Posts by Billy the Ex-Bethelite

2

Facebook conversation with my never-a-JW cousin

by Mum in

jw
friends

recently my sister posted on facebook a list of bible verses/scriptures for different situations in life.

my reply was "have you gotten religious?

" i have never known my sister to be religious in her entire life.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

And religion makes many people hyper-judgmental. They've "accepted" Jesus, but ignore everything written about him and his teachings.

2596

The Pastor of my Old Church Tried to Re-Convert Me Yesterday

by cofty in

yesterday evening my wife and i were invited to friends house for new year's eve.

we met them when i was a christian and we have kept in touch.

they had a few other friends there as well, including the new church pastor and his wife.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

"Something is not true just because it is written in the bible."

That I can agree with.

2596

The Pastor of my Old Church Tried to Re-Convert Me Yesterday

by cofty in

yesterday evening my wife and i were invited to friends house for new year's eve.

we met them when i was a christian and we have kept in touch.

they had a few other friends there as well, including the new church pastor and his wife.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

Jesus himself prophecied that earthquakes and famines would be a sign. If he's not causing them, who is? Satan? Is he now giving the sign?

It's all right there in the bible.

2596

The Pastor of my Old Church Tried to Re-Convert Me Yesterday

by cofty in

yesterday evening my wife and i were invited to friends house for new year's eve.

we met them when i was a christian and we have kept in touch.

they had a few other friends there as well, including the new church pastor and his wife.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

"No... man causes more suffering than natural disasters. Re-read my comment please."

But I already proved that God causes the natural disasters. It's in the bible. Maybe you should read the bible rather than just your own comments.

2596

The Pastor of my Old Church Tried to Re-Convert Me Yesterday

by cofty in

yesterday evening my wife and i were invited to friends house for new year's eve.

we met them when i was a christian and we have kept in touch.

they had a few other friends there as well, including the new church pastor and his wife.

"He doesn't have to protect his followers from each other, Billy. His followers do not go after each other, or anyone for that matter. Those who CLAIM to be His followers, however... that is another matter."

You've read the OT, right? The Hebrews were instructed by their god to battle, slaughter, and enslave. Read the history of Christianity and it's easy to see that once the number and power of the Christians reached a tipping point they went from being the oppressed to being the oppressors. Of course it's very easy to dismiss the savagery by saying they only "claimed" to be his followers right? But, if they were killing people in his name, why didn't he stop that?

Or was he just to busy doing something else to try to stop people from killing others in the name of Jesus Christ?

2596

The Pastor of my Old Church Tried to Re-Convert Me Yesterday

by cofty in

yesterday evening my wife and i were invited to friends house for new year's eve.

we met them when i was a christian and we have kept in touch.

they had a few other friends there as well, including the new church pastor and his wife.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

"His response was to THAT... not to the suffering of people. I would have thought that was obvious."

You're not very good at being condescending.

"while all along it is man who contributes and causes even MORE suffering than that."

So you admit that god does cause suffering, just not as much as man contributes. This is truly enlightening. It's good to know that there would be less suffering if god didn't try so hard.

2596

The Pastor of my Old Church Tried to Re-Convert Me Yesterday

by cofty in

yesterday evening my wife and i were invited to friends house for new year's eve.

we met them when i was a christian and we have kept in touch.

they had a few other friends there as well, including the new church pastor and his wife.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

"Did you see Cofty respond to my post verbally or did you see him post a pic which distorted what I wrote?"

Typical of your meaningless word games. This is more of your typical attempt to change the discussion to meaningless semantics to dodge the fact that you worship a savage Bronze Age god that couldn't protect his petty tribe then, and can't protect the billions of his followers from each other today.

2596

The Pastor of my Old Church Tried to Re-Convert Me Yesterday

by cofty in

yesterday evening my wife and i were invited to friends house for new year's eve.

we met them when i was a christian and we have kept in touch.

they had a few other friends there as well, including the new church pastor and his wife.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

"An out of context remark. Are you sure you've left the JWs? "

Seriously PB, you need to do some serious self-examination. You look upon the suffering of others with indifference and even contempt. And you can't respond to cofty's reasoning so you resort to insults. Sad.

2596

The Pastor of my Old Church Tried to Re-Convert Me Yesterday

by cofty in

yesterday evening my wife and i were invited to friends house for new year's eve.

we met them when i was a christian and we have kept in touch.

they had a few other friends there as well, including the new church pastor and his wife.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

"He took credit... or people gave him credit? There is a difference."

So that whole "flood of Noah's day" and "raining fire and sulfur", is that a case where he took credit or people gave him credit?

In 2 Sam 21:1-14, a three year famine in the kingdom is caused by Jehovah and ended by Jehovah only after 7 descendants of Saul, none of whom were personally responsible for the deaths of Gibeonites, were slaughtered and laid out to be eaten by birds and beasts. Is that a case where god took credit or people gave him credit? It's all explained there in his supposedly inspired book. Or is the bible no longer inspired and just something written by confused men? How can you say there is a difference between what god takes credit for or what people give him credit for in the bible? There is no difference if you claim to have any faith in the bible.

Don't bother answering. I already find it extemely disturbing that someone ignores the murders of innocent people throughout the OT and twist it around to blame the victims. This thread has further convinced me that no salvation is to be found in the bible. I used to try to focus on what it said about love, mercy, good works, and forgiveness. But the god of the bible sets a terrible example. I wouldn't want him near my children.

2596

The Pastor of my Old Church Tried to Re-Convert Me Yesterday

by cofty in

yesterday evening my wife and i were invited to friends house for new year's eve.

we met them when i was a christian and we have kept in touch.

they had a few other friends there as well, including the new church pastor and his wife.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

"Well, no one on this thread believes that God sent the tsunami."

When you read the OT, God happily takes credit for many such natural disasters. And he's taken credit for killing thousands of random Jews because David took a census. There are plenty of Christians that believe that god is actively killing people because of the sins of others.