"We noticed that the disciples (some of whom were not with Christ) had the power to perform miracles and expel demons when Christ was on earth."
Um no they did not. The Bible may say they did, but that is not the same thing.
The Holy Spirit is anything you want it to be, since it is not only invisible, it does not exist.
last night on pbs, there was a program about finding and persuing nazi's after wwii.
nazi's from croatia were given refuge in catholic seminaries and a priest then credited them.
with baptism and a new name.
"The virulent antiCatholicism on this thread troubles me greatly."
Either you forgot to take your pills today or you took too many. It is not virulent antiCatholicism to point out that the Pope was strangely quiet before and during WW2 and that Austria was a strongly Catholic country and that although a few did resist, most did not. Even the current Pope was in the German military during the war.
Germany however was about 50% Catholic and so I agree with you that "there is plenty of blame to go around."
18 months ago when i told my wife that i no longer believe the wt teachings and that i had attended my last meeting, she said that everything would change because she didn't marry a "pagan".
so after a short moment i told her that i understood her reaction, but this would be the only time i would not act on such a comment - the next time i would simply pack up and leave.
isn't it strange that the one who is supposed to be in the "truth" is the one who is ready to forfit our marriage, when in fact the bible tells christian spouses to remain with their unbelieving mate?
"Does the chicken or the goat's blood go better with beef"
I would think a JW would be happier if it was the blood of the Lamb...
a very reliable friend told me this: the bro was commenting on what was "unacceptable" conduct in the bedroom between married persons.
needless to say, he had everyone's attention.
he went on to say "we must avoid perversions such as oral and annual sex.
It was not at a meeting but one elder and I had just finished talking to a Sikh and they had explained a little about their religion. They believe there was a great battle and God gave them victory because the fighters continued even after they had been decapitated.
Anyway, once we left, the elder started laughing at this person's faith and said 'What an idiot. Who would believe that soldiers can keep on fighting after decapitation. What a stupid religion, I am glad we have the TRUTH".
I, as politely as possible, pointed out we are trying to teach him the Bible, that there was a talking snake and a talking donkey, that the sun and moon can stand still so a battle can be won, that you could be brought to life for just touching a prophet's dead bones....and I could go on for hours with totally unbelievable incidents in the Bible. He went quiet, then said, "yes, but in the Bible it really happened, so it's different..."
By then I was well on my way to seeing the JW religion for what it was.
matt.26;peter struck the slave of the high priest, and.
jesus speaks to the crowds, have you come out as.
against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me.. before reading this without the help of the wt.
"I can identify Jesus for you. He is so gay it's hard to miss him. His toga is imported and seamless and his beard is kept well trimmed and his walk is so light you would think he was walking on water." But the priests were not so sure, after all Peter and John were his bosom buddies and looked pretty gay too, unless that was just because they were from Galillee. "I know, I'll go with you", Judas said, "and I'll go up to him and kiss him. Once you see that passionate kiss there will be no doubt!" So they agreed and went looking for Jesus. However, the kiss was so hot that Peter got extemely jealous and went wild. He even nicked a slaves ear, but Jesus spat on the tiny cut and kissed it better. The slave was so embarrased he declined to press charges.
has anyone been successful in getting their disfellowshipping rescinded?
i specifically do not mean getting reinstated.
i want to know if anyone that was disfellowshipped was able to officially and through the congregation and/or the organization have their status as a "disfellowshipped person" changed without getting "reinstated" through the normal procedures?.
I was around when there was a reversal in one congregation. One elder called Smith had been meeting another man's wife alone and in the end the husband broke his nose for it. He was not liked by the local elders so they decided to DF the elder because he had ignored previous advice not to meet with this woman alone. His argument was his kids were in the house (but not in the same room).
He appealed, and it was reversed. The reason was never explained from the platform but it was soon common knowledge - the elders had told him he was to be DF'd but announced it before waiting the full 7 days he is granted for an appeal. So on this technicality it was reversed on appeal, by elders who were his friends. What was odd about all this was that the Bible says nothing at all about having to wait 7 days, nor about not being in a room with a woman alone. Also, the elders who DF'd him originally had no interest in repentence or not, they just wanted him out - yet not one of them was removed for abuse of power or anything like that once he got reinstated.
Some said it proved God was controlling things since it was resolved in the end but really there was no evidence of Holy Spirit from beginning to end.
As for the guy who broke his nose, he got DF'd! The elder took him to court and they decided, since he had broken a nose, he was guilty. They considered that the elder had been warned before not to mess with his wife or be alone with her - so they awarded the elder the minimum $20 compensation and he had to pay all his own court costs. Now that's justice!
it's been over 3 years since the book study in private homes was discontinued and some jws are still scratching their heads over it.
although a letter was read to all congregations explaining that "book study night" would now be "family worship night", there was still much speculation among jws as to the real reason behind this decision (the great tribulation was about to start, jehovah was simplifying the lives of jws, to lessen the burden of poor jws who had no money for gas, etc.)...
but as we all know, decisions like these from the gb invariably have some ulterior motive behind it... and discussion boards such as this one usually finds a way to dig up the truth for all to see... but after reading several threads on this subject, i'm really not sure we've uncovered all the facts yet.... so i have to ask... what do you believe really ended the book study in private homes?
The group study was the least attended, and no matter how much the Org. pushed it, it remained so. I don't mean by 5% either - in some congregations the number attending was as low as 50%. Why? Well, there is not one answer to that. To some, the study books were too hard to understand (or too boring if you don't like prophesy badly interpreted). To others who rarely answer, if ever, at the KH it was very difficult to sit in a room with 15 people and stay in the background, so they just stopped coming - often when someone would remain silent the conductor would even ask them outright to read a scripture or something (this was not supposed to happen but I have seen it done many times).
In some congregations it was becoming harder to get people to offer their homes for it. One reason was the time it would take to clean and prepare the house, another that it was expensive to offer refreshments every week and another that JW children were increasingly ill behaved.
As has been mentioned, some found it too much effort to attend after a hard day's work and although everyone might notice that you were missing from a KH meeting, few would know you skipped the Group Study, so that's the one you left out.
And finally the elders...the group study conductor was also supposed to shepherd the members of his group, but this rarely happened in a positive way - it was often seen as another pressure, perhaps one pressure too much.
In the end I think the reason was simply the GB gave up on it. They have completely reversed what they said for many years that JW'S need study and association all the more so 'as the end draws near', dropped the group study, reduced the Public Talk to 30 minutes and dumbed down the study material to such an extent having a brain at all has become a hindrance.
The result? When I talk to a JW, I discover they cannot discuss the Bible at all! Once out of the safety net of what is in the paragraph they fall apart.
i am so ashamed that i joined this site!
i thought that i would meet people here that honour jehovah here.
insread most of the people here are not here for the service of god.
" this twit of woman"
This proves my point completely. Some people who post here are rude and obnoxious. This is not the way to pursuade someone to re-examine their religion.
i am so ashamed that i joined this site!
i thought that i would meet people here that honour jehovah here.
insread most of the people here are not here for the service of god.
" Most here have "natural affection", and demonstrate this by not rejecting someone simply because they think differently. Rather, most here are very supportive, encouraging, and loving because we are all people, no matter what or how we may believe."
Nicely put, but unfortunately untrue.
People can and do 'reject someone simply because they think differently" in posts, which can border on insulting at times. In fact quite a lot have left the site for this very reason, and said so as they left.
The reason is not that there are 'bad' people here though, it's that they are dealing with a lot of pain and anger, frustration and even depression as they adjust to life outside of the JW cult and having to cope with the shunning and family problems that often results from it.
i've known about it since the schedule went up on the notice board, and i started thinking how i could get out of it.
well time rolls on and before you know it, its tonight!
sigh .
You may feel you must stay a JW for the sake of your family (no one wants to be shunned or lose their wife and kids) but being an MS or Elder is entirely optional and completely and totally hypocritical if you don't believe it any more, IMO.
