not a captive

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Posts by not a captive

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  30

  Do Y'all Like My House?

  by snowbird in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  <----------------------------------------.

  if so, you might like the other pictures, also.. http://www.bbaaghs.org/photos/snowhillinstitute/.

  syl.

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  not a captive

  Oh, Snowbird! I want your book. Tell your story!

  That looks like the Ozarks and where I'm moving to. When will we have the story?
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  347

  Why do all intelligent Christians disobey Jesus?

  by StoneWall in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-slagzjmdu.

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  not a captive

  Maybe we should give our answers through questions for the most part. At least for the sake of discussion.

  The verses coming up to 2 Pet. 3:9 tells about a flood that swept the ungodly away. So, it would seem that God wants his children to stop disowning him but that some people reject God. The worst that happens? We die.

  But, again, the terms of salvation? Reading Jesus' life and sermons without "religious" definitions of what he means is taking time. I trust God will value Ghandi appropriately as he will those so miserably damaged by the WTS.

  I trust that God is kinder than we are. We still are alive, there's still alot to hope for. And alot of questions.
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  347

  Why do all intelligent Christians disobey Jesus?

  by StoneWall in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-slagzjmdu.

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  not a captive

  Dear leavingwt,

  Tell me carefully what fellowship extends to and what darkness is as well.

  The infection of past expressions and the indoctrination of the WT has damaging effects on my ability to use and understand words. In other words I have to be careful how I think we are communicating.

  Just how am I to interact with others? Am I entering "darkness" if I talk with a "non-believer" iwho is not closed to "light"? Am I staying in the "light" if my being with a "believer" embraces "darkness"in a way that I ignore just because they say they are Christian?

  Jesus's words (he is the Logos) are written down--but they don't bind us up and and give us spiritual constipation. Even if print nails his words down in black and white they aren't the polarizing "dark" and "light" that kill. They give life. They live freely, it seems to me. He invited thought, he did not teach dogma.

  I'm having to reevaluate my own vocabulary. So I'm really not quibbling with you.

  I'm just trying to rethink my Christianity.

  I'm struggling to be an intelligent Christian who obeys Christ.
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  12

  Where is the true Religion?

  by wannabe in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  where is the true religion?.

  the best way to answer this question, is to ask another question.

  where was the true religion in the first century?

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  not a captive

  Along with these distinctions Matt. 24:23-31 seem to indicare the vast freedom from religion that Jesus spoke of to the Samaritan woman"( neither in this mountain or that will true worshippers be going"--take THAT you who say JWmountain is the place to go).

  When Jesus says "Where the dead body is , there the vultures will gather" it seems he is referring to people who stand on the dead body of dogmatic belief as opposed to people whose living faith in a God who WANTS them worship in spirit and truth(--in spite of hide-bound religion's destruction of that freedom)
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  21

  what is best to use to help my kids out? What does a teenager need to hear?

  by Aussie Oz in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  now that i have secured more time with my children and i have established my interest in the religious side of their lives i wonder what is best next.. what sort of material is best to use to get them thinking?

  i want to get them thinking.. what sort of real truths matter to teens in the jws these days?.

  i know that they dont beleive everything, such as shunning and that worldly people are all bad.

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  not a captive

  Remember that they are not cynical about God--yet.

  Help them emphasize the true nature of faith and and what that means. That will be the best insurance against an early baptism and the growth of religious hypocrisy in them. And is JW hypocrisy that will separate you from your children one way or another: You don't want your kids to become like that or they are lost to God AND you.

  You think you have to go preach at them to do this? No. It is just conversational stuff--Just ask them why the Catholic church annuls marriages between babies. (They do) Let them run with this wherever they want --They will have a field day--It'll allow them to explore every thing from legalisms and maybe---on their own--they will ask this obvious question:

  If the Catholic Church will annul a baby marriage, why do they baptise a person when they are a baby?

  Let them explore thoroughly first one thing before you answer. (They probably have already figured out the reason for annuling infant marriage,i.e.the parties were not able to commit with reason and awareness to the responsibilities of marriage.)You want to make sure they grasp the importance of reason and awareness. Because the you are going to drop a good germ into the JW doctrine-world from a powerful access point. Reasonabe faith.

  Faith with reason--Have them look up Romans 12:1,2 and read it. That is what dedication to God means.

  * Ask them where there is a heavier level of responsibility involved-- in marriage or in baptism?

  * Ask them if Romans 12 indicates that an individual would have to have a powerful and personal knowledge of God to make this commitment. Explore the scenarios that would threaten or challenge that individual's dedication. Let them see how it has challenged you and others they know--(Careful this can be sticky--It is tempting to jump in and show them examples of the blatant hypocrisy that comes as a result of JW "social" baptism

  * Let them see how the Society even recognizes the need --the requirement--for individuals to make a personal dedication to Jehovah before they are baptised. ( Don't mention it now, but later if they yield to pressure to get dipped, remind them that the questions they have to answer at the dipping will be to be: about service to God and in association with his "Spirit Directed Org.) Remind them that their dedication means to listen to God no matter what anyone else tells them-including the Org)

  What results from the baptism of individuals who do not know what it means to serve God ---for life?

  Won't individuals who get baptised for reasons other than faith and love of God corrupt the brotherhood?

  What resulted in Jesus' time when he faced fellow Jews who wer very religious an ceremonially pere but lacked genuine love of God?

  Don't let the JW schtick get in the way--if your kids start to respond in JW speak gently reel them back into Jesus more simple and reasonable world: John 6:29,"The work of God is this: to believe on the one he has sent."

  Encourage them to find the freedom to believe-, to not ever be afraid to think and learn and ask questions like Abrahm did of God.( Faithful Abraham really got into borderline disrespect--like we do on this board. But that is how you do with friends)--just like the courtship that should lead to a long and happy marriage!

  You see where this can go.

  They will love to talk to you.

  How do I know that this works? I got to be a JW after I had five children and dragged my family through the mess of all that--My husband's strong resistence required a lot of dialog and reason that JWspeak couldn't overcome and I knew that real faith had to be the chief ingredient for Baptism. Two kids got baptised and are now out but it was my youngest that showed me how good it is to do lay the real truth out before them--She faced down two elders on a shepherding call when thay wanted to know why she --at13--wasn't covering the baptism questions since she knew all she knew. She told them that she didnt have a relationship with God that would allow her to make a dedication and that was more important than baptism.

  Don't be cynical about God with them. If there is a God --he will be working with you to keep these kids out of the Org.

  Cheers, Maeve
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  12

  Where is the true Religion?

  by wannabe in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  where is the true religion?.

  the best way to answer this question, is to ask another question.

  where was the true religion in the first century?

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  not a captive

  upnorth said:

  There is no true religion.

  I think religion is man made

  God said to worship him

  Man has attempted to corral and redefine what worship constitutes, from that we get religion

  Religion is of man and inherently impure, worship is pure

  As I understand that, I think that is how it is.

  I did not say religion is useless, it is just subject to perversion.

  The way people mistakenly think religion is the same as faith or worship, I wonder if it is not useless. I have seen that "worship" is hardly referred to in the NT. But faith is there all the time. Jesus used the word "worship" but never the word for "religion".

  That was a pretty crisp distinction, upnorth... I sure like it.
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  14

  Court order baby to receive Blood Transfusion

  by iknowall558 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  jehovah's witnesses news, library, history, videos, talks, illustrationscourt order baby to recieve blood transfusion.

  :-(non-blood medical managementpharmaceutical:4,193 people like this.about an hour ago view feedback (18)hide feedback (18) share.

  5 people like this.brooke elizabethit is not christian to swear but this is bullsh@!.!

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  not a captive

  Is the thread about the premature baby or the 10 year-old boy?
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  16

  my 15 year old neighbor

  by asilentone in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am laughing at my 15 year old neighbor doing the parallel parking practice.

  she is a disaster.

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  not a captive

  My neighbor watched me through the window when I was backing the family station wagon out of the drive way for the first time. He didn't laugh for long.

  The car had a manuel shift. I killed it several times trying to get the hang of it. I guess he figured he should move his car up next to his wife's and take the trash can from the curb. Good thing--once I got the car in motion I hit the clutch, not the brake, kinda lost control my sister screaming "stop, stop". I jumped the curb on his side of the road and flattened a young poplar. Definitely would have nailed his trash can.

  Don't let her practice near your car!
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  12

  Where is the true Religion?

  by wannabe in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  where is the true religion?.

  the best way to answer this question, is to ask another question.

  where was the true religion in the first century?

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  not a captive

  I think I am getting your drift... You are saying (from your post yesterday) thatbaptism is pointless sign of being a Christian in much the same way that circumcision became a pointless sign of being a true worshipper of God. You are saying that Christ through the holy spirit makes them a true Christian.

  And as a reasonable conclusion to this, you are saying that Jesus knows his own and you will know Jesus' own when you talk to them. Them being 'wet' (from baptism)won't tell you they are Christians but by talking to them you will know. You would see the holy spirit at work in and through them.

  Is that it?
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  21

  Would you tell your JW coworker you used to be a JW

  by serendipity in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've realized a new employee is a jw, because he likes to leave jw literature on his desk and because he mentioned "congregation responsibilities".

  i am debating whether to tell him of my jw past.. the main reason for considering this is because i had mentioned to another coworker "g" that i was raised as a jw, before the jw's arrival.

  if the jw tries to witness to "g", "g" might reveal that fact.

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  not a captive

  IMO,

  If he didn't go into his spiel when you tested him, then "turn about is fair play" as they say--I would not give my spiel either. If he finds out later and says anything, tell him he didn't talk his religion at work either.

  That said, it does give him the opportunity to see that you didn't become a rotten loser just because you don't go to meetings. Because down the line he is bound to find out --but you'll have established a normal work relationship with him by then.

  Maeve