Posts by Fernando

59

$1.2 billion coming, still 12 properties to go

by the girl next door in

but still, they ask for more at every opportunity.

send in that ice cream money kids!.

http://www.brooklyneagle.com/articles/2015/12/4/sales-watchtower-headquarters-and-two-other-jehovah%e2%80%99s-witnesses-properties-could.

Fernando

Maybe a little harder to plead poverty to the Watchtower's many Candace Contis...

83

Do not Disassociate, Anull your baptism

by jwfacts in

i am now a jedi, so trust me on this.. .

why dis-associate, you are just playing by the wts rules?

how can you dis-associate anyway, you never thought you were baptised as a watchtower society member, you thought your dedication was to god, so why formally disassociate from something you did not formally join?

Fernando

Great suggestion.

And still very relevant after 10 years!

Personally I would reduce it to one page at most.

Even one sentence.

Less wiggle room.

Harder to dismiss as an apostate rant.

Easier for them to remember till the day they die.

23

12 signs you are a modern day Pharisee

by Zoos in

i was reading through this list and was struck by how accurately it describes the watchtower royalty class.

not exactly a professional doing the writing but i think he captures it pretty well.. http://frankpowell.me/12-signs-you-are-modern-day-pharisee.

for those who cannot access the link:.

Fernando

In his book/s Ray Franz discussed the body of legal precedents HQ has proudly developed and collected in responding to requests of the "ruling religious clergy class" for directives from the council of popes (GB or Sanhedrin).

23

12 signs you are a modern day Pharisee

by Zoos in

i was reading through this list and was struck by how accurately it describes the watchtower royalty class.

not exactly a professional doing the writing but i think he captures it pretty well.. http://frankpowell.me/12-signs-you-are-modern-day-pharisee.

for those who cannot access the link:.

Fernando

Some excerpts from:

*** w80 5/1 p. 5 Learning from an Experiment That Failed ***
Learning from an Experiment That Failed

THROUGHOUT history there have been numerous attempts to influence people toward a more righteous way of life. One such experiment was made by the Pharisees, a group that receives considerable attention in the inspired Christian Greek Scriptures. Their experiment failed.

Determination to avoid transgressing God’s law, even in minute details, caused the Pharisees to go yet farther. Jewish historian Flavius Josephus writes: “The Pharisees had passed on to the people certain regulations handed down by former generations and not recorded in the Laws of Moses.”

What was the purpose of so many rules of conduct? Some insight on this matter can be gained from a statement uttered by Jewish religious leaders before the Common Era: “Be deliberate in judgement, raise up many disciples, and make a fence around the Law.” The “fence” means traditions that supposedly would restrain persons from transgressing the written law of God. According to theory, if a person did not cross the fence, he would never be guilty of violating an actual Biblical decree.

Did that experiment succeed? Did the massive body of oral traditions make better people out of the Israelites and the Pharisees in particular?

Seeking God’s Favor Through Deeds

Excessive attention to minute regulations had a harmful effect. It led to the belief that becoming righteous in God’s eyes was merely a matter of carrying out prescribed religious and charitable deeds. Each good deed was believed to earn “merit” with God, whereas every bad act would incur “debt.” Supposedly, God would one day make a tally of the record of merits and debts to determine whether a person was righteous or wicked.

The teaching about earning merit and favor with God by good deeds caused many Pharisees to become self-righteous and condemnatory of others.

By the time the Son of God began his earthly ministry, the Pharisees had been around for about two centuries. That was plenty of time to see whether their experiment at promoting righteousness through good works would succeed. It did not. In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus declared: “If your righteousness does not abound more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter into the kingdom of the heavens.”

No amount of ritual washings or other pious deeds can cleanse away defilement due to sin. Only repentance and the putting of faith in God’s arrangement for canceling sins through Jesus Christ can achieve forgiveness and salvation. (Acts 4:12) That is why Zechariah, father of John the Baptizer, prophesied that God was about to “give knowledge of salvation to his people,” not by freeing them from an enemy nation but “by forgiveness of their sins.”—Luke 1:77.

The Pharisees did not like that message, since they ‘trusted in themselves that they were righteous and considered the rest as nothing.’ (Luke 18:9, 10) But theirs was merely an external, superficial piety. It did not root out inward filthiness

Historical facts are plentiful to show that the Pharisees’ experiment to promote righteousness by their way of observing religious precepts and performing charitable deeds was a failure. It neither influenced the majority toward godliness nor helped the Pharisees themselves to become better people. Instead, it influenced them to commit the worst crime in all history, the murder of the Son of God.

However, the experiment was not altogether without usefulness. It set the stage for Jesus before his death to give the powerful message concerning human sinfulness and the need to seek salvation, not through works but as a free gift on the basis of repentance and faith in the sin-atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

23

12 signs you are a modern day Pharisee

by Zoos in

i was reading through this list and was struck by how accurately it describes the watchtower royalty class.

not exactly a professional doing the writing but i think he captures it pretty well.. http://frankpowell.me/12-signs-you-are-modern-day-pharisee.

for those who cannot access the link:.

Fernando

*** w96 1/15 p. 29 Light Ends an Age of Darkness ***
The Pharisees originated during the Grecian period as a vigorous reaction to anti-Jewish Hellenism. By Jesus’ day, however, they were rigid, tradition-bound, legalistic, proud, self-righteous proselytizers and teachers who sought to control the nation through synagogue instruction. They came mainly from the middle class and disdained the common people. Jesus viewed most Pharisees as self-seeking, merciless money lovers who oozed hypocrisy. (Matthew, chapter 23) They accepted the entire Hebrew Scriptures in the light of their own explanations but attached equal or greater weight to their oral traditions. They said that their traditions were “a fence around the Law.” Far from being a fence, however, their traditions invalidated the Word of God and perplexed the public.

23

12 signs you are a modern day Pharisee

by Zoos in

i was reading through this list and was struck by how accurately it describes the watchtower royalty class.

not exactly a professional doing the writing but i think he captures it pretty well.. http://frankpowell.me/12-signs-you-are-modern-day-pharisee.

for those who cannot access the link:.

Fernando

Legalistic and moralistic Pharisaism is the reason for the existence of "Judging Committees" and the absence of "Spiritual Healing Committees".

23

12 signs you are a modern day Pharisee

by Zoos in

i was reading through this list and was struck by how accurately it describes the watchtower royalty class.

not exactly a professional doing the writing but i think he captures it pretty well.. http://frankpowell.me/12-signs-you-are-modern-day-pharisee.

for those who cannot access the link:.

Fernando

Oh the irony...

*** g79 6/8 p. 28 Why the Emphasis on Christian Freedom? ***
Persons who insisted on Law observance denied the value of all-essential faith and continued to look to works as the means for making themselves righteous.

*** g79 6/8 p. 28 Why the Emphasis on Christian Freedom? ***
A perfect code of laws cannot make any person righteous.

*** w82 7/15 pp. 17-18 par. 9 How Do You Guide Your Life? ***
The Jewish Pharisees zealously advocated rules. Not content with the Mosaic law, they developed numerous rules or “commands of men” that invalidated God’s commands. Besides developing these rules that went beyond what God asked, their legalistic outlook encouraged the view that righteousness could result from knowing and keeping these human regulations.

*** w96 3/15 p. 21 Jehovah—A Lover of Righteousness and Justice ***
However, the Jewish scribes and Pharisees sought to attain righteousness by following a rigid code of laws—most of their own making. Their legalistic justice usually eliminated mercy.

18

Finding love as a witness

by RawrSaysTheLion in

hi i'm new.. i'm going on 2yrs as a baptized witness although i've just received a reproval on the grounds of living with a wordly man unmarried for 6 months.

long story short it ended messy and i ran straight back to the witnesses because i do love jehovah and i missed my family.

my issues were only with the actual organization.. i desperately want to find someone to share my world with but i feel like i'm too tainted to be loved by anyone worthy in the truth and my morals are to high to love another boy from the world.

Fernando

Welcome RawrSaysTheLion.

There are some wonderful folk here on JWC and I'm sure you'll feel a lot better after reading what they have to say.

We are wired for relationships both intimate and otherwise.

It is natural. You are normal.

All religion is however obsessed with controlling humans and human sexuality. This is neither normal nor right.

Membership of the Watchtower is a no-win situation because the Watchtower ruling religious clergy class are always right no matter how wrong they are.

As a believer I too love Jehovah and know that he loves me.

His love as our heavenly father is unconditional.

It is not based on what I do or do not do.

That is why, the "good news" (especially according to Paul) makes it clear that a clean and right standing with God is imputed as a "free gift" based on what God has already done to redeem us his children. This is not something we can earn, deserve or pay for. Paul is very clear on this - over and over. To check just search for and mark the words righteous/ness in Paul's letters.

Religionists do not like this message since it sets us free from their illegitimate power, control and authority.

May you make many great friends here.

Greetings

Fernando

5

"Aid to Bible Understanding" pdf download link

by Fernando in

does anyone have a current link to download the "aid to bible understanding"?.

thanks plenty.. fernando.

Fernando

Does anyone have a current link to download the "Aid to Bible Understanding"?

Thanks plenty.

Fernando

5

Feel like a new fire has been lit

by The_Doctor10 in

i've spent the last 6 months or so really in depth into ttatt, really angry at times, cursing the cult that is the wts led by the fds, and today i feel like i've found a new fire.

i'd been completely opposed to listening to anything to do with the organization, but today i watched the brie video on youtube, young high school girl pouring her heart out in opposition of the wts and its practices.. from there, i found jwstruggle on youtube, johncedars, and derekohare... it's just a wonderful thing finding people willing to out the wts for what it is.

i had felt such anger, like, they're getting away with their bologna, but to see people like this making stands against the wts is an amazing source of hope.. besides forums such as this, what have you found that helped you?.

Fernando

Our family's exit from the cult began the same place it did for Ray Franz and friends, namely the liberating Good News or gospel according to Paul in the book of Romans (as contrasted with Watchtower religious legalism and moralism).

Initially as Watchtower loyalists we scoured only the Watchtower library for any morsel we could find. We soon noticed a growing divergence between what we were learning and what is taught in practice.

The clincher was when the elders (Pharisees) threatened us with dire consequences if we said anything in the slightest to anyone about the Good News. Questions were also expressly forbidden.

We did go through distinct phases common to those exiting cults - including intense shock, anger and grief.

Now we are free, much happier, and on much more solid ground.

We now identify as SBNR (Spiritual But Not Religious) believers and persons who have been granted the free gifts of faith, salvation, and a right and clean standing (by imputation) with our Creator.