i never was a jw.
i was brought up in a fairly fundie sect (pb) and have been for many years an interested atheist.
i am an admirer of the work of bart ehrman (and recommend his blog).. from time to time, jws call at my door and invite me to partake in a 'bible study'.
Another question to ask a bible study host is 'What was Christianity before the bible?'
The bible wasn;t confirmed until [around] 390. Why was it written? What were followers of Christ doing? What were their teachings and traditions before the bible?
QUE-Church fathers
i remember a roman catholic priest acknowledging on the bbc that the outrageously anti-clerical tv comedy father ted was a humorous mocking of his church but an acceptable thing.. try mocking the jw religion to a believer and the result is so very different.. just why is it that jehovah's witnesses can never take even the faintest hint of criticism of their religion?.
I agree with Punk's assessment too. This is the reason that JWs at the door will not tell you much about their beliefs. They come with a bible and say, 'Let's talk about the bible'. You will find a defensive posture from the beginning. No talk of the Angel Michael being Jesus. No talk of never dying. No talk of previous JW history. Hell, they won't even tell you that they're JWs unless directly asked.
i never was a jw.
i was brought up in a fairly fundie sect (pb) and have been for many years an interested atheist.
i am an admirer of the work of bart ehrman (and recommend his blog).. from time to time, jws call at my door and invite me to partake in a 'bible study'.
I had a similar conversation with a JW who wanted to host a bible study.
ME: So how did we get the bible?
JW: A group of men got together to figure out which books would be admitted into the bible.
ME:Which group of men?
JW: A group of men.
ME: Catholic men?
JW: Um, yes
ME: So if I wanted to study the bible, wouldn't I want to go to the folks who gave us the bible?
JW: Umm...
have any of you heard of anything like this.
i remember an ex jw from ohio taking video of a former kingdom hall that is now a church.
apparently the society sold it to the church.
That's it Dark, it became St Mary and St George church with in the last 16 months or so
have any of you heard of anything like this.
i remember an ex jw from ohio taking video of a former kingdom hall that is now a church.
apparently the society sold it to the church.
In Marshfield, MA the was a quick build Kingdom hall was sold after only a few years and converted to an Orthodox Coptic Church
i ask the above because of my personal experience.
as a born-in i was naive, socially inept and had never really thought deeply about anything.. i was also unable to accept arguments based upon reason and facts.. just like a child.. it was only after freeing myself from the mind-control of the jw cult that i educated myself and matured as a person to being (almost) an adult.. jw's attitudes and their inability to debate in any meaningful way, (they could start by actually listening),means they have not grown up..
JWs do grow up, they get old and they die...just like everyone else.
indoctrinated into all things watchtower, i once believed the bible was true history, that evolution was false and evil, and that the bible could be trusted to be reliable when it touched on science issues.
then i got introduced to the official catholic bible translation of u.s. catholics, the new american bible revised edition (or nabre--not to be confused with the protestant nasv or new american standard version) and things changed.
i was shocked to learn that the nabre teaches.... the creation and flood stories of genesis are jewish adaptations of mesopotamian heathen creation-flood mythology, not history.
So the WTS is ill informed about the Catholic church and it's teachings? ...
that sounds weird
i began my exit from the jehovah’s witness organization about 5 years.
i was a 4th generation born-in, with all the baggage that comes with having the “spiritual heritage” attached to the group.
i was an elder/bethelite/pioneer/whatever other useless privilege there was, i had no family or friends outside of the organization… my entire life was that org.
What an affirmation from your Dad!
So very sorry that you lost your friends, wife, family and all else, but to know that your Dad is so proud of you speaks volumes of your character.
Thank you for sharing such a bittersweet story.
The Truth Will Set You Free
jehovah's witnesses accept jesus as christ, the son of god.
they try, in their own way, to live by his teachings and imitate him.
they pray, read the bible and meet together regularly for worship.. i won't minimise any of the harm and damage they cause but for the life of me, i can't see how anyone can credibly deny that they are christians.. why do so many former jws have a problem with this?
Book titles do not make the book (or the org), The WTS has a lot of good lip service to start, and then you see that they are very misleading, All of the WTS books are filled with misleading errors, Seems simple. They come to your door, they have a bible and want to talk about the bible and then it all gets twisted. Classic wolf in sheep's clothing
The only thing christian about the WTS is the bible and book titles, all else is bunk.
jehovah's witnesses accept jesus as christ, the son of god.
they try, in their own way, to live by his teachings and imitate him.
they pray, read the bible and meet together regularly for worship.. i won't minimise any of the harm and damage they cause but for the life of me, i can't see how anyone can credibly deny that they are christians.. why do so many former jws have a problem with this?
Being a Christian is not about specific beliefs about details that may or may not be correct.
Being a Christian IS about the teachings of Jesus.
Love one another, this includes EVERYONE including your enemies. That is what defines a Christian.
When you love one another, you respect all humanity from the womb to the tomb. You wouldn't lie or bear false witness, you would promote real fruits for all.
I've met plenty of JWs,many were looking for anwers and truth and were sincere in their search, but I have never met a Christian JW
