Posts by witnessofjesus

10

When Sects are Cults

by Lunatic Faith in

i know this is a long post and i'm sorry.

but this is a paper i wrote for my sociology final this term.

i was supposed to look at some aspect of my life sociologically.

witnessofjesus

Yes, Faith, I really enjoyed your well prepared paper. It was, shall I say, refreshing? Yes, refreshing indeed! What school are you going to these days?

Also, I do have one question for those who are JW or are still 'in' thought really 'out', what is the WTS position on their members attending 'on-line' colleges and universities? If one were to attend these, there would be very limited 'association' with unbelievers, and would this be permissible vice the traditional schooling earlier generations had no choice but to attend and live on campus?

I'd be interested to know, or have they not addresses this issue yet?

44

What Was Meant By 'Abstain From Blood'?

by headisspinning in

i have always been very hardcore about my aversion to blood and have never even considered the possibility that this was merely a dietary restriction.

i always bought into the analogy of a doctor telling a patient to abstain from alcohol... it wouldn't matter whether this individual drank the alcohol or took it intravenously... it would all be in direct contradiction to the doctor's orders to 'abstain' from alcohol.. or the other analogy is to an apple pie... if you weren't to eat the pie, it would not be okay to separate it out into the main parts (or 'components)... ie.

the flour, the apples, the sugar or the cinnamon... if they were taken from that pie, you were eating the pie.. so maybe you can see where the questions popped up for me.

witnessofjesus

Yes, Heaven, there you go again throwing the baby out with the bath water, the Bible is pure and it's message perfect, it is the dirty waters of human tradition that have muddied it up for us all, so do yourself a favor and study it for yourself and interprete it for yourself.

28

Blondie's Comments You Will Not Hear at the 03-13-2011 WT Study (MARRIAGE)

by blondie in

jw
friends

comments you will not hear at the 03-13-11 wt study (january 15, 2011, pages 13-17)(marriage).

respect marriage as.

21 marriage, of course, is not the only gift.

witnessofjesus

I don't think the Bible shows a lack of respect for women at all, in fact, the first eye witness of the Savior's resurrection was his mother, Mary, who had come to the tomb to tend to his decaying body, when he appeared to her, and said, 'touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to my Father and to you father, to my God and to your God', so a woman, and not a man was the first eye witness of the resurrection, that's a show of great respect for women from the very Son of God Himself.

13

Perusing the free Watchtower i got yesterday

by AuntBee in

i said i had no cash on me, i wasn't lying.. in the article (3-1-11) entitled what is god's kingdom, there is a paragraph about christendom's confusing explanation of what the kingdom of god is.

the last 'confusing' explanation listed says, "the kingdom of god is righteousness and peace and joy from the holy spirit" as quoted from the catholic catechism.

it sounded familiar, and i found it in romans 14:17, "for the kingdom of god is not meat and drink; but righteousness, peace and joy in the holy ghost.

witnessofjesus

Yes, but this is cross referenced to the following scripture providing more explaination:

Romans 15:13

13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all (A) joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope (B) by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Yes, the Kingdom of God is the hope of all Christians, and this hope, when it fills you will give you peace, joy and will cause you to live righteously so that you might one day inherit this Kingdom and this hope is instilled in you by the Holy Spirit, so in this way, the Kingdom of God is such things.

At least, this is how I understand this verse. The WTS understands that the Kingdom of God is a 'literal government' that will rule on earth and that will rule over this earth for a period for 1,000 years by Jesus Christ.

25

Up-to-date numbers of JWs and DF ones?

by Pams girl in

just curious if anyone has up to date numbers of worldwide active jws?

are there more that have left than are currently in?

they bang on about growth in numbers, but after reading the wtbs numbers heading towards 8 million, other threads have suggested its more like just over 7 million.. also being a newbie, and isolated due to illness, can anyone tell me about china and the work thats not happening.

witnessofjesus

To their credit, at least the WTS doesn't count those who are 'inactive' as members as the Mormons, my wife's church, has been doing for decades now. At least they're only counting those who are 'reporting' their monthly hours and their time in FS or DTD ministry. One could join the Mormon church tomorrow, and never return the following week and they would continue to count that one as a member and number them among their almost 14 million members worldwide, even if that person left the Mormon church to be come a JW, they would still be counted on the rolls of the Mormon faith to their advantage in the eyes of what they term 'investigators', in Mormonism, you're either an 'investigator' or a 'member', or in other words, a "Mormon" or a 'gentile'.

33

A long and unexpected JW encounter

by AuntBee in

hi guys!

i pull up to my daugher's home in phoenix this morning, just got there from tucson for a visit.

and lo and behold, 2 jw are walking up the driveway.

witnessofjesus

Why do you people GIVE UP on God when you leave the BORG? God exists, make no mistake about it. The basic tenets of the BORG, such as the existence of God and the truthfulness of the Bible and the truth about the soul, the afterlife and the hope of the Resurrection are all things that are true, and the Good News of the Kingdom is also a truth that they teach. Yes, they do have the 'organization' that has a checked past, present and future, by why throw out the truths that they do teach with the BORG that taught them?

Why do you become atheist just because one religious control group got the best of you? Is it because you feel used? Or abused? or just plain stupid? Please enlighten me on this point.

25

Up-to-date numbers of JWs and DF ones?

by Pams girl in

just curious if anyone has up to date numbers of worldwide active jws?

are there more that have left than are currently in?

they bang on about growth in numbers, but after reading the wtbs numbers heading towards 8 million, other threads have suggested its more like just over 7 million.. also being a newbie, and isolated due to illness, can anyone tell me about china and the work thats not happening.

witnessofjesus

I suppose the numbers of JWs who are inactive can't come close to matching the number of inactives in the Mormon church. Currently boasting of almost 14 million members worldwide, yet a whopping 70% of these are inactive, or have left the faith altogether for another church or no church at all. Yes, only about 5 million Mormons worldwide are actively participating in their faith, yet the LDS church continues to count ALL members on their rolls, regardless if the person hasn't been to a service in the past ten years, they're still counted as members UNLESS they've requested to have their names removed from the rolls, and effectively excommunicated themselves from the list. It's strange that in the past decade, the number of Mormon missionaries serving missions hasn't changed at all, it's been averaging around 52,000 since 1997, and hasn't gone up at all. Yes, it appears that Mormonism is also suffering from internal hemmoraging, just as the JW religion is doing, all the while claiming that 'all is well in Zion' but when the truth that the American Indians are not related to the Jews came out, instead of confessing that the Book of Mormon was a falsehood, they just updated the Intro to it to reflect a small change in doctrine, whereas the old Intro used to say that the Lamanites were the PRINCIPLE ancestors of the American Indians, it now reads that they were 'among' the principle ancestors of the American Indians. Slight change, most members of the LDS church didn't even notice.

25

Up-to-date numbers of JWs and DF ones?

by Pams girl in

just curious if anyone has up to date numbers of worldwide active jws?

are there more that have left than are currently in?

they bang on about growth in numbers, but after reading the wtbs numbers heading towards 8 million, other threads have suggested its more like just over 7 million.. also being a newbie, and isolated due to illness, can anyone tell me about china and the work thats not happening.

witnessofjesus

Sounds like all of you need to read Martin Zenders' book entitled, "How to Quit Church WITHOUT quitting God: 7 good reasons to escape the box" Check it out at http://www.martinzender.com/books/Cover_enlarged.htm

Also, watch Martin's Crack O' Dawn report discussing the subject, "Satan Lives in Churches, not Strip Clubs", you can watch it online at http://www.martinzender.com/crack_o_dawn/satan_lives_in_churches.htm

Enjoy the FREEDOM of being FREE to love God for Being God and not because you were pressured into some mold...

35

When did the "other sheep" class begin to form?

by Vanderhoven7 in

jw
friends

is there anything in wts literature as to which century the alleged non-anointed class of the wts began to form?.

i thought it was early on in the 20th century.. am i wrong?.

vander.

witnessofjesus

All of the old WT articles are available online, just Google "Bible Students" and follow the links.

35

I don't understand life or the universe

by Decided in

jw
friends

i'm 75 years old and am confused about life and god.

all explainations seem made up by some religious person or some written book that doesn't make any sense to me.

why doesn't a god just let us know that he exist in some way that all people could understand.

witnessofjesus

Mr. I Don't Know,

For answers to your questions, I invite you to visit us online at http://www.mormon.org to learn more about God, our Eternal Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ.

There are answers to your questions, you just have to know where to look for them at. You're invited to 'taste and see' that the Lord is good, and to have Him speak to your personally. I testify to you that if you do, that God will speak to you personally, and that you can come to not just know about Him, as many do, but to know Him personally and to not just believe that He lives, but to know it for yourself.

Your friendly neighbors,

The Mormons