one idea: ask them to explain "legalism" and its opposite to you.
keep asking questions to draw them out, get them to clarify and speak from the heart.. there is only one article in the entire wt library cd referring to "legalism" and it reads like a summary of his book isocf..
One idea: ask them to explain "legalism" and its opposite to you. Keep asking questions to draw them out, get them to clarify and speak from the heart.
There is only one article in the entire wt library CD referring to "legalism" and it reads like a summary of his book ISOCF.
just about the funniest thing i've read in ages!
*** w61 12/15 pp.
767-768 questions from readers ***.
"Sex interview"???!!!
Priceless coming from the GB who have repeatedly been caught with their pants down in graven lust filled acts of "spiritual prostitution" (apostasy) with the "god of religion".
there is not one religion, but hundreds.
there is only one type of spirituality.
religion is for those who want to continue rituals and the formality.
Love your list Shanagirl!
its been 3 years since i made my decision to fade and i am starting to think our marriage might not survive.
my wife is under pressure from her parents to push away from me.
the anniversay card they gave her(not me) was nothing more than jw propaganda, parts were actually highlighted.
You have to ask the questions. You have to keep her honest. You need her to tell you she is a cult member, you can't do that for her. |
I agree with Black Sheep.
What about asking your wife if she could explain "legalism" from the Watchtower to you along with its opposite?
What about patiently eventually following this up with asking her if she considers herself a "publisher of the good news", and then ask her to explain the "good news" according to Paul to you? She most likely will be blank and this should give her something to reflect on since more than half the Bible's 152-odd references to the "good news" are by Paul!
many 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.
After a spiritual awakening the Bible has come alive for me and I am personally able to understand the awesome gospel message that runs like a thread through it and is antithetical to the "bad news" (religion). Far too much detail and correlation to be an accident.
The once inexplicable evil spirit I have experienced in the Watchtower ruling religious clergy class now makes sense and is well explained where Jesus had the same experience with the religious leaders of his day.
However I now question all the supremacist religious framework in which the Bible was presented to me by the Watchtower who have merely continued the RCC's corruption of the text with their spiritually blind physical interpretations and theology.
in 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 ?.
Gen 3:15?
On a side note - a prophecy is a message. Therefore Gen 1:1 is the first prophecy in the Bible. Some prophecies are "messages of prediction" and Gen 3:15 is the first of this type in the Bible.
before everyone gets the wrong idea about creating an "empowering jws" forum, this forum would be for serious campaigners to exchange ideas about helping jws by either influencing the wtbts to change or planting seeds of doubt in jws, and would not be for promoting the wtbts nor its policies.. since jwn threads have gotten so numerous and effectively using jwn's search engine is a mystery to me, i believe that creating a forum for posting ideas to awaken jws would benefit both jws and exjws, who want to do more than debate religion and relate how they were abused by the wtbts/jws, and who want to help awaken loved ones.
i feel that the forum should be named "empowering jws" to paraphrase steven hassan's book "releasing the bonds: empowering people to think for themselves" and because i do not want to alienate jws with doubts be calling it something derogatory that may raise a jw's persecution phobias.. also, jwn might appear more welcoming to jws, if there was a recommendation that posters refrain from labeling jws jdubs, borg, witlesses, etc.
i know that many members of this forum were hurt by the policies of the wtbts and that some jws were jerks to them, but that does not mean that all jws are jerks.. peace be with you and everyone, who you love,.
Sounds like a good idea to me Robert.
Questions one might ask the next JW who knocks (or adapt to family/friends):
These articles gently expose gross falsehood in the belief system and practices of the average JW.
Of course as usual the person has to be at a point in their lives where they are ready to face the truth and deal with the enormous consequences.
revelation 11:8 .
and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called sodom and egypt, where also their lord was crucified.
revelation 11:8. .
Generally Egypt = spiritual bondage = religion = antithesis (or exact opposite) of deliverance (liberation). Wonder about Rev 11:8 though.
"The spirit of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah is upon me [Jesus], for the reason that Jehovah has anointed me [Jesus] to tell [the] good news to the meek ones [sheep or wheat]. He has sent me [Jesus] to bind up the brokenhearted [spiritually deprived and unregenerated], to proclaim [spiritual] liberty to those taken [spiritually] captive [by religion/ists] and the wide opening [of the spiritual eyes] even to the [spiritual] prisoners [of religion/ists]" (paraphrase of Isaiah 61:1).
i was reading this thread, http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/members/private/220730/1/had-my-jc-today-oh-sugar, and morbidzbaby mentioned their husband confessed to uncleaness because he did not feel he was getting blessed by jehovah.
however, blessings did not increase after the confession.. it made me wonder about the whole idea of confessing so that you do not loose jehovah's blessing.
when i was in bethel i confessed about a couple of menial things.
Also agree with tec.
Religion/ists (being physical, carnal, natural, temporal) is/are spiritually blind. As such it/they misconstrue almost everything, especially in this instance confession and repentance.
Confessing to religionists is actually insane since they are under the power of the "god of religion". They have no relationship with the "god of Abraham". They may know some facts about him, but they do not know him personally, and prevent others from knowing him and his son in an intimate relationship.
In general spirituality improves once God grants repentance (awareness of dysfunction) and faith (a wide opening of our spiritual eyes) after we have a favourable heart response to a hearing (or a pursuit) of the "good news ABOUT Jesus" which includes forgiveness of all our sins past, present and future as an unmerited free gift which deletes fear, guilt, embarassment and the legal power of sin or dysfunction in our lives (Rom 10:16,17).
on the surface these seem to contradict:.
john 3:17 - for god sent forth his son into the world, not for him to judge the world, but for the world to be saved through him.. .
5:22 - for the father judges no one at all, but he has committed all the judging to the son.... 5:27 - and he has given him authority to do judging, because son of man he is.. .
Religionists judge themselves unworthy of being saved by rejecting the "good news" of grace in favour of supremacist self-righteousness.
Just can't find the scripture that relates at the moment.
