Topics Started by poor places

35
Will only "incorrigibly wicked" people be destroyed at Armageddon?
by poor places in
1. jw
2. friends
in a recent talk that i heard, a brother tried to comfort those whose family members have left jehovah's witnesses.

he did so by saying that only "incorrigibly wicked" people will be destroyed at armageddon.

i found his line of reasoning refreshing, especially in comparison with the usual fear-mongering in wt publications.
126
A simple way to tell God probably doesn't exist
by poor places in
1. watchtower
2. beliefs
when's the last time you prayed to god?

did he respond?

i prayed to him for years and years and received no response.
16
Does faith even exist?
by poor places in
1. jw
2. friends
in my late teens and very early twenties, i was active in jw activities (heaps of service time, ms, etc.

) to most people who knew me, i'm sure i appeared to be a full believer, but with hindsight, my faith was spotty.

i had all of the usual and fairly obvious questions about the organization buried in my mind.
8
is it ok for an agnostic to pray to God?
by poor places in
1. jw
2. friends
i used to say a prayer most nights before i fell asleep, and i felt real comfort.

no matter how much anxiety i had, praying made me feel that i was ok because a higher power (one who had counted the hairs of my head and who considered me worth many sparrows!

) would take care of everything.. now, after my jw awakening, i'm an agnostic, and i feel less comfort than i did before, because i don't know if anyone powerful is looking after me.
41
has anyone looked into Buddhism?
by poor places in
1. jw
2. friends
i've started reading a book called the modern buddhist's bible and i'm liking a lot of things about the religion so far.

of course i don't know much yet, but there seem to be some very good points to buddhism.

one thing i love is the emphasis on "killing" the ego (or whatever you might want to call what buddhists try to do with their egos!).
16
a question for experts on disfellowshipping
by poor places in
1. jw
2. friends
can you be df'd for atheism?

if you only tell the elders that you don't believe in god, and as a result will be decreasing your activity, will they reprove you and/or df you if you aren't repentant over time?

pretend that you aren't telling them anything about your feelings regarding the organization or governing body.
5
a potentially interesting JW experiment
by poor places in
1. jw
2. friends
so it would be pretty interesting if someone got df'd at an early age--20 or 30 or so--and kept attending meetings for the rest of his or her life without getting reinstated.

imagine jws in the presence of a df'd person for sixty years, without acknowledging the person's existence.

they'd watch the person grow older and more feeble, and all the while they'd believe that the person is going to die because of the d'fing.
1
a literary wasteland
by poor places in
1. jw
2. friends
isn't it amazing how many pages the wts has printed about the bible over the years?

if bros and sisters neglected reading these publications and just focused on the bible, can you imagine how much more well-versed and enlightened everyone would be?

i think the isaiah's prophecy books are longer than the book of isaiah!
15
has anyone ever met Ray Franz?
by poor places in
1. jw
2. friends
i guess you would have to be kind of old school to have met the guy.

i've only met a current gb member before he joined.

he seemed nice.
8
how do they write new articles/talk outlines?
by poor places in
1. jw
2. friends
it really makes you wonder.

i mean, they're all pretty interchangeable, aren't they?

nobody would've guessed that today's special talk was new; it could've been replaced by about fifty other talks without anyone catching on.