs0mhwo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_pd7oyjnjo.

glenster

PS: the recent notes about MJ passing away made me want to add that Kenny Rankin passed away June 7, 2009.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaswCv5dcoQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIKl3QhdtlY

5

Declaration Of Facts

by Bangalore in

declaration of facts.

"this company of german people, who are peaceable and law-abiding citizens representing many others from every part of germany, all of whom are earnestly laboring for the highest welfare of the people of this land, being now duly assembled at berlin this 25th day of june, ad.. 1933, do joyfully declare our complete devotion to jehovah, the almighty god, and to his kingdom under christ jesus, whose shed blood bought the human race.

we declare that the holy scriptures set forth in the bible constitute the word of jehovah god given to men for their guidance in righteousness, and that the word of god is the truth, and that it is of greatest importance that man have a knowledge of his relationship to god.

glenster

That's included in a timeline I made of the JWs leaders regarding their
political stances, adding important political things of the day otherwise
for some context, that starts about where the photos appear on p.6 at the
next link and is continued on 6a:
http://www.freewebs.com/glenster1/gtjbrooklyn6.htm
http://www.freewebs.com/glenster1/gtjbrooklyn6a.htm

62

If god was Almighty than he would of known that Adam and Eve and....Satan... and demons....would sin before he even created anything.

by dutchstef in

i posted this a before under an other topis, but i think it's a good question for a new topic!.

one of the things i never understout as a young kid was this:.

the question i had as a kid was: if god is almighty than he would of known that adam and eve and....satan... and demons....would sin before he even created anything.. my father who was an elder back then could never give me a good answer.... my dad would say something like because it's was necessary for god to show us and the angels, we can only have a good live if we live it like god wants .

glenster

It falls into the bigger category of God's prerogative. As creator/sustainer/
whatever, it's all His, so it's fair game for Him to give people whatever length
or quality of life. Whatever battle or misfortune people die from in the Bible,
if they hadn't died that way, God would have had them die eventually anyway. We
don't all live in fair circumstances forever, so He's not all-beneficent.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegorical_interpretations_of_Genesis

As in Job, you can think life stinks for the bad in it or, like Job, see those
things but still be glad for the shot at life and to find whatever love and good
in it. You can look at the same two choices and not believe in God or, like
Job, believe in God. The bad things aren't a make or break point about it.
They might be for an all-beneficent God concept, but that isn't the God of the
Bible or even possible.

You could not want to believe in a God that creates people who are able to be
bad and has them punish bad behavior, or still believe in Him likewise. One
sermon I remember said something like the love from people wouldn't count for as
much if everybody was programmed to give it like robots--that God didn't figure
it meant as much unless it was freely given, and He knew the bad would come with
the good.

43

Jesus's Divinity

by PSacramento in

just to confrim, do jw's believe that jesus is divine?.

not that jesus is god, which they obviously don't believe, but that jesus is divine, with the divien qualities of his father?.

also, do jw's beleive or agree that, in the new covenant, jesus has the primary role that was god's in the old covenant?.

glenster

I cover most of their stances, such as in "Should You Believe in the
Trinity?", in which they give their stances and what they make out those who
differ would say--except I add what others would actually say--on pp.4 and 7 to
10 of "Glenster's Guide to GTJ Brooklyn."
http://www.freewebs.com/glenster1/gtjbrooklynindex.htm

(P.S.: nobody, at least by any of the popular views I know of, says Jesus is
the Father.)

16

HOW DO JW'S CONSIDER THEMSELVES CHRISTIANS WHEN THEY DON'T ADHERE TO HIS TEACHINGS IN BIBLE?

by Divawriter in

how can jw's confess belief in jesus christ when they do not believe in his own words when he speaks of heaven???

jesus compared heaven in many parables, yet the jw's claim that the "new earth" is where they are going.

also, the belief that jesus was here in 1914(?

glenster

The focus I recommend:
http://www.freewebs.com/glenster1/gtjbrooklynindex.htm

- the 12 or so Jehovah's Witnesses leaders allege that they're part of a lit-
eral 144,000 (Rev.7:1-8; 14:1-5) most righteous Christians, all JWs, the only
ones who will go to heaven--all others of the afterlife are JWs who will live on
Earth.

- the JWs leaders allege that they're the only ones of the 144,000 qualified
to make the rules for and lead Jehovah's Witnesses, God's sole God-guided reli-
gious organization on Earth--all others religions are condemned as Babylon.

So:

- the JWs leaders have a batch of distinctive rules meant to establish their
exclusiveness (a ban of the medical use of blood and major blood fractions, that
Jesus invisibly turned his attention toward the Earth in 1914, a ban of most
holidays as having worldly pagan or idolatrous connotations, a ban of most gov-
ernment involvement as being too worldly, that Jesus is archangel Michael and
not to be worshipped and the holy spirit is impersonal, etc.), all of which must
be agreed to for membership in the JWs and salvation.

- the JWs leaders allege that their distinctive rules are guaranteed by the
Bible and best related evidence and reasoning.

Catch 22:

- But the distinctive rules are too distinctive to allow that honestly or they
wouldn't be so distinctive.

So my focus is the methods they use to try to make them seem guaranteed
(quotes used misrepresentatively from research books, creating a false impres-
sion of the most reasonable alternatives, omission of pertinent evidence, forced
points, etc.),

especially if anyone is regarded or treated unfairly (the JWs leaders require
disfellowshipping, or that pressure be used to cause resignation, for persistent
disagreement with any of the JWs leaders' distinctive rules, which can cause
division between friends and family),

hurt or killed (by a follower refusing to be treated, or let their child be
treated, by the medical use of blood or major blood fractions when it would give
them the better chance to survive, or when the JWs leaders' inflexible expanded
rules about neutrality, worldliness, and idolatry run up against an intolerant
political leader and put followers in harms' way unnecessarily, for no better
reason than the leaders' elitism, as in Germany and Malawi).

15

JWs: The Low Budget Religion

by cameo-d in

did you ever notice that people choose their churches according to their status and wealth?.

that the better dressed people with the finer cars go to the bigger ornate churches located in prominent areas of town?.

did you ever consider the contrast with the kingdom halls being tucked away out of view and the building being unrecognizable as a "house of worship"?.

glenster

Churches vary in size as communities of followers vary in income and are known
for charity and outreach programs.

Kingdom Halls are inexpensive as the JWs leaders discourage college education
and are little known for charity programs for non-JWs.