Posts by not a captive

76

Jesus disses corporation-led religion??

by not a captive in

we were told that the right corporate "doctrine" makes the right group activity.

but words attributed to jesus at matthew 7 make me wonder if jesus wasn't discouraging that.

a small sample--.

not a captive

Holy Spirit has no part of abelievers life if it is meted out to only a few and subject to a 2/3 vote.

Obviously Jesus cast his vote against the majority in his religion.

Jesus did die a faithful man, he died a Jew. He said salvation was of/originated with the Jew but he also told Pilate "For this reason I was born and came into the world: to bear witness to the Truth."

Just because wolves have been tearing up the household of God for centuries doesn't mean we have to sew them sheep's costumes today.

Structures that do any more than exercise moral authority and create that lively interchange without racking the truth out of the faithful do fulfill the role of being fellow workers for the joy of others.

There is no way Jesus would promote the construction of a religious corporation. They have no individual soul. they have no collective soul as a corporation.

The Body of Christ is far more spiritual but it is not ethereal.

The power of the loosely structured believers in Acts was through the visible power of Holy Spirit.

13

thankyou all who have shown support to me and goodbye for now x

by looloo in

i first came on this site around the time we were waiting the my daughters abuser to face justice in crown court , we got no justice (due to lack of evidence) but his other victims had a very small section of the abuse they suffered legally recognised , due to a deal being done with the defence , so we waited 20 months to give evidence just to be dropped at the last minute for a "deal" my by now ex best friend decided to stand by the child rapist !as did some of his family despite him being a disfellowshipped person (he was not disfellowshipped for child abuse ) and they are all jws !

isold my house and left the town i once loved as i couldnt bare to be in the same town as him when he left prison (he did 18 months of a 3 year sentence ) and see his supportive family knocking on doors taliking of truth made me feel like screaming at them "what about my poor girl , wheres your support for her , you hypocrites "my daughter is still very much affected by what happened to her age 13 , sexual, physical and mental abuse over months and months .

but i also have a 6 year old girl who was only 20 months old when i found out and reported the abuse to the police , and the long process started , for the next 20 moths i could think of nothing but giving evidence in court and trying to support my girl who was also terrified of that , my little one was 3 and a half when he was sentenced and i looked back and realised i had hardley taken any notice of her since i found out about my other girls abuse , i had missed out on so much of her best times , learning new words etc , i was too preoccupied .

not a captive

I hope you have an outrageously wonderful summer.

There is no God of doom and gloom, or how could one like Jesus come who reached out to the little children? How could one live who was so kind that the street urchins called out and made a ruckus for him "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord"?

Have a blessed summer.

58

TODAY is MrsJones' Birthday!

by StAnn in

jw
friends

.

lotsa love,.

stann.

not a captive

Mrs Jones! Happy Birthday! AND MANY MORE!

11

I used to be an apologist as well, however no more

by gubberningbody in

jw
friends

it's funny how when you think you've gotten queued up in the paradise line how you'll pooh pooh detractors.. age has a way of sobering you up.. of course the internet was a great help.. if you want to find out what's wrong with anything, all you have to do is select the topic and throw in a pejorative, and bam!, you've got hundreds if not thousands of people who'll give you the other side.. if you've not in a jw family, and you're not a mental troglodyte, i can't see anyone making that koolaid-bath plunge into jw-land..

not a captive

Glad you you found out you were still 'humble, hungry and honest' enough to jump ship!

211

Ray Franz has had a stroke

by coffee_black in

jw
friends

just setting the record straight.

there is another thread that notes a claim on wiki that said that ray has died.. he had a stroke yesterday, and is in the hospital.

he is still alive.

not a captive

Rays books and the videos posted on youtube were something I thought about a lot on my way out of captivity.

We all die . I hope God's mercy will spare them the larger parts of pain that the end can bring. I pray that Cynthia has a sense of peace and privilege for having partenered with such a man who helped others who suffered in the WT.

76

Jesus disses corporation-led religion??

by not a captive in

we were told that the right corporate "doctrine" makes the right group activity.

but words attributed to jesus at matthew 7 make me wonder if jesus wasn't discouraging that.

a small sample--.

not a captive

Is it likely that early Christians who had no written catechism would be bound by more than the moral authority of the Apostles? Their genuine primacy would give their teaching the merit it deserved.

The quality of personal responsibility is undone if the authority was not conceded to them rather than being demanded by them. I have found no way to reconcile this personal responsibility Jesus gave his "lowest ranking" followers with the obligations official religious bodies demanded later

It may not be incidental that this first example of a meeting of elders and apostles resulted in loosing rather than binding new laws on the brotherhood

Genuinely dedicated followers always insure the healthiest body of Christ. The surest way to destroy it is by vesting the operation of the spirit in men instead of Christ. Mt.23:8-11 . In Galatians Paul's eloquent pleas to come out from under law and operate in faith are clear: "for if righteousness is through law, Christ actually died for nothing." And, for me, Paul's word's at chapter 31-14 make the case completely. He appeals to the story of the untutored Abraham, man of primitive faith. Guided, not by Christ and not holy spirit but by a very rudimentary faith. "The righteous will live by faith. The law is not based on faith: on the contrary..."

We know what happens when holy spirit is the monopoly of a Governing Body. They become law makers for the rest of us. What faith we take into such a religious structure is sucked away.

Do you think a tight corporation is really how holy spirit is going to keep the Body of Christ together?

21

what kind of music does an atheist have at their funeral

by loosie in

yesterday was the day my family went out to the cemetary in my dad's home town to clean up the headstone and leave flowers and such.

now this town is small and rural.

afterwards we went back to the community center for the annual potluck.

not a captive

A memorial and a bag of ashes is cheap and very beautiful.

When my friend Nancy died every thing was hard for people ,including her husband, to get things together for a gathering very soon after her death. So a date for a year later gave everyone a chance to plan to get there. We had a chance to think of her. We made a potluck and those of us who had never met each other before from different times and places introduced ourselves and told Nancy stories--She was a real character. Then her husband John put her ashes over the meditation garden she had made with rocks and planted on the hillside by their home in the woods.

Only thing we needed was some good music!

55

Does "God" Exist?

by minimus in

jw
friends

do you believe in "god" at all?.

not a captive

notverylikely--

Don't you think that we humans can reasonably ignore any proof that God could present? There is no formula to make a person believe in God. Jesus didn't even do "signs" for ones who asked for those proofs at Mt. 16:4 because he knew it was pointless. At John 12:29 There was a loud voice from heaven or else it was a thunderclap--people disagreed who stood next to each other and heard it.

Maybe I don't understand what you mean. Sorry if I don't.

But I think we are in a Catch 22 if we expect other people to make a lesson plan to prove God to us through logic.

55

Does "God" Exist?

by minimus in

jw
friends

do you believe in "god" at all?.

not a captive

Hey, finger--I think your opinion matters. I like to think mine does.

When the elders were trying to shepherd me back into the fold when I stopped going to meetings, I told them that the problem with my conscience, my opinion, was two things were struck off against each other- my convictions were both infinitely important and infinitely not important.

Being a little bit of of both it seemed that I needed to stick up for my understanding of God and if I'm wrong what will it matter? I can only believe what I believe is true. If I wasn't convinced by their words and the WTS well-- Let God judge me.

We matter and we don't. Even if that doesn't make sense.

Personally, I am convinced that God exists and he cares that we know he cares about us.

31

Will The Governing Body Enforce the New Generation Understanding and Muzzle Open Criticism Among the Rank and File?

by frankiespeakin in

to keep every jw on the same page about the new light on extending the generation to mammoth's lengths of time the gb will no doubt be squashing any open criticism,, even the old cronies at bethel will looking differently at the gb when that starts happening.

even the most hardcore believer will be looking at the governing body in a "new light".

not a captive

Oh!

I get it now!

Remember when they said they were being directed from the Brothers in heaven? This means that even if the living FDS die off one by one , they can still say that they are getting guidance from the ones in heaven. But the problem would be rhen is how can they get stuff wrong if it is right from Jesus?

O, sorry. I forgot --they don't deal with him.