Posts by thomas15

8

I think I just found another 'trigger'...

by Jim_TX in

jw
friends

let me explain.... where i work - we are considered iso-9000 for our processes.

that means that we have a set of guidelines to adhere to - to make sure that our products met a set of standards - and quality.. okay.

so - i have a question on one of the procedures that is documented.

thomas15

Time to issue an ECO to your ECO procedures.

14

Advice...?

by bazackward in

jw
friends

hey guys,.

i'm new but have been lurking for awhile and this seems like a pretty good group.

i have a dilemma and am not sure what to do (if anything) about the situation.. my 83-year-old grandmother has been a jw for her whole life.

thomas15

I'm not now nor never been a JW. I think it is a little hard to answer you as I'm not sure what the ultimate goal is.

What are your beliefs and are you looking to exchange her WT beliefs for something else, something you believe in?

Tom

15

ten plagues....was it real blood in the river?

by homeschool in

do most christians and/or jw's believe it was real blood?.

I have no idea what the JWs believe regarding the river turning to blood (Exodus 7) but this born again believer in Jesus believes that in response to Pharo not letting the Isrealites out of bondage, did in-fact turn the water of the Nile into blood. It is my belief that God created the blood, same as Jesus created the wine from water ex nihilo.

37

Leolaia, slimboyfat et al. - how difficult?

by TheOldHippie in

i read your posts, and the posts of others, and posts at other sites - posts that are full of research material of the sort you will have to spend the whole night going thru and trying to remotely get a grip of.. so i wonder - just how difficult do you - or others - feel that christianity, christian faith, "salvation" is meant to be?

if you consider a namib desert pygme, a bhutan sherpa, a yunnan farmer, an andes mine worker, an amazonian jungle dweller, an indian without caste, a big city sidewalk dweller - just how hard can it be meant for him / her to grasp the gospel and gain hope of salvation?

what is demanded by the salt of the earth people?

thomas15

Look here for the Gospel in 4 verses...1 Corinthians 15:1-4

Simple words, easy concept, few takers.

18

Who's Really To Blame?

by AllTimeJeff in

i hope all reading this will consider the following a commentary.

i have no one in mind, but a few posts have got me thinking about my own jw experience.

also, reading of the bad experiences and pain of others here gives me much room to pause.. clearly, most of us, with good reason, hate jehovah's witnesses (the religion, and sometimes, the people).

thomas15

It's not Who's Really to Blame, it's what is to Blame. The answer is Sin.

Again, I'm a conservative Evangelical. I'm not anti-JW anymore than I'm anti-Roman Catholic. I believe that we are saved, as the Bible teaches by God's grace, through faith in the risen Son of God. The Bible also teaches, very clearly in my opinion, that a person is blind to the things of God until the person trusts in Jesus. At that point, the scales fall from the eyes. At some point, the individual (JW or even total unbelievers) makes a conscience decision to place their trust in a church, organization or the leaders of same or some scientific teaching. Quite possibly a victim, yes, but the cost of admitting a mistake is many times too high to pay.

From my prospective, the JWs, while a little more challanging than most are not really different when it comes to seeing who Jesus is and what must be done in order to be saved. The question is, are we saved by the church, an organization, belief in dogma, performance of rituals, participation on ceremonies or by simple faith in Jesus? Do we believe that salvation comes from doing good works or by believing in Christ's work on the cross? Is the individual helping God to save his soul or is the work 100% of God's doing?

Please do not mis-understand me. The WT uses many tricks to deceive and the leaders will be called to account. Of this I am sure. And everyone has the right to believe what they want to believe. I don't know how I ended up being a "Born Again" type as I have no other family members who believe as I do. All I know is that 35 years ago, I had a desire to pick up the Bible and read it. I did this initially on my own. Then people came into my life to give me direction. Some of those people were Presbyterians, some Baptist, some Methodist, some Penticostals and some I don't know what church they belonged to. All of those mentioned pointed me to Jesus and urged me to trust in Him. None of them ever mentioned to me that their particular church rolls contained the same names found in the Lambs Book of Life, but they all told me how to get my name in that book.

"...Not by works, so that no man can boast" Eph. 2:8-9

29

My Grandmother has died today

by GermanXJW in

jw
friends

this morning, my grandmother died at age 92. she was a jw and i never told her that i quit years ago (but i guess my father told her).

fortunately, i had a chance to see her a last time this tuesday when i tried to see her and learnt she was in hospital.

my father had not told me that she was in hospital.

thomas15

I'm so sorry to hear of your loss

Tom

47

Have you joined a new religious organisation since leaving the JW's?

by Wee John in

since leaving the jw's did you actively seek out another organisation, or did it find you?.

.

have you found yourself apathetic to all religions?.

thomas15

I shouldn't be posting here since this is for ex-JWs. Freedom of religion is the hallmark of western civilization. One of the true crimes of the WT as I see it is the fact that they convince their members that the Bible is God's true word (which I agree with) but that only they know it's meaning. This of course is not true. So it contaminates ex-JWs against the book when they finally open their eyes and leave the org.

Anyway, Over the years I have been involved with several different church groups, to name a few-Baptist, Wesleyan, Lutheran, Calvary Chapel, Evangelical Free, Presbyterian and a few independant Bible churches. None of those groups ever said or published or distributed materials that stated that they are the only true church or that you must be a member of their demomination to properly serve God. Rather, all of them teach that you are saved by God's grace through faith in the risen son of God.

I have been an evangelical for almost 35 years. I attend church every week, I play in the church praise band and do a few other things but I'm not a member. There is a limit to what I can do at my church, such as vote, but last Sunday (Easter), I delivered a 15 minute "mini-sermon" at the sunrise service. Please note friends that this church is what I would consider very conservative almost fundamental. They take the Bible seriously and preach "Christ Crucified". People treat me like family and I'm not under pressure to join. We moved to our current location in 2004, it took a few years of trial and error to settle on the church we now attend. We have been going there for exactly 1 year now.

So my point is this, Religion is man's attempt to have a relationship with God. On the other hand God's plan is salvation by grace through faith. You cannot work for God's favor, he gives it to you for free, all you have to do is ask for it. A relationship with God through Jesus should be "pure joy", if it is not than you don't (sorry to say) have a relationship.

End of sermon...

By the way, I'm amazed that anyone who has been through the WT wringer would even consider God or the Bible. I have said it before and I will repeat it again, you all are awsome people, I really mean it.

31

The emphasis is on Jesus, even in the New World Translation

by JimmyPage in

this was a point from "in search of christian freedom" that i really appreciated.

in the new world translation the name "jesus" appears in the christian greek scriptures 912 times.

compare that to "jehovah" which appears (or has been inserted) 237 times.

thomas15

yknot,

May I ask you why you are not comfortable with the NIV? Is it because the WT has much negative things to say about it and you are having a hard time putting that behind you?

One of the reasons I ask is because the YLT is very hard to understand.

14

What must I do to be saved?

by thomas15 in

how would a jw knocking at my door answer this question that i might ask them "you seem to know all about the bible, so tell me please, what must i do to be saved"?.

paul answered this question acts 16:31 "believe in the lord jesus and you will be saved..." but how would the witnesses answer this question assuming that they didn't have any idea that the householder knew the biblical answer or if they did suspect that the householder had some bible knowledge?.

.

thomas15

Ok, right now I'm trying to regain my composure enough to ask a few questions. Please give me a second.

All right then. WTWizard, is it normal to go through all the steps you mention before heading out into the field? How long would it take on average from 1st contact at my door to first field service experience?

fokyc, your answer (besides not mentioning Jesus as already pointed out), from a quick reading I get the impression that the WT wants everyone to be so confused and intimidated that they put the question aside. Is this a correct assumption? Are they counting on the householder not looking up the Bible verse Romans 6:23? And if a person knew that they had to be saved, then they probably know that they are sinners and will die because of it, so why repeat back to the householder what they already probably know? And of course, the last paragraph, where one would normally expect to find the answer to the question, does not contain an answer. All it says in short is that there is an answer out there, just not in this article. Am I seeing this correctly and if I am, why do they do it this way?

What if, after I ask the question in the OP and I patiently listen to an answer similar to what is given above, and when that awkward moment where the witness is looking for some kind of feedback I say "well, the Philippian jailer asked the Apostle Paul the same question I just asked you and the jailer got a short 1 line answer from the Apostle". What does that do to the tone of the conversation?

thank you for your time --Tom

14

What must I do to be saved?

by thomas15 in

how would a jw knocking at my door answer this question that i might ask them "you seem to know all about the bible, so tell me please, what must i do to be saved"?.

paul answered this question acts 16:31 "believe in the lord jesus and you will be saved..." but how would the witnesses answer this question assuming that they didn't have any idea that the householder knew the biblical answer or if they did suspect that the householder had some bible knowledge?.

.

thomas15

How would a JW knocking at my door answer this question that I might ask them "You seem to know all about the Bible, so tell me please, what must I do to be saved"?

Paul answered this question Acts 16:31 "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved..." But how would the witnesses answer this question assuming that they didn't have any idea that the householder knew the Biblical answer or if they did suspect that the householder had some Bible knowledge?