Mormons have their songs to, including ones to Joseph Smith?! The lyrics may be OK, but the canned recordings vs live song leaders with real instruments is uninspiring. Old Testament worship was dynamic, not droning. How much more should NT worship be full of life rather than sounding like something from a communist meeting.
godrulz
JoinedPosts by godrulz
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Your Favorite Kingdom Song (versions)
by pirata inwhat were your favorite kingdom song (versions) when you were a jw?.
albums.
5 stars.
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Your Favorite Kingdom Song (versions)
by pirata inwhat were your favorite kingdom song (versions) when you were a jw?.
albums.
5 stars.
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godrulz
The great hymns of true Christianity make the WT stuff unbearable. Any JW song I have heard is dead, lifeless, boring compared to the praise and worship of evangelical churches or hymns of the past written by people who know God. It is interesting that Mormons steal our hymns despite not believing intended truth contained in them. JWs distance themselves from all things Christian to establish their own identity (Mormons want to be considered Christian so co-opt many things for credibility). The words in the WT books might have some merit, but because they do not exalt Jesus as Lord God and the Holy Spirit as personal, there is no presence and power of God like we see in Acts or many Pentecostal churches. I don't know how JWs can stand their conventions and meetings and the canned music, etc. My co-worker thought I would get excited about the drama, but it pales compared to ones I am used to. JWs are organized (but so is McDonald's), but they know nothing about the presence and power of God (they would think it is a demonic spirit...no discernment...nothing to compare it to for those who grew up in it). Especially youth (vs contemporary Christian music), how can they stand dead religion? I am surprised any stay in (though the ones I saw at the Memorial were disinterested and irreverent).
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HELP! How do I FADE without being DF'D??
by doubtful ini'm in a tough position.
i gave my last talk as an ms a couple of weeks ago, and i haven't been out in field service in well over a month.
i "came out" to the closest people in my life...namely my gf and mother...i was also recently asked to step down from being a servant - largely because my heart was no longer in it and i couldn't stomach going from door to door peddling magazines and other literature full of lies and logical fallacies.
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godrulz
It is ridiculous the ungodly control this organization has over people. It forces them to be dishonest (lie) and to live a lie. Sometimes one has to stand up to bullies. This position is a consequence of being part of a manmade organization, contrary to God's will, Word, and leading. If one is to follow the true Christ, they need to renounce the false organization. There is no excuse for family to disown someone when they are disfellowshipped, etc. I am speaking as an outsider, so insider strategy may have temporary merit, but it is not a solution with integrity or true freedom. Obey God, not man. Can one tell the elders they are disassociating without being disfellowshipped? If so, that gives you the control.
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The Rev. Bob Bell's book 'What If There's No Hell' spells the end to Evangelicalism and the Cash Cow
by designs in -
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godrulz
Rob Bell is regurgitating old heresies and is being rebuked by godly, scholastic evangelicals. He values authenticity and novelty above truth. He is not representative of biblical, historical, orthodox Christianity on these points. The TIME article said the Bible has contradictions, etc., which is false, so I would not condone it uncritically (probably non-evangelical writer). Russell started his cult based on rationalism and an aversion to 'hell fire'. Like it or not, the WT is wrong about soul, soul sleep, annihilation, no hell/lake of fire, and many more things. Christians preach the truth about heaven and hell, just as Jesus did, whether popular or not. Bell will be long gone while the Church will carry on defending and proclaiming truth. We preach the whole counsel of God, so Bell and his heresies will not have much impact. As a former pastor, I did not preach hell manipulatively. If anything, the bigger problem is that we do not talk about it enough or at all. If you want to falsely stereotype, you should caricature us as those who preach heaven, prosperity, wealth, health, etc. (also heretical gospel). There is a heaven to gain and a hell to shun. It is one thing to be Hitler and find oneself conscious in hell. It is another thing to be hard working, religious, sincere, and also find yourself there (JWs, Mormons, Muslims, etc.). If I can be an influence to keep a JW or ex-JW from going to hell, my life will not be wasted. Bell's message may influence some, but it will not impact the true gospel message and its power (the true Church is growing exponentially without belaboring hell while the WT is treading water, revolving door, going backwards). For most local churches and leaders, there is no cash cow (don't be hypocritical since the WT is getting rich with property, etc. on the back of slaves who work for peanuts and then are spit out without pension, support, etc.).
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The Message Bible
by snowbird inthe poster, pirata, asked me this question on 4-20-11:.
snowbird, what translation is that from?
i'm starting to see the value in using paraphrased editions for to help get clarity of meaning.. i agree, and in my opinion, a good example of getting clarity of meaning can be found here:.
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godrulz
NWT is not literal, just wooden and sectarian. KJV has the archaic English problem (and uses inferior manuscript family, but try NKJV). ESV and NASB are good formal equivalent translations with NIV (revised 2011) being a good dynamic equivalent version. The Message is a paraphrase by one man, a refreshing version, but not great as a study Bible. www.biblegateway.com allows one to compare many versions. New Jerusalem has Catholic bias and RSV has some liberal influence. I would stick with ESV, NASB, and NIV personally. Holman Christian Standard Bible is also refreshing, but not as popular.
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Couple of questions for the Christians here - CO's talk mentioned some things that I want to understand
by Doubting Bro inthis is a question for all the christians on the board.
i sat through the first co talk last night which was basically a plea to not give up preaching.
one of his main points was that no one else had "the truth" and every other person that claims to be christian is in error.
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godrulz
The Father, Son, Holy Spirit are Yahweh by nature (co-equal, co-essential, co-eternal), yet personally distinct. The Father is God, the Son is God, the Spirit is God, yet the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Spirit, the Spirit is not the Father. Within the one eternal, uncreated spirit of God (nature, ontology, metaphysics, substance, essence) are 3 personal distinctions, not 3 gods, not 3 persons in 1 person. We must not confuse nature and personal distinction lest we fall into modalism, Arianism, or polytheism.
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Did You Tend To Question The Organization Or Did You Just WANT To Believe?
by minimus ini know some who always questioned the elders, the society, and others because they were typically skeptical.. there are those who just seemed to want to believe whatever they were told.. i was more a skeptic, during my last decade.. .
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godrulz
The WT is not the truth. Flee from it rather than dabble in it. Jesus Christ (YHWH) is Truth as is His Word. Use a credible version (not NWT) and read it apart from WT material/indoctrination.
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Couple of questions for the Christians here - CO's talk mentioned some things that I want to understand
by Doubting Bro inthis is a question for all the christians on the board.
i sat through the first co talk last night which was basically a plea to not give up preaching.
one of his main points was that no one else had "the truth" and every other person that claims to be christian is in error.
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godrulz
You are still blinded by and steeped in WT/Russell thinking. ego eimi is present active indicative....I AM, Jehovahistic identity in specific contexts used by Jesus (e.g. Jn. 8:58). Even the NWT translates it correctly as I AM in virtually every other context (so sectarian bias vs grammar is the only reason it deviates one time). The WT invention of non-existent tenses, shoddy footnotes to explain their twisting, etc. displays profound ignorance of basic Greek. There is no blatant manipulation in virtually every other version. The WT is dead wrong and you would not defend it if you had a few months of introductory Greek under your belt (check with Greek masters instead of WT flunkies who rely on them, but out of context). Mormonism is tritheism, not triunity. Jesus is Jehovah is true in a monotheistic sense, not an LDS polytheistic sense. The same arguments used by the WT to prove the personality of Satan more than prove the personality (vs personification) of the Holy Spirit. Contexts about His power do not negate many more about His personality. You filter the Bible through WT lenses, except in some minor points you beat your chest about. You are still essentially WT on the essentials.
You have the same argumentative spirit as your fellow Russellites. You may be stubborn and independent (and thus don't belong in the WT), but you are still not a biblical believer (the acid test is the Deity of Christ).
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Couple of questions for the Christians here - CO's talk mentioned some things that I want to understand
by Doubting Bro inthis is a question for all the christians on the board.
i sat through the first co talk last night which was basically a plea to not give up preaching.
one of his main points was that no one else had "the truth" and every other person that claims to be christian is in error.
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godrulz
Many people claim to just read the Bible and have a corner on truth. If your beliefs are closer to the WT than biblical, historical, orthodox Christianity, then you still have a long way to go.
I assume you are Arian and believe Christ is creature, not uncreated Creator (Almigthy God)? I assume you still deny the personality of the Holy Spirit? Many false groups can say Jesus is Son of God, etc., but there is a semantical problem since a Mormon, JW, Christian Scientist, Christadelphian, Evangelical will mean something different by the phrase. Quoting a verse generically is not interpreting or defining it. If I was asked, I would not hestiate to say that He is God Almighty in the flesh, the God-Man, one person with two natures (JWs are wrong about only begotten/monogenes, firstborn, beginning of creation of God, etc.).
Until you renounce the WT and embrace Jesus as Jehovah (I AM), you will still be lost in your sins.
Given your position, should the WT not disfellowship you? Should you not have the integrity to let them know where you are at so they can kick you out?
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Have a good Easter weekend.
by tec ini'm going to my parents for this long weekend, along with my boys, my aunt and her twin boys (same age as my oldest), and our pup.
will be a busy and bustling weekend, seeing as the basement recently flooded, so that area is now off-limits.
so for the next five days, the four and a half hour drive tomorrow is going to be the only quiet time i think i'm going to get, lol.. however, my mother is going to have a big pot of homemade chili waiting for us... and that alone would be worth the drive and the craziness :).
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godrulz
Jehovah's Witnesses? Witnesses of Jesus who is Jehovah (Acts 1:8)!