Posts by Fernando

22

1st christmas ever

by notalone in

jw
friends

so, i am around 50,4th gen born in- christmas.

strange thing this christmas thing.

i've been watching people this year, really watching them.

Fernando

What I like about the Christmas carols is that it filters out religious legalism, moralism, judgment, hypocrisy, clericalism, magisterium, fear and guilt.

These spiritual toxins just don't set well to music...

Thank God!

10

What are your thoughts on conservatism, and the bible belt? (chart)

by Fernando in

jw
friends

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What are your thoughts on conservatism, and the bible belt? (chart)

by Fernando in

jw
friends

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Despite their false predictions aren't the JWs right? Won't the world eventually end & Paradise come?

by deegee in

aren't there christian denominations who do not make false end of the world predictions but who nevertheless believe that the world will eventually end and paradise (whether in heaven or on earth) will come?.

it seems the watchtower was just jumping the gun when they made false end of the world predictions but they are nevertheless the right: the world will eventually end and paradise will come..

Fernando

The Watchtower is dead wrong about "the end" and about Armageddon.

"The end" is the fall of religion, and the rise of man.

And Armageddon is a situation - a long war - not an event - the war between ideological opposites: religion and its nemesis the liberating gospel of grace.

According to religion, eternal life, a right standing with God, and a clean standing with God, are earned.

The gospel message says they are imputed as priceless free gifts to any that will receive them (Rom 3:23-28).

“Religion and its defenders have always been the most insidious enemies of the true faith precisely because they are not glaring opponents; they are imposters" (“Waking the dead” by John Eldredge)

33

Fifteen years later, I went to the UN in person.

by biblexaminer in

of all the things that the watchtower has done wrong, what would you say is the singular most powerful thing that you could point a jw to, to crack their eyes open?

what is the singular thing that can be expressed bluntly and conclusively that might shock a jw to their senses?

if you could only carry one arrow in your quiver on your way to war with watchtower, what would it be?.

Fernando

And then there are millions like myself who have never read a single page of these books - the finest ever written...

33

Fifteen years later, I went to the UN in person.

by biblexaminer in

of all the things that the watchtower has done wrong, what would you say is the singular most powerful thing that you could point a jw to, to crack their eyes open?

what is the singular thing that can be expressed bluntly and conclusively that might shock a jw to their senses?

if you could only carry one arrow in your quiver on your way to war with watchtower, what would it be?.

Fernando

Yup, Crazyguy...

Trussell it seems was right after all...

Oh, the depth of the darkness that envelops those who dare to stop reading Trussell's "Studies in the Scriptures"...

33

Fifteen years later, I went to the UN in person.

by biblexaminer in

of all the things that the watchtower has done wrong, what would you say is the singular most powerful thing that you could point a jw to, to crack their eyes open?

what is the singular thing that can be expressed bluntly and conclusively that might shock a jw to their senses?

if you could only carry one arrow in your quiver on your way to war with watchtower, what would it be?.

Fernando

(Galatians 2:16) . . .a man is declared righteous, not due to works of law, but only through faith toward Christ Jesus. . .

(Galatians 2:21) . . .for if righteousness is through law, Christ actually died for nothing. . .

(Galatians 3:11) . . .by law[keeping] no one is declared righteous with God. . .

(Galatians 5:4) . . .YOU are parted from Christ, whoever YOU are that try to be declared righteous by means of law[keeping]; YOU have fallen away from his undeserved kindness. . .

(Romans 3:28) . . .a man is declared righteous by faith apart from works of law. . .

(Ephesians 2:8, 9) . . .By this undeserved kindness you have been saved through faith, and this is not of your own doing; rather, it is God’s gift. No, it is not a result of works, so that no one should have grounds for boasting.

33

Fifteen years later, I went to the UN in person.

by biblexaminer in

of all the things that the watchtower has done wrong, what would you say is the singular most powerful thing that you could point a jw to, to crack their eyes open?

what is the singular thing that can be expressed bluntly and conclusively that might shock a jw to their senses?

if you could only carry one arrow in your quiver on your way to war with watchtower, what would it be?.

Fernando

Somehow for me personally, nothing ever penetrated fully, until the ruling religious clergy class in my "congregation" attacked me and my family.

We were attacked and threatened for choosing to believe in the good news as defined and outlined in their own publications.

They were also highly offended and alarmed because I once dared to ask a simple question: "what is the gospel in one word?"

We were agreeing with the electronic Watchtower library and were attacked for this.

The issue was the same as in the 1980 Bethel witch-hunt and purge: the liberating gospel of grace versus apostate legalism.

Due to my experience, these are my favourite questions to help a JW, especially when they are doing the tolley-folley work:

How long have you been a "publisher of the good news"?
According to the good news, is a right and clean standing with God earned or imputed?

#

The response is a confused deer-in-the-headlights look as the cognitive dissonance kicks in overdrive.

Then their answer "earned" demonstrates they have never heard nor published the good news.

Then I give them a shocked look of disbelief, with a long pause: "no it is imputed as a free gift".

If the person is honest-hearted and sincere I then recommend they search for and highlight the words righteous and righteousness in Paul's letters especially to the Galatians.

5

A CHANGING WORLD-Q: Is the USA a Post-Christian Nation? A: At 45% white Christians are a minority.

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

that is a proposition that a video in the atlantic magazine argues.

i think there is a major flaw in the argument, as its possible to imagine that there is a large segment of non-white christians, that may mean that the usa is still a "christian" (whatever that means) nation.

however, for supporters of christianity, the trend is in the wrong direction.. http://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/504065/america-post-christianity/?utm_source=fbb.

Fernando

I'd be keen to see stats on:

% religious, % secular, % spiritual

40

Can YOU identify this photo (1914 Rapture?)

by AlphaOmega in

i need help identifying the source of this photo, which purports to show the watchtower crowd going up to the top of the mount of olives in 1914 awaiting the rapture.. .

i would like to show this photo to several jws along with the article in the october 8 1968 awake, which says.... true, there have been those in times past who predicted an end to the world, even announcing a specific date.

some have gathered groups of people with them and fled to the hills or withdrawn into their houses waiting for the end.yet nothing happened.