catholic churches were known for starting schools, orphanages, resthomes, hospitals along with other ideas like universities.
we can debate who started what but you will be missing the point.
i know some of the best colleges were started by religion, what has the watchtower contributed to society as a whole?
Protestant and Fundamental groups are helping start "Water Projects", Cooking and Schools in Africa now, what is the Watchtower doing to make the World a better place since their inception?
I've had this conversation with my wife a number of times and the answers range from "We can't make this world better, the only one who can is Jesus," to something like what donnye said though I doubt what he says is 100% factual in all circumstances but it makes them sound good.
my husband and i were both born ins.
i left in 2009, and he followed me out a bit later.
we were one of those couples who followed the script, married young and ended up having nothing in common other than the religion.
http://www.alternet.org/belief/how-playing-good-christian-housewife-almost-killed-me
Hey, if this helps, I found this blog by a former Independent Fundamental Baptist (IFB) who was part of the quiverfull movement. Some of her circumstances are similar to yours. It sounds like you are doing what is best for your health and that of the kids. No one should remain married to an alcoholic, especially if he/she is in any way abusive.
My wife has a JW aunt who is married to an alcoholic and even though he and I are both 'unbelieving spouses' I would join the chorus of individuals who thinks she should leave him. She won't sadly and it has taken a toll on her kids. The oldest is doing semi ok and managed to leave the house and get married. The second oldest stood up to his dad and got kicked out and became a drifter for a while. As crazy as this sounds, he was actually 'saved' by a group of IFBs and now considers himself to be a devout IFB if you can believe that. The youngest is doing quite badly and became addicted to drugs and is currently a drifter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIH5XRIVYjY&feature=player_embedded
according to both christian and jewish eschatology, the messiah will come to jerusalem, where he will deliver the jews from hostile nations "round about.
"since the jehovah's witnesses and other adventists don't believe his coming will be literally fulfilled, but figuratively fulfilled, they simply believe he will return to the earth, where he will slay the wicked and the righteous will be caught up to meet him in the air.. first we have a christian declaration:.
and when [jesus] had spoken these things, while [the apostles] beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.
Crisis of Conscous: I like your cartoon but I think Ken Ham will disagree.
the following is a tiny excerpt from bart ehrman's blog of which i'm a member.. this particular entry contains questions and answers about the nature of translating the new testament.. .
did the fact that early christian scripture was written in koine greek have an effect in how the religion was perceived by the pagan elites and imperial family?
in other words, did that make the religion look bad or koine greek was acceptable?
Terry, how did you get on this blog? I would like to join too if it is possible.
what specifically made you stop believing in god and the bible?
was it a steady road of doubts or it was reading one book or one major event that made you realize the bible was not what it's claimed to be?.
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I would have to say that my beliefs range a broader spectrum of Christian theism, deism, and atheism. Originally, I began to think that the WT religion was the one true religion and began to doubt my own Christian beliefs. Then I researched and discovered quite quickly that there were a lot of errors in their doctrine but I still struggled as they did get some things right. Eventually, I was able to shake the WT doctrines but I found myself is a strange dilemma concerning what the true religion really was. I started attending church but found out that they got things wrong and that many of the church goers did not really read the Bible. At the time I use to think that the Bible was the source of all Truth (with a capital T) but I was challenged on that here and elsewhere. Eventually, I came to actually read the Bible for myself and found a God who did not in resemble the one I believed in in many cases.
When I first broke away from WT beliefs and began reembracing my Christian beliefs I vowed never to commit the same dishonesty and fallacy that I saw in the WT publications and from JWs. It wasn't long before I found my own arguments untenable and I began seeing Christian apologists making the same fallacies as the WT. Now I simply see them as both being cut from the same cloth. I still believe in a God concept and I believe in Christ's teachings but I think the Bible does not accurately depict God. I think Matt Dillahunty says it best when he refers to himself as an atheist because he simply votes 'not guilty' on the existence of God based on the evidence.
i don't recall reaading on here about any.. i just wondered if any actually happened?.
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oops i misspelled "at" in the title.
I was in Raliegh, NC this year and saw no protests. In the past when the assemblies were in Hampton, VA I would see protests. Nothing really big, just a few people holding signs with web addresses. Most to 4jehovah.org.
i first posted here on 3rd june 2008. at the time i was an elder, appointed the previous october, i was 36 and i was a born-in.
at the time i'd become disillusioned with the society due to the governing body's letter explaining why the book study in private homes was being abolished.
april 2008 saw me start questioning this decision, privately of course, and this eventually led me to this site, to jwfacts and to many youtube videos, all of which began to errode my faith in the leaders of the organisation.. in july 2008, having discussed my doubts with my wife, i attended the district convention, deciding to give the society one last chance to convince me it was the truth.
PWP
I remember you from when I first started posting here. I remember your saying to me, "...praise God for your faith."
I was so faithful then, I began attending a church myself and with the people here challenging me and my own desire to want to remain intellectually honest due to how dishonest I saw the Watchtower being, I began to have doubts myself. I like reading about journeys like yours as it helps me to realize that I am far from alone.
i struggled as a jw to accept that the good news of the kingdom was ever going to be preached in all the inhabited world by jws, as there were many parts of the world with few to no jws.
there are not enough to cover the 3 billion plus people in asia to allow everyone to get a chance to hear the message.
it also was offensive to me that jehovah would kill those billions that had never had a chance to accept the watchtower message.
But, but the Internet is the tool of the devil!
A google search will reveal more websites that debunk the watchtower than support it.
last week, the circuit overseer came to visit my wifes congregation and as usual their patterns change somewhat during this week.
from my perspective, the meetings are held on tuesday and thursday instead of the normal wednesday night during this week and they are more eager to go out in field service.
sunday came and my wife wanted us to attend the meeting.
Wouldn't they realize it was wrong as they are applying and seeking association?
That's what I would've thought. As mentioned above, if any one of us had say joined the Y for example, without knowing that we were not suppose to as witnesses it would be excusable so long as we left upon finding out. The WT preached for years prior to their seeking membership that the UN was the wild beast. How could they NOT know it was wrong to become an NGO member? After all, witnesses who are unsure of what is right and wrong consult the WTS for clarification.
my wife, who now thinks i am not competent enough to discuss spiritual matters with the kids, thinks that i could really benefit from discussing matters of the bible with this nasa engineer who attends meetings at her kingdom hall.
apparently, he is quite knowledgeable in the bible and has a good grasp of their doctrines.
at least according to her as i never actually spoken with the man at length but i do know that he is an elder.
Gary, we have Blondie, Marvin Shilmer, Ray Publisher and BillytheEx, no NASA Engineer is going to win a Bible based argument our super smart members!
Agreed.
