i've observed some forum users here that claim to be active witnesses (even claims to be ministerial servants or elders) while duplicitously supporting apostates online.
my contention is this; why attend meetings and/or participate in the preaching activity when the second you divulge your apostate thinking into the congregation, you'll be disfellowshipped?
while this action taken may seem to be harsh, the outworking of events wouldn't be much different in one of christendom's churches.
As Cervantes said "I can live with questions I can't answer, but not with those I can't ask (or, put another way, "answers I can't question").
The gem of the day, Room215, thank you. It's basically what I said, much less eloquently, when I pulled the plug on my WT bible study many long years ago.
Touché, Donny.
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this is a question that i have struggled with, not just as a jehovahs witness but as a believer in god.
Should those that don't believe in God leave this theological question to those that do? Yes.
Perhaps the question, then, should have been posed in a forum that doesn't include people who don't believe in God. I think the Watchtower has one that does a good job of screening every single comment and censoring those it does not like.
Good riddance. Who's next?
I thought it was cheesy. Glad they got the bastard regardless.
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this is a question that i have struggled with, not just as a jehovahs witness but as a believer in god.
Your question, as some of your respondent's answers illustrate quite well, goes to the much larger question of the existence of God. There has been a great deal written on the subject, yeas and nays, and almost invariably the existence of bad things happening to people factors into the equation. It is often cited that the existence of evil, in particular but not restricted to natural disasters that consume millions of lives, counts strongly against the likelihood that God exists. The term for this is Theodicy, which is the vindication of divine providence against the very real existence of horrible things happening to people. It is the kind of thing that keeps thinking theologians awake at night. The Oxford Companion to Philosophy cites the existence of evil as the most powerful objection to a belief in the existence of God, in particular a good God. That leaves room for the existence of a sometimes nasty God like the one depicted in the Old Testament. If you consider Richard Dawkin's sentiments in that regard:
The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.
then you might find an answer to your question - which would be "Yes". Or, you may decide (or even hope) that God doesn't exist after all.
a husband and his blond wife are driving in town when the come up to a stop light and stop behind a truck, "wow!
" the wife yells..
" the husband asks back.. "those people in front of us are a long way from home!
A blonde, a brunette and a redhead are sitting together in prenatal class. They're each several months into their first pregnancies.
The brunette says "We did all the homework. We timed my menstrual cycle using body temperature and made sure he was always on top, so I'm going to have a little girl."
The redhead says, "Oh yes, I read those books too! We want to have a baby boy so we always did it with me on top."
The blonde's eyes widen and her chin begins to quiver and then she breaks down into tears.
The other two women are taken aback and try to comfort the blonde, asking what could be wrong.
The blonde wails, "I'm gonna have a puppy!"
(editorial note: The blonde is obviously not a Jehovah's Witness.)
a husband and his blond wife are driving in town when the come up to a stop light and stop behind a truck, "wow!
" the wife yells..
" the husband asks back.. "those people in front of us are a long way from home!
Ah, the smart blonde joke ... I like that one, Yknot.
A southern blonde sasheys onto a Delta flight first class and sits herself down beside a button-downed, no-nonsense brunette, obviously from someplace north of the Mason-Dixon line. The blonde says, "Hey there honey! My name is Betty-Lou and I'm from Alabama, so where are you all from?"
The brunette looks up from reading her New York Times and replies "I come from a place where we don't end sentences with prepositions" and returns to her newspaper.
The blonde smiles and says, "Oh, ok. So, where are you all from, bitch?"
a husband and his blond wife are driving in town when the come up to a stop light and stop behind a truck, "wow!
" the wife yells..
" the husband asks back.. "those people in front of us are a long way from home!
Is that a promise?
hey folks.
i've been on this board for just under seven months and i thank all of you who have contributed so generously to my education on things watchtower, and quite a few other things too.
not all of it was on here but it was through this board i've been directed to sites like freeminds and jwfacts.
You're ok, Shelby.
Good night.
hey folks.
i've been on this board for just under seven months and i thank all of you who have contributed so generously to my education on things watchtower, and quite a few other things too.
not all of it was on here but it was through this board i've been directed to sites like freeminds and jwfacts.
Hey there, Shelby. Hope you're feeling better.
Yes, you are right that UK society was strongly based on Roman Catholicism and then Anglicanism when Henry VIII couldn't get his way with the Pope. It has, however, evolved. My comments were in a modern context. Still, I see your point. If one reflects on what society puts people in jail for it is clear that even modern societies are still tainted by religious morals that have no place in the modern world. There are still states in the US which have sodomy (whether hetero- or homosexual) on their books as a crime punishable by imprisonment, for example. There are people rotting in western jails for simple cannabis possession. These are victimless "crimes" that have old testament origins.
Your perception of the origins of light is your perception, so part of your reality. My perception is different, so part of mine. Never the twain shall meet, as it goes. No harm, no foul.
I am mercenary insofar as I will shamelessly use the intelligence, insights and knowledge of anyone, you included dear lady, toward the realisation of one focussed objective, and that is to get my wife out of the WTBTS. Once that is accomplished, I may never speak to you again (but you may rest assured you will be fondly and gratefully remembered, if that is any consolation.)
