If interviewed annonymously I'd say its 12-20%, yes. I know a lot of JWs in a private setting pretty much made no judgement of gay people (although they did believe god would "fix" them in the new system). Of course, this is because there is probably about 10% of JWs who remain so solely because of family and way to get out without getting shunned and ostracized. And then the rest is just liberal witnesses, which is I guess a bit more prevalent in California.
simon17
JoinedPosts by simon17
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48
12% of JWs Think Gay Is OK? Really?
by metatron ini was reading pat buchanan's book, "suicide of a superpower".
on page 71, he speaks about the growing acceptance of homosexuality amidst religions.
he claims that 12% of jw's think gay behavior is ok.. really?
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38
By what age can a child be indoctrinated?
by jwfacts inmy step daughter went to the memorial, which is her first meeting in many months.
a 7 year old girl came up to her and asked if she is baptised and when will she get baptised.. my sister has a 4 year old daughter.
when she was introduced to another 4 year old one question she asked was "does he love jehovah.".
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simon17
Children start being indoctrinated from the moment they arrive. They are constantly percieving and learning from their environment. What actions cause various responses. What actions cause a smile. What actions cause a slap on the behind. What actions cause someone to look at them. How mommy and daddy view members of a different race. What situations seem stressful. Then when they can understand language, they are constantly learning from their parents, teachers, playmates, siblings of how to act. Most of this, of course, is very good. But if you start putting dangerous messages in front of them, they'll soak that up to.
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Is there one Bible Prophecy.....
by Phizzy inin the form of a prediction, that can be proven to truly be a prediction,i.e written before the event, and it came true ?.
it would be good not to have time wasters on this thread in the form of the common ones that are brought up to demonstrate the bible's prophetic prowess, like cyrus being named , these have been debunked already.. but does there seem to be a genuine prophecy in there somewhere ?.
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simon17
Only thing that I can think of which is actually written before is for a certainty is the whole Christianity will be overrun by apostacy that creeps into the congregation which, with it mixing with Roman pagan religions on its fast track to the mainstream, is easy to see a 'fulfillment.' At best its a prophecy that is non-specific with many possible fulfillments, but that one is at least a pretty major, notable change.
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I don't believe the Bible is Inspired of god - Why do you / don't you?
by cantleave inmany of you may know that i was brought up a witness and stayed in until the age of 42, even reaching the dizzy heights of being a congregation elder.
i was unusual in that, even as a witness i studied to degree level, on a part time basis, sponsored by my employer.
my first was in chemistry and my masters is in business administration.
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simon17
Says who? It means we are free to define and set our own values and goals in life, or not, as we wish. Belief in a God gets in the way of the process
And the Christian is not free to set their own values and goals because you find it to be rubbish?
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202
I don't believe the Bible is Inspired of god - Why do you / don't you?
by cantleave inmany of you may know that i was brought up a witness and stayed in until the age of 42, even reaching the dizzy heights of being a congregation elder.
i was unusual in that, even as a witness i studied to degree level, on a part time basis, sponsored by my employer.
my first was in chemistry and my masters is in business administration.
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simon17
I believe that 1 Tim 3:16 describes the process of which it was written by God.
You've made a littany of notes about special pleadings in Genesis. Day doesn't really mean day. Morning doesnt really mean morning. Light doesn't really mean light. Creating sun/moon/stars doesn't mean he really created them then. Every single verse seems to require some sort of note or explanation. When did people start making those special pleadings? Only after science debunked the logical reading of the book for thousands of years. Bible believers ALWAYS believed the world was created in 6 days. Any idiot would. Only when science showed this was wrong did people reinvent the words. The way it is written led men of science to believe in a geocentric universe for thousands of years. Its only logical. When scienced showed this was wrong, people reinvented what Genesis said again. No one in their right mind would ever read that and think the sun/moon/stars were created BEFORE flowering plants. It clearly doesn't say that. Only after science showed how things works does it get reinvented.
If it was really inspired, it would just describe things in an elementary way, sure, but in a way that wouldn't have MISLED EVERYONE WHO EVER READ IT before science figured things out. Is it that hard to say "In the beginning, there was nothing. Then over a great deal of time, god formed all of the stars, including our sun, creating light. Then over a great deal of time, he formed the earth. " etc etc... Its not hard to write a simple write-up of creation that is not obviously inaccurate (or, for a believer, entirely misleading!)
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202
I don't believe the Bible is Inspired of god - Why do you / don't you?
by cantleave inmany of you may know that i was brought up a witness and stayed in until the age of 42, even reaching the dizzy heights of being a congregation elder.
i was unusual in that, even as a witness i studied to degree level, on a part time basis, sponsored by my employer.
my first was in chemistry and my masters is in business administration.
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simon17
Leading a life that is not authentic and does not reach its potential?
Without a believe in a higher power there is no technical "purpose" to life therefore technically no way to describe "full potential."
It could very well to live a good life and to be happy to many people. Being a christian, as long as one is tolerant of others, is a fine way to accomplish that goal for many people. For others it is to seek ultimate truth and answers about the universe, or contribute in science in some way. To others it would be help as many people as possible.
The poster said that the Bible is what they believe because its the best offer they have seen. A conscious choice has been made there and it is not dillusional or dangerous. Even if it turns out to be wrong, maybe its the best choice for them. I wish all christians so answered.
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i am finding it hard to pray with my children
by Evidently Apostate ini have been fading for 6 months but my wife is still in and always asks me to pray at dinner and when i put the little ones to bed but i am finding prayer to be more of a pretense than heartfelt.
i have to pray for the sun or the earth but why thank him for the food, hell thank me for going to work everyday .who put us in the house we live in, god?
its really hard for me to pray for anything anymore as i have an anger toward him and dont want anything to do with a future (mythical)paradise under his control, so why ask for it?.
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simon17
How about making your prayers about your genuine feelings instead of the usual JW checklist.
Dear god, I wanted to express how appreciative I am tonight for the wonderful family that I have, and I pray that we can always maintain the love and respect that we have for one another like we do right now. We are also thankful for how relatively fortunate we are to live in a area of the world where we have ample food and provisions and housing, good friends and opportunities. I pray that we can always keep in mind those less fortunate than us by no fault of their own and I hope we can strive to help such ones. I look forward to a happy future and pray that our family will always remain as strong and happy as we are now, able to overcome our struggles with our love. Amen
Thats what I did as I went through the fade portion where i was still being asked to pray for family, meals, and the congregation. Actually, ironically as I made it totally about my feelings and wishes for myself, family, friends and humanity, I got a lot of people telling me how much they appreciated my extremely heart-felt prayers.
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Richard Dawkins gets interview with Revelation TV, a religious network!
by dark angle inthis interview gets ridiculously hilarious as it nears at the end .
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simon17
How does one actually run like a girl away from a discussion. Do you mean like Florence Griffith-Joyner in the 100m dash or like Julie Andrews in the "Sound of Music"? Or is this rejoinder a reflection of a particular belief/view of the female gender? Oh, Man up and stop crying.
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WT Mar 15th 2012 - 144,000 no longer a literal number?
by dozy inreading idly through this magazine , i read the study article "rejoicing in our hope" which discusses the two "hopes" according to the wtbts ie heaven & earth.. a couple of points were of interest:.
(1) absolutely no mention at all of the 144,000 or rev 14. usually an article like this would be filled with references , but it isn't even mentioned.
it does discuss the "limited number" , but only in contrast with the "no man can number" great crowd.. (2) a much more laid back attitude towards the two hopes.
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simon17
Hopefully they can make this change pretty quickly because as a Memorial attender for the family, its really annoying to hear a hour long talk about Jesus' death be 90% ON WHY NO ONE HERE TONIGHT WILL LIKELY PARTAKE and oh yeah, 10% on this sacrifice thing that happened.
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148
Who designed cancer?
by snare&racket inone thing i regret, is not listening to the questions in my head whilst a jw.
one i didn't ask until years after leaving was....who designed disease?
of course the first thing to realise is the complexity of disease, the histology, pathology and aetiology.
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simon17
No one designed cancer. Cancer is the product of genetic mutation. Cancer happens when cells evolve selfish genes that allow them to multiply at the expense of the rest of the organism. Multicellular organisms have evolved defenses both inside and outside individual cells to prevent them from "going rogue", thereby allowing cooperative activity on the part of billions of cells. There are molecular pathways that act to maintain a level of stability for the genetic material inside a cell, such as the P53 pathway. When these pathways are compromised by a mutation for those genes that code for the stabilizing kinases themselves, or for other proteins that act in concert with the proteins those genes code for, the cell is no longer controllable. It won't repair genetic damage, and won't commit apoptosis if damage occurs. It is then free to mutate further, since the "guardian of the genome" has been handcuffed.
This. Ask the same question but don't use cancer. Use ebola virus, or parasites or things of that nature which are tangible things that are destructive by nature.