There are some basic good ethics a person could get as one of the JWs or else-
where. One of the JWs could become one of the ex-JWs due to habits we'd gener-
ally consider ethical or unethical. To not abide by the JWs leaders' special-
ties (a ban of the medical use of blood and major blood products, expanded rules
about worldliness discouraging not only trivial things but government jobs and
putting followers dangerously at odds with intolerant leaders, relatively harsh
shunning including of those who persist in disagreeing with the JWS leaders'
specialties, discouragement of Bible research that's critical of the JWs lead-
ers' specialties, discouragement of charity for people other than other JWs,
discouragement of higher education, etc.) is an improvement.
glenster
JoinedPosts by glenster
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Do you think ex Jehovah's Witnesses make better people?
by kriptonian7 ini am new to this forum and i just stumbled upon it and have been intrigued with the comments and experiences.
i have not been envolved for a long time now but my entire family is still is.
grandparents, mother, my step dad, and my entire family on my grandmothers side.. but most everyone here, from what i have noticed, has strengthened my belief that if you were a jw at one point, you now are a stronger and better person for it.
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glenster
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ARE YOU READY FOR THE FINISH LINE? GB Talk
by Girlie inand then, immediately after babylon the great is destroyed, almost without a break, look at matt 24 :29 -immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.. now in what sense will the sun be destroyed and the moon not give its light?
are you ready for that?.
and you'll fall across the finish line into the new world !
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glenster
A catch-22 of trying to characterize Christians by the worst behavior of those
who call themselves Christian is James--show me your faith by your works. I've
lived in some bad neighborhoods where the criminals works weren't Christian,
was even victimized by some, and Christians, in or outside of outreach programs,
were prominent among those who helped, so it would be difficult to get the idea
that Christians are the worst past me.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_ethicsIn fact, the irony of trying to characterize the group that way is typical of
the sort of harsh 'centric outlook that's led to the biggest problems. That
pops up in so many different categorizations, "Christians" gone wrong or other-
wise, that it just seems to prove that common human selfishness is all too un-
fortunately appropriately named. -
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Good Watchtower Study today
by slimboyfat ini am glad we went to the meeting this morning.
it was about how jehovah's witnesses have always taught the paradise earth for most of obedient mankind.
it mentioned how early christian leaders such as origen and augustine introduced neo-platonic thought into early christianity and allowed ideas about an immortal soul to crowd out what the bible says about the earth.
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glenster
Probably premature--it's debated: "...a review of SENS by 28 scientists concluded that none of de Grey's therapies "has ever been shown to extend the lifespan of any organism, let alone humans".
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Good Watchtower Study today
by slimboyfat ini am glad we went to the meeting this morning.
it was about how jehovah's witnesses have always taught the paradise earth for most of obedient mankind.
it mentioned how early christian leaders such as origen and augustine introduced neo-platonic thought into early christianity and allowed ideas about an immortal soul to crowd out what the bible says about the earth.
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glenster
"It mentioned how early Christian leaders such as Origen and Augustine
introduced Neo-platonic thought into early Christianity and allowed ideas about
an immortal soul to crowd out what the Bible says about the earth."Premillennial beliefs were common in the 1st several centuries but Martyr
wrote that "many who belong to the pure and pious faith, and are true Chris-
tians, think otherwise."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennialism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premillennialism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_eschatology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soul#Christian_beliefs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immortality#ChristianityJWs leaders are Millenarian.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MillenarianismThe JWs leaders aren't reliable regarding neo-Platonism. Greek philosophy
believed the physical world was evil so would have a problem with the mainstream
Christian idea of the Logos becoming flesh, for example, which was a Platonic
belief Christians didn't accept.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_the_LogosIronically, Arius appeared centuries after the apostolic age and may have been
influenced by, or at least jibed with, contemporary neo-Platonism thought that
God couldn't appear on our level of existence.I wonder who edited the next article on Paradise. Notice the JWs leaders'
phrase "On the torture stake" in the section for Christianity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise#Religious_use"It even mentioned John Milton and Isaac Newton as early supporters of the
Witnesses' idea about God's plan for restoring the earth to a paradise."About a Paradise, yes--if meant regarding the particular things the JWs
leaders use to define their specific view, even require agreement with for sal-
vation, no.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_newton#Religious_views
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MillenarianismNewton did play with dates, though. For example, he wrote that the end of the
world wouldn't happen before 2060.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_newton#Views_of_the_end_of_the_world -
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CHILDREN DECLARED WITCHES BY FUNDAMENTALIST PREACHERS
by villabolo infundamentalist christian preachers in nigeria are accusing children of being witches causing them to be abandoned, beaten and mutilated.
unless you have money for an exorcism.. www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbdud-k9cpk.
villabolo .
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Polanski moral equivocation makes me sick...
by avishai inhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/joan-z-shore/polanskis-arrest-shame-on_b_301134.html.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2009/09/the_outrageous_arrest_of_roman.html.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/aleqm5jsliygp7jjrlsryfva5vj_hzhlsgd9b0f3503.
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Aren't Jehovah's Witnesses living within ancient mythology outside of modern reality ?
by The Almighty Homer inafter leaving the jws and religion all together, i still find it disturbing that people like the jws are trying to emulate the social morals of a culture that was .
around 2000 years ago and using these particular social morals as a guidance to themselves.
didn't mankind progress since then and aren't we still progressing in a better and fulfilling way ?
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glenster
Some say nothing has caused more unnecessary hurt or death than religion. But
from what I can tell from the batch of links of cruelty by believers and non-
believers a little down the page at the next link, the main cause of the cruelty
isn't belief or non-belief in God but being so 'centric about either one (or
race, nationality, etc.) that the person won't be friends with those outside of
their classification.
http://www.freewebs.com/glenster1/gtjbrooklyn43.htmThat's when the walls of alienation go up, people distrust and even hate those
on the other side, etc.What I recommend is to take those that were on the offense in religious war or
persecution of religious people, but not those on the defense or other nice
believers or non-believers, and add those that were 'centric and on the offense
regarding race and lynched African Americans as though they were just chattle,
regarding nationality, etc., and you get the group that has caused the most
unnecessary hurt or death--people who get too 'centric. I think that's the
wiser overview and doesn't mischaracterize a lot of nice believers or non-
believers. We're never going to have people of all the same belief or non-
belief choice, race, nationality, etc., but we can get more relaxed and friendly
about the differences.A few basic outlooks I recommend:
- Don't mess with the see-able, touchable, measureable. Trying to prove or
disprove God by that stuff misses the point. Belief in God was, is, and will be
a faith commitment beyond that stuff, short of witnessing an actual divine
intervention, so know that's what you're doing if you're doing it.
- Don't be too 'centric or you're a pain in the a** whichever of the belief or
non-belief choices you pick.
- Nobody should be hurt or killed over that stuff. Separation of church and
state is good for that, otherwise you have people getting hurt or killed over
it, executed in Saudi Arabia for converting to something else and such. You
could make a case for God's prerogative for the punishment, but I'd want to see
the clouds part and an angel proclaiming it or no deal, and so far that hasn't
come up.The cruelest aspect of the JWs doesn't have to come with being a believer but
is due to the irresponsibility of the JWs leaders, such as the relatively harsh
use of disfellowshipping, notably for JWs leaders' specialties, rules on the
medical use of blood and major blood products, and expanded ideas of worldliness
conflicting with intolerant political leaders. They also have some outdated
rules about some matters that are debated and haven't kept up with the more
liberal interpretations, such as regarding homosexuality or evolution. -
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Ancient International Standard of Measurement - The Inch
by hotspur inall this kerfuffle over the year 607 threw up an interesting side issue for me.. some posts relate to the wts use of chronology derived from ctrussell's "divine plan of the ages" and "studies in the scriptures".
within those pages are found some explanations of how the years 1874 and, later, 1914 were 'decided'.
it seems there was a remeasuring of a particular tunnel within the great pyramid of gizeh which was, subsequently, found to be 40 inches longer.
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glenster
What I have on it is in the section on Pyramidology (use Edit > Find) at the
next link. The section includes a picture of Russell in a derby with a few
others by the pyramid about 1/5th down the page.
http://www.freewebs.com/glenster1/gtjbrooklyn1a.htm -
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How will the Watchtower change as OLDER MEMBERS DIE OFF?
by nicolaou inthe 'old-timers' generally carry a congregation.. .
i grew up in a cong' with six members of the 'anointed' - only one remains, a lovely lady with genuine warmth and interest in people who is now in a nursing home.. .
what happens when the depth that these individuals bring is lost?
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glenster
The JWs leaders will probably always feign that they're the only leaders of a
literal 144,000, their long-established preferred way of playing prophet badly.
That number can continue to grow slowly over a long period of time. The rest of
the literal 144,000 were always window dressing who had no say in how the rules
were established, anyway, and were referred to generally--the JWs leaders made
no specific claims about which individuals of those were included.The flock will probably be left to figure the new leaders add to the list and
left to wonder otherwise as before. This might involve wondering if fewer of
the old flock added to it than thought so, which would be easier to do regarding
those who are gone and forgotten. Newer claimants would get preferential regard
for following the updated rules.The JWs leaders could become more "mainstream" in regard to what aspect? It
would be counted as anonymous, which would be counted as less of a draw for
money. It would be like Popoff getting rid of the transmitter without as much
pressure to do so. Using relatively harsh shunning rules for those who persist
in disagreeing with the JWs leaders' distinctive doctrines has served them so
far to minimize the financial loss of such exposes and would probably be counted
on for that in the future.