Posts by NewChapter

33

You are all wicked Apostates!!!

by iamwhoiam in

this is nothing new obviously, i'm just using this as a sounding board to see if i'm looking at this thing correctly.

your thoughts are greatly appreciated.. watchtower july 15, 2011 p 15 paragraph 4 under the title "will you heed jehovah's clear warnings?".

4 to elders of the ephesus congregation, paul said: from among you yourselves men will rise and speak twisted things.

NewChapter

I'm not talking about politics.

Call anti-slavery movements, civil rights, women's rights, medical advancements, equal opportunity politics if you like, I call it love.

What pushes people to work for social justice? Love

What pushes people to legislate against domestic abuse? Love

What pushes people to find cures for suffering? Love

I don't care what vehicle it arrives on---politics, internet, science, business, charity---it is an expression of love. The willingness to reach outside your experience, outside your affections, to look and to see and to be concerned--that is love. It's not flowers, it is action. And the more we get to know each other globally, the more action we are taking. Why do I care if Syria has free elections, if African women are subjected to brutal circumcision, if children are starving in Somalia? WHY? I don't know them, won't meet them and they don't affect me. I won't send them flowers. But it is love of humanity that makes me care. Jesus was wrong.

NC

33

You are all wicked Apostates!!!

by iamwhoiam in

this is nothing new obviously, i'm just using this as a sounding board to see if i'm looking at this thing correctly.

your thoughts are greatly appreciated.. watchtower july 15, 2011 p 15 paragraph 4 under the title "will you heed jehovah's clear warnings?".

4 to elders of the ephesus congregation, paul said: from among you yourselves men will rise and speak twisted things.

NewChapter

The whole world is cooling off? Really? And there is a marked difference between now and all of human history? Read about the dark ages---learn how the peasantry were abused, enslaved, generationally in debt, and see what the average person has now. Do the revolutions in the Middle East prove that the world is cooling off? Learn about the revolutions here, in S. America and other places and see where that led. It wasn't a cooling off, it was an energizing and a shift of power. It was civil rights, self determination and representation.

The whole world is not cooling off, and NT prophecies are not coming true. Study history. There are shifts in power and attitude, but this does not constitute cooling off. It's your imagination.

Look at how things have improved for women in the area of the world that Jesus lived and preached. Is this a cooling off? Things have gotten BETTER not worse. And now the cycle continues as more areas in the Middle East stand up and take their rights. In Jesus' world, slavery was condoned and tolerate. Is there slavery today? Yes, but there is great pushback. In Jesus' day women were subjected to the authority of the men in their lives. Does that go on today? Yes---but many women have attained much greater freedom and self fullfillment than in Jesus' day. Again, it is your imagination.

Do we still have disease? YES. but the diseases of Jesus' day that would wipe you out are treatable now. We even have effective treatments for AIDS. It is a BETTER world than the world that Jesus lived in---which completely debunks his prophecies. The problems will continue, and if you look at those problems as a "sign" you will see the negative and conclude it's all falling apart. If you look at the whole picture you will see a great deal of progress, regression, but then more progress ahead.

Wobble---great point on how this will start out small and become part of their cultures and beliefs. You gave me flashbacks. That's exactly how the CO would do things. "Don't you remember the 356th sentence in the study WT 5 years ago friends????? It's here, in the footnote. What did you think that meant? Those who have become INACTIVE are listed as apostates. Let me read it again (for you slackers that missed or forgot)."

NC

28

Immediate accidental sex

by rebel8 in

there was a thread here some time ago with a title something like this.

it was about the wts' silly teachings about chaperones needing to be present every single moment to prevent couples from having sex, as though sex is something that happens instantly and accidentally.. i saw this today and thought of that thread.here for more.. *on 2nd thought....i am not sure the pics would meet posting guidelines...so click the above link.

it's a few comic strips depicting silly scenes in which "immediate accidental sex" happened.

NewChapter

Give COCO a wide berth. He's an accident waiting to happen!

28

Immediate accidental sex

by rebel8 in

there was a thread here some time ago with a title something like this.

it was about the wts' silly teachings about chaperones needing to be present every single moment to prevent couples from having sex, as though sex is something that happens instantly and accidentally.. i saw this today and thought of that thread.here for more.. *on 2nd thought....i am not sure the pics would meet posting guidelines...so click the above link.

it's a few comic strips depicting silly scenes in which "immediate accidental sex" happened.

NewChapter

Silly---but my question is---how would a chaperone have prevented THOSE scenarios. LOL---Errrr the chaperone could end up actually being one of the individuals involved in the accident---it seems like it would be better NOT to have a chaperone or a threesome could accidentally ensue.

NC

35

How do you feel about Occupy wallstreet

by d in

i feel that people are expressing their anger in a constructive.how do you feel about the protests..

NewChapter

It's baffling Mr. Freeze---because wasn't the tea party upset about similar things? The bail outs. And they were so disruptive, that ordinary citizens could not voice their concerns at townhalls because they were shouted down. Fox news celebrated that.

My UU pastor said something very interesting this Sunday. She said that by keeping us all fighting each other, the powerful get their way. It doesn't matter what we stand for, as long as we are fighting and not united. I have high hopes that Occupy Wallstreet will prove to be a uniting factor. According to those that are there, many political views are represented, but all agreee that corporate corruption has corrupted our politics and economy. Fox news serves their masters by pretending that there is no unity---I think there is much more unity than the media will admit.

NC

37

My sisters funeral service was just appalling. An absolute disgrace.

by still wondering in

my sisters' funeral service was just appalling.

an absolute disgrace.. http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/medical/216561/1/my-sister-died-this-morning-after-refusing-blood-on-four-occasions.

the funeral was held today for my sister when every opportunity was used as a sales pitch to promote their malignant message, in this case to any non jw's that may be present, just like any other pyramid scam it seems.. the person whose funeral it is just has a minor bit part to play compared to the main feature , the promotion of the all encompassing multi-talented multi-tentacled wts that you can rely on to guide misguide and pervade every nook and cranny of your life including when to die.. and why not, because as gods only prophet to all mankind, they don't just hear gods voice, they are gods voice.. ***watchtower 1957 june 15 p.370*** "it is vital that we respond to the directions of the "slave" as we would to the voice of god.

NewChapter

I'm sorry Still 'Wondering. Maybe you should make a personal plan to memorialize your sister. I remember, recently, another poster who attending their father's sales meeting, and met afterward with their brother where they sat by a campfire and remembered their father. Can you do something like that to find some closure and to express your grief and appreciation for your sister?

I'll be thinking about you today.

10

Timothy T: The Anointed and Me

by compound complex in

jw
friends

i have never had any personal help from a member of the fds apart from what i read in the literature... which was very little because id rather read the bible.

even as a jw, if i had any encouragement it came from the elders or the bible.

they were the ones that did the hard work and cared.

NewChapter

I often wondered if the religion changed so much since 91 when I was baptized. I felt like at the time I was living by principal and as the years went on I felt suffocated by rules. The spirit seemed to change, and things felt nitpicky. But I wasn't sure if that was my own growing awareness or a change in the organization. I now think it was a bit of both.

I told my daughter about the mentally diseased article. She was kind of surprised. She never took to the religion, but she told me that she remembers very clearly that I taught her to respect the beliefs of others. She said I told her we didn't believe like them, but that they had that right. That made me feel good, because that is how I remembered it.

They are definitely becoming more contentious. Individuals have less and less worth in this organization. The importance of the R&F has diminished, or it seems that way to me. They don't even get to know the rules anymore! No wonder the elders are tired. Their wards have to constantly check to make sure they haven't broken any of the endless rules. 20 years ago, some things anyway were handled between the person and Jehovah. As the years went on, everything became an elder matter, and no one can ever feel secure that they haven't unknowingly messed up royal.

I don't believe anymore, but I'm still disturbed by what is happening. It makes me angry. But even 20 years ago it was a bad place to be.

NC

23

Has Gambling Become A Conscience Issue Among JWs?

by FreeAtLast1914 in

the reason i ask is that i have a coupe of cousins who are still jws who have gone gambling in casinos with us.

i have a brother-in-law who openly brags about his "perfect" blackjack strategy he employs in vegas when he's in town.. i know that growing up as a jw, gambling of any kind was a dfing offense.. is my jw family simply more liberal than most, or has there been a subtle shift in this area since i've been out?.

NewChapter

Someone close to me gambled some. He went to an elder who told him that's as far as it needed to go. The issue was making it a "practice". Not sure how they would define that, but I'm sure it would vary from congregation to congregation. The 2 agreed that he would gamble no more, and if he did, another elder would need to be involved and possibly a JC. This person had a gambling problem and had "slipped" a few times. Their concern seemed to be that it didn't become a life style again.

Clear as mud?

NC

10

Timothy T: The Anointed and Me

by compound complex in

jw
friends

i have never had any personal help from a member of the fds apart from what i read in the literature... which was very little because id rather read the bible.

even as a jw, if i had any encouragement it came from the elders or the bible.

they were the ones that did the hard work and cared.

NewChapter

LOL---And this was Third Timothy Chapter one verses 1-27.

Nice post CoCo---I just couldn't pass up the similarities.

36

Did the snake or serpent in the garden have free will?

by jam in

was the snake or serpent created perfect, god saw it was.

good.

so if the serpent or snake(presumably innocent).

NewChapter

Darth! I never thought of vs 22 like that, but good point. Do you know the Mormons teach that man's fall from grace in the garden was good for us and set us up to be like God? LOL It can say whatever you want it to say.

Over 20 years ago I went to a bible study where they taught that Satan came as a snake because it is last in the line of what man rules over. I don't remember the exact order, but his domain was over the birds, the 4 legged creatures, the fish and lastly the animals that creep along the ground (snakes). THEY said that by coming as a snake, man (the general) gave his power to the lowest ranked private (the snake)--and therefore put himself beneath all creation. LOL Like I said, it can say whatever you choose.

NC