brotherdan

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Posts by brotherdan

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  81

  Jehovah's Witnesses - Are they loving?

  by brotherdan in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  jehovah's witnesses love to claim that they are a true religion because they are the most loving people on earth.

  they rant and rave about how they apply john 13:35 to themselves.. in a recent conversation with djeggnog, i was shocked at some of the hateful things that he was saying to me.

  now i know that i have been in some pretty heated debates with others, but i try to never make it personal.

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  brotherdan

  It'd be awesome to write "1 Sam 20:30" anonymously in a greeting card or get well card.
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  28

  Did you do very early morning field service?

  by truthseeker in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  in my old congregation, there was a group of dubs who started field service at 4am - yes, that's 4 o'clock in the morning.

  i went with them on a few occasions.. to be ready, you'd have to be up at least 3:30am to get washed and dressed and maybe get a bite to eat.. at 4am, our designated driver would show up along with a couple of sleepy eyed jws trying to "get their time in.

  " many times we'd go pick up a jw only to find they forgot about service and overslept.. .

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  brotherdan

  Never went out earlier than that no one in my town was awake before then.

  No one else really was for us either. Most of the time you are alone. We listened to lots of music and did lots of goofing off.
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  236

  What is your definition of a "Fundi" or a Fundamentalist?

  by brotherdan in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i've been called a "fundi" many times in my discussions with people on the board, and i'd like to know what your definition is of a "fundi".

  don't google it.

  i just want to hear your personal definition.. i find it interesting because i don't go to any church.

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  brotherdan

  That is not how I interpret it.

  Did anyone in the story, besides the storyteller (who by the way has a larger role in the Hindu version of the story) have 1 shred of truth?
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  81

  Jehovah's Witnesses - Are they loving?

  by brotherdan in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  jehovah's witnesses love to claim that they are a true religion because they are the most loving people on earth.

  they rant and rave about how they apply john 13:35 to themselves.. in a recent conversation with djeggnog, i was shocked at some of the hateful things that he was saying to me.

  now i know that i have been in some pretty heated debates with others, but i try to never make it personal.

  1. 
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  3. 
• 

  brotherdan

  I like the "Message" bible translation of that verse:

  Saul exploded in anger at Jonathan: "You son of a slut!"
• 
  236

  What is your definition of a "Fundi" or a Fundamentalist?

  by brotherdan in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i've been called a "fundi" many times in my discussions with people on the board, and i'd like to know what your definition is of a "fundi".

  don't google it.

  i just want to hear your personal definition.. i find it interesting because i don't go to any church.

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  brotherdan

  The point of that story is to show that NO ONE HAS IT RIGHT. No one can have absolute truth. Of course that statement is self defeating and does not make any logicla sense.

  That is where my logic is not faulty. None of the blind men understood ANYTHING about what they were touching. So your application that they knew some of the nature of the elephant is incorrect. The blind man was not REALLY touching a wall, a rope, or anything he claimed to touch.

  So by the storyteller saying that it IS AN ELEPHANT then he has absolute truth. Without the absolute truth "We are describing an elephant" there would be no story.

  I never claimed to completely know the nature of the universe. But I do know about truth. I gave the list displayed by Geisler above. Here it is again for a reminder:

  · Truth is discovered, not invented. It exists independently of anyone’s knowledge of it. (Gravity existed prior to Newton)
  
  · Truth is transcultural; if something is true, it is true for all people, in all places, at all times (2+2=4)
  
  · Truth is unchanging even though our beliefs about truth change (When we began to believe the earth was round instead of flat, the truth about the earth didn’t change, only our belief about the earth changed.)
  
  · Beliefs cannot change a fact, no matter how sincerely they are held. (Someone can sincerely believe the world is flat, but that only makes the person sincerely mistaken.)
  
  · Truth is not affected by the attitude on the one professing it. (An arrogant person does not make the truth he professes false. A humble person does not make the error he professes true.)
  
  · All truths are absolute truths. Even truths that appear to be relative are absolute. (For example, “I brotherdan, feel warm on February 17, 2011” may appear relative truth, but it is actually absolutely true for everyone, everywhere that brotherdan had the sensation of warmth on that day.)
• 
  81

  Jehovah's Witnesses - Are they loving?

  by brotherdan in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  jehovah's witnesses love to claim that they are a true religion because they are the most loving people on earth.

  they rant and rave about how they apply john 13:35 to themselves.. in a recent conversation with djeggnog, i was shocked at some of the hateful things that he was saying to me.

  now i know that i have been in some pretty heated debates with others, but i try to never make it personal.

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• 

  brotherdan

  That said, I love that he posts here. It's a big reminder of the attitude and thinking that turns so many off.

  I agree. I think it makes everyone stop and think, was I REALLY like that when I was in?!? I sure hope not.

  Honestly though, I can't understand the guy. He's had some very good arguments given to him. And he WILL NOT think about them. It shocks me that a person could be so closed minded and unreasonable. I guess that is what make some people here think that he is playing a character. I don't think we want to believe that a person could be so mean and blind.
• 
  28

  Did you do very early morning field service?

  by truthseeker in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  in my old congregation, there was a group of dubs who started field service at 4am - yes, that's 4 o'clock in the morning.

  i went with them on a few occasions.. to be ready, you'd have to be up at least 3:30am to get washed and dressed and maybe get a bite to eat.. at 4am, our designated driver would show up along with a couple of sleepy eyed jws trying to "get their time in.

  " many times we'd go pick up a jw only to find they forgot about service and overslept.. .

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• 

  brotherdan

  I used to start at 4am when the hour requirement was 90 hours. And it was the most pointless fruitless thing in the world. I would stand in front of the donut shop with a blank look on my face and watch all the early risers go in to get their coffee. Twice a week I'd go from 4 to 9 and then 9:30 to 12:30. You had to keep that kind of schedule up to get the 90 hours, especially if you got sick that month.
• 
  236

  What is your definition of a "Fundi" or a Fundamentalist?

  by brotherdan in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i've been called a "fundi" many times in my discussions with people on the board, and i'd like to know what your definition is of a "fundi".

  don't google it.

  i just want to hear your personal definition.. i find it interesting because i don't go to any church.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  brotherdan

  To use the parable, we are blind men only able to sense one part of the elephant.

  Who told you it was an elephant? There must be an unbiased storyteller here. You would have to know the entire nature of God to say "You don't know the entire nature of God."

  "My religion is true, all other are false, and all their adherents will be tormented in hell for eternity."

  That's not unique to Christians. It's not even unique to theists. Atheists say that there is no God and everyone else is wrong. I suppose the ONLY COMPLETELY non-arrogant view is the agnostic view. But even that presumes to say "You cannot know what you think you know."

  Basically we all are arrogant because we claim to know what we believe. We don't believe something that we know to be false.
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  81

  Jehovah's Witnesses - Are they loving?

  by brotherdan in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  jehovah's witnesses love to claim that they are a true religion because they are the most loving people on earth.

  they rant and rave about how they apply john 13:35 to themselves.. in a recent conversation with djeggnog, i was shocked at some of the hateful things that he was saying to me.

  now i know that i have been in some pretty heated debates with others, but i try to never make it personal.

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• 

  brotherdan

  I'd say the organization contains members who are, by nature, loving... but it creates an environment for prejudice, which opposes love.

  Very well said. I guess a more appropriate question could have been - "The Watchtower - Is it a a loving organization". I admit that I knew and KNOW some fantastic JWs. The sad thing is that they will stop showing love if I write a DA letter. At least I believe they will.
• 
  81

  Jehovah's Witnesses - Are they loving?

  by brotherdan in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  jehovah's witnesses love to claim that they are a true religion because they are the most loving people on earth.

  they rant and rave about how they apply john 13:35 to themselves.. in a recent conversation with djeggnog, i was shocked at some of the hateful things that he was saying to me.

  now i know that i have been in some pretty heated debates with others, but i try to never make it personal.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  brotherdan

  If God is love and the only way there can be love is to "believe Jesus is the Christ" and "to be born of God" then love by any other means is not love, whether atheists, agnostics, hindu, buddhist etc,......

  Only "True Christians" have and know what love is.

  I seriously don't know how your reading this into my posts, dude. I never said that only Christians have and know what love is. Yes, God is love. That does not mean that He IS the actual QUALITY. It means that he is the source. We are made in His image (you, I, Cheeze, PSac, everyone). So we ALL have that ability to love. So no, not just Christians have love.

  I think you're trying to twist my words and make me sound like I'm judging non-Christians. What I have said is that if you CLAIM to be a Christian, then you MUST show love for it to be real. It's supposed to be a sign of a Christian.

  But because we all have the capacity to love, there can be (and are) very loving people that are not Christians. I don't know how else to explain it to you.

  As Chris Tucker said in "Rush Hour"

  "DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE WORDS THAT ARE COMING OUT OF MY MOUTH?!?"