sometimes i get a strong curiosity to start dabbling into other religions, other faiths, you know?
really different ones such as islam, judaism, hinduism, etc.. has anyone here looked into something else?
has your spirituality been satisfied by any other than christianity?.
Has anyone here looked into something else?
Definitely not!
By the time I managed to extricate myself from the JWs, I had already had enough of religion (in any of its forms) to last a life time.
(Or, to use the vernacular of the region in which I grew up in, I had had a complete "gutsful" of the bloody thing!).
Bill.
greetings, folks: so, it's been 40 years since 1975. and, if you were actively involved with the witnesses back then, the mindset of many was, that by early autumn of 1975, it would mark the anniversary of 6000 years of human existence.
and, the hope was then, that it would mark the start of the 1000-year of christ, from the heavenly realm.
but, looking back now, 40 years ago, in june of 1975, only 3 more months remained until early autumn.
I don't think we were mad we had accepted the tribulation started in 1914 and had been cut short already I think when 1975 was introduced just waiting for the final part Armageddon
And then swallowed Mad Freddie's escape clause - hook, line and bloody sinker - even though it ignored what ought to have been a very obvious fact!
Bill.
greetings, folks: so, it's been 40 years since 1975. and, if you were actively involved with the witnesses back then, the mindset of many was, that by early autumn of 1975, it would mark the anniversary of 6000 years of human existence.
and, the hope was then, that it would mark the start of the 1000-year of christ, from the heavenly realm.
but, looking back now, 40 years ago, in june of 1975, only 3 more months remained until early autumn.
Of course, if you buy into the bible's account - and particularly the WTS's colouring of it - there was a large group of intelligent beings present when Eve was created
i.e. the angels, plus (according to JW theology) God's master worker, Jesus Christ.
So, if calculating the date of Armeggedon were as simple as adding 6000 years to the date of Eve's creation, these beings would know what that date was:
- presumably, being superhuman, all of them are capable of adding + 6000 to - [4026 + x], (with "x" being, for us, the unknown quantity)!.
That would mean Jesus Christ and the angels did in fact know the "day and the hour", yet in that very same holy book, Christ assured his followers that neither he nor anybody else knew at what time this event was going to happen.
Back in the 1970s, this fact (i.e. Crazy Fred's escape clause) was quickly picked up on by a number of non-JW commentators. Yet we all missed that point. Were we all as mad as him, I ask you!
Bill.
greetings, folks: so, it's been 40 years since 1975. and, if you were actively involved with the witnesses back then, the mindset of many was, that by early autumn of 1975, it would mark the anniversary of 6000 years of human existence.
and, the hope was then, that it would mark the start of the 1000-year of christ, from the heavenly realm.
but, looking back now, 40 years ago, in june of 1975, only 3 more months remained until early autumn.
The third felt like both men were full of crap because no one could know the day and hour hence the whole discussion was speculative, including the part about 1975 potentially seeing Armageddon.
He was a very brave man to be voicing such opinions during those years. The WTS thought they had that one covered (i.e. "nobody knows the day or hour" bit) in the same 1968 Watchtower that asked "Why are you looking forward to 1975?" . This article stressed that it was "no time to be hiding behind" that scripture about no one knowing the day or the hour.
Those expressing contrary opinions were typically written off as - to use that JW swear word of the time - "immature".
Bill.
greetings, folks: so, it's been 40 years since 1975. and, if you were actively involved with the witnesses back then, the mindset of many was, that by early autumn of 1975, it would mark the anniversary of 6000 years of human existence.
and, the hope was then, that it would mark the start of the 1000-year of christ, from the heavenly realm.
but, looking back now, 40 years ago, in june of 1975, only 3 more months remained until early autumn.
I'm still awaiting 1975 to happen, and when it does you will all be sorry.
1975 will happen - about 4 billion years from now, when the sun runs out of nuclear fuel.
As for us all being sorry when this event does occur, I very much doubt if I will still be around then!
Bill.
i read blondie's great summary of today's watchtower lesson and thought about all the christians who died from various deaths for preaching the word and because they really believed what they preached the watchtower asked something of this sort, "if you were a christian in the early centuries, could you boldly stand up to all the exquisite tortures hurled at the first century christians because they were not afraid to take a stand for christ or be cowards to evil!".
are you aware of any condemnation made by the watchtower against radical islam or any actions showing their courage and being no part of this world?
they attack patient christian religions but what about others, where is their courage?.
They even tread warily in the more moderate Moslem countries, such as Malaysia:
- where the JWs are careful not to ever even attempt to preach to any Moslem. To do so would almost certainly see the religion banned.
Consequently, the Malaysian JWs focus on all the other religions in the country (Bhuddists, Hindus, Christians), but NOT on the Moslems - who constitute the majority. Not exactly the situation you would expect to see if the world were really facing an imminent catastrophy, and an urgent warning message was required to be sounded by all hands!
Bill.
greetings, folks: so, it's been 40 years since 1975. and, if you were actively involved with the witnesses back then, the mindset of many was, that by early autumn of 1975, it would mark the anniversary of 6000 years of human existence.
and, the hope was then, that it would mark the start of the 1000-year of christ, from the heavenly realm.
but, looking back now, 40 years ago, in june of 1975, only 3 more months remained until early autumn.
So, looking back in retrospect, do you remember anything---ANYTHING at all---that was happening on the world scene, that you would have thought, "Yeah, this is it, the Great Tribulation will soon be here, and the start of Armageddon"? Can you recall anything at all that would have caused you to think that?
I agree with you on that one, titch:
- By June 1975, there was absolutely nothing going on that could have caused a person to even begin thinking like that.
From what I recall, about the only noteworthy event that happened in 1975 was the real end of the Vietnam War. (The energy crisis, the moves to impeach Richard Nixon etc all occured the previous year, 1974 - and what the end of the Vietnam War had to do with Armegeddon, I could never figure out! )
That whole 1975 business did come from the top, too - much as they later tried to deny it. With magazine articles entitled "Why are you looking forward to 1975?", it was quite obvious what the WTS wanted its readers to think.
Bill.
we know the wt interpretation of matt 25:40 is support of the anointed.
since most of us here are no longer in that situation, what, if any forms of charity are you involved in?
sorry for the awkward framing of the question, it's not meant to imply atheists, or non-christians are not charitable!
Smiddy,
I did know some JWs in Oz who would part with a few coins for the blind - rationalising it along the lines "I could end up blind myself!". Admittedly, that was back in the days of Gough Whitlam, when wages were sky high for a time.
Bill.
we know the wt interpretation of matt 25:40 is support of the anointed.
since most of us here are no longer in that situation, what, if any forms of charity are you involved in?
sorry for the awkward framing of the question, it's not meant to imply atheists, or non-christians are not charitable!
In Australia, there is an organisation called "Street Swags", which seeks to provide each homeless person with a floored tent (popularly known as a "Street Swag").
I always donate to Street Swags - $80 a time - which is enough to provide one person with a Street Swag. (Admittedly, not much, but still a bloody site better than sleeping out under the stars during inclement weather!)
Of course, why a country such as this, with its excellent social welfare system, has still got several hundred thousand homeless people is quite another matter! Something to do with the bright idea they got in the 1980s to turn the mentally ill "out into the community", I suspect.
Bill.
the awake on "hope for the homelessness" was one of the worse illustrations how the cult has no love for anyone that can't provide donations to further this spiritual ponzi scheme!
the premise of this awake made no sense, i've read many books and took classes on social issues affecting mankind, the awake does not help fix the problem.
what did this magazine offer those who are suffering the humiliation of living out of their cars or "tent city" or under a bridge?
Some 40-odd years ago, I was rather incensed when some "born again" type ridiculed the JW religion:
- claiming that all it could offer people was a "Pie in the Sky".
However............ he was quite correct in making that claim!
Homeless and/or hungry people have more immediate needs than a Pie in the Sky - let alone one that is forever going to happen "soon".
Bill.
