ThinkerBelle

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Posts by ThinkerBelle

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  11

  Live 'as though' God is true and goodness is real? Why? Why not?

  by TerryWalstrom in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  in the long run, goodness can be as real as we care to live it.

  and if we live 'as though' god were as real as we once believed--how can we go wrong?let us think about this...what would happen if we were given a large amount of cash and we spent it on gifts for our loved ones but-- a knock at the door and the police are here!

  that cash was counterfeit and those gifts must be confiscated...what then?good intentions are only that--intentions-- if there is no "there" there.when we were each others' brothers and sisters our love was real but the currency was counterfeit.

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  ThinkerBelle

  The opening question brought to mind Euthyphro's dilemma - check it out.

  My conclusion is that you don't need a god in order to be good or do good things.
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  17

  Man on the High Castle

  by Gorbatchov in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  g. was binge watching on amazon prime the serie the man on the high castle.

  because my interest in history subjects a good choice!

  what i mentioned was the family of john smith, the obergruppenfuhrer.

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  ThinkerBelle

  The book is one of my favorites - a very intriguing "what-if" storyline. I love historical fiction, but it does take a minute to get used to PKDs writing style. I've only watched a few episodes of the show so far, but it seems pretty different from the book. You piqued my interest again though so I need to revisit it.
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  16

  Cain - where's the critical thinking skills?

  by jws in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  just read a post on facebook where somebody is making some wild crazy-talk about the descendants of cain being the beast of revelation or something.. cain was always a strange tale to me.

  don't people use any critical thinking skills when they read this stuff?

  everybody knows cain killed his brother abel, but do they ever look at the surrounding tale?.

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  ThinkerBelle

  Or did Cain really go and get one of the forbidden fruits? Was that the real crime? A forbidden fruit was part of his sacrifice so that's why god was mad and rejected his sacrifice?

  The forbidden fruits were blocked by angels guarding Eden. This is the part of the narrative that baffles me. The Bible account says that God banished Adam & eve from the garden and put two angels in front of it swinging swords - or something of the like.

  The book we studied I think last year, the one about all the faithful people of old had this in the first story talking about Abel. The book mentioned that "no doubt" Abel saw these angels and knew what had been lost, blah, blah, blah....which is why he was so faithful. The book had a picture too. I sat there wondering where the heck the WT get this crap and if that's so, then why can't we see those angels guarding Eden now? Where did it go?

  Sorry, off topic.....😁
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  28

  Today's Watchtowe Study, Child Baptism

  by BluesBrother in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  suffice to say that i fundamentally disagree with the point of this article, a cynical attempt to boost numbers.

  it goes against bible precedent and their own long standing practice.

  they timothy as an example of a youthfull christian, a young man.. sure but he was not baptized young .

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  ThinkerBelle

  All or nothing - ....and guilting the parents too!!

  I swear if I have to hear the blanket statement, "it's a protection" one more time in a comment, I'm going to puke. That's total BS! This is a topic I despise because I felt pressured into baptism as a teen and will never do this to my kids. Jesus was 30 for goodness sake!! They forget to cover that fact during these studies!! Ugh!!
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  27

  Do any of the JWs go out door to door with a territory any more?

  by Spiral in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i actually had a neighbor ask me that the other day (she knows i'm an "ex" jw) and i didn't really know the answer.

  i know there's a bit of cart witnessing going on (small town) and a lot of driving around to return visits.. but are they actually doing territory, not-at-homes, all of that?

  the neighbor said that eight years ago, when she bought her house, the jws were by "all the time".

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  ThinkerBelle

  I'm PIMO and havent gone out "in service" for almost a couple years now, but yes, essentially territory work is still done. When we first moved into our home almost a decade ago, the dubs came occasionally throughout the years- we're very close to a KH, not in my cong's territory though so they don't know I live there. Since I'm home Saturday morning, I haven't had any on our street except when the campaigns start for memorial/conventions. We are normally visited right after the campaign starts, funny though that this past one they approached the door, stood there, and left the tract. No knocking or ringing.

  I do know they are emphasizing informal or public witnessing now from the platform and our pubs are always losing the cards and not turning them back in.
  
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  8

  Religion Project

  by Darren Doody in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've recently taken a particular interest in the jehovah's witness belief, and as a result, have decided to do a project on this belief as part of my college study.

  i am a student teacher in ireland, so, i am undertaking this project from an educational perspective; i want to see how jehovah's witnesses are catered for in religious education in schools, and if there are any ways one could improve it.

  i would appreciate if anyone could give their opinion on this topic.

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  ThinkerBelle

  Just wanted to step in and clarify the "Higher Education" MO witnesses have. In print and most talks, they encourage to not pursue education more than is necessary (not banning it), so they don't like the idea of an 18 year old staying on campus under worldly influence, but they recognize that sometimes schooling is necessary beyond the mandated. The interpretation and enforcement is of course not universal as many JW ideas aren't. Service is of course pushed first as others stated and trying to offer yourself up full-time as a goal. I've known plenty of elder's kids that went to college (myself included) and their fathers weren't removed. I think much of it depends on the enforcement of "the rules" in your area and who you know. A couple of those kids are elders themselves now, but their fathers were highly respected in the inner circle. You will find some old timers still touting the "no college" mantra, but that is far from the norm now.

  For what it's worth, I'm born-in PIMO.
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  42

  I HATE JW funerals

  by jws in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  jw funeral last night.

  it was about half an hour from start to finish.

  they opened with basic facts about the person.

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  ThinkerBelle

  Oh, no, another one Captain?!?!

  In this case it was female, Eurpean name, but not strange and similar to an English name, which is the one the elder chose to use. I'd say the name, but it would be too identifying. This relative was very well liked and it was standing room only so most people were aware of the error and unbelieving relatives there too. Very little was said about her life, but definitely played up the sales pitch......didn't work on the unbelievers, they were not impressed with it, LOL.
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  42

  I HATE JW funerals

  by jws in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  jw funeral last night.

  it was about half an hour from start to finish.

  they opened with basic facts about the person.

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  ThinkerBelle

  Try having the funeral talk of my very dear relative given by an elder friend of another family member that didn't know the deceased personally and mispronounced their name the whole talk.....talk about impersonal and disheartening.
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  46

  What Makes Someone Become a JW?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my excuse is that i was born in the religion.

  but if someone wasn’t, why would they become one?.

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  ThinkerBelle

  Even people "born into" a religion are responsible for their own decisions once they become legal adults. So anyone that gets baptized after reaching the legal age of adulthood has chosen this religion.

  Still. you're right it's definitely a choice - but a different from that of the choice to convert when you're an adult with no JW background to normalize the choice.

  While the born-in does make a choice, it is completely different from someone that comes in later so I have to agree with Steve here. Also, most born-ins end up baptized before they are legal adults because the religion pushes child baptism to hook 'em in, that fact can't be glazed over either. Personal experience, I got baptized as a teen because I was tired of everyone asking me when I was going to do it (most of my friends had been dunked already). I honestly didn't want to do it, but felt like I didn't have a choice.

  For the OP, people love to be part of a community and that is exactly what the JWs offer; everything looks great in the beginning.
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  27

  At the annual meeting right now . . .

  by neat blue dog in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i'm at the recorded meeting right now.

  trying to hide my disgust sitting up front listening to geoffrey jackson quibble about the pharisaical minutai of sanctification vs. vindication.

  the audience is thrilled that they now have 'permission' to say god's name can be vindicated.

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  ThinkerBelle

  I'm here too, Neat, trying to control my facial expressions. How bout when those brothers "turned the matter over to prayer" when having issues with fabricators. Biggest inner eyeroll ever!!