Sea Breeze

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Posts by Sea Breeze

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  5

  WT and Deathbed Salvation?

  by Vanderhoven7 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  eight million jehovah's witnesses do not believe they are saved, so how can they in short order tell you how to get saved on your deathbed?.

  instead, they might tell you, “look you are about to die and the great tribulation has not started yet, so you don't need to repent and believe anything really.

  just die and your death will pay for your sins and unless you have sinned against the holy spirit, you will be raised along with most everybody else and learn from others such as abraham, isaac and jacob, how to live for the kingdom during the 1000 year reign of christ.

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  Sea Breeze

  Sadly, JWs would rather you trust the words of men instead of the words of Jesus Christ.

  I think about that all the time. Heretics were around while the apostles were still alive. Imagine that! In utter disregard for their own life, they were convinced they had the truth.

  Some people just have a natural contrarian personality. Psychologists call this ODD (oppositional defiant disorder). These are the kinds of people that say black when you say white. Or, they say "down" if you say "up". Or, if they hear a story, they turn it into a story about themselves.
  
  While this cannot explain all of the reasons people put their trust into men instead of Jesus, I think it explains a lot of JW's.
  
  People also use the mental device known as "suppression". Others, are just straight up gullible and proud of it. They interpret their gullibility as good-heartedness, and being righteous. These are the people who will say, without any investigation, "it has the ring of truth". That's what my dad told me when I asked him why he joined the WT.
  
  The bible just calls them fools.
  
  Pr. 28: 26 - He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool

  “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” - Gal. 1: 8
  
  
  
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  33

  Museum Pic

  by peacefulpete in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  a lot of ink has been spilled on the topic of the cross.

  the wt felt it had uncovered some deep conspiracy when they found a number of words were used to describe how jesus was understood to have been killed.

  there was an extensive thread many years ago that in short strongly supports the conclusion that at least some nt writers envisioned a cross, while others had a tree in mind.

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  Sea Breeze

  @ peacefulpete

  We all due respect, I believe your mind is broken.
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  33

  Museum Pic

  by peacefulpete in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  a lot of ink has been spilled on the topic of the cross.

  the wt felt it had uncovered some deep conspiracy when they found a number of words were used to describe how jesus was understood to have been killed.

  there was an extensive thread many years ago that in short strongly supports the conclusion that at least some nt writers envisioned a cross, while others had a tree in mind.

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  Sea Breeze

  @peacefulpete

  Religious "truth" is not measured by eye witnesses, but by the elevating of people's value and love.

  This is a self defeating statement. How do ytou know if your statement is true?

  You use a lot sophistry in describing Christianity.
  
  The simple facts are that a man who was prophesied to be god, did a bunch of miracles healing people and claimed that he would resurrect himself from the dead after he was murdered. Then, he did it. He was viewed as the Creator in the flesh from the earliest believers, especially after showing himself to hundreds of people after he came back from the dead, therefore leaving behind a huge group of eye-witnesses. People liked what he taught about freedom and unending life and were inclined to put their ultimate trust in him instead of themselves, religious leaders, inadequet philosophies, or really anything else.

  There is a lot to like about all that, especially since there is sound historical documentation that supports it. Why would anyone place their ultimate trust in someone, or something with no power to defeat death? Kinda, gets Jesus out in front of all the competetion doesn't it?

  For instance, these miracles of Jesus are far more believable than the miracles that secular materialists believe in.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krBhwImfPnU&ab_channel=CreationMinistriesInternational
  
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  6

  The Power Beyond What Is Normal

  by IWant2Know in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  related to this topic:.

  isaiah 40:29-31 and being gay (jehovahs-witness.com).

  i would like to know if any former or current jws have ever experienced any type of superhuman strength from god?

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  Sea Breeze

  Mind over matter? That's a pretty good description of the JW mindset. The good people are "strong" in the truth. Bad people are "weak" in the truth.

  Scripture simply describes this as a fake humility and "will worship".

  Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will worship, and humility - Col. 2:23 KJV

  They put on a good show, but in reality only worship their will power and callousness.

  Because thinking that I could or should fulfill what those verses and other similar verses were saying, was one of the most painful things for me when I was a JW.

  Me too. It was unbearable. That's why Jesus said you must be born again.
  
  
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  33

  Museum Pic

  by peacefulpete in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  a lot of ink has been spilled on the topic of the cross.

  the wt felt it had uncovered some deep conspiracy when they found a number of words were used to describe how jesus was understood to have been killed.

  there was an extensive thread many years ago that in short strongly supports the conclusion that at least some nt writers envisioned a cross, while others had a tree in mind.

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  Sea Breeze

  

  In the Palatine museum in Rome there is a collection of ancient graffiti etched on slabs of marble and limestone that once defaced the walls of palaces and public buildings across the Roman Empire. Among these is one that historians call “Alexamenos graffito”. It depicts a roughly drawn figure of a man with the head of an ass crucified on a cross. Next to the crucified figure is a smaller figure with one arm extended towards the former. Underneath the figures is a caption, written in equally crude letters, that reads “ΑΛΕ ξΑΜΕΝΟϹ ϹΕΒΕΤΕ ϑΕΟΝ”, meaning “Alexamenos worshipping his God.”

  Carved sometime between the first and the third centuries... The graffiti was discovered on a building complex that was unearthed in 1857 on the Palatine Hill in Rome.

  Case Closed as far as I'm concerned.

  Christians have been mocked since the beginning.

  Post Script: Crosses carved in Pompeii date to before the eruption in 79AD which buired everything in a time capsule.

  - Sea Breeze
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  74

  Doctrines and Bible Interpretations

  by IWant2Know in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i would like to know if ex's and formers who are not church christians, believe that many of jws' doctrines and bible interpretations are correct, or do you feel that they aren't?

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  Sea Breeze

  but doesn't reading those promises incorrectly result in...everlasting destruction

  @Iwant2know

  I don't think that it is possible to read God's promises incorectly. They are clear enough. The problem is that for whatever reason, some choose not to receive them.

  Do you receive the promises of God?
  
  
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  74

  Doctrines and Bible Interpretations

  by IWant2Know in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i would like to know if ex's and formers who are not church christians, believe that many of jws' doctrines and bible interpretations are correct, or do you feel that they aren't?

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  Sea Breeze

  @IWant2Know

  Well, I'm just wondering if that is a valid Hebrew scripture Messianic prophecy,

  
  

  The nice thing about freedom is that you get to read the promises of God for yourself and choose whether or not to receive them. You don't need anyone's permission.

  Jesus is quoting Ps. 118: 26. Here it is in context.

  A stone which the builders rejected

  Has become the chief cornerstone.

  This came about from the LORD;

  It is marvelous in our eyes.

  This is the day which the LORD has made;

  Let’s rejoice and be glad in it.

  Please, O LORD, do save us;

  Please, O LORD, do send prosperity!

  Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the LORD;

  We have blessed you [Jesus] from the house of the LORD.

  
  

  Jesus knew that his first coming would be a curse for him - "cursed is every man that hangeth upon a tree"... (Gal. 3: 13; 2 Cor 5: 21)) Israel pronounced a curse upon their King and in so doing liberated all believing mankind from the authority of Hell. Because that verse also says he became a curse "for us" not just Adam..... thus satisfying the harsh demands of the LAW which is the death penalty for all who receive it.

  When Jesus comes a second time, it will not to be to become a curse - but a blessing as he destroys the Anti-Christ and his human armies and demon hordes that gang up on the nation of Israel and squeeze them until they are literally begging Jesus to show up. As a nation they will have come all the way to their end. This is the time of Jacobs trouble. Not many Jews will be left, perhaps less than a third. But, enough will be left to welcome their Savior.

  Roman 9: 27 - And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved,

  Christianity is just a parenthesis in the over-all plan of God. And what a marvellous parentheis it is. But, the main theme of the bible centers around the King of Kings and Lord of Lords as the replacement for King Adam who gave away his kingdom for little more than a whim from his wife.

  Instead of a prison planet, the Milleniuim Reign will be a time of ubelievable freedom and peace as King Jesus shepards the nations with a rod of iron.

  
  

  All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name. - Ps. 86: 9
  
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  74

  Doctrines and Bible Interpretations

  by IWant2Know in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i would like to know if ex's and formers who are not church christians, believe that many of jws' doctrines and bible interpretations are correct, or do you feel that they aren't?

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  Sea Breeze

  So, is this supposed to continue on as long as humans are on this planet?

  No, just until the Jews decide to accept Jesus as their King.

  “I will pour out on the house of David and on the people of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace (unmerited favor) and supplication. And they will look at Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him as one who weeps bitterly over a firstborn. 11 In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of [the city of] Hadadrimmon in the Valley of [d]Megiddo [over beloved King [e]Josiah]..... 14 all the families that remain, each by itself, and their wives by themselves [each with an overwhelming individual regret for having blindly rejected their Messiah]. - Zech. 12: 10 AMP

  For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.- Matt. 23: 39 KJV
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  3

  One paragraph for Pyramidology , Governmental Authorities and Charles Taze Russell

  by Longlivetherenegades in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  kudos to @terry on this one.

  watchtower july 15, 1952 page 426......... however, coming from apostate religious systems these brought with them many beliefs and practices which were, in fact, just so much wood material, hay and stubble.

  among such were the beliefs that it was necessary to develop a beautiful character to get to heaven and that that was a christian’s chief duty; the notion that christians must appear sanctimonious and pious, evincing more concern over what men thought than over what god thought; false teachings such as that the political powers of this wicked world were the “higher powers” of romans 13:1 who must be obeyed even though they contradicted god’s expressed commandments; that a pile of stone in egypt constituted a witness to jehovah (isa.

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  Sea Breeze

  The article (Watchtower July 15, 1952 page 426) continues to identify two classes among the Lord's people.

  I haven't read the whole article, but here I do not think the WT is talking about the two-tier salvation plan Russel invented. It could be JW's vs. all other churches. But, I think this is referring to the JW's who stayed associated with the WT corporation and the ones who left after Rutherford wrested control of the WT legal entity.

  The article goes on to say: "So they, together with their hay, wood and stubble, perished as far as Jehovah’s organization was concerned. If they had let go of these things they might have been saved."

  In my JW family these people were referred to as "THE evil slave". I can still hear the whispers in the shadows my aunt would make about the "evilllll slaveeee" with a slightly contorted face. (Think of that look and whispers an older Sicilian woman might make in a movie when speaking of the "evil eye curse", becasue that's how she would say it.) Absolutely bone-chilling to an 8 year old.

  Russell invented the two-tier salvation heresy in an attempt to shut up the kingdom of heaven . It has been one of the more successful attempts to hide salvation from people..
  
  
  
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  13

  What are 5 Things You are Grateful for this Thanksgiving 2023 ?

  by Sea Breeze in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  here in america, we have a tradition to set aside one day to be especially grateful.

  that day is today.

  the psychological benifits of being grateful is well known and promoted by business experts, healthcare professionals, secularists, believers ... you name it.

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  Sea Breeze

  I've been too busy eating and watching football.

  I understand. I'm grateful that the Cowboys won. Life makes sense again.