Don't all new puritanical religions eventually become mainstream and encourage more conservative breakaway movements, who eventually also become mainstream. Its the evolutionary process of religions. And its starting to happen with JWs.
Posts by lrkr
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50Furuli. The prominent elder in Norway not too popular among top dogs
by Samuel Thorsen ina trustworthy source has given me the opportunity to share some information about rolf furuli.
a well known apologist og and greatly respected elder in norway and a schoolar at the university of oslo.
he does not compleatly agree with the fds in all cases i guess, and lately he has spoken up in his local congo about 3 subjects.. # 1. education.
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90
Reasons why i can't worship the God of the bible...
by digderidoo inthe following scriptures given show the reasons why i cannot worship the god of the bible.
call him jehovah, yahweh, yhwh, lord, father, jesus, whatever you will.
the passages are taken from the new world translation, because we are all familiar with it and also it was the only one i really had at hand.. gen 3:16 ... " to the woman he said: 'i shall greatly increase the pain of your pregnancy; in birth pangs you will bring forth children, and your craving will be for your husband, and he will dominate you.
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lrkr
So their belief is based on complete assumption that their parents and religious leaders are correct about religious matters.
And that belief is very powerful. I now think that a parent should be very careful about what they are dogmatic about. Teach children to demand evidence. Because they will accept what you say as gospel- and it will stick in their heads for a long time. (which is why it is very difficult for "raised in" witnesses to completely break free- there are a number here who have- but many more who haven't)
That automatic assumption that your parents always did and still do know whats right keeps people from looking at the rape, murder, torture, killing of children, genocide, mutilation, racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia described in the bible as wrong. After all, when Isrealites or 1st century Christians committed these crimes- they were doing the will of God. Only good parental programming and indoctrination can teach a person that these acts are the actions of a "loving" God.
A rational, non-indoctrinated person would automatically see these actions as repulsive.
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90
Reasons why i can't worship the God of the bible...
by digderidoo inthe following scriptures given show the reasons why i cannot worship the god of the bible.
call him jehovah, yahweh, yhwh, lord, father, jesus, whatever you will.
the passages are taken from the new world translation, because we are all familiar with it and also it was the only one i really had at hand.. gen 3:16 ... " to the woman he said: 'i shall greatly increase the pain of your pregnancy; in birth pangs you will bring forth children, and your craving will be for your husband, and he will dominate you.
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lrkr
Punishment can only go so far.... but it is necessary at times. God, the father has chosen which times are which in our development, both individually and collectively.
But, from the actual evidence we have- everyone that has ever lived has been punished equally- with death. And we have no evidence of anyone ever not being punished with death. Even those who are claimed in holy writings to have been perfect and not deserving of punishment- died.
So... death looks more like a natural event than punishment.
Punishment carries the assumption that there is hope for reform. The person being punished understands the reason for and extent of the punishment. Making someone hurt when they don't know the reason isn't punishment- its torture. So if God is responsible for punishing people by making them suffer- and they don't understand the reason for the suffering- its actually torture.
I'm not arguing about the existence of God- I don't know and dont think there is sufficient evidence to know. I do have problems with the "god" of the "bible" though.
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Assembly coming up- Still not talking to family but I will see them....
by cognac ini actually did talk briefly with my dad last week but still not talking to my mom or sister.
should i try to break the ice now or then or what?
should i just not break the ice and let it be awkward?
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lrkr
My 2 cents- They will be feeling the stress too and will feel moved to make the first step (somehow expressing affection for you). Most people cant stand the stress of a tense moment for very long. Let the moment last and they will come to you.
When they do, you can accept it but make sure that you let them know how they made you feel. ("It made me feel angry when you tried to come between my husband and I" "It made me feel betrayed when you immediately went to the elders about a private conversation." "It made me depressed to think that our entire relationship is about our interpretation of a 2000 year old book.")
Things always work better when you talk about your feelings. Then, they don't feel "accused" but they get the point.
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Keep Yourselves In God's Love: Cover, Counsel and Discipline
by truthseeker infor your viewing pleasure.... .
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lrkr
"How does your view of authority affect God's view of you" (Obviously, if you have the wrong attitude- God will hate you- or really dislike you. Forget all that stuff you read about unconditional love, grace, etc- God hates people with a bad attitude.)
"How can you develop the desire to OBEY"- (You want to have the desire- this we know- because it is the basic want of all humans- dont ask questions about that- it just is- NOW- we will help you want to OBEY- because this may not come easily- see previous remarks re you being lousy, good for nothing sinner)
"Why is obeying GOD in your best interests" (OK- heres where we tell you that you will die a terrible death if you don't obey. What? You don't believe that? OK then if you don't OBEY we will make your friends and family ignore you- forever!!! Ha! Now you see why it is your best interests to OBEY.
"How to be happy at work" (WTF- Where did this come from??? Go find that crazy writer and demote him to head dishwasher. This is all about OBEYING not practical stuff.)
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Keep Yourselves In God's Love: Cover, Counsel and Discipline
by truthseeker infor your viewing pleasure.... .
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lrkr
Sorry, I had to keep going-
"How to demonstrate that you truly love God." (Because likely you are lying and dont really love God and you have to demonstrate it, not just say it, not just feel it- Prove it to us that you love God)
"When to trust your conscience" (Dont trust your inner voice to say what is right and wrong- because you are a lousy good for nothing sinner. Let us tell you. Read this book over and over again and you will know what is right and wrong)
"What do your friends say about you" (See- we told you- you cant even be trusted to pick good friends- now just let us pick them for you)
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Keep Yourselves In God's Love: Cover, Counsel and Discipline
by truthseeker infor your viewing pleasure.... .
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lrkr
From the snippets I've seen here, this book looks like a Talmud of all of the Rules and Regulations of the Society. The first book catches the person's interest and the second makes sure that they OBEY!!!!
And the questions on the back- YIKES!!! They are all laced with guilt, inadequacy and domination language.
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Graduation and elders meeting!
by why??? inhi everyone, i'm not new here just haven't posted in a while.
for those who remember me i'm graduating from college on wednesday!!!!
i'm very happy but there's still a dark cloud (pardon the dramatic-ness) i am still with my non-jw boyfriend of almost three years and i've let my parents know that we want to get married (next month) and they went and told the elders(they did it kinda behind my back) who now want to meet and talk with me!
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lrkr
Dont let the borg F**k up your wedding. Tell your parents that you love your boyfriend and want them to be a part of your wedding. Its not a sin. The worst the elders will do is try and mark you. (Oh- and they may threaten to take away "priviledges" of anyone involved.) Try and get your parents to see the need to leave the elders out of such a personal and important part of any family's life. (Don't give the elders any warning)
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Automatic reinstatement if teaching gets reversed?
by Fatfreek inlet's say your spouse admitted to having sex with animals, you went to the elders and they told you that you were not free to remarry -- but you went ahead, divorced the scumbag, and remarried someone else.
you, of course, got disfellowshipped.
since then, the society reverses its position.
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lrkr
The closest thing I can remember to "automatic reinstatement" was when the teaching on "Approved Associates" was reversed. When I was a teenager there was a system whereby an unbaptized kid could be announced as a "disapproved associate." if they did something worthy of disfellowshipping. So there were a number of kids who were labeled from the platform as "disapproved associates" for stealing, vandlizing, having sex, even participating in Model UN in high school. They were treated like disfellowshipped witnesses. You couldn't say a greeting to them.
Then, one day, there was a WT article that changed all that and we could talk to those kids again. Instantly! No hearing, no nothing.
PS- This policy really jacked up some kids. Imagine not being able to talk to all of your buds at the hall- and really believing that you would probably die at Armageddon. Drug abuse, suicidal tendancies, etc often followed kids who had this policy applied to them.
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GB Anthony Morris 2007 DC Talk DESPERATE PLEADINGS
by doinmypart ingb anthony morris gave the final talk on friday's 2007 follow the christ dc.
in the talk he gives reasons for the r&f to trust the fds specifically the gb.. the talk is nauseating, but shows how desperate the gb has become.
they're losing control of the r&f and they know it.. jwd member booby originally posted this speech on the "gb solidifies ownership" thread.
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lrkr
I disagree with the poster who said he is "dumb". I think he is quite smart. Its the arrogance that bothers me.