If perhaps the old testament God has simply been neglectful and not implimented certain laws because he knew that the people were too hard hearted to listen, then maybe I could understand a little better. But when God actively commands such things as mass murder including non-virgin woman and children as well rape (or at the very least, forced marrage) (Numbers 31:7-18, Deuteronomy 20:10-14, Deuteronomy 21:10-14, Isaiah 13:15-18, and many more), there I am unconvinced.
What you're saying is basically comparible to there being a horrible, brutal child (the Israelites) and his parents (God) being unable to control him properly. Now, it's one thing for those parents to let their child run amuck and do whatever he pleases, but how would you feel if the parents then told that child "Go over there and punch that other little boy in the face!" or gave him a lighter and told him to set people's houses on fire? Who would be the truly evil one in that situation? Because that's pretty much the situation between God and the Israelites. The Israelites may have been brutal, but God was the one actually commanding them to do many of these awful things.
And then there's the killings that God carries out on his own, particularly the murder of innocent children (2 Kings 2:23-24, 2 Samuel 12:14). I'm not quite sure how you can say that a God that struck a tiny baby with an illness that caused it to languish in pain for 6 days before "slowly dying" on the 7th (2 Samual 12:14-18) and caused to bear to come out of the woods a maul 42 small children for simple childish teasing (2 Kings 2:23-24) isn't an awful tyrant.
pixiesticks
JoinedPosts by pixiesticks
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54
For people who use the OT to try and prove that God is an awful tyrant...
by tec inthe people in the ot made mistakes about what god wanted and expected from them.
some of the laws that were given were in place because they were too hard-hearted to accept anything more merciful.
jesus clearly states this:.
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pixiesticks
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What religion would you recommend for those who want to leave the WTS?
by RULES & REGULATIONS inafter i decide to leave the jehovah's witnesses one day,i will not look for a new religion.
the damage that the wts has caused me leads me to mistrust all men and religion.. i trusted these men from the wts .
i gave up 35 years of my life to find out that the wts is just a printing and real estate corporation disguised as a religion.
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pixiesticks
I vote NONE + LOVE as well! Humanism is super too as it's not a religion and includes love. :)
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Response to the Argument that Jehovah's Witnesses are not Cult Members
by bluecanary inthis is in response to the ezine article the argument that jehovah's witnesses are not cult members:.
this article is dangerously misinformed about (a) what constitutes a cult and (b) that the jws do in fact fit this category.
there is ample evidence of mind control, manipulation and cult tactics in this group, but you will not see it by casually chatting with a witness.
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pixiesticks
The very fact that he's deleting comments that disagree with him says a lot! So much for "rational thinking" and "thinking for yourself".
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Do You Believe that God Wrote the Ten Commandments?
by cameo-d inwas this an invisible god?.
any opinion on who wrote the big ten?.
(i got a sneakin' suspicion it was moses father-in-law).
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pixiesticks
Sylvia. He's right if by "pile of crap" he means not written by who it claims to be written by... There is a substantial amount of very solid evidence, now widely excepted by most non-biased biblical scholars. Again, I will point to 'Who Wrote the Bible' by Richard Elliott Friedman as a great starting point for you if you are actually interested at all. The Documentary Theory makes extremely good sense and is very difficult to refute considering the amount of evidence to support it.
As well as that, there is much evidence to disprove many of the most important Biblical stories. I think the Creation story has now been well and truly debunked. Many Christians are forced to accept evolution for the sheer amount of evidence to support it (although they still think that God set it into motion, this still renders the Adam and Eve's story either allegorical or completely untrue) and the story of the flood (for which there is no archeological proof as there should be if it actually happened, as well as many of the aspects of it being completely impossible).
But what about you? Do you have any solid, provable evidence that the Bible IS written/inspired by God at any point? And no, "The Bible is true because the Bible says it's true" isn't a valid argument, it's circular reasoning and it proves nothing. -
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Is religion a form of abuse? Does superstition imprison the mind and keep us from living a rich, fulfilling life?
by whereami inset yourself free .
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxgnpukowhu.
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pixiesticks
I've heard the comparison of God as the husband and us humans as his battered wife referenced before, but with all the parallels written down like that it's quite amazing all the similarities.
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"Deaden, therefore your body members...as respects fornication [through the free and frequent use of pornography]
by gubberningbody in...col. 3:5 (the apostate edition).... .
but seriously, i do remember years ago prior to entering in on the borg estate that a certain professor asked me to assist a grad student with her research.
she'd decided that the pornography-promotes-rape hypothesis was right and would i help her find the data.
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pixiesticks
You know what they say, "Watch pornography for five minutes and you'll want to have sex, watch it for five hours and you'll never want to have sex again." :D
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Do You Believe that God Wrote the Ten Commandments?
by cameo-d inwas this an invisible god?.
any opinion on who wrote the big ten?.
(i got a sneakin' suspicion it was moses father-in-law).
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pixiesticks
NO. I think it's pretty well proven that they weren't written by God. They weren't even written by Moses. I highly recommend the book 'Who Wrote the Bible' by Richard Elliott Friedman. It's one of the most interesting books written on the Documentary Hypothosis. Really facinating.
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VIDEO - Russia JW Convention in Russia Disrupted and Canceled
by Albert Einstein inthats not a new video, but this is still happening in russia.. do you thing its good if authorities try to slow down jw, or should they just let them do what they want?.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8btgy51o2w.
albert.
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pixiesticks
That's the thing with freedom, it has to be all, or potentially there could be nothing. People should have the right to believe in whatever they want, no matter how weird. However, for destructive cults I think the way they behave and the things that they are allowed to do should be observed and restricted as nessisary so that no human rights are breached.
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A Picture Paints a Thousand Words
by cofty inmany years ago i came across this painting in the national museum of scotland in edinburgh.
simply called "hagar" it was painted by andrew geddes in the early 19th c.. i was touched by the sadness of the subject.
at the time i was a loyal jw and my ability to read the bible through a filter that could justify anything was at its peak.. for the first time i was forced to face up to the scandal of how abraham and sarah treated their young slave girl.
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pixiesticks
Thank you for the scan! It's such a beautiful painting. So simple, but full of so much emotion. I'm going to print it out.
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"Upon Your Belly You Will Go and Dust You Will Eat"...
by AGuest into the household of god, israel, and those who go with... may you have peace!.
a little while ago i was directed to share with you the true appearance and composite of spirit beings, including our lord.
finally, at one point, i said to him, "how long have you been living?
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pixiesticks
Why would you be afraid of us? This is an Internet forum, what's going to happen? (Might want to add 'paranoia' to your list of symptoms when you go see that doctor...)
Anyways, I do know one person in real life that had visions too. She believed in God. She had a 'vision' that Satan was trying to drag her down the stairs into hell by her legs... but she did have the mother of all feverish flus at the time and was pretty well dosed-up!