Posts by smiddy

28

Were You Ever A True Believer?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i was raised in the religion and for the most part believed that my religion was truth.

i recognized some mistakes were occasionally made but felt that nobody is perfect.

then i smartened up and realized how dumb so many of the beliefs are....was there ever a time that you truly believed you had the "truth"?.

smiddy

My wife and I converted when I was 19 and she was 16 before we got married, We were both true believers to the point where we stayed in it for the next 33 years, Vacation pioneered I was a MS (never wanted the responsibility of being an Elder)

So yes we were tru believers.

And it took a few more years to finally shake off some of the indoctrinated beliefs that we had.

I remember when I first started coming onto sites like this and hearing about the UN saga and I thought BS they would never do that ,using cows blood in medical procedures BS they would never use that ,fractions of blood BS they would never do that .

But guess what , it is all true

496

This is What I Would Need in Order to Believe

by cofty in

sometimes theists challenge atheists about what evidence would be required before they would believe.

various unlikely scenarios are offered in reply.

i have taken the bait myself in the past.. i think the correct answer is much more ordinary.

smiddy

Simply because people believe God helps them doesnt make it so.

The world is full of people who believe in

God who answers their prayers ,it is also full of people who believe in God who dont get answers to their prayers

Shouldnt that question be answered by God now after more than 6000 years on earth ?

Or are the JW`s going back to their belief which I think they discarded some time back that a creative day is 6 thousand years long ?

And we are now approching the seventh 1000years ,didnt that occur in 1975 ?.previously believed and taught in the late 1800`s

Wasnt JC King of the jews in 33CE?

Wasnt JC enthroned in 1914 as King ?

Didnt his 1000 year reign start then and why not ?

And how is it that Christendom

Is his 1000 year rule future ? yet to start ?

Is he King of the Jews or not ?

or is he KING of Kings and Lord of Lords now or not ?

And how is it that Christendom has laid all the groundwork these past 2000 years spreading christianity worldwide in the known world and made the Bible available to the bulk of humanity the average person in their own language , surely this couldnt have been accomplished without Gods blessing ?

And then in this latter days JW`s spring up and claim all this is wrong ?Demote Jesus Exult Jehovah ,change the christian doctrine to conform with their pre-concieved belifs that overturn all christian princilples following in the footsteps of their predecessors and planting a new doctrine.claiming they alone have the "truth"

How presumptiousness on their part.

33

What are some things JWs re-name to make themselves different than Christians?

by NikL in

jw
friends

jws re-name things so they seem like they are different than other religions.

(of course we know they are different but that's another story).

i was just thinking about those things where they are like most everyone else in christendom but the re-name it to seem different.. for example god forbid they have a church, it's a "kingdom hall".. they don't have pastors and deacons they have "elders" and "ministerial servants".. they don't have tithing but they will have family heads fill out a paper saying how much they can contribute on a monthly basis (not sure if there is a name for that...unless it's tithing.

smiddy

JW`s are true Christians : all other religions christian and otherwise are part of "Babylon the Great" false religion.

In newspapers local and otherwise that list Religious Services in a locality you will not see a listing by Jehovahs Witnesses among other christian churches,why? because they want to exlude themselves from any association with false religion " babylon the Great".

Funny then how they have no problem whatsoever in selling Kingdom Halls of Jehovahs Witnesses to"Babylon the great" False religion which they have done time and time again over the decades

I suppose money overides Christian principles.

18

PLACE OF PILGRIMAGE

by Hairtrigger in

it just struck me while reading another post on the forum.

the catholics have numerous shrines all over the world and places of pilgrimage and the mother of them all ... rome.

the muslims have mecca and medina.

smiddy

At least these other religions have a history about their places /pilgrimage going back hundreds of years or even thousands of years in some cases and we are not just talking about christianity .

Jehovahs Witnesses have no history they can truly relate too why ? because they keep changing their history with revisions ,they have nothing historical to fall back on .All of their past is now classed as old light and discarded.

They are nothing but an opportunistic religion trying to cash in on the moment.

Why would any JW in their right mind want to go and look at what is Warwick where the priviledged work and live at the expense of gullible people who have payed for it with their contributions .

And what is it really ? a publishing house selling an end ot times message that numerous religions are doing all over the world. Nothing new here , move on.

Oh, hang on, do they have a display of all the literature they have published for the past 100+ years ? I hope so , because it just empathises what false prophets they are with all their failed prophetic expectations and eventualities that didnt eventuate and how they now disown all the interpretations that are contained in those publications as old light and not to be believed now otherwise you will be disfellowshipped .

Its funny how in the "Truth" of Jehovahs Witnesses " Truth" that was believed in the past is no longer "Truth " in the present

I was always under the impression that "Truth" was "truth" in the past , in the present and in the future "Truth" never changes .

24

My new answer to an annoying question we have all been asked.

by doubtfull1799 in

well new to me anyway, i'm sure someone smarter than me has thought of this before.

the next time i get asked the perennial (and tired old) question: “but you do believe that the gb are god’s channel of communication, the organisation he is using, don’t you?” or some variation thereof, i am going to reply with two verses and reason as follows:.

the matter to be established: have the gb of jehovah’s witnesses received divine appointment to act as god’s representatives and channel of communication on earth?.

smiddy

The questions you ask a JW will fall on deaf ears because they are indoctrinated not to question JW beliefs about the bible.

Your questions didnt originate from the GB , so they just dont compute.

Its like the meetings of JW`s the GB write the questions and the GB write the answers and the R&F are just expected to parrot those Q&A`s ( and they do )

They are conditioned not to think or use their reason.they will obfuscate the question to cloud the issue and throw you off track.

Some time back I used the scriptures to prove the 2 witness rule from the scriptures proved that a generation amounted to about 50 years using three bible scriptures that all said the same thing.Luke 3:23-38 ,Mat.24:34 ,

Mat.1:17,18 .simply by counting the generations listed by the time span involved and you come to a ball park figure of 50 years ,this is 3 witness (bible) accounts that should settle the matter.

However their is more.: Their are other bible scriptures that refer to a generation and generations that the WTB&TS do NOT apply the overlapping generation principle.

Sorry if I have strayed from the topic somewhat but the 2-3 witness rule got to me.yet even then the Bible 2-3 witness rule is not set in stone their are exceptions in the Bible where it does not apply as has been borne out by other posters previously.

45

River flowing from the garden of Eden

by joey jojo in

hey there.. if this point has been covered before please forgive me.. i have had the principles of noahs flood used by jw's to encourage me to attend meetings recently and this has got me musing about the flood....again.. genesis states that a river flowed from eden and branched out into four rivers, two of which being the tigris and the euphrates.. heres the baffling part; if it had never rained before, how is it that rivers existed before the flood?!!?.

a brief google search tells us that the euphrates begins its journey as snow melt and rain ( as most rivers do) in mountains in turkey.. ecc chapter 1 mentions the water cycle and describes the rivers flowing into the sea but the sea not becoming full.

how did it work pre-flood?

smiddy

waton ,the bible says " a mist would go up from the earth and it watered the entire surface of the ground" Gen2:6

? how does a mist rise up from the earth ? as the previous verse 5 says that it had never rained before and that their was no vegetation to be found so where did the mist come from ?

33

What are some things JWs re-name to make themselves different than Christians?

by NikL in

jw
friends

jws re-name things so they seem like they are different than other religions.

(of course we know they are different but that's another story).

i was just thinking about those things where they are like most everyone else in christendom but the re-name it to seem different.. for example god forbid they have a church, it's a "kingdom hall".. they don't have pastors and deacons they have "elders" and "ministerial servants".. they don't have tithing but they will have family heads fill out a paper saying how much they can contribute on a monthly basis (not sure if there is a name for that...unless it's tithing.

smiddy

Wasn`t it Terry O`Brien @ the ARC who didnt understand the word or meaning of pastoral ?

23

Another family needlessly torn apart

by Visitor1984 in

i'm feeling very angry tonight as i watched my mother in law end her relationship with my husband, her son, tonight.

we were happily inactive, enjoying a distant but decent relationship with my in laws until they saw some christmas decorations and everything changed.

i spent two hours getting drilled on whether my husband and i celebrate holidays, to be told that my laws won't socialize with us anymore.

smiddy

According to Spinks and O`Brien @ the ARC its your fault they are shunning you or rather by your action of having a tree in your house you are shunning them because you knew the consequences of your action..?

How does one reason with such stupidity !

We feel for you and your hubby visitor1984 , its their loss not yours.In time you will probably see it as a blessing in disguise.

Take care

11

I have just watched The Godfather movies 1,2 &3 this past week.

by smiddy in

many years ago i had only seen the third movie and had never seen the first two for some reason ,so i saw them on stan this past week and enjoyed every second of it.. their were even occasions i could see the gb being depicted in it s portrayal of the rc church... its 45th anniversary is coming up this week since it was first shown in cinemas.

what is your view of this trilogy ?

what were your fav .moments , comments made in the movies?.

smiddy

Many years ago i had only seen the third movie and had never seen the first two for some reason ,so I saw them on Stan this past week and enjoyed every second of it.

Their were even occasions I could see the GB being depicted in it s portrayal of the RC Church..

Its 45th anniversary is coming up this week since it was first shown in cinemas

What is your view of this trilogy ? What were your fav .moments , comments made in the movies?

One of mine went something like this , Michael :"Every time I try to get out they drag me back in "

21

This week's wt paragraph 13 and 15 free will

by poopie in

jw
friends

does forcing people to shun other people violate free will?

smiddy

They mislead, coerce, misinform, misrepresent, and downright lie, but nope, they do not force people to do anything. The one thing that they make sure is not violating people's free will, and using the tactics that they use, they don't need to.

Well said Scratchme1010