Posts by brinjen

546

non believers what if your wrong ?

by unstopableravens in

i do not wish to debate anything here like i have said in the past i have much respect for most on this forum (believers and non believers) i am simply wondering if the atheist or non god believers every worry about what if your wrong?

it seems that many who were jw for so many years attach jehovah/yahweh with the watchtower and since the wt is wrong than god does not exist.

i ask this question only because i care about people and salvation thats why i want to help as many as possable come out of this cult,and since i truly believe in god i dont know what is in the cinscience of those who dont.

brinjen

The way I see it, if I'm wrong then it really dosen't matter. If there is a God, he's not going to penalise me because I don't believe in him... I believe what I believe and in many ways it's not by choice (just dosen't make sense to me that there is a God). If it did matter and a belief in "him" is required, then the way I see it that God isn't much different from Jehovah. Why does my answer to the question need to be correct in the first place?

23

Do-Overs...What if you could have just one....What would it be? Why?

by Terry in

jw
friends

as we grow older and have more life experience we have an advantage in looking at our life as a whole.. we can see things from more than one perspective.

we can be wiser as our emotions cool.

hindsight gives us the power to judge outcomes.. for example, i was thinking about a 20 year chunk of my life.

brinjen

I think I would have turned to digital art a lot sooner. I've been learning lately how to do the art that I've always wanted to... but convinced myself I didn't have the talent or ability for. Amazing what buying a few magazines, studying the tutorials of the professionals and just digging my heels in and not quitting has done. I'm now at the point whre I look at an object and instantly my mind starts churning over the layers and brushes I'd use to place that object in a piece of art... and I love it. I'm also now producing artwork that just at the start of this year I thought I'd never, ever be able to achieve. Quite easily too. Just working on ways to turn this into a career of some sort and never, ever have to work again (or dread Monday mornings).

27

History of Head Covering for JW Women

by UnDisfellowshipped in

jw
friends

it is not a case of her being appointed to conduct a congregational meeting.

in such cases the dedicated brother should offer the prayer, and the sister may conduct the study with her head covered.

for if a woman does not cover herself, let her also be shorn.1 cor.

brinjen

Did find this...

Role of women

Main article: Paul the Apostle and women

A verse in the first letter to Timothy, 1 Timothy 2:12 ("I suffer not a woman") , traditionally attributed to Paul, is often used as the main biblical authority for prohibiting women from becoming ordained clergy and or holding certain other positions of ministry and leadership in Christianity, though Paul's authorship of this letter is debated. The Letter to Timothy is also often used by many churches to deny women a vote in church affairs, reject women from serving as teachers of adult Bible classes, prevent them from serving as missionaries, and generally disenfranchise women from the duties and privileges of church leadership. [92]

1st Timothy 2:9 In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;
10 But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.
11 Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.
12 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
13 For Adam was first formed, then Eve.
14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
15 Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.
— Authorized Version

The KJV translation of this passage seems [clarification needed] to be saying that women in the churches are to have no leadership roles vis-à-vis men. [93] Whether it also forbids women from teaching children and women is dubious as even those Catholic churches that prohibit female priests, permit female abbesses to teach and exercise authority over other females. Any interpretation of this portion of Scripture must wrestle with the theological, contextual, syntactical, and lexical difficulties embedded within these few words. [94] Fuller Seminary theologian J. R. Daniel Kirk finds evidence in Paul’s letters of a much more inclusive view of women. He writes that Romans 16 is a tremendously important witness to the important role of women in the early church. Paul praises Phoebe for her work as a deaconess and Junia who was (according to some scholars) an Apostle. Kirk points to recent studies that have led "many scholars" to conclude that the passage in 1 Corinthians 14 ordering women to "be silent" during worship was a later addition, apparently by a different author, and not part of Paul’s original letter to the Corinthians. Other scholars such as Giancarlo Biguzzi, claim that Paul's restriction on women speaking in 1Corinthians 14 is genuine to Paul but applies to a particular case of prohibiting asking questions or chatting and is not a general prohibition on any woman speaking since in 1Corinthians 11 Paul affirms the right of women to prophesy. [95] Kirk's third example of a more inclusive view is Galatians 3:28 : "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (italics added). In pronouncing an end within the church to the divisions which are common in the world around it, he concludes by highlighting the fact that "...there were New Testament women who taught and had authority in the early churches, that this teaching and authority was sanctioned by Paul, and that Paul himself offers a theological paradigm within which overcoming the subjugation of women is an anticipated outcome." [96]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_the_Apostle

27

History of Head Covering for JW Women

by UnDisfellowshipped in

jw
friends

it is not a case of her being appointed to conduct a congregational meeting.

in such cases the dedicated brother should offer the prayer, and the sister may conduct the study with her head covered.

for if a woman does not cover herself, let her also be shorn.1 cor.

brinjen

It's kinda funny this topic should come up... was just watching a documentary the other day on the role women played in the early days of christianity (first few hundred years) and the Professor (proper title escapes me) who teaches at one of the major colleges where future Priests study who strongly believes the Apostle Paul wasn't quite the sexist most believe he is but quite the opposite.

His way of thinking (yet to do any research myself on this... lack of time) was Paul actually held a lot of respect for women and regarded them as equals to men. He pointed to a scripture (um... yeah... forgotten where... will research) which describes the role of delivering his letters (and thus the teachings of Christ), one of the most important roles and one which should be given only to someone who can be trusted to complete this task both timely and accurately. The job was usually given to.... **drum roll**.... a woman.

It wasn't until Christianity was a few hundred years old that women started to be forced into the background.... after the Apostle Paul's time apparently. Would love to find out more actually.

192

Atheism's occult roots

by NoStonecutters in

jw
friends

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brinjen

Well that settles it. Since both atheism and christianity both have roots in the occult, I'm converting to the church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster... at least I'll never go hungry.

**hands out meatballs and parmesan**

175

Were you Stalked or Chased After Once you Exited the JW's by Elders ?

by flipper in

jw
friends

i tried to fade off the map by moving 30 miles initially in 2004 after i exited in late 2003 .

the first several years they didn't bother me.

i ran into a elder from my former congregation in late 2005 in an antique store - he tried telling me i was wrong for stopping attending meetings.

brinjen

I was for a while. Hadn't attended a meeting in months... heard nothing from them. Then I got seen buying a packet of ciagarettes and I had them showing up to the college I was studying at the time (unfortunately for them... I didn't attend the class so wasn't there) because apparently they could not find me home. Never told anyone from the congregation I was attending this college... and hadn't seen anyone from the congregation there... not sure exactly how they knew what my schedule was either, it was a night class.

Wasn't trying to avoid them, they really must have been calling at my home when I wasn't there. When they did eventually catch up with me I copped an earful about the smoking... about how disappointed my JW mother (lovely women who's favourite pasttimes were running down everyone behind their backs and torturing the dog) and grandmother (loved to clap her hands in my face and chant "mentally retarded" at me) will be when in the new system () when they would have to tell them how I didn't survive armageddon and how close we are and how important it was for me to go back... and of course, face a JC. Didn't attend the JC, best decision I ever made.

22

Now tell me again....WHAT exactly is the point?

by Terry in

what the hell is the point......?.

1.undeserved kindness.

ask yourself why you don't deserve kindness.

brinjen

Yep, I agree. We need both good and evil to exist. Good can come about as a result of evil and vice versa. So... why destroy more than 99% of the world's population to get rid of evil when the only way that the good/evil argument works is for both to exist?

22

Now tell me again....WHAT exactly is the point?

by Terry in

what the hell is the point......?.

1.undeserved kindness.

ask yourself why you don't deserve kindness.

brinjen

How does one kill an idea? Because that's what evil is and Satan is the personification of it.

OK, one more. But if Satan was created perfect how did he get to thinking along the lines of evil in the first place? Did not God ever think of that one before?

22