Posts by Awakened07

7

Why is it that witnesses believe that Jesus was resurected in spirit?

by freethinker2009 in

i am new to this, i have never posted one of these sites before and have been in this org for about 21 years (brought up in it) i am almost 25 and have just started to really question the watchtower and its teachings and have uncovered some interesting things.

there is one thing that puzzles me though, why do jws need to believe so badly that jesus was raised in spirit and not in the flesh.

does it really matter?

Awakened07

Hi, and welcome to the forum.

I haven't been active for a few years, so I'm a little 'rusty' (others will fill in), but as far as I can recall, there's 1. Cor 15:50, which says: "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God" (KJV). So I think that's a reason for them.

That said, I also think they believe Jesus had a kind of flesh / spirit body; "two for the price of one". This of course, because he was evidently also in the flesh, otherwise there'd be no point in Thomas being granted to put his finger into Jesus' wound. Not that that makes any sense anyway, 'cause if it wasn't the original body, then the wound wasn't any kind of evidence at all...

But I think that's how they view it. I may be slightly wrong.

6

JCanon goes Web2.0?

by godadist in

jw
friends

http://youtube.com/user/larsguy1992

Awakened07

Yep, that's our "Lars Wilson" alright.

I wonder what he's really up to, and why he bothers spending such a huge amount of time on it.

I mean - it would be great if he is about to create a new spin-off religion using intricately calculated end-time prophecy, gather followers, etc. etc., and then in the end reveal it's all a spoof to show how it's done.

Alas, I think he'll end up being the real deal, renting a cave somewhere in Russia.

7

How To Believe The Impossible?

by hamilcarr in

jw
friends

consider the following reasoning i read yesterday in a wt article on the virgin birth of jesus:.

skeptics, including some theologians of christendom, have a hard time believing that a virgin birth could give birth.

for all their education, they fail to grasp a simple truth.

Awakened07

From Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll:
“There is no use trying; one can't believe impossible things." -Alice
"I dare say you haven't had much practice. When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” -Queen

On one hand, faith is about believing beforehand; presupposition that something is true. On the same hand, the less evidence one has, the more virtuous the faith becomes, and the more proud the person can be for staying faithful to the belief in spite of the lack of evidence.

On the other hand, you have utterances like the one you quoted, about having evidence for faith. "It's not like there was no evidence; after all, Mary knew of a woman who hadn't had babies and therefore was known to be 'barren', but was now suddenly pregnant." But can it really be said that being childless/barren and becoming pregnant is on the same footing as getting pregnant on your own? Why does the Watchtower even mention Elizabeth's circumstances as proof, by the way, when Mary was visited by an angel, which would be much more powerful evidence of something supernatural taking place?

What Luke really says is "God did it.". That explains everything. I never had a problem with Mary's miraculous conception, 'cause I believed 'God did it.', and he can do anything and has created everything. No biggie for him. When you have that presupposition at the base, anything thereafter can be rationalized. You can easily believe impossible things six or more times before breakfast, because God makes it possible.

7

Another Video I made. This time about the washtowel's NGO status

by Tired of the Hypocrisy in

the society is a bunch of hypocrites and like white washed graves filled with dead men's bones.

i blame the leadership more so than the rank and file members.

i made the following video in an attempt to educate jw'sa who are trapped in that cult and to help folks understand it before they get hooked up with it.

Awakened07

They have explained why they did it.

But they never told their followers that they were an NGO, which would have been a perfectly logical thing to do if they thought it was A-OK; to explain their followers in advance why they'd do it. And they disassociated as soon as they were found out; not exactly the actions of someone who thinks they did nothing wrong in the first place.

28

Did anyone get told that they 'think about things too much'?

by jambon1 in

jw
friends

in the very early days of my explaining to certain witnesses my doubts, i kind of ran through all of them.

they probobly merged into one big hodge-podge of apostate doubting nonsense.

- the nephilim penis size, the animals in the ark, the she bears killing the kids, davids baby being killed by god for his adultery, jesus sacrifice not really being a sacrifice, the torture of jw's in the camps, appointment of elders, the changing doctrines.........but more than a few elders/rank & file witnesses told me that i "think about stuff too much".

Awakened07

All my life growing up.

But then I was a very curious child with a vivid imagination who could sit and just think or daydream for hours.

I definitely asked "too many questions", that had no other answers than to wait for Jehovah (or his org.).

I think it paid off as I became an adult.

94

The growing irrelevance of the Watchtower message

by drew sagan in

in many ways it appears as if the watchtower movement is slowing down.

a number of changes over the last few years certainly show that the watchtower is in a period of transition.

they have cut back on the number of magazines they print as well as lowered the cost of production by eliminating things like hard backed books.

Awakened07

They are running on fumes, but those fumes are potent and have an intoxicating effect on their members, and even those on the fringes.

The fumes they are running on is fear, and the inevitable (seeming) increase in reports worldwide of wars, famine, bad weather, etc. The world wide population has increased from about 2,5 billion to about 7 billion since 1950. In addition, reports are now sent world wide in a matter of seconds. Put two and two together, and you get: more cramped space, more people living in disaster prone areas and competing for the same resources, and a much more effective media machine telling us about every minute detail from all over the globe every second of the day.

This is enough to keep the witnesses looking out their kitchen windows for "armageddon clouds", and enough for those on the fringes to intermittently come back when the shit from time to time hits the fan.

Fear.

41

Why didn't Jesus write his own parts of the bible?

by Aphrodite in

why leave the writing to inaccurate third parties who each saw things from their own perspective.

if his message was so important for posterity, why did he not write an accurate account of his message?

Awakened07

He figured he had it covered, 'hiring' four 'secretaries'?

Who'd a thought they'd procrastinate and start writing decades later?

You get what you pay for, I guess.

9

The Revelation book?

by Layla33 in

jw
friends

i just came back from a weekend visit with my parents and i noticed this book all over - it gave me a bad feeling for some reason.

now, i only came after the book study was over since they have it at their house, so that's another reason why it was probably left out.

however, i consider this apocalyptic cult a concern and one of the reason i scan on here from time to time is to keep to date on what is going on.

Awakened07

It's filled with a lot of "As we have already established from our interpretation of that other scripture, it is obvious that we can interpret this scripture this way. The reason we can, is obviously because we already interpreted the first scripture that way, and let's not forget we know what we're talking about, since we're the Faithful And Discrete Slave, as we have already established by pointing to how our interpretation fits with another of our interpretations. So, as you can see it all makes sense when you trust us and our interpretations, and presuppose that they're correct.".

-That was probably not verbatim, but not too far off either...

3

Devilution!

by Chameleon in

jw
friends

as you know, this month is "evolution is evil" month.. i wasn't paying too much attention at this week's meeting, but i'll share what i did manage to hear.. this was a #3 assignment, and one lady was "concerned mom," and the other was "worldly teacher.".

basically, concerned mom (or cm) went to worldly teacher (wt) to tell her that she doesn't want her son in the class for the next couple of weeks.

because she'll be teaching evolution.. wt says, "i believe that all the evidence shows that we evolved and blah blah blah" and cm says "well, let me show you this bs from the bible.

Awakened07

What stupid evolution things have you heard?

-Or; stupid things said about what evolution would claim/require:

That we evolved from monkeys.

That cows went back to the ocean and became whales.

That the giraffe grew a longer neck because it figured out it needed it in order to reach the top branches.

That we should find 'crocoducks' and 'dats' (dog/cat) out there.

That there are no transitional fossils.

That the first fully formed cell came from lightening hitting mud.

I could go on, but...

As for the talk in the hall that you refer to; Something doesn't become right/correct just because it sounds more appealing than the other argument.

So the whole point of "don't you think this sounds nicer/better/warmer/cozier, and is therefore more likely to be true?" is moot, at least in and of itself.

7

I'am Confused

by bobld in

jw
friends

at the end of april,2008 the gb/fds( god's spokesperson/ channel of communication) cancelled/deleted one meeting where we are to gather,incite and love one another.. the bible,god's holy word at hebrews 10:24,25 let us consider one another to incite to love and fine works not forsaking the gathering of ourselves,as some have the custom,but encouraging one another,and all the more so as you should behold the day drawing near.. so the gd/fds says we do not have to gather together.do not have to incite to love.we have the custom of forsaking one another.the day in not near.. yet god's word says the exact opposite.. bob.

ps:when the annoucement was made the r&f said "was that not wonderful of the gb/fds of this new provision".sorry i'am confused who is right god or the gb/fds..

Awakened07

Well - - if I put my "JW hat" on for a moment, I think they'd say that they're still not 'violating' that principle from Hebrews. They'd say that the principle is to gather together consistently, and attend every meeting there is. And that some people 'did not have this custom', as in did not gather with the others at all the meetings, or did not gather at all.

But, as Witness 007 points out, the book study was always said to be perhaps the most important meeting, and that that's where we'd find refuge (in those small groups) when the tribulation would kick in for real.