i am a theist & this is my version of god.. instead of using the term god, i'll use "unseen presence".. this unseen presence, is perfect in every way.
this presence is so perfect it can seem a bit boring.this perfection can be seen in the laws of science, for example gravity.. it does not sometimes work, depending on the mood of some one in the sky, it always works, perfectly.
gravity does not get angry and decide to stop working, and cause the death of innumerable living beings, it just works, through thick or thin, it is reliable.. what allows this unseen presence to remain perfect, is the fact that it does not act based on emotion, or strategy or regret.. it acts based on law, mathematical law.. this unseen presence is not partial to jews or muslims or jw's it is completely impartial at all times, to everything that exists.
LAWHfol - I appreciate you sharing. I will throw my vote with Deism sprinkled with some Pantheism.
It seems the "street" definition of theist is a person that believes in one or more of the gods of the revealed religions. By that informal definition, you certainly are not a theist.
Considering that this forum is a Jehovah's Witness forum and not an atheist forum, I will conclude by simply saying "Well done." You are miles past the Jdubs...
when i first left the watchtower organization in 2008, a flood of emotions came back to me.
betrayal, anger, resentment, deep depression from the relationships lost.
emotions seemed to guide my viewpoint of others as well.
Reality can be harsh.
Retreating to a fairy tale is easier for all of us.
i was reading an essay online about how witnesses are critical of higher education and discourage it.
the editor's note said there are other conservative religious groups that hold the same view towards education.. there are?
do any of you know of any religious group that works as hard as the jws at keeping their members stupid?.
I knew a lady raised southern Pentecostal that had to leave the church of her youth in order to go to school and become a doctor. It led to and still causes division in the family. Oh and she wears pants. That's a no-no.
According to her the Pentecostals believe in living a simple modest life centered around the church. Women especially are expected to stay submissive and literally wait on and serve the men of the family.
Rising up as a woman to the level of doctor and becoming an authority in the professional community is considered rebelling against the bible and making an idol of yourself.
the wts has published over it's existence during the years a flood of books and magazines.
many of the content of this publications includes topics about the medical, social, history field and also counsel about life style.. the achilles heel of all these publications is, that they are written mainly by amateurs, without verification and validation.
most of it is worthless.
Captive audience. They are just preaching to the choir.
If someone in the professional fields of study exposed the JW's for being ignorant, uneducated , or stupid, the reaction would be a collective "Well Duh! What else is new?!"
All fundamentalist religious groups possess a similar level of ignorance. It is well known to the experts.
fwd from anon:.
dear brothers,.
we are happy to provide you with a brief progress update on the warwick project and explain how you can assist with a major adjustment recently approved in our construction schedule.
Many of you are among them and you have personally seen Jehovah’s spirit in operation both at the project and with your personal circumstances enabling you to come and work.
I have to say... Isn't it interesting that God's blessings for the volunteers always comes through their ability to pay their OWN way. Why can't God bless the organization to have the funds to buy a plane ticket for the volunteers?
Just an interesting choice God is making in how to distribute his blessings...
It baffles me how much BS these JW's will swallow.
that's what i suspect.. perhaps some of us retrained our brains to not surrender to a natural urge to believe the simplest, most drama-laden spins on facts.. examples (at least i think this is the truth!):.
the clock.
the son of muslim activists makes a device that, on purpose, looks like a bomb.
I think this video is good for explaining the problem. Basically people don't know what they don't know... and good luck telling them that.
i see years of acute economic crisis ahead for the w.t.
this is evident with letting go of " volunteer" bethalites throughout the world.
but my thread is on the consequences to the individual, and the organisation of letting " volunteer" bethalites go.. so what happens to the captive mind of the former bethalite when they are let go from bethel?
If we see fallout from the layoffs, which I think we will, it will be down the road and not all at once.
The cult mind goes into overdrive when something like this happens. Right now, or in the very near future, they will be doing incredible mental gymnastics to justify this move that "Jehovah" did to them. They will search for new blessings and such in their new "assignments".
Later on, when they slow down enough, they may start to think.
When they do, the internet is waiting... moohahahahah!
guys .
a letter was just read in out kh stating that all printing of wt and awake is ceased for the coming year and we will just place tracts on fs, countries which were cared by our branch will be cared by other countries...along with this they read the new fs form and stuff about reporting links of videos wtf..lol.
i can't tell which country perhaps that will give away a lot, any one with a similar information.
That must be a misprint isn't that supposed to be Indiana? LOL - truthseeker100
Good One...:)
Sounds like they were forced by law to be self-supportive. As a result, not enough blessing from Jah to keep the printing going.
I guess the GB should pray harder for India. :)
samuel herd made a statement a few weeks ago about halting construction work, laying off bethel workers and reducing printing output: severe cutbacks all round.
he said, like the head of a household, the gb has to make sure the organisation is living within its means.
but he added a very careful phrase, something like: "be assured brothers these measures have not been taken as a result of any lack of financial support on your part.
· Commitment & Consistency (people behave consistently with their commitments). - newyork44m
They do this 24/7.
Field Service, Theocratic Ministry School, Demonstrations, Experiences, Commenting, Bible Studies, Monthly time reporting, Baptism, Answering those questions in front of the assembly at baptism, etc.
They are committing and recommitting every time they do any of these activities. It's one of their biggest control techniques IMO.
i would like to see one or better two members of the governing body get disfellowshipped and they both go off to write books like ray franz exposing the cult to all the sexual scandals, the hidden agendas with the stock market investments, the lawsuits, the laying of long time bethel workers, hidden sins by the higher ups and all the other nasty skeletons in the watchtower closet..
what would be different today compared to rays time is that we now live in a social media world..
they would be invited to talk in the oprah winfrey show, ellen degeneres show, the view, dateline.
John - LOL....
Good point
