Fernando

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Posts by Fernando

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  475

  What is the alternative to JW?

  by Formerbrother in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i mean this with all due respect, i would like to hear from genuine people who think jw have it wrong and then what is the truth?.

  im not talking about silly little quibbles here and there.. is jehovah real?

  the the bible is word?

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  Fernando

  "What point are you making?"

  This:

  Formerbrother, please can you explain the Good News according to Paul from your heart, without missing any key aspects?

  (Especially what we must do to have a right and clean standing with God)
  
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  75

  Evolution and Atheism - please help

  by Fernando in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  not being familiar with either, my question is:.

  what is the relationship between evolution and atheism?.

  i'd love to hear from anyone and everyone, and also from any perspective.. without limiting the conversation in any way, i would of course also appreciate comments that are simple, clear, direct and correct (as i don't have the capacity to do a phd in evolution or atheism)..

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  Fernando

  Not being familiar with either, my question is:

  What is the relationship between evolution and atheism?

  I'd love to hear from anyone and everyone, and also from any perspective.

  Without limiting the conversation in any way, I would of course also appreciate comments that are simple, clear, direct and correct (as I don't have the capacity to do a PhD in evolution or atheism).
  
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  475

  What is the alternative to JW?

  by Formerbrother in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i mean this with all due respect, i would like to hear from genuine people who think jw have it wrong and then what is the truth?.

  im not talking about silly little quibbles here and there.. is jehovah real?

  the the bible is word?

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  Fernando

  Dear Formerbrother

  In my experience, all the answers we seek are wrapped up in the priceless gospel message - aka "the truth of the good news".

  If someone is unable to explain the "good news" according to Paul (and Moses, Isaiah, and Psalms) how can they claim that the "good news" is in their heart and on their lips?
  
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  23

  Where do I start telling a psychologist about the mental trauma I feel as a fading jw?

  by Simple Minds in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  i am on a pension, so i could not afford to pay for a psychologist, but my good doctor referred me to a free clinic for people on a low income, for my anxiety and depression, so i have finally got my first appointment with a psychologist since i started my fade, so where do i start trying to explain the mental trauma i feel as a fading jw?

  i would appreciate your advice.

  simple .

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  Fernando

  A lot depends on the Psychologist's personality, personal experience, and capacity.

  They are human and vary greatly.

  Rather than guessing it is better to meet the Psychologist at least once and decide how you feel about them.
  

  A Psychologist with personal experience of leaving a cult and experiencing PTSD could be a big help.
  
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  13

  SEVEN Types Of Women Pastors Should Watch Out For In Ministry!

  by darth frosty in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i found this to be interesting especially #6. seven types of women pastors should watch out for in ministry!.

  january 19, 2016 26 comments.

  “for the lips of an adulteress drip honey, and smoother than oil is her speech.” (proverbs 4:3).

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  Fernando

  How ironic that conservative religious moralism fuels (rather than abates) immorality...
  
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  21

  Need help compiling a list of the latest changes in doctrine and practices

  by jwfacts in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have former jws looking at jwfacts.com in order to update themselves with what is happening with the religion, so that they can better understand their jw family.

  it thought it would help if there was a page devoted to what has changed since 2000. .

  2012 oct release of jw.org - jws encouraged to download their own publications and use ipads at meetings and field service.

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  Fernando

  The Watchtower has deprecated the "good news about Jesus Christ" and hidden it behind the "good news about the Kingdom" for many decades, with few able to call them out on it (Acts 8:12).

  It is really quite odd that they were able to pull this off for so long since more than half the bible's roughly 152 references to "good news" are by Paul and yet he never once uses the word "kingdom" in the same sentence!
  

  This deceptive slight of hand was exposed forcing a surreptitious but major turnaround in 2011:

  *** w11 6/15 p. 7 par. 3 There Is Good News That All Need ***
  Could it be, though, that we might give little attention to a key aspect of the good news that people need? In the letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul used the word “kingdom” only once, but he used the expression “good news” 12 times. (Read Romans 14:17.) What aspect of the good news did Paul refer to so often in that book? Why is that particular good news vital? And why should we keep it in mind as we preach “the good news of God” to people in our territory?

  *** w11 6/15 p. 11 par. 21 There Is Good News That All Need ***
  How rewarding it is to help honesthearted ones to understand the good news mentioned repeatedly in the book of Romans, the good news that “is, in fact, God’s power for salvation to everyone having faith.”
  
  
  
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  59

  $1.2 billion coming, still 12 properties to go

  by the girl next door in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  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.

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  Fernando

  Maybe a little harder to plead poverty to the Watchtower's many Candace Contis...
  
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  83

  Do not Disassociate, Anull your baptism

  by jwfacts in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  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?

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  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.
  
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  23

  12 signs you are a modern day Pharisee

  by Zoos in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  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:.

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  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).
  
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  23

  12 signs you are a modern day Pharisee

  by Zoos in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  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:.

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  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.