Posts by corpusdei

47

Wachtower says 97% of teens masturbate....is it realistic that 100% Witness teens don't?

by Witness 007 in

"young people ask" book admits 97% of youths masturbate...to put it into perspective, it's like saying 97% of the worlds population own a phone or a t.v!!

so is it realistic to believe these witnesses going thru puberty and teenage years won't on penalty of death?.

i always thought, if nearly 100% of teens do it isn't it normal?.

corpusdei

sizemik>>

hell of a thing to have to do for a growing kid

All flippancy aside, it really is a rough thing. To be told by the people you look to for direction that this urge, one of the strongest drives in biology, is wrong and you're bringing shame on yourself and your Creator if you give into it - to be told that is to create a gap, a schism between your body and your mind. You can't trust your body at a time when most young people are not only going through the normal confusion of puberty, but are also dealing with the added social stigma and confusion of being a Witness.

47

Wachtower says 97% of teens masturbate....is it realistic that 100% Witness teens don't?

by Witness 007 in

"young people ask" book admits 97% of youths masturbate...to put it into perspective, it's like saying 97% of the worlds population own a phone or a t.v!!

so is it realistic to believe these witnesses going thru puberty and teenage years won't on penalty of death?.

i always thought, if nearly 100% of teens do it isn't it normal?.

corpusdei

K, I'm going to go out on a limb here. Are there any other Witnesses that discovered the joy of National Geographic like I did as a teen? Specifically the great issues with the tribal folks running around naked? There were boobs, and it wasn't obviously porn, so it kind of flew under the radar.

I can't have been the only one to discover that.

47

Wachtower says 97% of teens masturbate....is it realistic that 100% Witness teens don't?

by Witness 007 in

"young people ask" book admits 97% of youths masturbate...to put it into perspective, it's like saying 97% of the worlds population own a phone or a t.v!!

so is it realistic to believe these witnesses going thru puberty and teenage years won't on penalty of death?.

i always thought, if nearly 100% of teens do it isn't it normal?.

corpusdei

It wasn't much, but when you're growing up a Witness teen, you take what you can get

47

Wachtower says 97% of teens masturbate....is it realistic that 100% Witness teens don't?

by Witness 007 in

"young people ask" book admits 97% of youths masturbate...to put it into perspective, it's like saying 97% of the worlds population own a phone or a t.v!!

so is it realistic to believe these witnesses going thru puberty and teenage years won't on penalty of death?.

i always thought, if nearly 100% of teens do it isn't it normal?.

corpusdei

Hell, God knows I did. Frequently. Sometimes in the KH bathroom. And occasionally to the picture of the Whore of Babylon.

And don't look at me like that. It was a lot more entertaining than the talk, and besides, she was a whore so you knew she put out.

85

Q for all Christians (not just JW) about the ransom.

by Anony Mous in

so this is the basic logical flaw in christianity i believe.

a brother identified it from the stage for me in a talk.

we all agree (as christians and jw's) that the ransom was necessary because adam lost his perfection and everlasting life.. this is a paraphrase from the talk:.

corpusdei

We are condemned, not because we sin, but because we do not bend our knee to Him.

I do want to make a distinction here between abstaining from worship as simply the lack of worship, and abstaining from worship because of the sin of Pride, of thinking that we are better than God, which was the sin of Lucifer.

85

Q for all Christians (not just JW) about the ransom.

by Anony Mous in

so this is the basic logical flaw in christianity i believe.

a brother identified it from the stage for me in a talk.

we all agree (as christians and jw's) that the ransom was necessary because adam lost his perfection and everlasting life.. this is a paraphrase from the talk:.

corpusdei

God freely wants to extend forgiveness and mercy

if the greatest commandment is to love God supremely with our whole being, then the greatest sin is to not do so.

These statements are mutually exclusive.

Faith is a condition of salvation

And this cuts to the heart of the matter. The ultimate requirement is faith, worship of Him. Moral choices, good works, well-treatment of the world and your fellow-man - none are adequate to gain salvation unless you add faith and worship and love of God.

The freedom and will to have great good and love implies the equal necessity to be able to misuse this gift of will for great evil or selfishness. The alternative is robotics who cannot love, relate, be responsible, etc.

But by the argument you've laid out, with love of God being a condition of salvation, then God does not appreciate free will when it is used to make the choice, not to commit any morally objectional behavior or break any other tennent of His law, but simply not to worship or love Him. By doing so, the Ransom is not an free act of generosity and loving kindness. That sacrifice and offer of redemtion does come with a price, but the cost is to us, not to Him.

We are not condemned because Adam sinned, but because we personally sin (Rom. 1-3).

I return to my argument that inherited sin is an unjustified punishment of mankind and the ransom sacrifice of Christ Jesus is God offering a conditional pardon, calling it magnanimous and expecting praise for the entire business. By creating that requirement that Redemption is unavailable not for a sinful act but for the lack of worship, the act of worship becomes not an selfless act of of a loving creation for our loving Creator but the coin with which we buy Redemption, else we face the eternal death that comes with the lack of it. We are condemned, not because we sin, but because we do not bend our knee to Him.

16

Any sins you got away with?

by fade_away in

i was reading a thread on here that got me thinking.. what is the purpose of confession if not another method of mind control?

back in ancient israel, confession was just this thing you did if you were a good jew.

just like observing sabbath, fasting.. you get the point.

corpusdei

Just went and confessed again. In a decade I'm up to 2500+ Hail Marys and 15 weeks of fasting. I guess I'm that person who looked at the purity test as a personal challenge.

16

Any sins you got away with?

by fade_away in

i was reading a thread on here that got me thinking.. what is the purpose of confession if not another method of mind control?

back in ancient israel, confession was just this thing you did if you were a good jew.

just like observing sabbath, fasting.. you get the point.

corpusdei

On a lark, I visited absolution online several years after I left and make a full confession of my sins, the majority of which were comitted in the last few years of being a practicing (but failing) Witness. I ended up with something like 247 Hail Marys and 7 weeks of fasting, if that gives you any clue.

85

Q for all Christians (not just JW) about the ransom.

by Anony Mous in

so this is the basic logical flaw in christianity i believe.

a brother identified it from the stage for me in a talk.

we all agree (as christians and jw's) that the ransom was necessary because adam lost his perfection and everlasting life.. this is a paraphrase from the talk:.

corpusdei

godrulz>> For a moment, I want to take everything you've said as absolute truth. I don't necessarily agree, but for the purposes of this question I want to consider it all correct. In that framework, is the absence of worship (all other things, actions, behaviours aside - I'm only asking about the lack of worship) to God a sin, or sinful state, that would prevent the application of (not the opportunity for, the application of) this forgiveness / redemption / eternal life through God's Light?

15

WT scars that run deep

by man in black in

my son who is 26 yrs.

old recently confided in my wife and myself that he is having a rough time moving on past the jw mindset.. he was associated with the witnesses for the first 24 years of his life, and he really tried to do the whole witness thing correctly, yet he was and still is a shy person.

now that he has been out for two years, he is having a lot of anger toward people who believe in god.

corpusdei

Oh, one other thing. If you can find a copy, you might want to get him the book "Blameless in Abaddon" by James Morrow. It's about a priest who quite literally puts God on trial for crimes against humanity. I read it multiple times during that period, and in a strange way it was cathartic - it helped me understand and put into terms why I was angry and, by understanding that anger, I was able to start getting a handle on it.