God is real because when I pray 50% of the time the thing I pray for comes true. The other 50% of the time the country song of Garth Brooks comes true and I thank God for unanswered prayers.
Therefore God exists.
Amen.
the article (faith) is all about why you should have solid evidence based reasons for belief in god.
it's not good enough to believe in god just because you were raised to believe in god.. (from the article).
but god wants those who worship him to have genuine confidence in his existence and in his love.. then it goes on to tell us how we can get that genuine confidence that there is a god.
God is real because when I pray 50% of the time the thing I pray for comes true. The other 50% of the time the country song of Garth Brooks comes true and I thank God for unanswered prayers.
Therefore God exists.
Amen.
i recall a conversation i had after an international convention.
it was recently in the united states.
the one where they played the jesus drama and all that.
Divergent - point taken.
i remain hopeful with my wife...
i recall a conversation i had after an international convention.
it was recently in the united states.
the one where they played the jesus drama and all that.
The mind control/indoctrination topic is an interesting one and an important one. It is real and alive and well in any conversation of substance with a JW.
What blows my mind is their complete misunderstanding and ignorance of the topic. They actually believe that a visit to an apostate website can poison your mind in a matter of minutes and yet completely miss the real mind control of the organization beating the JW talking points multiple times per week for years and years and ultimately rendering the average JW a non-questioning ideologue robot.
i recall a conversation i had after an international convention.
it was recently in the united states.
the one where they played the jesus drama and all that.
I recall a conversation I had after an International Convention. It was recently in the United States. The one where they played the Jesus drama and all that.
My wife and another sister were going on and on about the scene where the lady touched Jesus' garment. They were gushing over the emotion of the scene yada yada.
Firstly, I realized while watching this drama, more than ever before, that these Jesus stories are just that... stories. Unproven, second hand stories. But I digress...
I spoke up during their gushing episode and said: "Jesus sounds like a super hero. It sounds like a super hero's origin story." I said it as if I thought it was cool, not with a negative tone. Both of them just stared at me.
Later in the discussion. I said (again with a tone of sincerity and not sarcasm) " I wish Jesus would have written something. I mean why didn't he write something himself? You know what I mean?"
Again.. awkward pause and blank stares from both of them. I simply remained silent and allowed their response.
They could not fathom the thought. It was obviously something they have never once considered. They paused and picked up talking on a completely different topic.
My point in relating this memory... JW's literally can't think or process a thought that is outside the normal JW talking points.
this is a rant mainly in response to my wife's reaction to the stupid clam meeting last night.
bear in mind, while i am not sexist, i am also not politically correct.
.... it is no secret that the women in this organization outnumber the men.
this is a rant mainly in response to my wife's reaction to the stupid clam meeting last night.
bear in mind, while i am not sexist, i am also not politically correct.
.... it is no secret that the women in this organization outnumber the men.
This is a rant mainly in response to my wife's reaction to the stupid CLAM meeting last night.
Bear in mind, while I am not sexist, I am also not politically correct.
...
It is no secret that the women in this organization outnumber the men. Walk into any random kingdom hall and you will see a ratio of roughly 2:1... if not more. "Unbelieving Mates" are husbands 90% of the time.
I looked around the hall last night and saw several middle-aged women there alone. Most of them are married. I watched my wife lap up the new meeting program and later talk about how much she enjoyed it. 'Great', I thought to myself, just when I was making some mental-fading headway with her.
I saw something in her I may have missed before. She wants the org to tell her what to do. She wants the org to tell her she is being a bad girl or good girl. She can't let go of the warm and fuzzies of Jehovah up in the sky looking over her. Like a lot of women, unfortunately, she had (and still has) a bad relationship with her father.
It seems she is using the org to fill that void. I look around the kingdom hall and wonder if the same story isn't true of the other middle-aged women clinging to this org even as they drag in late looking miserable as hell.
By the same token, shame on the GB for exploiting these vulnerable women just so they can mass together their throngs to hang on their every word.
Hey Governing Body... you are duplicitous, self-serving scumbags. You know it. Many many other people know it... Unfortunately for you, some of those people are judges in court rooms. May 2016 bring more lawsuits and more scathing press exposing your hypocrisy and hidden agenda.
Rant over....
so, it's that time of year again.
here's a few of my predictions.
) no armageddon.
We will see first decline of our time in overall publisher numbers.
when speaking with brothers, i can see they really like the jw.org site more than magazines and books.
i can imagine them publishing more and more articles and news as it's more dynamic and creates a sense of alert with brothers looking for new articles to read instead of the boring monthly magazines.. but when it comes to the jw broadcasting, it's something different.
even elders admit they aren't watching the monthly broadcastings.
I agree with sir82 ...
I think the diehards love it. They see it as a gift from Jah. Especially is this true of elderly ones and those that are infirm and cannot come to the meetings regularly. I think that may be a sub-plot here. The broadcast is a way to stay in front of (and get donations from) the "at-home-faithful".
As far as the front lines here in my congregation in USA, there's not all that much chatter about the broadcasts. The younger generation finds it ridiculous. I am an elder. I have watched one complete episode since the thing started. Same for my wife.(that was the money-grab episode). I am fully awake. The wife is not, but probably sees some of the points I make more than she admits.
It wouldn't surprise me if she found the broadcast faith-weakening and avoids it for that reason. But honestly, we are busy working professionals and simply don't have time nor care about sitting in front of a corny broadcast. It is hosted by men 20-40 years older than us and seems to be written for the elderly or other slower thinking witnesses. It has zero appeal to our generation or younger. That is my opinion. I'm late Gen-X, she's early Millennial, btw.
LOL...
Good stuff. Yeah they would like to burn us at the stake, wouldn't they?
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...