i ran into an ex jw i used to babysitt when i was a teenager.
that really makes you feel old, you know :-) anyway i invited her over for some coffee and we got talking gossip of course.
she was in for several years after me and was filling me in on all the juicy stuff i shouldnt care about :-) .
I would write a letter to my brother explaining the news I just learned, and ask how he would like me to handle it.
I'd say, "Through this experience, I see that what you've done doesn't change my love for you, and how much I miss you; I only wish you loved me in the same way, and were willing to forgive me so that we could be close again."
But that's just me.
the scriptures and the physical facts clearly show that the work which bible students and jehovah's witnesses did from 1878 till 1942 are not just work of men charles taze russel and joseph franklin rutherford, who were chief servants in the visible part of jehovah's organization, but that such work is a product of god's spirit and in fulfilment of his prophecies written long ago through faithful men of old.. after the days of the apostles of christ jesus gross darkness covered those who were called christians and many began to practice religion or the traditions of men rather than the bible teachings.
then in 1878 till 1918 there was a work of preparing the way before jehovah's coming to the temple through his official representative christ jesus.
(malachi 3:1)such work was done to prepare before the lord a "people for his name" that such ones should be witnesses to his name and kingdom.
Everything the WTS after 1942 was man's unGodly interpretation - a falshood.
Everything before that, too.
open question, please list scriptures that give you that direction or what you base your answer upon.
i know there are so many different viewpoints on this forum, it will be interesting for all to see them and what scriptures or reasoning they are based on.. some examples are,.
do you feel only one needs to have love, faith in jesus, and those basics and that is what you must proclaim.. do you feel true knowledge must be taught to all, and as much as is known.
I feel God has no desire, will, plan, command, want - for me or anyone else.
That I exist is more than enough for Him/Her/It.
I don't think there is any direct Biblical quotation we can use to say what his "thorn" was.
Nor do I think we con conclusively show he was of the Sanhedrin.
Nothing to conclusively show he was or was not married (though, as others say, any wife might have been rather put out, espcially by his "gift" of celibacy).
i mean somebody had to do it.
i guess if someone called me judas i'd take it as a compliment..
Same is true for Satan.
You can't play out the story without all the actors.
in the end years i would.
after the public talk and after the tms.
in fact there would often be a mass exdous out of the door.
Never.
But I did spend a lot of time in the bathroom after halftime.
my mom called and i found out one of my elders just got dfed.. i started out with three elders at the west hall and moved to a new congregation, the south hall (really an old one from when i was 16 and younger) while i was publicly reproved for the first time.
my mom decided it would be best for me and my sister to have friends our age locally to hang out with.
well we did the move and i hated the hall even more because i thought the friends their were cool and would be supportive but found it to be even more stuck up then the other hall.
Kinda shows that the whole in/out DF/reinstatment thing is done by imperfect humans.
It's all politics. God's not involved.
Your relationship with God has nothing to do with your relationship with the WTS.
hiya guys and gals.
im not trying to be self-righteous but i want to understand the thought process of someone who knows the origins of christmas, but starts celebrating it (putting up christmas tree, exchanging wrapped gifts; repeating merry christmas to everyone they see in the month of december)??
it seems very silly to me (imo) after knowing how and why christmas was created (to cater to pagans sun worship and convert to christianity)!!
What are the secular origins of marriage licenses? Why would I associate with such a non-religious act?
What are the pagan origins of wedding rings? Why would I want anything to do with them?
What is the Bible basis of wedding anniversaries? If they're not blessed by Jesus specifically, why would I celebrate them?
Is going to a theater a little too much like attending a Roman circus?
Isn't watching a Macy's parade some kind of religious observance?
Can we have turkey in November?
There are many cultural events we engage in that we have little thought for their origins. Their origins don't matter anymore.
Christmas is a cultural event, some see deep Christian connections in it, others see ancient Pagan connections - and still others hold no religious connections regarding it whatsoever.
There is no reason to avoid it. Christ gave two commands, neither of which are broken by celebrating Christmas.
It's nice to be part of the human experience, and share in some cultural events - it's part of being human.
honestly, how can you love anyone without seeing them?
"god" comes to mind..
I neither support nor attack the implied subject of the OP; however, it's interesting that in the case of Helen Keller to note:
Helen could not see those around her. She could not hear those around her. She had only the sense of touch to even know there was an external world in the here and now.
The argument could be made that touch is the most ephemeral of our senses, and often (at least colloquially and perhaps parochially) we refer to other sense - primarily sight - as being something needed to validate certain events ("seeing is believing"). Often sight is the principal mechanism of measurement, and for those without sight a tranlsation of a visual measure might be made into an audible event.
Indeed, that seems to be the backbone of the OP.
Yet there are variations of this sense we call "touch", which might be termed "kinesthetic response". There are nerves that report on informatino from the external world to the surface of our skin; that's fairly the most general definition of "touch".
Yet there are other nerves that report on physical events entirely within the body. This sense of "touch" can be found when internal structures contact each other, and a variation on this is the way interal "touch" is translated in our experience to allow us to sense what position various parts of our body (such as our limbs) are oriented. This is most easily demonstrated by shutting your eyes and moving your arms around - you can probably tell by an internal "touch" sense where your hands are without looking.
Now, we also know that our emotions are based in the biochemical actions within our physical bodies - hormones are released in response to certain thoughts, for example, which creates a feedback mechanism captured by our cognitive apparatus. Thoughts of loved ones create create a cascade of chemicals that we perceive as an emotional state.
So it's easy to see that memories, thoughts, impressions - even fantasies, daydreams, desires (not to mention digested chemicals like theobromine or designer drugs) - can indeed trigger "love", an emotional experience.
And it might be inferred that certain interactions - electricity, magnetism, who-knows-what - can interact with our internal felt sense, our internal sense of "touch", to promote awareness of a "not-me" something.
Helen Keller had external "touch" to tell her of "another" outside of herself. She had no sense of sight or hearing to validate this other, could not behold what they were doing without that direct contact, yet "another" did exist, and I presume she held love for some of these "others".
Similarly, we can imagine our ideal "other" and, though visualization, fantasy, imagination, "behold" them internally withit sight or other physical manifestation.
Once perceived in the mind - through touch, internal awareness, imagination, what have you - the experience of love is available.
With or without reality.
Love is always occuring within us, even if we're wrong about our understanding of a person's actions or motiviation.
Just as we can experience apprehension, fear or concern when any number of non-real events seem to take place.
been snooping around facebook and am amazed!
(although i guess i shouldn't be) that the ordinary jw has no concept of the 'organization' in control.. every thing is 'jeh' 'jah' that, every teaching they support is attributed to jah.
every action.
Lions. I want my pet lions.
