There's always the idea that earth was seeded by space aliens. What if some dig crew in the Himalayas some time ini the future unearths an ancient spaceship called YHWH that crashed 6 thousand years ago. (Yes, I know it is a rip off of the 2001 Planet of the Apes where they find their god's name on a busted space ship.)
easyreader1970
JoinedPosts by easyreader1970
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Possible Gods
by DT ini'm just trying to fill a logical hole.
many people conclude that the existence of life or the structure of the universe demands that there be a god.
i don't really agree with this, but i can sympathise with that viewpoint.
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Free Will?
by ex-nj-jw ini just had a conversation with my sibling regarding free will.
he's going on and on about how jehoover gave us free will and that gives us the choice to accept him or not.
now, i will confess that i never paid attention at the meetings, didn't give a hoot about doctrine, the bible or whatever they were spewing from the platform so maybe that's why i don't get this.
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easyreader1970
The Witnesses teach that Jehovah allows relative free will, not total free will.
They prefer to use the traffic analogy. You have relative free will in that you can go anywhere on the roads in your vehicle, but those roads have laws. If you break them, you are punished. This is from their Does God Care brochure, dated 2001:
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However, did God purpose for free will to be without limits? Imagine a busy city without any traffic laws, where everybody could drive in any direction at any speed. Would you want to drive under those conditions? No, that would be traffic anarchy and would surely result in many accidents.10
So too with God’s gift of free will. Unlimited freedom would mean anarchy in society. There have to be laws to guide human activities. God’s Word says: "Behave like free men, and never use your freedom as an excuse for wickedness." (1 Peter 2:16, JB) God wants free will to be regulated for the common good. He purposed for us to have, not total freedom, but relative freedom, subject to the rule of law. -
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If the Bible was written more clearly, would there be a need to preach?
by easyreader1970 inpart of the reason there are so many divisions and opinions and versions of the bible is because, quite honestly, alot of it just doesn't make any sense.
it's full of symbolism, metaphors, allegories, parables, and even some of the narratives conflict with themselves.
the book of revelation makes no sense at all.
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easyreader1970
Part of the reason there are so many divisions and opinions and versions of the Bible is because, quite honestly, alot of it just doesn't make any sense. It's full of symbolism, metaphors, allegories, parables, and even some of the narratives conflict with themselves. The book of Revelation makes no sense at all. Wouldn't it have been more efficient for John to have visions that he could write down matter-of-factly without it seeming like he was smoking something? If Jehovah had just said what was going to happen and when, instead of making vague prophecies that could be applied to just about anything, wouldn't we have a much easier time of it? Instead we have thousands of years of confusion.
If everyone could read the Bible and understand it (and not need help from anointed JWs, as suggested by the WBTS), wouldn't life be that much easier?
er
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Nothing said last night
by stillajwexelder inin our hall last night ,nothing was said about a big announcement after the wt study sunday
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easyreader1970
Maybe some POs are withholding the announcement about the announcement because they don't want people speculating and asking questions.
They didn't announce the announcement about the announcement at my hall either, but they did mention Tuesday night that there would be a special elder's meeting immediately before the start of Sunday's public talk. I assume this is for two reasons:
1. So that the elders would know how to answer the thousands of questions they are going to get immediately after the meeting and on until January.
2. So that they won't have time to spill their guts before the governing body's "appointed time."
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regarding announcement( i know, i know....)
by bonnzo inelders meeting 30 minutes before regular meeting sunday....like to be a fly on wall for that one!!!!!
wonder what its about?
wife and i slyly grinned when that was announced tonight!
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easyreader1970
They made that same announcement at our service meeting a couple of nights ago. They made a special point to stress it.
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Why did Abel offer "fatty pieces" to Yahweh?
by easyreader1970 infrom my understanding--at least from my instruction from the wbts--humans were not permitted to eat meat by yahweh until after the flood.
if that is true, then why would abel offer tasty, delicious "fatty pieces" to yahweh?
how would abel even know how to cut up an animal for food and know which parts were the best for eating?.
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easyreader1970
Where does it say in the Bible that they were all vegetarians until after the flood?
It doesn't. The WBTS assumes that humans (at least godly humans) and animals were vegetarians until after the flood.
The concept is based on Genesis 1:29,30 (NWT)
29 And God went on to say: “Here I have given to YOU all vegetation bearing seed which is on the surface of the whole earth and every tree on which there is the fruit of a tree bearing seed. To YOU let it serve as food. 30 And to every wild beast of the earth and to every flying creature of the heavens and to everything moving upon the earth in which there is life as a soul I have given all green vegetation for food.” And it came to be so.
Presumably, since there isn't another scripture after this that discusses humans or animals eating meat, they didn't until they were told to after the flood. It doesn't make sense, I know. Many, many years went by between the creation story and Noah. So biblically we go from Adam and Eve to Cain and Abel to Noah. Since the Bible doesn't jump in there and put in something about humans suddenly having a desire for some country bacon and link sausage, the WBTS assumes that meat wasn't consumed until after the deluge.
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I broke my leg
by hillbilly injust got home from 2 nights in the hospital.
i was kicked by a horse.
broke the big bone out of the joint and busted the small bone... which was just one layer of tissue from being a compound fracture.. doc reduced the dislocation while i was concious... i dont think we need to experience that sensation again.
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easyreader1970
Do you have a spare?
Sorry, I couldn't help it. That sucks that this happened. I have always been deathly afraid of horses. I have heard too many horror stories that involved biting, kicking, and stampeding. I rode one horse when I was 16 and I was done.
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Around what age do most Witnesses leave the organization?
by RULES & REGULATIONS inmy congregation had 85 members ten years ago.
today,there are only 46. the ones that left the organization were mostly between 18-25 years old.
i haven't seen many middle-aged or elderly leave.
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easyreader1970
From my experience watching young members of the congregation dart out over the years, it appears to be people in the 18-24 range. The Society wants to say that the problem is higher education, bad association, and reality television. The fact is that young people these days realize that they can think for themselves. They can (and do) communicate with people all over the world instantly. Their world is so much bigger than mine was when I was 18.
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There is so much evidence around us to prove an Intelligent creator.
by nicolaou inthat's an 'ever so slightly' adapted quote from tophat on another thread; http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/12/108341/2880755/post.ashx#2880755.
i've been really dismissive of god/s, religion, faith and the abandoning of reason but when it comes to the 'argument from design', well you just have to give it a bit more .
respect?
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easyreader1970
Taken from Awake! 1/8 1983 p28 Question from Readers
I found your article convincing as concerns the principle that design requires a designer. But on page 11 you make the statement that features of animals that are used for maiming and killing have evolved by adaptation to the new situation in Eden. Can this be said of the poison that some snakes and spiders use to kill their prey? What of other ingenious instruments of various kinds of predators. How can they exist if not by creation?
D. K., Germany
We did not claim that certain features evolved by adaptation, but that existing features were put to a different use from what was originally purposed. We do not believe it is possible to establish for a certainty how things were in the distant past by observing the present. Conditions have changed. But we do have a clear statement from the past, namely Genesis 1:29, 30: “And God went on to say: ‘Here I have given to you all vegetation bearing seed which is on the surface of the whole earth and every tree on which there is the fruit of a tree bearing seed. To you let it serve as food. And to every wild beast of the earth and to every flying creature of the heavens and to everything moving upon the earth and in which there is life as a soul I have given all green vegetation for food.’” This does not mean that vegetation was merely the ultimate basis for food supply through a chain of animal life. Obviously it was not the case with humans because later when they were to begin to get some nourishment from animal flesh they had to be given a special concession. (Genesis 9:3) Further, during the Flood of Noah’s day, eight humans and ‘flying creatures and all moving animals of the ground’ were obliged to live on vegetable matter exclusively for more than a year. (Genesis 6:17-21) And the fact that Isaiah 11:6-9 and 65:25 specifically state that former predators will be at peace with other animals, and the lion will eat straw like the bull, would seem to confirm that animals and humans were meant to be vegetation eaters.
As for the many predators being suited for the chase and the kill, what about humans? They have shown an extremely efficient talent for attacking and killing their fellowman. Does that argue for humans’ being designed that way from the beginning? Admittedly, we cannot answer all questions that arise in this matter from what we can observe today, and the account in the Bible is quite brief. Yet, we believe that humankind and animal kind were originally designed to live at peace with one another and to get their nourishment from vegetation. That original purpose will be restored during the Messianic Kingdom. We will have to wait and see how those prophecies are fulfilled.—ED.
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There is so much evidence around us to prove an Intelligent creator.
by nicolaou inthat's an 'ever so slightly' adapted quote from tophat on another thread; http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/12/108341/2880755/post.ashx#2880755.
i've been really dismissive of god/s, religion, faith and the abandoning of reason but when it comes to the 'argument from design', well you just have to give it a bit more .
respect?
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easyreader1970
There is a magazine article (I'd have to hunt for it) that says that all of the animals were intended to eat vegetation and, in fact, this is what they did in the beginning. It made arguments that some animals predatory features were only adapted to be predatory but could have originally been used for other things (eating coconuts, climbing trees, writing poetry, etc). But what about things like venomous snakes and sharks. There entire bodies seem to have been designed to kill the hell out of things. Of course the magazine's response is "we don't know but we know they all ate dandelions before the flood and food became scarce".