Fernando

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Posts by Fernando

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  14

  Christians, this girl hit it right on the head!!

  by Crazyguy in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yxineydnky&feature=player_detailpage.

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  Fernando

  Great video.

  She's young and still growing in the faith.

  Managed to get herself into a spot of bother with religious moralism.

  Had to close down her YouTube accounts.
• 
  20

  Any strategies to deal with elders who just don't like you?

  by toto555 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so any ways to deal or cope with elders who just don't like you (you didn't do anything wrong or they're just making stuff up about you) assuming that you can't leave?

  especially when it comes to for example becoming appointed as an elder.

  or are you pretty much "dead in the water" if the elders are determined to like you despite reasonable efforts to win them over.

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  Fernando

  The Pharisees have their identity and destiny.

  You have yours.

  And they are opposite.

  Plus irreconcilable.

  And irreformable.

  So clarify and pursue your identity and let them pursue theirs.

  Meaning go your separate ways in peace.

  Our family decided to let the Phairsees embrace religion, whilst we embraced and pursued the liberating, healing, clarifying and full Good News instead.
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  16

  Can a marriage between a catholic and a jw work?

  by roberto avon in

  1. social
  2. family

  this topic was posted yesterday on an italian fb page.

  i replied that my personal experience was very positive.

  of course i have to admit that my.

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  Fernando

  Hi and welcome roberto avon.

  I'm delighted it worked out for you and your (uncharacteristically liberal) wife.

  Horror of horrors, as an exJW I'm discovering that the deeply loathed and repeatedly criticised Catholic Church is far more liberal, progressive and tolerant than the Watchtower.

  The RCC is also not nearly as hostile to the liberating and healing unabridged gospel of grace.

  Many years ago, as a JW I was shocked to see how many pages were in the INDEX under the heading Catholic Church.

  What an irony.

  After all the RCC bashing the Watchtower turns out to be much, much worse.

  (BTW I now identify as a "Spiritual But Not Religious" or SBNR person of faith).
• 
  108

  Lifting the Veil on "Islamophobia"

  by cofty in

  1. social
  2. current

  the late christopher hitchens decribed the word islamophobia as "created by fascists, and used by cowards, to manipulate morons.. please take half an hour to read a fascinating conversation between sam harris and ayaan hirsi ali.. ayaan is an apostate from islam.

  she fled to the netherlands in '92 to escape an arranged marriage and went on to become a member of the dutch government from 2003-2006.. ayaan is now a fellow with the future of diplomacy project at the belfer center for science and international affairs at the harvard kennedy school... she lives with round-the-clock security.. "some moderate muslims hate meand yes, thats a strong word, but i think what theyve said supports itbecause i make them feel uncomfortable.

  the things i talk about put them in a state of dissonance that they cant live with.

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  Fernando

  Very informative, thanks for posting.

  I share the disdain for religion and its rather obvious fruits.

  (Googling "not all muslims are Islamists" produces almost 40,000 hits)
• 
  9

  Who Appoints the Elders, BOE's, CO's or Holy Spirit?

  by outinthemeadows in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  first it was the holy spirit that appointed elders, then they began abusing children, so then they had to say its the body of elders that appoint elders.

  then they abuse even more children and now they are claiming its the co's fault.

  who actually does appoint the elders and ministerial servants?

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  Fernando

  It's all man made.

  The religion.

  The VISIBLE organisation.

  The rules.

  The doctrines.

  The titles.

  The lables.

  The positions.

  The decisions.

  The behaviour.

  Sure I believe God does appoint people, but there is no announcement, no title, no fanfare, no hierarchy, no clergy class, no human selection/discussion/endorsement.
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  25

  If only there were another GB member like Ray Franz

  by tornapart in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i'm just rereading crisis of conscience and was thinking if only there were others on the gb like him.

  maybe things could change for the better.

  for instance when he felt troubled that a woman couldn't get a divorce when her husband cheated on her with another man.. his response was this:-"the emotional upset i felt moved me to make a study of the original language terms (in greek) used in matthew, chapter nineteen, verse 9.".

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  Fernando

  I believe millions of current and former followers of the Watchtower have seen what Ray saw when letting the scriptures speak for themselves.
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  11

  How to tell the wife?

  by jimbojones in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  born in here and have been awake to ttatt for 3 months now and keeping it to myself is killing me.

  i do not want to da as i have many close friends and family in.. .

  i'm note sure how the wife will take it.

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  Fernando

  Many seem to agree from personal experience that dumping (too much too soon) is a definite no-no.

  Similarly there seems to be consensus that patient and thoughtful questions work best.

  This way the person has time to chew and digest, without having stuff rammed down their throat.

  Our family found that private study and discussion of the liberating and healing unabridged gospel message (full Good News), in the wt library, and especially according to Paul, gradually helped us beat our addiction to Watchtower apostasy (legalism, moralism, doctrinal ethnocentrism, supremacist religious Gnosticism). It is the same thing that empowered many persons like Martin Luther, Ray Franz, and Nelson Mandela.
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  16

  Million Now Living Will Never Die! - Rutherford could still be right

  by Zoos in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  rutherford began the millions campaign in 1918. new light suggests that he was obviously talking about babies who were born that year and now, in 2014 they would only be 96 years old.. .

  i was looking through a census bureau report on people aged 90+ in the united states 2006-2008, with projections to the year 2050. according to the chart provided there are about 2 million people just in the united states that are over 90 years old.

  we could conservatively cut that number in half to reach the 96 year-olds and then add in the rest of the world's figures.. .

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  Fernando

  Millions now living might agree with Joe that prohibition (under the Eighteenth Amendment) is the Devil's way of preventing us from hearing what the spirits have to say...

  

  
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  13

  New Article: Jehovah's Witnesses and Chosen Ignorance

  by daringhart13 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  would love your feedback.

  thanks gang!.

  http://darrinhart.hubpages.com/hub/jehovahs-witnesses-and-the-chosen-path-of-ignorance .

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  Fernando

  It is very hard to comprehend and explain JWs addiction to ignorance and intransigence.

  You've made it much easier with this great article.

  Maybe we should be asking JWs we meet: "(why) do you choose ignorance?"
• 
  61

  CO is chasing me . Meeting him tomorrow.

  by Ancientofdays in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  this week is the "special week", co is back.. he phone called me this morning asking to meet together.. i replied "i don't refuse people who want talking to me, but my condition is that you must be alone, and we meet in public space.".

  he agreed and we will meet tomorrow in a cafe.. .

  this week he already met with my wife in the kh, and he told her "i believe your housband is apostate !!

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  Fernando

  What about asking him if "legalism" is apostasy?

  If he gives a half baked explanation, maybe ask him to define "legalism"?

  ---

  *** g79 6/8 p. 28 Why the Emphasis on Christian Freedom? ***
  ...legalism... constitutes a denial of Christian faith

  ---

  *** g79 6/8 pp. 27-28 Why the Emphasis on Christian Freedom? ***

  Failing to appreciate this vital truth, certain Christianized Jews in the first century C.E. insisted that salvation could not be gained apart from the Law. Believing that acceptable moral conduct depended on strict adherence to the Law, they wanted to impose it on believing non-Jews. (Acts 15:2, 5) Such Christianized Jews lost sight of the fact that the Law in itself could not ensure fine conduct and that God’s spirit operating on those who exercised faith in Christ is a far stronger force for righteousness. (Gal. 5:16-18) The spirit of God produces love within the individual, and “love does not work evil to one’s neighbor.”—Rom. 13:10.

  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. Their legalistic approach in matters of worship would have brought Christians back under an arrangement that only exposed individuals as being sinners and deserving of death.—Rom. 3:20; 6:23.

  Hence, insistence on Law observance as a means for gaining salvation was really a returning to a slavery from which Christians had been set free on the basis of Jesus’ sacrifice.